If this apartment is rented for less than 30 days it is illegal. / Airbnb

Yesterday a New York City judge ruled that Nigel Warren, a tenant in who rented his apartment to a user on Airbnb would have to pay a $2,400 fine for breaking a New York State law that prohibits almost all rentals of apartments for less than 30 days in the city. The New York Times‘ Ron Lieber began covering Warren’s case in November, and he was seen as something of a canary in the coal mine in the industry; so much so that Airbnb sent legal representation to advise Warren.

Still, he lost, and he’ll have to cover the fine.

Airbnb responded to the ruling by issuing a statement which read, in part, “This decision runs contrary to the stated intention and the plain text of New York law, so obviously we are disappointed.”

The problem is, the decision was exactly in line with the plain text of New York law (you can read the full senate bill here). The law was written to deal with the growing number of apartments in New York City that were being used to house by-the-night transient visitors. Although Airbnb has consistently argued that this was a movement by the threatened hotel industry to ban short-term rentals, it was actually a years-long movement by tenants and community groups to prevent the wholesale takeover of buildings zoned for residential use by landlords eager for the higher incomes short-term rentals could bring. In fact, some of the more brazen landlords had legitimate hotel brands as their illegal operations, such as a Marriott ExcuStay in Chelsea.

It’s important to note that while Airbnb has become the poster child for the fight in New York, it’s about any short-term rentals that don’t abide by the city’s laws. Earlier this month, the city’s largest housing development had to remind its tenants that they would be evicted if they took FlipKey up on its open solicitation to use their units for short-term rentals.

We covered the issues specific to New York City earlier this year in the story ”Airbnb’s growing pains mirrored in New York City, where half its listings are illegal rentals.”

In the interest of making things clear, here’s the official Skift cheat sheet to Airbnb rentals in New York City:

How do I know if a rental is illegal in New York City?

If the rental period is for less than 30 days and the person renting you the unit will not be present, the rental is illegal. There are a few tiny exceptions (such as when it’s for an entire house that meets a relatively rare residential classification), but not in the neighborhoods that visitors actually want to stay in.

Really?

Yes.

What if the landlord is the one doing the rental?

Then he or she could real be in for trouble, if the city decides to crack down.

One of the reasons New York State passed the law in July 2010 was to do battle with landlords who were replacing tenants with by-the-night renters, effectively turning apartment buildings into hotels, but without the zoning or safety requirements. Airbnb has always downplayed the number of units that fell into this category, but they were in the thousands before October 2012, when the most notorious operator, Smart Apartments LLC, was sued by the city for over $1 million and shut down for operating hundreds of illegal rentals, often taking over entire buildings in the city’s most desirable residential neighborhoods. Smart Apartments was a marketing agent operating on behalf of landlords, and chose to promote its units on sites across the web, including Airbnb.

This isn’t just a problem for Airbnb: Online travel agencies such as Expedia were booking rooms in illegal hotels throughout the city, too. And it still does. This Central Park Suites hotel listed on Expedia is not a legal hotel.

Shouldn’t an owner or tenant be able to do what he or she wants with an apartment?

There are all sorts of restrictions on owners and tenants. They can’t open a homeless shelter, nightclub, office, manufacturing plant, or youth hostel without the proper zoning. (It’s easy to open up a house of worship, but that’s another matter.) Renting an apartment for a transient guest changes the nature of a property and affects the quality of life of other residents, from security, sanitation, and noise, to the cost of a yearly lease as well as basic maintenance and wear-and-tear issues.

There are bigger issues about how it affects neighborhoods, too, but we’ll leave that to urban planners to explain.

Aren’t hotels scared of the disruptive power of revolutionary services like Airbnb?

“Scared” may be a strong word, but they certainly aren’t happy with the competition. Hotels don’t like the fact that Airbnb and its peers are able to make money off transactions that hotels would face stiff fines for. And they don’t like the fact that the cost of meeting safety and zoning regulations, as well as the high cost of room taxes — which often go to fund infrastructure that makes travel easier — are one reason why hotel rates aren’t competitive with peer-to-peer sites. Like any other industry, they’re going to try to squash the newcomer trying so steal market share.

Can’t we all just get along?

Airbnb’s CEO likes to share loopy ideas about how one day we’ll all give up property and share to our hearts’ content. But really, the sharing economy is about upstarts creating great new products and services that allow them to slice off business from established powers. And they’ve proven to be really good at it.

While some of the revenue for companies like Airbnb has heretofore been unrealized, many of the dollars would have otherwise gone to hotels. There’s no sharing taking place here, just smart business.

What’s next?

In San Francisco, city leaders are trying to figure out how more short-term rental units can be made legal. Nationwide, HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples has taken the role of the adult in the room and has shown that in cities like Austin, Texas, hosts and the city can work together. He’s spearheading a group called the Short Term Rental Advocacy Center that’s teaching hosts how they can begin a dialog with local government to make sure rules are fair on both sides.

Any across-the-board solution, though, will come with more regulations and reporting that we currently see in the market. Hosts will have to start reporting income on tax returns if they don’t already, and they may be required to purchase different insurance policies and meet licensing requirements from local municipalities.

That’s likely to scare off people like Nigel Warren who are just trying to make a few bucks on the weekends they’re out of town. And this uncertainty about fines and penalties for hosts is what really scares short-term rental companies.

The full decision in the Warren case:

Download (PDF, 81KB)

The post Is Airbnb illegal in New York? Definitely not, but many of its hosts break the law appeared first on Skift.

Airbnb sent a lawyer to the hearing to argue on Warren’s behalf, the first time the startup has intervened in such a case.

… Airbnb decried the decision and dismissed it as a case of “overzealous law enforcement officials.”

“This decision runs contrary to the stated intention and the plain text of New York law, so obviously we are disappointed,” Airbnb said in a statement.

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Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky (center) with fellow co-founders Nathan Blecharczyk (left) and Joe Gebbia. No, they are not couch-surfing. / Airbnb

In the wake of Airbnb moving to a Verified ID system to enhance trust between hosts and prospective guests, NBCNews.com’s Ben Popken spoke with Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky about trust and security, and what the new feature means for the evolution of Airbnb. Skift reprints the interview with permission.

NBC NEWS: How does anonymity erode trust?

CHESKY: We believe that when you remove anonymity, it brings out the best in people. It creates more accountability and gives our users more confidence when they’re booking a trip.

NBC: How do you design trust?

CHESKY: The first wave of the web was all about getting online. The second wave was about connecting online (social media, Facebook). Now, we’re on the precipice of a third wave, one that’s about taking those online connections and manifesting them in the real world. Airbnb is unique because it links online interactions with offline experiences. The ways that we build trust in our marketplace have to do the same. Verified ID is innovative because of the way it links online identity with offline identification. Imagine confirming your Facebook account when you checked in a hotel. That’s the direction we’re headed.

NBC: When you talk about trust, are you talking not just about trust between users, but also how external parties — landlords, regulators, legislators and media — trust your service and those who use it?

CHESKY: Airbnb is about access. We provide access to meaningful experiences in local places all over the world — places that weren’t easily accessible before. Trust is the currency that powers those experiences, and when you build more trust, you can provide more access. As pioneers of the sharing economy, our community expects us to innovate at a speed that matches our growth.

NBC: The last big round of trust-enhancing service additions in 2011 were reactive, borne out of crisis control. Is it fair to say that the latest move is an attempt to lock the service down more before blowing the scale out?

CHESKY: The fundamentals of trust on Airbnb have existed since the beginning of the company: our secure payment structure, detailed profiles, and authentic review system. In 2011 we added the $50,000 Host Guarantee, 24/7 Customer Service, and over 40 trust features. In 2012 we upped the Host Guarantee to $1 Million. Verified ID is the latest innovation in our ongoing commitment to trust.

NBC: Of the reservations that now require offline identity verification, what percentage have been abandoned due to incomplete ID registration?

CHESKY: The early feedback from our community has been very positive. Our team worked hard to make the Verified ID product as seamless and easy-to-use as possible.

NBC: What is your current number of 24/7 support reps?

CHESKY: We have built a dedicated Trust team that works to protect our community from fraud and build trust in the user experience.

NBC: If Verified ID is the foundation, what are the next steps, or categories of steps, towards increasing trust?

CHESKY: Trust isn’t static — it’s built over time. We’re always working to innovate new products that build trust on Airbnb. In the early days of the Web, anonymity was prevalent, but we feel the Web is moving away from that. Real identification will eventually become the standard. There is no place for anonymity in the future of Airbnb or the sharing economy.

Read the full NBCNews.com story here.

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TripAdvisor singles out the Nashville Music City website as one that effectively uses responsive design, altering its display based on the type of device a visitor is using. / Nashville Music City

TripAdvisor is advising its hotel customers that they should definitely fine-tune their mobile offerings, but should probably steer clear of mobile apps.

“They can be expensive to create, so only develop an app if you have enough
frequent travelers who’ll use it often enough,” TripAdvisor says, referring to downloadable mobile apps, in a new TripAdvisor for Business guide to mobile marketing.

“With an app, you ask a lot from travelers. First, they have to download the app. Then find it and log in. And then actually take the time to use it. So your app has to be helpful, easy to use and work well enough to justify all that effort.”

To be sure, TripAdvisor is not dispensing this mobile advice for large chains, such as InterContinental Hotels, that have the resources to build and market mobile apps. In fact, TripAdvisor gives high praise in its mobile marketing guide to InterContinental’s Priority Clubs Rewards app.

“Take a look at the Priority Club Rewards iPhone app. It’s highly rated with plenty of positive reviews. Why? Because the app makes it easy to book reservations, keep track of upcoming trips and check on loyalty points. In other words, the things busy, frequent travelers care about most.”

Instead, TripAdvisor is advising its Business Listings customers, likely smaller chains and properties, to stick with either websites with “responsive design” or mobile sites to spearhead their mobile efforts.

With responsive design, the display of a traditional desktop site is reformatted depending on whether the user is accessing the site via desktop, smartphone or tablet.

TripAdvisor points to the Nashville Music City website (displayed at right via an iPad) as one that effectively uses CSS3 (Cascading Style Sheets Level 3) technology to adapt to varying devices.

Among the advantages to this responsive design, TripAdvisor says, is that hotels only have to maintain one version of their website, and having a solitary website is better for SEO than having duplicative content (Google doesn’t like that) in two sites.

On the other hand, mobile websites for smartphones, such as Marriott’s with its “quick links” to reserve a hotel or cancel reservations, are an attractive alternative for hotels because they are easily customizable, relatively cheap to build, and they facilitate quick page downloads, TripAdvisor says.

Mobile sites can be cheaper to build than websites using responsive design, TripAdvisor says, and they can be faster to load because hotels can reduce the size of images. On the other hand, hotels would have to take up the task of maintaining two sites, one for desktops and one for smartphones.

TripAdvisor has been ingratiating itself with hotels on a variety of fronts, including new review collections services and widgets to display a positive review on hotel websites, and this latest mobile marketing guide is part of that effort to enhance TripAdvisor’s relationships with its hotel customers.

Think of TripAdvisor as a resource, and not just as a line item expense in marketing or advertising budgets.

There is self-interest in all of this, of course. When hotels can drive more business by advertising on TripAdvisor, and they see guests book more frequently because of improved mobile services, then this helps TripAdvisor’s advertising and subscriptions business.

Few companies, including TripAdvisor, can be expected to do things purely for altruistic purposes.

Here’s TripAdvisor’s mobile marketing guide for hotels:

Download (PDF, 1.67MB)

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That’s what the people at Kayak, who so feared the impact of Google Flight Search, must be saying as they watch events unfold at TripAdvisor, which likely is a much larger threat to Kayak’s business.

Consider that there is a lot more money in hotel metasearch (TripAdvisor) than flights (Google Flight Search), and Google Hotel Finder has yet to create a ripple.

Now TripAdvisor, which began rolling out hotel metasearch on mobile, tablets and desktops late last year, announced yesterday during its first-quarter earnings call that half of its branded sites around the world now feature hotel metasearch, and that it will be in place on 100% of its sites, with 200 million monthly unique visitors, by June.

The U.S. site isn’t fully rolled out yet, but TripAdvisor sites in the UK, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland and Singapore already have the full treatment.

Once hotel metasearch, which brings TripAdvisor higher CPC rates and conversions than non-transactional traffic, is fully in place, TripAdvisor plans to launch its first global, offline advertising campaign, starting in the U.S. this summer.

Given TripAdvisor’s power and skills, the Kayak folks are definitely watching what TripAdvisor CEO Steve Kaufer yesterday referred to as TripAdvisor’s “big bet.”

“So I’m certainly counting on the fact over the long term, and this is our big bet that we totally believe in, that by delivering this better experience, by delivering the notion that not only can you pick the perfect hotel for you because of all this incredibly rich content, we’ve scoured the Internet, found you the best price as well. And there is in a lot of parts of the world — in many parts of the world a meaningful price discrepancy that we’re now helping users sort through and save them money on the trip.

“So you combine both of those. We get our message out. And yes, there’ll be some short-term revenue pain that kind of we consciously decided we’re willing to take right now because that user experiences is that much better, and we expect to get it back in spades in outgoing years, not part of the revenue-neutral equation.”

Kayak, which likely will officially be in the Priceline fold within a few weeks, barring a regulatory setback, is not about to roll over and play dead, but between TripAdvisor’s entry into hotel metasearch, and Expedia’s controlling stake in Germany hotel-metasearch site Trivago, the competitive set for Kayak is now much more formidable.

Julie Bradley, TripAdvisor’s CFO, noted that the rollout of hotel metasearch, the first-quarter acquisitions of Tiny Post, Jetsetter, CruiseWise, and Niumba, and the offline advertising campaign, may turn TripAdvisor’s EBITDA negative in the third and fourth quarters of 2013.

For people wondering about TripAdvisor’s acquisition blitz and how the company views it, below you’ll find Kaufer’s lengthy answer to a question on the strategy.

It is interesting to note in his answer that Jetsetter won’t be calling the shots during its life under TripAdvisor, with the inference being that TripAdvisor’s SniqueAway business will be taking the lead.

In addition, TripAdvisor, which has acquired “15 to 20″ companies, according to Kaufer, isn’t done buying yet, and adding talent and technology to its Business Listings subscription business is one area that could be ripe for another big buy. Kaufer said:

“TinyPost, we look at and say, “Fun product,” “Already built,” “Mobile and social combined,” and “How cool it is to send a postcard when you’re on the road,” “What a great way to share the TripAdvisor brand with all of your friends in a fun way.” And we have a lot of travelers in market, so could be kind of really nice brand extension, not looking at it from a “I’m going to charge you $1 a postcard.” That’s just not on the table right now.

“Niumba vacation rentals, clearly we’re growing in Vacation Rentals. We’ve done 2 acquisitions. This is the third. And it expands our inventory footprint. Go back to the user perspective. And if you want to rent a place in Spain, we’ve just added a ton of great inventory to help you find the right place. We already have the infrastructure to — we already have the traffic, we already have the infrastructure. So it just kind of fits in with where we’re going.

“CruiseWise and Jetsetter, two acquisitions kind of led by other TripAdvisor Media Group businesses. And so, as running the whole media group, whenever any one of our businesses identifies a company out there that can make their core value proposition bigger, better, scalable or can extend them into a new market that’s particularly interesting, these two aren’t examples of that, but I would generally look favorably upon it because I like to let the — most of the businesses run on their own. So that kind of explains the CruiseWise and the Jetsetter.

“The other way I — the other lens through which I look at acquisitions is really furthering the core TripAdvisor offering globally. So we’d look at either something that adds lots of traffic in a market where we’re not strong in, or something that adds technology or features to something that, in fact, we can roll out globally because, again, we’re trying to leverage our traffic base, our content base, our reach, our membership, and those are pretty powerful assets that, if we brought a technology or a team, we can often make some nice hay with that.

“And then just sort of TripAdvisor for Business as a separate group serving up subscriptions to hoteliers and other folks interested in the — other businesses interested in reaching the eyeballs of travelers, that’s kind of another leg of the company that could be up for acquisitions in the future simply because we have the sales force, we have the traffic and we have the travelers. So maybe, there are some additional products that would fit there.

“In almost all of the acquisitions that we do, talent plays a key role. So it’s not that — obviously, we innovate and we build a lot of stuff ourselves, but we’re certainly not a company known for a “not minted here” situation as I think these folks would make it up to 15 or 20 acquisitions that we’ve done, something like that.”

The post The biggest battle coming in online travel: Tripadvisor Vs. Kayak appeared first on Skift.

TripAdvisor says Madrid-based Niumba, with more than 120,000 properties in Spain, and 230,000 overall, will continue to operate as a separate brand, although its listings will be integrated into TripAdvisor and HolidayLettings.

At the end of 2012, TripAdvisor counted 300,000 vacation rentals in its portfolio. TripAdvisor couldn’t immediately say whether its vacation rental business now offers 530,000 properties as there likely is a good deal of overlap.

The hotel review giant, which recently launched hotel metasearch, has been branching out into vacation rentals since 2008, when it acquired U.S.-based Flipkey. Then came TripAdvisor’s acquisition of HolidayLettings in the UK in 2010.

At the end of 2102, TripAdvisor had access to about 300,000 properties, with this base of rentals boosted by several European vacation rental partnerships forged in 2011. They included partnerships with Interhome of Switzerland, Toprural in Spain, mediavacances.com in France, and Stayz in Australia.

In choosing to acquire Niumba, TripAdvisor has chosen to acquire in lieu of a partnership this time, and will compete head-to-head with HomeAway.es and HomeAway’s Toprural.com in Spain.

TripAdvisor has been on a buying binge since last last year, having acquired Wanderfly, Jetsetter, CruiseWise and Tiny Post.

Who says there’s no money in user-generated content.

The post TripAdvisor acquires Spanish vacation rental site and dramatically boosts portfolio appeared first on Skift.

The streets of Bellagio, along the shores of Italy's Lake Como. Christopher Parkes / Flickr

Yasemin Rosenmaier has been selling homes in northern Italy since 2005 and she’s finding that there’s never been a better time to work for a German broker.

“I’d say 60 percent of our closings are with Germans, which is much higher than in previous years,” Rosenmaier said by telephone from her Engel & Voelkers office in Cernobbio on Lake Como. “Why? Fear of inflation, the uncertainty on the financial markets, fear of what happened in Cyprus,” the latest European country to get an international bailout.

Foreign investment in Italian holiday properties is rising as Germans, Britons and Russians take advantage of a market where locals are struggling to purchase even a first home. Residential sales in the country dropped almost 26 percent last year amid a plunge in mortgage lending, almost two years of recession, and uncertainty surrounding a new tax on primary residences.

Second-home sales to buyers from abroad rose 14 percent last year, with non-Italians spending 2.1 billion euros ($2.8 billion), according to research institute Scenari Immobiliari. Germans, the biggest buyers since 2009, accounted for almost 40 percent of the transactions by foreigners, followed by the British at 18 percent and Russians with 13 percent.

“This is a good time for foreigners to buy,” Francesca Andreini, owner of Case e Ville, a real estate agency based in Siena, Tuscany, said in a telephone interview. “Properties that cost 2.5 million euros have come down to 1.5 million euros due to taxes and the economic downturn.” Prices can drop by as much as 30 percent during negotiations, she said.

Merkel blamed

Germans are increasingly buying property in Italy even as some politicians and the media in the country say that demands for austerity are deepening its economic slump.

Former Italy premier Silvio Berlusconi and Beppe Grillo, an ex-comic who’s now head of the Five Star Movement, an upstart party that grabbed a quarter of the vote in February’s election, have criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s push for austerity within the European Union. Il Giornale, a newspaper owned by Berlusconi’s brother Paolo, last year published a picture showing Merkel raising her right arm in salute with the headline “Quarto Reich” or Fourth Reich.

That didn’t stop Merkel from choosing a hotel on the Italian island of Ischia last month for a vacation. Many of her fellow citizens are following suit with more permanent investments spurred by Europe’s fiscal woes.

Inflation hedge

German demand for holiday homes grew significantly in the past five years, according to a survey conducted in June by Hamburg-based Engel & Voelkers and vacation-rental website HomeAway.com. About 43 percent of the respondents said they consider vacation homes a form of retirement savings and a quarter saw them as a hedge against inflation. Most of the properties are bought in Germany, followed by Spain, Austria and Italy, the survey found.

Italian homes were sold to foreigners for an average of about 500,000 euros last year, according to data compiled by Scenari Immobiliari. That’s a high price for Italians, who on average earn 19,655 euros a year, according to Finance Ministry data, compared with Germans who make 36 percent more, or 26,791 euros.

They’re seeking assets abroad after the European Central Bank’s policy of cutting interest rates to record lows fueled concern about inflation in Germany, even as the economic outlook elsewhere in the euro area worsens. Italy’s economy is set to shrink 1.4 percent this year, according to forecasts from economists compiled by Bloomberg, whereas Germany’s is poised to expand 0.6 percent.

Sales plunged

Real estate sales in Italy plunged 26 percent last year, according to Finance Ministry data. Residential transactions amounted to 88.1 billion euros, Scenari Immobiliari’s research showed.

House prices fell 4.6 percent in the last quarter of 2012 from a year earlier. They’ve dropped 12 percent in real terms from the 2008 peak, reaching levels last seen in mid-2004, according to Bloomberg calculations. Values are likely to fall another 5 percent this year, according to the real estate research unit of the Bologna-based Nomisma institute.

“The decline in sales was a surprise, because we thought we had touched bottom or close to it in 2011,” said Luca Dondi, head of Nomisma’s real estate research unit. “There’s need for more credit from banks; without that, the decline in prices won’t be enough to restart demand.”

Italy’s already weak housing market worsened after former Prime Minister Mario Monti introduced a tax on homes, known as IMU, in December 2011 as part of a package of measures aimed at cutting Europe’s second-highest debt to avoid a possible bailout.

Tax repeal

Repealing the tax was a central part of a campaign by Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party, which won a blocking minority in the Senate in the February elections and became part of the governing coalition with Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s Democratic Party last month.

While Letta has agreed to suspend the next payment of the levy due in June and work with parliament to review the tax, Berlusconi has already threatened to withdraw his support for the government if the tax isn’t abolished.

“Letta has given a very positive signal for the property sector,” Paolo Righi, head of Italy’s FIAIP real estate federation, said in a May 3 phone interview. “Now he needs to put words into action”

Homes acquired with a mortgage fell to 56 percent in the fourth quarter from about 64 percent a year earlier and 73 percent in the second quarter of 2011, according to Bank of Italy data. It’s also taking longer to sell a home, with the average duration rising to 8.5 months at the end of 2012 from 7.6 months in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to Bank of Italy data.

Mortgage lending

New mortgage lending dropped about 42 percent last year, according to a report published by CRIF and MutuiSupermarket.it. Italian banks have curbed lending as the euro-region’s third biggest economy remains mired in its longest recession in two decades and Italian unemployment has stayed near a 20-year high, or more than 11 percent.

Homeowners are also increasingly struggling to repay loans. The default rate for residential mortgage-backed securities rose to 2.8 percent in February from 2.6 percent a year earlier, according to Moody’s Investors Service, which tracks 83.4 billion of the transactions.

Still, the country had a homeownership rate of about 73 percent in 2011, higher than the European Union average of 67 percent, according to research company Eurostat.

Greater choice

That all means lower prices and greater choice for Germans and other foreigners seeking a Mediterranean retreat. Buyers are showing interest in more expensive properties than they had sought in the past, according to Scenari Immobiliari.

Germans are becoming more savvy about the country’s market, choosing homes in regions with a similar countryside to the popular Tuscany region for lower prices, said Marco Rognini, group sales manager for Engel & Voelkers in Italy. Tuscany and the Adriatic coast remain the most popular destinations, he said.

The towns and villages around Lake Como have long been favored by the wealthy, and the area’s best-known homeowner is Hollywood actor George Clooney, who has his own villa. While Engel & Voelkers’ clients may have other reasons for buying in Italy, Rosenmaier said, some things never change.

“Why in Italy?” she said. “Italy is the country of sunshine. Italy is not Germany.”

With assistance from Giovanni Salzano in Rome and Sonia Sirletti in Milan. Editors: Ross Larsen, Andrew Blackman, Pierre Paulden. To contact the reporters on this story: Alessandra Migliaccio in Rome at amigliaccio@bloomberg.net; Chiara Vasarri in Rome at cvasarri@bloomberg.net; Dalia Fahmy in Berlin at dfahmy1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net; Jerrold Colten at jcolten@bloomberg.net; Andrew Blackman at ablackman@bloomberg.net; Rob Urban at robprag@bloomberg.net. 

The post The Germans snapping up vacation homes in Italy that Italians can’t afford appeared first on Skift.

Alarmed at the number of tourists now choosing to rent accommodation privately instead of through hotels and registered tour companies, Spain’s parliament is poised to pass a new law that will restrict the right of home owners to engage in holiday-lettings.

The new legislation has been called a “death blow” to a growing sector that contributes hugely to Spain’s economy and provides many hard-up families with a lifeline at a time of economic hardship.

The move means it will be illegal to rent out property through websites unless it has the correct licence and has been approved by regional tourism authorities.

“This is an attack on civil liberties, limiting the use of private property and the freedom of tourists to choose how they want to spend their holidays,” warned Asotur, the tourist rental management association in Madrid.

Until now Spanish law has enshrined the right of private home owners to rent their property to tourists on a “short-term” seasonal basis as long as they declare revenue.

The provision enshrined in the existing law will be removed however and responsibility will be devolved to Spain’s 17 regional governments, some of which will require licences to be sought by those wanting to rent to tourists.

It will mean home owners will have to ensure their properties conform to the same regulations already imposed on hotels and campsites and provide a minimum standard of quality as well as meet health and safety requirements.

“The passing of this law could deal a death blow to a growing sector that contributes enormously to the economy,” says David Tornos, president of Asotur.

It has been welcomed by hoteliers who have long felt private renters pose unfair competition in the sector.

“Of course tourists are welcome to come and stay in holiday apartments,” said Ramon Estalella, secretary general of the Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Acommodation (CEHAT). “But what we object to is the huge number staying at places that fall outside regulations and fiscal obligations to the detriment of the regional economy as a whole.”

The move is also widely seen as an attempt to limit the black market in tourist rentals making it easier for authorities to detect tax evaders.

Spain’s Finance Ministry estimated that undeclared revenue from rentals of private homes amounted to some 2.9 billion euros (£2.44 billion) in 2010, a significant proportion of which came from holiday lets.

With more than 6.2 million unemployed in Spain, many families survive by letting out one room of their house to tourists or move in with relatives for short periods during high-season to make extra cash.

According to a recent report by La Caixa, 2012 saw some 1.1 billion overnight stays by tourists in Spain with more than two-thirds estimated to have taken place in unregistered accommodation.

In Catalonia alone there are an estimated one million beds in unregulated accommodation compared to some 600,000 in registered tourist establishments.

One homeowner in Barcelona said she feared the new law would put an end to a business that has kept her afloat after losing her job three years ago.

“I could have rented out a room in my flat in order to meet mortgage repayments but instead I decided to move in with my mother and offer my entire flat for short term stays,” said Mireia who advertises on a number of websites aimed at foreign tourists.

“But with the new law I don’t think I could get the licence because my flat is in an old building and won’t meet the regulations so it will be illegal and I’ll have to stop.”

The post Spain may restrict vacation rentals for non-licensed properties appeared first on Skift.

It’s a gamble. In order to better foster a service where users are on their best behavior and feel comfortable trusting each other to stay in their homes, Airbnb will risk the ire of privacy defenders and the loss of users that comes from the friction of a more complicated registration process.

“We are drawing a line here and saying we don’t stand for anonymous experiences,” Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said in an interview last week at the company’s San Francisco headquarters. “We don’t think you can be trusted in a place where you’re anonymous.”

The post Airbnb wants to see your ID: Users will need to confirm real-world identities appeared first on Skift.

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View of PCVST from across the East River. Dan DeLuca / Flickr

TripAdvisor-owned vacation rental site FlipKey is dipping its toes into the New York market, but it may get them bit off before it gets a firm footing.

[Updated with quote from FlipKey, below]

Unlike the apartment share site Airbnb, which specializes in urban rentals, FlipKey has traditionally kept to vacation and second-home markets like Orlando, where local laws don’t restrict activity to such an extent. Despite the ubiquity of illegal sublets available on sites like Airbnb, New York City bans almost all cases of short-term rentals for less than 30 days.

According to the management of New York City’s largest rental complex, Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town, FlipKey is targeting residents with letters encouraging them to list their units on the vacation rental site.

In response to the FlipKey letter, management sent out an email today and posted a message on its Facebook page to warn residents of the ramifications they could face if caught subletting their units as short-term rentals:

Dear Residents,

We have recently been made aware of an advertisement sent to all residents by FlipKey encouraging you to rent your apartments while you are out of town.

Please remember that apartment rentals for fewer than 30 days are prohibited under NYC law and use of this service is a violation of your lease and your tenancy. Furthermore, short term rentals such as these are harmful to the PCVST community and negatively impact your neighbors.

Residents who are found to illegally rent their apartments in this manner are subject to penalties including lease termination and eviction.

PCVST is also exploring legal options against the company to ensure that FlipKey does not operate in our community.

Sublet requests and roommate changes are allowable but are subject to the rules in your lease and require Management’s prior approval.

In addition to the threat of eviction, fines from the city run into five figures, depending on the number of violations.

In response to questions from Skift about this particular matter, FlipKey’s COO and co-founder Jeremiah Gall responded, “FlipKey works with verified short term rental owners and suppliers who certify to FlipKey that they comply with local laws and regulations. When we are notified regarding non-compliance with these local rules and regulations, we will investigate appropriately.”

In February, a coalition of vacation rental sites led by HomeAway launched the Short Term Rental Advocacy Center. Its stated goal is protect the rights of providers, who seek to rent properties for 30 days or less, from restrictive local laws. The group says it has chapters in about 10 cities.

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