Airbnb Under Fire in Spain: What the 66,000 Listing Purge Means

Spain’s Ministry of Social Rights and Consumer Affairs has ordered Airbnb to remove 65,935 listings for violating tourism accommodation laws. A Madrid high court backed the first phase of enforcement, requiring the removal of 5,800 listings immediately, with two further phases to follow.

The government claims these listings lacked valid license numbers, used incorrect ones, or failed to disclose whether the owner is a company or individual—all required under regional laws.

This is part of a broader attempt to curb the growth of short-term rentals, which many policymakers and housing advocates blame for Spain’s worsening housing affordability crisis.

We reviewed the ministry’s original press release to clarify the facts and offer context beyond the headlines.

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Why Just Airbnb?

As of now, Airbnb is the only platform named in the court orders. The government’s official press release makes no mention of Booking.com, Vrbo, or direct STR websites. This selective focus could be explained by several factors:

• Airbnb is the most recognizable STR brand, often used as shorthand for the entire category.
• Its platform design makes auditing listings easier than on more fragmented channels.
• Politically, a move against Airbnb signals action to the public—even if broader enforcement is still forthcoming.

That said, Spanish authorities confirmed they have also opened sanction proceedings against another unnamed platform, several STR property managers, and a major real estate firm.

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Airbnb’s Response: Appealing and Reframing

Airbnb has announced plans to appeal the ruling. In its public statements, the company argues that:

“The root cause of the affordable housing crisis in Spain is a lack of supply to meet demand.”

The platform claims that stricter STR rules have failed to fix housing issues in other cities like Amsterdam, New York, and Barcelona—while damaging tourism and local host incomes.

As part of its response strategy, Airbnb is highlighting:

• The economic impact of STRs in rural communities.
• The role of occasional hosts, who they say do not meaningfully affect housing supply.
• Their alignment with the EU’s new STR regulation, including data-sharing and standardized host registries.
• New collaborations with local governments in regions like the Canary Islands and Murcia.

This framing helps Airbnb position itself as a partner in “regulated tourism”—and shift attention away from urban professional operators.

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What Listings Were Targeted?

According to Spain’s Ministry of Social Rights, all listings flagged for removal were for entire-home accommodations—not private rooms or shared spaces. Listings were considered non-compliant for one of three reasons:

• No license or registration number provided.
• Fake or invalid license number.
• Failure to disclose the legal nature of the host (i.e., business vs. individual).

This distinction matters: professional STR operators are more likely to offer entire homes, and face stricter rules in most regions.

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Timeline of Enforcement

Date	Action Taken
Dec 2024	Sanction initiated against another unnamed STR platform
Feb 2025	Investigations opened into STR property managers
Mar 2025	Probe launched into major real estate firm
May 2025	Court upholds removal of 5,800 Airbnb listings
Coming Months	Two more enforcement waves to total 65,935 removals

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Does This Solve the Housing Problem?

Spain’s action comes amid mounting public pressure. Anti-tourism protests have surged in cities like Barcelona, Tenerife, and Palma de Mallorca, often citing short-term rentals as a key driver of displacement.

But experts say enforcement alone won’t fix the problem.

• Supply-side bottlenecks: Construction lags, vacant housing, and limited public investment have constrained supply.
• Regulatory rigidity: Spain’s updated long-term rental law (LAU) makes it harder for landlords to reclaim properties, disincentivizing conversion from STR to LTR.
• Uncertain outcomes: Even if thousands of homes are removed from Airbnb, many may remain empty or be moved to other platforms or offline.

One industry insider told Rental Scale-Up that enforcement at this scale is challenging: “It’s resource-intensive to audit multiple platforms or track where delisted properties reappear.”

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Enforcement Challenges

Spain is setting a precedent, but its enforcement faces structural hurdles:

• Platform opacity: Not all OTAs share listing data equally.
• Workarounds: Hosts can switch to direct booking channels or under-report.
• Local limitations: Regional governments differ in their enforcement capacity.

The result? Enforcement might be symbolically powerful, but difficult to sustain without broader coordination.

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Guest Friction: Where Policy Meets Experience

New regulatory frameworks aren’t just affecting hosts—they’re reshaping the guest experience.

Take Spain’s SES Hospedajes traveler registration system. Daniela Derin, of Skol Apartments Marbella, said the system asks guests dozens of personal questions, requires document uploads, and often fails to work.

“When there are big groups in one booking—grandparents, parents and children—it’s just crazy… Many guests are choosing Portugal or Croatia instead.”

While her business is mostly direct and stable, she notes that Spain’s growing compliance burden risks alienating repeat travelers.

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On-the-Ground Perspectives

Derin also points out that many so-called “illegal” listings exist because some regions like Madrid froze license issuance years ago.

“There’s nothing wrong with [many of these listings], just the Community of Madrid that stopped the licensing years ago with the excuse of housing problem.”

She supports enforcement in principle, but calls the regulatory environment increasingly chaotic:

“The bureaucracy to run a holiday rental business is becoming unbearable.”

Operators are now expected to comply with local and national registration, often with little clarity.

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A Disconnect Between Protests and Travel Behavior?

Interestingly, anti-tourism protests don’t seem to be reducing travel demand—at least not yet. According to PriceLabs data:

City	Occupancy Change	ADR (2025)	ADR Change
Barcelona	+1.9%	€199	+9.4%
Mallorca	-2.0%	€343	+9.9%
Amsterdam	-12.8%	€223	+0.3%
Athens	+2.1%	€103	+11.2%
Crete	+21.8%	€188	+1.8%
Tenerife	+12.7%	€104	+11.4%
Venice	-8.1%	€185	+6.3%

This suggests that policy sentiment and travel behavior may be diverging. Airbnb itself has argued that demand remains strong and that regulation is being driven more by perception than empirical housing data.

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Final Thought: Spain as a Test Case

Spain’s actions could shape the future of STR governance across Europe.

• Will other countries follow suit?
• Can enforcement scale?
• Will policies differentiate between casual hosts and professional operators?

Whatever the answers, one thing is clear: the era of STR exceptionalism is ending. Platforms, hosts, and governments must now build a more transparent—and sustainable—future for tourism.