Latest / STR Unpacked / Airbnb just launched its most important PR campaign in history.
Transcript
- Ben: Good morning and welcome to your short term rental bulletin. So we're just about less than a month now until the new EU data sharing kicks in and Airbnb has quietly launched the most important PR campaign in its history, I believe. And almost nobody is talking about talking about it. So I wanted to give it a little mention today. So in March Airbnb pushed a report framing that short term rentals are quote an essential housing infrastructure, something that I'm sure all of our industry would agree with, not tourism, but housing. They're saying short term rentals aren't a problem for students, medical patients and workers in transition. They are the solution. And they're pushing the numbers. 114 million Airbnb guests in Europe last year, 53 billion euros. contributed to the EU GDP and 904,000 jobs supported. And the killer stat, the entire home Airbnb listings make up just 0.13 of the EU's housing stock. Even Paris, the most regulated capital, it makes up just 0.65%. This isn't a report. This is a lobbying document ahead of the EU regulation going live in just under a month's time. Every short term rental listing on the continent gets a registration number. Every platform shares its information and booking data with the EU and the local governments. For the first time, regulators will have the hard numbers and Airbnb is racing to define a narrative before those numbers arrive. Because here's the question nobody is asking. If short term rentals are really 0.3 % of the housing, then why did Budapest ban them? Why did Spain fine Airbnb 64 million euros? Why is Barcelona killing 10,000 licenses by 2028? The data is about to answer that. So May isn't just a compliance deadline. It's when arguing stops and the evidence starts. Thank you for watching. I'll see you tomorrow, hopefully in person.