- The European Union is examining the possibility of applying stricter regulation to the accommodation reservation company Airbnb and assesses whether to consider this type of platform as a kind of guardian.
- Europe paves the way for its Digital Markets Law which is expected to be ready by December.
The European Union examines the regulation that it will apply to the accommodation reservation company Airbnb and paves the way to implement a much stricter regulation that will be framed under its Digital Markets Law.
Europe is preparing to introduce the first regulation in 20 years that will affect companies doing business on the internet. With regard to Airbnb, Brussels is evaluating whether to consider these types of platforms as a kind of guardian, taking into account both their number of users and their income.
The new Digital Markets legislation, which is expected to be ready by early December, intends for these companies to be seen as gatekeepers. Based on this new regulation, they could be forced to share their customers’ data with other smaller competitors or prohibit them from giving preferential treatment to their own products or services.
What is not clear, yet, is whether these criteria will apply to the largest platforms, such as Google or Amazon, or whether the measure will be extended to 20 companies. Airbnb would be on this list for its direct impact on the rental market, in the same way as its rival, Booking.com, which would also be considered a gatekeeper.
The truth is that the hotel industry has been affected by the coronavirus due to the fall in foreign tourism and demands, even more strongly, that stricter regulation be applied to online booking platforms such as Airbnb or Booking.
According to data from the analytics firm Transparent that analyzes vacation rental listings from around the world, more than half of the houses that offer short-term stays are on Airbnb, 37% are on Booking and 22% on Expedia.
For its part, Airbnb finalizes its listing before the end of the year, with a valuation of billions of dollars: “Travel is a competitive industry and we do not believe that Airbnb, or the sectors in which we operate, has heightened concerns the Commission has identified in other companies. Competition in the travel sector has brought significant benefits for European consumers in terms of choice, access and lower prices, ”the company stressed.