zlacker

>>voisin+(OP)
Good. Tourists should sleep in hotels and locals should sleep in their flats.

Platforms like AirBnB only put oil in the fire when it comes to housing crises.

>>deutsc+82
It's interesting hotels that feel like an AirBnB don't really exist. Even though the professional AirBnB hosts are doing all the functions that hotels do. Why not the reverse.

>>abdull+44
I don't know if you meant specifically in Barcelona, but I'm in just such a unit in Montreal as I type this. Physically it's a 2BR apartment, with its own washer/dryer and full (though small) kitchen, but it's booked and run as a hotel. There's hotel-like housekeeping, not a note hidden somewhere that says I have to clean up myself before leaving or incur a hefty extra cleaning fee (on top of the one that's already buried elsewhere in the fine print). There's not much of a lobby, no concierge, no room-service menu, so it's not a four star hotel, but I'd still say it's a hotel that feels like an AirBnB and I think places like this are rapidly taking over that part of the market.

The move that Barcelona just made might actually be kind of like closing the barn door after the horses have escaped. Good political theater, I guess, but not really moving things in a direction they weren't already going.

>>notaco+gg
It's a little unclear to me why this category wouldn't escape regulation, since it's clearly just an entire apartment building where they converted each apartment to an Airbnb for economies of scale around cleaning, maintenance, etc. They're displacing just as many residents as the same number of equivalent Airbnbs spread around a neighborhood. Whereas most traditional hotels feel purpose built for that and couldn't easily be apartments.

>>senord+mI
When talking about a matter of law or regulation, phrases like "feel purpose built" don't carry a lot of weight. Looking at legal definitions of "hotel" across many jurisdictions, it looks like a lot of of them center on the concept of temporary or transient usage. Intent to operate on that basis also shows up fairly often too. Here's a handy compilation (NB not the only source I consulted).

https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/hotel

Note that style of construction does not seem to be a factor. Many hotels offer freestanding villas or cabins, practically small (sometimes even not so small) houses, and have for a long time. Chains like Residence Inn, Homewood Suites, or Extended Stay America have likewise offered hotel accommodation in the physical form of an apartment for almost as long. Personally, I think the inclusion of housekeeping services during a stay is a big differentiator, perhaps because it demonstrates intent to serve a transient clientele. By contrast, a "dual use" house or apartment that is owner occupied part of the time and rented out part of the time does not show such intent. Neither do the illegal sublets that are behind many Airbnb rentals.

In other words, the physical similarity between a suite hotel (like the one I'm in) and apartments doesn't seem determinative. Rather, what seems to matter is the financial difference between a nightly (or perhaps weekly) guest vs. a longer term lessee. I'm not saying whether it's right or wrong, but it does explain why different types of levels of regulation are applicable to each.

P.S. The ones "escaping regulation" are the Airbnbs, not the hotels. Hotels are subject to much more stringent standards wrt safety, sanitation, privacy, billing, etc.