AIRBNB COOPERATES, TO AN
AIRBNB COOPERATES, TO AN EXTENT Last year, Strasbourg changed the rules to counter those side-effects. It is no longer allowed to rent out more than three apartments for more than 120 days a year. The city has also started cooperation with Airbnb, in an effort to apply an existing rule: if you want to rent out your building for more than 120 days a year, you need permission from the city. “Airbnb can check how many nights [are booked] per apartment. When they see that one apartment is [booked] more than 120 nights, they will ask them [the host] to get the permission from the city,” said Fontanel. If the host cannot provide the correct documentation, Airbnb would no longer allow the user to rent through Airbnb, the company has promised the city of Strasbourg. MILAN EMBRACES HOME-SHARING TO HOST VISITORS By Aleksandra Eriksson Good cooperation between Airbnb and city authorities can be found in Milan, Italy. to help each other," Airbnb's Federica Calcaterra told EUobserver. The city regularly organises large-scale events, such as the 2015 world exhibition or the yearly design weeks, and is dependent on Airbnb's home-sharing service to host all of the visitors. Booking services are also made available for people who are unskilled at using the internet - accommodation a cooperation framework with a NGO. The company has also launched several goodwill initiatives, including one to support the relatives of patients receiving specialist care in Milan, which is also a medical the hospital and covers half of the cost of their stay. "The Milanese want to open their homes. We help people Airbnb also works with another NGO on a project to raise digital skills among adults and the elderly. Giuseppe Sala, the left-wing mayor of Milan, told EUobserver that the city authorities keep an eye on Airbnb's impact on the city, including its hotel businesses. "For now it works very well. But if we see that there are problems, we won't hesitate to pass regulation," Sala said.
a host rented out their apartment longer than the allowed limit, but “Airbnb doesn't want to do this,” said Fontanel. “Because if they do this, they will their clients.” The vice-mayor actually agrees with Airbnb's policy to place the anonymity of its clients above informing the city of their mishandling of the rules. “It would be a problem if Airbnb was not protecting their clients.” TOURISM TAX Airbnb has also started to collect tourism tax in Strasbourg, just as it has done in other European cities. The € 0.55 tax for each person per night is automatically added to the price of the accommodation. From August 2016, when the scheme started, until December 2016, Strasbourg had received around € 80,000 in tourism tax from Airbnb. But in all of 2016, hotels in Strasbourg paid € 4.5 million in tourism tax. “So, in perspective it's not a lot. We expected a little more,” said Fontanel. He also noted that Airbnb is not the only temporary rental platform, and that the city is also reaching out for cooperation with its competitors. But still, Airbnb has changed its attitude, Fontanel said, because the company saw that its image was being damaged by the side-effects of the “multiowners”. “The philosophy of Airbnb was more based on the sharing philosophy, and use your own means to share with others, and obtain a revenue from it. It's not the philosophy of doing business like a hotel without the license of a hotel.” SHARING ECONOMY & EUROPE MAY 2017— 23
