The Economist

The EconomistJuly 21st 2018 Europe 41

T

O WAKE up in an Airbnb apartment can be briefly disorien-

tating. Where are you? The brushed steel the exposed light-

bulbs the mid-century furnishings. The lively walls and book-

shelves (a guide for hostsrecommendsaccentuating “personality

notpersonal items”). The laminated guide to the neighbourhood

the English slightly askew and peppered with exclamation

marks. The excellent Wi-Fi. You could be in Lisbon; but perhaps it

is St Petersburg? The Verge an online magazine describes this

Airbnb aesthetic as the “hallucination of the normal” a phrase

borrowed from Rem Koolhaas a Dutch architect. That is why it

can also offer the jaded traveller the sense of a home from home.

Not all Europeans feel the same. Tourists packing for this

year’s holiday season might brace themselves for an awkward

welcome. Anti-tourist protests in some cities have become a sum-

mer ritual. Last August 200 locals occupied a beach in Barcelona

to tell visitors to shove off (or at least to stay in hotels). In several

cities a plaintive theme has emerged. Airbnb out-of-towners

warp districts and upset residents. Grocery shops and libraries

that cater for locals are replaced by identikit cafés and bike-rental

outlets that serve tourists. As rental homes colonise new areas

residents are forced further out (18% of the properties in central

Florence are listed on Airbnb according to one study.) Airbnb

“oligarchs” hoard properties and profits. Tight housing markets in

cities like Amsterdam are squeezed furtherwhen landlords with-

draw properties from sale or long-term rental in favour of the

holidaymakers. Not all these allegations are about Airbnb. But

the brand funnels anxieties afflicting European cities that feel be-

sieged by mass tourism and politicians have started to notice. In

2015 Barcelona elected a left-wing mayor who promised to clamp

down on the excesses of tourism. She started with Airbnb fining

it for lettingout unregistered properties.

If Uber was the terrible toddler of the sharing economy

Airbnb which celebrates its tenth anniversary next month be-

haved as the quieter older sibling. Uber preached (and practised)

disruption and chaos and generally lostitsscrapswith regulators

in Europe. ButAirbnb spun a gentlertale of touristsswapping the

anonymity of hotels for the authenticity of districts; of home-

owners weaving a few bob out of the spare room. Your colum-

nist’s unscientific Facebook survey uncovered a surprising de-

gree of affection for Airbnb amongboth hosts and visitors.

Yet if the backlash started in America Airbnb’s first market it

is now liveliest in Europe its biggest. From Amsterdam to Berlin

to Madrid city officials are tightening the screws limiting the

number of days for which an apartment may be rented and slap-

ping fines on violators. Paris the European jewel in Airbnb’s

crown is suing it for failing to take down unregistered listings.

(This week New York moved to require registration too.) The

European Commission the 800-pound regulatory gorilla (see

Business section) has generally hesitated to step in. But this week

it ordered Airbnb to make some of its charges more transparent or

face legal action. The honeymoon is it seems over.

In part these are simply the growing pains that accompany

any innovation that the old rules do not suit. Even Airbnb’s big-

gest foes in the hotel industry it has upended do not seek its de-

mise (at least not publicly). Some regulatory overreach has been

reined in; Berlin for example no longer bans apartment rentals

on Airbnb outright. Authorities in Amsterdam say their limits on

rentals have reduced the number of illegal hotels in the city.

Few thinkthe tensionsare over. Residentsand tourists in effect

operate on different time zones says Fabiola Mancinelli of the

University of Barcelona. That mattered less when tourists

gawped at a few churches before retreating to a large hotel. But it

is harder to ignore the visitors who pose for selfies in the local

market sign up for mass bicycle tours occupy your favourite bar

and rattle their wheelie suitcases over cobblestones on their way

to catch an early flight. Ironically visitors who seek to weave

themselves for a while into a city’s fabric may cause residents

more trouble than those who simply poke around.

The long dark holiday-rental of the soul

Tighter regulations have hardly crushed Airbnb as a glance at its

listings will show. European cities appear prominently on its lat-

est list of “trending” destinations. Yet to fuel further growth in the

run-up to an expected flotation in the next two years it will need

to probe new markets. Business travel is one. Airbnb already al-

lows hosts to sell “experiences” (think kimono-dressing ceremo-

nies or vintage-photography classes). A more marked Airbnb

presence could mean more potential tension with residents.

Yet the platform can hardly be blamed for every woe of the

mass-tourism age. In contrast to the cruise-ship hordes that have

made the centres of Venice and Dubrovnik unbearable Air-

bnbers by definition stay in a city. There is some evidence that

Airbnb encourages new trips or at least lengthens existing ones

which suggests tourists are spending cash that would otherwise

have stayed at home. Residents of eastern European cities like

Warsaw and Zagreb say Airbnb visitors improve standards and

foster a spirit of friendliness. And for every weary traveller who

thinks Airbnb has lost its soul ten more appreciate the choice

convenience and competition it offers.

“Great hotels have always been...mirrors to the particular

societies they serve” wrote Joan Didion a Californian author.

Airbnb highlights a quirk of our own age in which the thirst for

the authentic can come at the expense of the locals who are sup-

posed to provide it. Perhaps a regulatory squeeze will eventually

return the service to its kip-in-the-spare-room roots as many

European officials hope. Your columnist is among those who

have found themselves turning away from Airbnb’s ersatz au-

thenticityin favourof hotelsthatdo notaspire to be anythingoth-

er than what they are. 7

Too much of a good thing

The European backlash against Airbnb is in full swing

Charlemagne