The High Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) has denied Airbnb's request for precautionary measures to halt the €64 million fine imposed by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs for violations in the publication of tourist accommodation listings that did not comply with regulations. Minister Pablo Bustinduy stated that this decision demonstrates that "no company is above the law or consumers." Following the TSJM's ruling, the platform will have to pay the fine. imposed By the end of 2025, Consum had identified violations in more than 65,100 tourist apartment listings, which were removed in the middle of last year. Specifically, the ministry detected "unfair commercial practices" such as publishing listings without a license or with numbers that did not correspond to the numbering used by the registries. It also noted that the platform disseminated listings without accurate information about the legal status of the hosts.

Regulatory pressure is beginning to be felt in the holiday rental market. Last year, with the entry into force of the state registry, this pressure began to increase. in order to operate legally Nearly 6,000 tourist apartments were lost in Catalonia through digital platforms, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE). This represents an 11.3% decrease compared to 2014. The decline recorded last year leaves the total number of tourist apartments in Catalonia at 46,915. This is the lowest supply of tourist apartments recorded by the INE since 2020, when it began counting them. This decrease means that one in four apartments has disappeared since then, when there were approximately 63,200 apartments designated for tourist rentals or tourist accommodation, almost 26% fewer apartments. This decline has coincided with other control measures implemented by the Catalan Government, as well as measures to increase the stock of residential rental housing. The most pronounced drop was recorded in the province of Barcelona. Data collected by the INE (National Institute of Statistics) shows that nearly 40% of tourist apartments operating in 2020 have closed. The number has fallen from almost 26,000 to just over 15,700. In the last year alone, 2,416 apartments have disappeared, representing 13% of the number that existed in 2024. As the statistics institute shows, there are currently more tourist apartments in Girona (17,754) than in Barcelona (15,741). With these figures, Catalonia has a proportion of tourist apartments of 1.2% of the total number of registered dwellings, a proportion that stands at 0.61% in the city of Barcelona.

For years, the arrival of tourists has steadily increased. This constant influx of visitors has significant economic implications. Tourism has become a strategic sector, representing around 11% of Catalonia's GDP, primarily due to... more than 20 million foreign tourists that were registered last year, a figure that has more than doubled in just 25 years. This unprecedented growth has also had consequences for residents, with the overcrowding of city centers and the loss of local identity, as well as the disappearance of thousands of apartments from the housing market due to their conversion into tourist apartments, which are much more profitable than conventional rentals.

The Spanish government has fined Airbnb €64 million for advertising tourist accommodations without a license, with incorrect registration numbers, or with inaccurate information about the legal status of their hosts. The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs, and Agenda 2030 identified a total of 65,122 listings on the online tourist accommodation platform that violate regulations. The fine imposed by the department headed by Pablo Bustinduy is final after all administrative appeals were exhausted, and the California-based company must pay the penalty, although it can appeal in court. The resolution, made public this Monday, also includes two additional sanctions that require the platform to rectify these violations by removing the illegal content, as it had already announced in the initial fine.

Imagine being about to buy an apartment, after searching extensively and juggling finances to afford the down payment, only to have the owner tell you it's already sold to another buyer. And not only that, but the real estate agency adds that the entire property will be used for tourist apartments. A situation that wouldn't surprise anyone today, but more than ten years ago, it left Francesc Serrano and his partner reeling. He, who owned a software development company for third parties, arrived at the office and had the staff investigate whether tourist apartments were common or if he'd just had bad luck.

Faced with the proliferation of tourist apartments, authorities are trying to monitor a market that has gotten out of control. Since July 1, the state registry for legally operating digital platforms has been in effect, adding another layer of control to others such as the Generalitat registry or the licenses granted by Barcelona City Council. According to the latest available data, corresponding to last Friday, Barcelona's state registry lists 6,759 tourist apartments. They represent nearly 68% of the 10,000 apartments with a license granted by the City Council. Therefore, a third have not yet been registered. This does not include illegal apartments, for which there is no exact figure, but the council detects between 300 and 400 monthly.

Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni's ultimatum to Airbnb. After meeting with the company's top management in Spain and Portugal at City Hall, he denounced the platform's "worse attitude" and warned that the council will consider "all civil and criminal administrative measures provided by the regulatory framework to act against illegality" if Airbnb does not cooperate with the collection of illegal listings on its website. City Hall has not yet opened any disciplinary proceedings against the company.

Open war between Airbnb and Barcelona City Council. The collaboration that until recently existed between the tourist accommodation site and the city council in the pursuit of all illegal offerings has been severed. According to recent reports, Eldiario.es And as confirmed by ARA, this company has stopped removing the tourist apartment listings sent to it by the City Council's inspection service when it detects them as illegal. This attitude was rebuked by the First Deputy Mayor, Laia Bonet, on Wednesday, who accused the company of being "complicit in an illegal activity" and announced that the council is already considering action against Airbnb.

The Generalitat (Catalan government) has identified more than 9,000 illegal tourist apartment listings in Catalonia on the Airbnb platform, according to a report released this Friday. The morning of Catalunya Ràdio Sources from Turisme de Catalunya, an agency under the Department of Business and Employment, have confirmed this to ARA. According to the public radio station, of the total number of apartments detected, 6,200 are residential apartments in Barcelona. The Tourism Department explains that this allows them to detect "signs of irregularities," such as apartments that do not have a registration number or that the number does not match the address listed on the website, among others. The same sources confirm that Airbnb has already been asked to remove the affected listings.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has ordered Airbnb to block more than 65,000 illegal tourist apartment listings published on its rental platform. As explained in a statement this Monday, the department headed by Pablo Bustinduy has urged the multinational's Irish subsidiary to remove these listings, considering them "illegal as they contravene regulations on advertising for this type of tourist accommodation."

The multinational customer service company CPM has planned to lay off between 600 and 700 workers at its call center from Barcelona, ​​​​close to 60% of the staff, according to what was announced this Friday The Newspaper and the ARA has been able to confirm. It is the centre located on Felipe II street in the Catalan capital, where until now around 1,100 people worked. The company has informed the staff of this decision, attributing it to productive and organisational reasons.