Spain makes Booking.com scrap 4,000 short-term tourist rentals
Online hotel booking giant Booking.com on Friday said it had taken down thousands of advertisements in Spain in the leftist government's latest crackdown on illegal short-term tourist rentals.
A tourism boom has driven the buoyant Spanish economy but fueled local concern about increasingly scarce and unaffordable housing, a top priority for the minority coalition government.
'We have deleted a very small number of adverts in Spain at the request of the consumer ministry for supplying valid licenses,' Booking.com said in a statement.
The Amsterdam-based platform said the non-compliant adverts represented 'less than two percent' of its 200,000 properties in Spain and that it had always collaborated with the authorities to regulate the short-term rental sector.
The consumer rights ministry on Thursday announced Booking.com had scrapped 4,093 illegal ads, most of them located in the Atlantic Ocean's Canary Islands, a top tourist destination.
Spain has also ordered online tourist accommodation giant Airbnb to take down more than 65,000 adverts for violating license rules and has been in a legal battle with the US-based company.
The world's second most-visited country hosted a record 94 million foreign tourists in 2024, but residents of hotspots such as Barcelona blame short-term rentals for the housing crisis and changing their neighborhoods.
'We're making progress in the fight against a speculative model that expels people from their neighborhoods and violates the right to a home,' far-left consumer rights minister Pablo Bustinduy wrote on social network Bluesky.
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Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Al Arabiya
Spain makes Booking.com scrap 4,000 short-term tourist rentals
Online hotel booking giant on Friday said it had taken down thousands of advertisements in Spain in the leftist government's latest crackdown on illegal short-term tourist rentals. A tourism boom has driven the buoyant Spanish economy but fueled local concern about increasingly scarce and unaffordable housing, a top priority for the minority coalition government. 'We have deleted a very small number of adverts in Spain at the request of the consumer ministry for supplying valid licenses,' said in a statement. The Amsterdam-based platform said the non-compliant adverts represented 'less than two percent' of its 200,000 properties in Spain and that it had always collaborated with the authorities to regulate the short-term rental sector. The consumer rights ministry on Thursday announced had scrapped 4,093 illegal ads, most of them located in the Atlantic Ocean's Canary Islands, a top tourist destination. Spain has also ordered online tourist accommodation giant Airbnb to take down more than 65,000 adverts for violating license rules and has been in a legal battle with the US-based company. The world's second most-visited country hosted a record 94 million foreign tourists in 2024, but residents of hotspots such as Barcelona blame short-term rentals for the housing crisis and changing their neighborhoods. 'We're making progress in the fight against a speculative model that expels people from their neighborhoods and violates the right to a home,' far-left consumer rights minister Pablo Bustinduy wrote on social network Bluesky.
Arab News
19-06-2025
- Arab News
Spain rejects NATO's anticipated 5 percent defense spending proposal as ‘unreasonable'
MADRID: Spain has rejected a NATO proposal to spend 5 percent of gross domestic product on defense needs that's due to be announced next week, calling it 'unreasonable.' Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in a letter sent on Thursday to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, said that Spain 'cannot commit to a specific spending target in terms of GDP' at next week's NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands. Any agreement to adopt a new spending guideline must be made with the consensus of all 32 NATO member states. So Sánchez's decision risks derailing next week's summit, which US President Donald Trump is due to attend, and creating a last-minute shakeup that could have lingering repercussions. Most US allies in NATO are on track to endorse Trump's demand that they invest 5 percent of GDP on their defense and military needs. In early June, Sweden and the Netherlands said that they aim to meet the new target. A NATO official on Thursday said that discussions between allies were ongoing about a new defense spending plan. 'For Spain, committing to a 5 percent target would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive, as it would move Spain away from optimal spending and it would hinder the EU's ongoing efforts to strengthen its security and defense ecosystem,' Sánchez wrote in the letter seen by The Associated Press. Spain was the lowest spender in the trans-Atlantic alliance last year, directing less than 2 percent of its GDP on defense expenditure. Sánchez said in April that the government would raise defense spending by 10.5 billion euros ($12 billion) in 2025 to reach NATO's previous target of 2 percent of GDP. On Thursday, Sánchez called for 'a more flexible formula' in relation to a new spending target — one that either made it optional or left Spain out of its application. Sánchez wrote that the country is 'fully committed to NATO,' but that meeting a 5 percent target 'would be incompatible with our welfare state and our world vision.' He said that doing so would require cutting public services and scaling back other spending, including toward the green transition. Instead, Spain will need to spend 2.1 percent of GDP to meet the Spanish military's estimated defense needs, Sánchez said. At home, corruption scandals that have ensnared Sánchez's inner circle and family members have put the Spanish leader under increasing pressure to call an early election, even from some allies. Increased military spending is also unpopular among some of Sanchez's coalition partners. In April, when Sánchez announced that Spain would reach NATO's previous 2 percent spending target, the move angered some coalition members further to the left of his Socialist Party. NATO allies agreed to spend 2 percent of GDP on military expenditure after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. But the alliance's plans for defending Europe and North America against a Russian attack require investments of at least 3 percent. The aim now is to raise the bar to 3.5 percent for core defense spending on tanks, warplanes, air defense, missiles and hiring extra troops. A further 1.5 percent would be spent on things like roads, bridges, ports and airfields so armies can deploy more quickly, as well as preparing societies for possible attack. Several allies have committed to reaching the new spending goal, even though other nations will struggle to find the billions required. Rutte had been due to table a new proposal on Friday aimed at satisfying Spain and trying to break the deadlock. European allies and Canada want to end the standoff before the leaders meet with Trump on Wednesday. Poland and the Baltic countries — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — have already publicly committed to 5 percent, and Rutte has said that most allies were ready to endorse the goal. But Spain isn't alone among NATO's low spenders. Belgium, Canada and Italy will also struggle to hike security spending by billions of dollars. A big question still to be answered is what time frame countries will be given to reach an agreed-upon new spending goal. A target date of 2032 was initially floated, but Rutte has said that Russia could be ready to launch an attack on NATO territory by 2030.
Al Arabiya
19-06-2025
- Al Arabiya
Spanish Court Rejects Airbnb Appeal and Keeps Order to Block Nearly 66,000 Listings
A Spanish court on Thursday rejected an appeal by Airbnb and left in place an order to block almost 66,000 rental listings that the government said violated local rules. The government has said the platform's short-term rentals exacerbate Spain's housing crunch while the country welcomes record numbers of tourists. Last month, Spain's government ordered Airbnb to block 65,935 listings in the country after the Consumer Rights Ministry flagged them for violations. It said Airbnb had to immediately take down 5,800. An Airbnb spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment on the Madrid High Court's decision. The ministry has said the listings it flagged didn't include their license number or specify whether the owner was an individual or a company. It said others listed numbers that didn't match what authorities had. Last month, Consumer Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy told The Associated Press that the tourism sector couldn't jeopardize the constitutional rights of the Spanish people, including their right to housing and well-being. Carlos Cuerpo, the economy minister, said in a separate interview that the government had to tackle the unwanted side effects of mass tourism.
