Airbnb and Barcelona agree to work together on ‘bad actors’

Airbnb and Barcelona City Hall have said they will work together to tackle 'bad actors’ in the city, and to provide legal certainty to hosts renting out rooms.

The news comes after a meeting was held last week between the two, where Airbnb shared stories from 532 local hosts who rely on sharing their home to boost their income, with up to a quarter saying that this has helped them avoid eviction or foreclosure.

“We believe there is a big difference between someone occasionally sharing their home and a professional operator running a business,” Patrick Robinson, Director of Public Policy, Airbnb, told Cities Today.

Robinson said that unlike other cities, Barcelona doesn’t have rules for lo...