STR Unpacked

This Wednesday, the one and only Sarah Nan DuPre (Along with Leo Walton ) are MC'ing the main stage at the Short Stay Summit . Last month she sat down with me to dig into one of the most uncomfortable conversations in our industry: Are short-term rentals actually causing the housing crisis in Europe or is the data telling a different story? Sarah sees more STR data than almost anyone on the planet...

It capped them by population. Here's the new rule, approved this month: → Holiday homes can't exceed 2% of housing stock in any neighbourhood → Total tourist accommodation can't exceed 8% of registered residents per district → Only 15% of holiday accommodation can sit on ground floors Every regulation we've seen until now targets the same lever nights. 30 in Amsterdam (dropping to 15 in some neigh...

In 33 days, Europe flips the switch. On 20 May, EU Regulation 2024/1028 goes live. Every STR platform must share monthly data. With all 27 member states. Listings. Registrations. Nights booked. No more estimates. No more platform-commissioned studies. Real numbers, every month. Here's why that matters: → Lisbon has already lost ~40% of its STR permits → Barcelona is phasing out STRs by 2028 → Amst...

26,000 registered STRs across the country. By spring 2026 under 90,000. And buried in the detail is a rule that should terrify every STR investor in Southern Europe: Buy a licensed property in Lisbon's historic centre. Sell it. The licence dies. The new buyer gets nothing. No grandfathering. No transfer. Gone. This isn't a blip. It's systematic. Missing insurance, ignored regulations, inactive lis...

The government promised a mandatory national registration scheme for short-term lets in England by April 2026. No system. No guidance. No enforcement mechanism. But the regulatory direction is clear and it's moving fast: ✅ A new C5 planning use class separates short-lets from residential homes ✅ The Furnished Holiday Let tax regime was scrapped last year ✅ Local authorities can already block ST...

Short Stay Summit. 22 April. Old Billingsgate. 1,500+ operators, investors, platforms and policymakers. Airbnb, Booking.com , VRBO, Guesty and Hostaway all in the room. The theme is "Tourism Reimagined" and with the EU's mandatory data-sharing regulation live in just 36 days, the conversations this year are going to matter. Sessions covering: → The state of the STR market → Regulation and what com...

And the timing is deliberate with the EU's data-sharing regulation kicking in on 20 May, they're making their case now. The headline stat: more than 8 in 10 Europeans have needed flexible housing at some point not for tourism, but for work, study, or medical care. Their pushback on the housing crisis narrative is equally pointed. Regularly-let entire-home listings represent just 0.13% of EU housin...

Forget the tax changes for a second. Florence, Bologna and Rome are all preparing new local STR regulations expected in the coming weeks. And the template they're following is alarming for operators. Emilia-Romagna's new law doesn't just cap nights or raise taxes. It requires properties used for short-term rental to formally change their urban planning classification. That affects marketability. T...

New data published this week shows demand is shifting from short-term rentals to hotels in central Barcelona — as enforcement tightens and supply contracts ahead of the 2028 licence phase-out. Here's the timeline most operators forget: → 2014: No new STR licences issued in city centre → 2024: City announces full phase-out of all ~10,000 existing licences by 2028 → March 2025: Spain's Constitutiona...

Key lockboxes on every door. Residents describing their building as "a living hell." What they found: a block full of illegal Airbnbs. Fortune's new investigation makes it clear Paris is ground zero for Europe's STR crackdown. And the city isn't bluffing. → The annual cap is now 90 nights (down from 180) → France's supreme court ruled platforms are legally liable for illegal listings → Two hosts w...

Mykonos. Santorini. The Cyclades. Under the new Special Spatial Planning Framework, Greece is moving to block new STR permits in its most tourism-saturated destinations and cut permitted bed capacity by up to 30%. Here's what makes this different from a night cap: In restricted zones, the STR registration number doesn't transfer on sale or inheritance. The permit dies with the transaction. New own...

Eurostat's full-year data puts the figure at 951.6 million guest nights — up 11% on 2024 and 32% on 2023 — booked via Airbnb, Booking.com , and Expedia. Eunews The demand story is undeniable. July 2025 alone hit 148.5 million guest nights — a 10% year-on-year increase. Eurostat But the timing is worth noting. This record demand arrives just weeks before the EU's new data-sharing regulation kicks i...

Short Stay Summit 2026 hits Old Billingsgate on April 22nd — and it lands 28 days before the EU's data-sharing regulation kicks in. From May 20th, platforms must report host activity to national authorities monthly. Every local cap becomes enforceable. Every unlicensed listing becomes visible. Amsterdam just halved its annual night cap to 15 nights — effective today. Barcelona is counting down to...

As of April 1st, hosts in the city centre can rent to tourists for a maximum of 15 nights a year . That's it. Not 30. Not 60. Fifteen. The cap covers all 10 Centrum neighbourhoods plus De Pijp ProofSnap — and there's a tier above this one that allows a full neighbourhood ban . The cost pressure is running alongside it. A national VAT hike pushes the total tax burden on visitors to roughly 33.5%. N...

The city's deputy mayor for housing has put a number on it — 20,000 apartments he wants reclaimed from the short-term rental market. Investigators are already knocking on doors. Literally. The message from City Hall? "We want to show that from now on, it is not a great investment." That's not a warning. That's a policy statement. And from 20 May, it gets harder to hide. The EU's new data-sharing r...

Madrid's High Court ruled this week that the platform must pay in full now while its appeal works through the courts. The fine covers 65,000+ listings operating without valid licences or with false registration data. This isn't an isolated case. Spain has already seen a 12.5% drop in registered tourist flats year-on-year. Barcelona is winding down all tourist apartment licences by 2028. And in 8 w...

In Barcelona, authorities are keeping steady pressure on illegal short-term rentals as the city moves toward eliminating all tourist apartment licenses by 2028. There’s no brand-new rule this week—but that’s the point. Inspections, fines, and listing removals are already shaping the market in real time. The planned phase-out—impacting ~10,000 units—is changing behaviour now: • Investors are reasse...

Europe just flipped the switch on STR enforcement and most operators don’t see it coming. We’re moving from: ❌ Complaint-driven enforcement ➡️ To ✅ Automated, data-driven enforcement at scale Here’s what’s happening: • Platforms will share host and listing data with authorities • Registration numbers will be mandatory across the EU • Cities can finally enforce rules across entire markets not jus...

Europe STR regulation is no longer “coming” it’s landing. 🇪🇺 EU-wide rules go live May 2026 → mandatory registration + platform data sharing 🏨 Industry groups (HOTREC, EFFAT) are pushing for stricter enforcement now 🇮🇪 Ireland moving toward effective bans in rent-pressure zones This isn’t fragmented anymore it’s coordinated. 👉 Operators: the shift is from rules on paper to real enforcement The e...

Barcelona enforcement isn’t breaking news it’s an escalation. But here’s the upside: 📈 Strong forward bookings across Southern Europe 📊 Increasing regulatory clarity at EU level 🏆 Less competition from non-compliant listings This market is evolving not declining. 👉 The winners? Compliant, professional operators. Watch the full update.

The EU is working on a concept often dubbed “EU Inc” 👇 → Easier cross-border business setup → Less admin in multiple countries → Digital identity + compliance standardisation For STR operators, this could unlock true multi-country scaling —without the current legal and tax complexity. It won’t remove local STR rules… But it could remove a lot of the friction in expanding across borders. The next...

New reporting from ITB Berlin is putting Airbnb’s stance back in focus: 👉 Even in cities with strict STR rules… rents are still rising That challenges the core argument behind many restrictions. At the same time: 🇪🇺 EU rules (2026) = registration + data sharing 🏙️ Cities = gearing up for stronger enforcement So what’s happening now? 📊 Regulators are building systems to enforce 📣 Platforms are c...

t’s not about demand. It’s about clarity . Across parts of Europe, the trend is shifting from: ❌ vague, confusing rules ➡️ to ✅ clearer, more structured frameworks Better registration systems Defined categories for rentals More predictable compliance paths That might not sound exciting but for operators, it’s huge. Less guesswork = lower risk = easier scaling. Clarity is emerging and that’s good...

Everyone in short-term rentals talks about direct bookings. But here’s the reality: most of them are doing it wrong. In this episode, Ben is joined by Boostly founder Mark Simpson to break down what’s actually happening with direct bookings in 2026 beyond the hype. You’ll learn: Why 65% of direct bookings start on Airbnb & OTAs The “billboard effect” and how to use it to your advantage How gue...

The Middle East conflict is already shifting global travel patterns: ➡️ Tourists avoiding Gulf destinations ➡️ Demand redirecting into Europe ➡️ Spain seeing early upside This is real, short-term demand shock—not organic growth. And here’s the catch 👇 More demand = more political pressure in high-tourism markets. Daily takeaway: Geopolitics is now shaping your bookings and your regulatory risk.