European Commission agrees to data-sharing pact with short-term rental giants

The European Commission is describing a data-sharing agreement with accommodation platforms Airbnb , Booking.com , Expedia Group and Tripadvisor as a “landmark.”

The deal enables Eurostat , the European Union’s office of statistics, to publish data about short-stay accommodations sold on the platforms.

Furthermore, regular and reliable data from the four platforms, including number of nights booked and number of guests, will be shared.

The data does not identify individual citizens or property owners, with their privacy protected under EU laws.

Eurostat will publish the data for all member states as well as regions and cities by aggregating the information from across the platforms.

It is hoped that the agreement will open up "more complete statistics on tourist accommodation" across the EU, providing relevant authorities with a clearer picture of the sharing economy and enabling more informed policy decisions.

Thierry Breton, the commissioner responsible for internal market, says: “Short-term accommodation rentals offer convenient solutions for tourists and new sources of revenue for people. At the same time, there are concerns about impact on local communities.

“For the first time we are gaining reliable data that will inform our ongoing discussions with cities across Europe on how to address this new reality in a balanced manner. The Commission will continue to support the great opportunities of the collaborative economy, while helping local communities address the challenges posed by these rapid changes.”

In its own statement, Airbnb says the partnership will "help ensure that cities have the information they need to regulate home sharing effectively.”

The accommodation platform says it wrote to European cities at the beginning of the year to “share actions being taken on tax, trust and transparency.” At the same time it backed calls for a new EU regulator to cover digital services.

Cities across Europe have adopted different policies for short-term rentals in general and for Airbnb-hosted properties specifically.

In 2015, London said it wanted to boost the sharing economy and announced a softening of laws to allow for short-term rentals of property for up to 90 days a year.

However, more recently, London mayor Sadiq Khan has called for a “light-touch registration scheme” to help local councils enforce the regulations.

Cities such as Barcelona fined Airbnb and others over permit issues in 2016 and later forced the company to remove illegal properties from the platform.

Airbnb has made its own conciliatory moves to help stem negative sentiment about its impact in cities.

Lobbying group EU Travel Tech and the European Holiday Home Association welcomed the agreement, saying it followed a commitment from the short-term rental sector to provide data.

In a joint statement, the two organizations say the sector wants regulators to “actively cooperate to ensure a balanced development of STR services to the benefit of all stakeholders, i.e., hosts, travelers, industry and society at large.”

The first set of data should be released in the second half of 2020.