Hoteliers demand AirBnB crackdown

HOTEL owners in France are calling on the government to crack down on short-term rental websites and bring an end to what they believe is “unfair competition”.

The hoteliers union Union des Métiers et des Industries de l’Hôtellerie (UMIH) has written an open letter to Prime Minister Manuel Valls demanding that the government impose restrictions on such websites to make them less attractive to people looking for accommodation.

Hotels in France, notably in Paris, are losing potential guests to the cheaper accommodation alternatives offered on websites such as AirBnB, Housetrip, and Homelidays, the union claimed.

It said that rental sites offering accommodation in France should be obliged to offer "a minimum rental of seven days, as is the case in many tourist destinations like New York, Barcelona, Berlin and neighbourhoods in London".

It argued that people looking for shorter breaks in France would then be more inclined to go to hotels.

UMIH said that the rental sites were offering essentially the same services as their members, but without many of the legal requirements or taxes.

The union’s other demands include:
Private rentals through the websites should be charged VAT from the first euro
Mandatory administrative procedures, including registration with local authorities
Consent from homeowners' associations (copropriété)
Assuring that businesses listed on the websites conform with French laws

Read the full letter from UMIH to Mr Valls here:

But AirBnB France director Nicolas Ferrari told Europe1 radio: "We're working on two different systems, offering two different products," adding that the presence of the company in France was helping the country’s hotel industry.

“The motivation of users who rent through Airbnb are very different from those of travellers staying in a hotel: the average length of stay is five nights, while it is less than two nights the hotel,” he said.

Photo: Filip Maljković