The sub-letting Problem....

binaryfinary

Active Member
I made a thread last year after returning from Ibiza. I felt a bit bad of accusing people of trying to rip me off, so just left it.

In short though, the "private dwelling" we booked on AirBnB actually turned out to be an established apartment complex in San An. No big deal, decent place, price wasn't utterly insane. However this wasn't mentioned on AirBnB at all - you were led to believe this was just someone renting their own private apartment out, which is what AirBnB is meant to be about.

Lo-and-behold, I look up the place on their own actual site when I get home, and see that it's cheaper to book direct with them. Hard to tell as it was very late season then, when prices do drop.

This year though, looking at returning to the same place. Surprise, surprise, the website for the apartments says nothing is available. All booked out.

Yet there it is again, on AirBnB, with a huge price hike, still being made out as a private apartment that someone is renting out.

Is this normal and acceptable? I know there's been a lot of noise lately about the government in Ibiza town cracking down on AirBnB piss-taking.

Yes, I realise Ibiza is expensive. Yes, I realise tourism on the island is a tough business and there's always someone looking to make a quick buck. Yes, I realise I like the apartment in question, it's a relatively decent price even with the AirBnB situation, so I might even book it anyway, making me an utter hypocrite.

I just wanted people's thoughts really.
 
Air B&B is the wart on the arse of ibiza..

What's annoying though is it shouldn't be. If used as intended, it's a simple, safe way for people to advertise and let private villas/apartments/rooms. The process of letting your private property to tourists has been going on in Ibiza and indeed all of Spain for decades now. This is nothing new. AirBnB is simply a more efficient and safe way to do it, that, in theory, prevents either party being ripped off.

Plus, the tourist knows if the property owner is a liar with a track record of providing awful accommodation that is nothing like what was advertised, and on the flip-side, the property owner knows if the tourist has a track record of trashing the gaff with wild parties. It's a win-win.

The issue is people abusing it, and not using it for its intended purpose. I suppose again this is nothing new - travel agents always slammed a premium on hotel room costs when you were booking a package deal in the 80s or 90s, but it seems that while we went through a bit of a "golden era" whereby budget airlines and the internet meant it was much cheaper to cut out the middle man and book hotel and flights yourself, we're now losing that as people get wise.

How long before some bright spark books up every single Ryanair or Easyjet seat from the UK to Ibiza for a season, then starts selling them on at an increased cost? Shit that gives me an idea....haha!
 
in short, airbnb seems like a good idea at first, but if too many people do it, it turns into a massive problem. barcelona, balearics, think even paris starts to feel it. airbnb turns the location into a place only for tourists and locals don‘t find anywhere to live. it‘s unsustainable, simple as
 
I work for HomeAway, similar set up to AirBnB. Yes property owners can make so much money from holiday renting nowadays that they do not want to rent out long term. Shame really. As many cities now asking for a licence (paris, spain, portgual, this should help the problem.
 
airbnb is not illegal in ibiza. anyone who has a license to rent their property can use it, or booking.com, or homeaway or even spotlight. however the balearic authorities have fined airbnb 300k for using illegal properties on their site, ditto trip advisor, and the stock of accommodation on these and other sites is now reducing, so the hotel owners, whoops, freudian slip, authorities will be happier.
 
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Worth noting though that this isn't Ibicenco residents renting out their own property. That I have no problem with. If you want to put up with living in your car for a season while you earn several grand renting out your house, that's your choice. Not something I'd put up with, but to each his own.

This however, is people renting apartments from local people, then punting them on with a massive premium. In this instance, the people doing it were Dutch.

Now again, I'm all for a free-market economy, and yes, I'm free not to rent out the apartment from this third party, but it does seem a bit out of order.
 
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