Accommodation rental platform Airbnb is introducing a limit on short-term rentals of 120 nights per year within the centre of Paris.
The cap — a response to criticism of unfair competition by other members of the tourism industry — will come into place 1 January 2018 and will apply to the first four arrondissements in Paris.
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Airbnb said in a statement:
Airbnb as a responsible actor, has decided to set up the automatic limit of the annual rental period of housing in the centre of Paris to promote responsible and sustainable tourism.
According to Airbnb, the first four districts in Paris “have faced tourism and commercial pressure, as well as a particularly bad housing shortage for several decades, well before the arrival of Airbnb in Paris”.
However, the Hotel industry has dismissed the statement Paris City Council has said it doesn’t go far enough, demanding the regulations to extend throughout the whole city, not just the first four districts.
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By GlobalDataIan Brossat, a member of Paris City Council told the AFP news agency: “implicitly, it means Airbnb won’t follow regulations” on the other sixteen districts.
The Digital Republic Law, adopted in October 2016 requires the platform to ensure that housing is not rented for more than 120 days a year within the whole city.
“What Airbnb present as a gesture of goodwill actually violates the law”, Brossat added, who has asked that the company continue to extend this rule to the whole of Paris.
Brossat has also requested the publication of the decree providing for sanctions in the case of non-application of the law.
A similar reaction came from the UMIH, the main body within the Hotel industry.
Its president, Roland Héguy, said:
Airbnb make it appear as though they are pre-empting the law, but really they are just enforcing it!
Paris plans to bring in registration numbers from 1 December this year for anyone wishing to rent their apartment on a digital platform.
According to figures provided by Airbnb the San Francisco-based company has contributed some €1.7bn to the Parisian economy and helps support 30,000 jobs in France.
