Starting this month one of Spain’s top destinations will be increasing tourist tax to €3.25 per night, a 125% increase since 2021.
For a family of four staying a week in the city this means adding another €91 – around £78 – to your expenses. But your money doesn’t always end up in the right hands.
Just six months ago I was working in an office of a tourist-apartment-rental company in Barcelona. One of my jobs was to collect tourist tax from guests before they checked in. People would pay it, most happily, as they looked forward to their holiday in the sun and sangria-soaked city.
It was a few months into the job when I began to realise that the money wasn’t going to the tax office, it was going straight into the back pocket of the CEO. He owned over seventy apartments across the city that would often be at 100% occupancy, meaning he was raking in a cool five-figure bonus each month.
Famed for its unique architecture, beaches and nightlife, Barcelona attracts over 30 million tourists per year. To operate as tourist accommodation in the city you need a license, which thanks to Spanish bureaucracy, is notoriously hard to come by. Some tourist rental companies get around this by claiming they operate as short-term rentals. To keep the city hall quiet, they draw up fake contracts with tenants who are actually living somewhere outside of Spain.
One month’s rent in the city averages at just over €1000. The average cost of a one-night hotel stay was recorded at €188 in February this year, meaning companies can earn about 140% more by renting to tourists.
Illegal tourist rentals have become a real problem in the city that has worsened in recent years as landlords try to make up their losses post-covid. Ultimately it’s the locals that pay the price as they watch the buildings in their neighbourhoods turn into apartments designed specifically for tourists, which raises rental prices and has the potential to push them out of their homes.
But locals are fighting back. Over the course of the three months I worked in the office, there were multiple occasions where it was vandalised. We’d show up in the mornings to find someone had spray painted things like ‘go home’ and ‘fuck Airbnb’ across the front door. One time a small army of neighbours came banging aggressively on the windows and the police were called.
Left to right: 'GO HOME', 'especuladores' (translates to speculators- term used by neighbourhood protest groups to criticise the purchase of buildings by tourist investors), a sign on a building purchased by a tourist investment company reading 'Families in this building are victims of violent vultures landlord harassment'.
So, the city loses out on the tax to keep the streets clean and safe, locals are being pushed out of their homes, and you’re unknowingly making the few greedy rich even richer…
Here's how to avoid adding to the problem by making sure where you’re booking is legal:
Airbnb is perhaps the biggest culprit in facilitating illegal tourist apartments.
When looking at a listing, make sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page (underneath the map) to see an overview of the host's profile. On the right hand side you should see a registration number.
Airbnb is required to confirm legitimacy of registration numbers. Where you should be worried is if the registration number is listed as 'exempt'.
If this is the case, you should message your prospective host. Exemption could be because they are renting out a spare room in their home, which should be made obvious in the listing description. If it's a private apartment however, don't be afraid to double check. You are well within your rights to ask to see a valid registration document.
It isn't required for listings to post their registration number on Booking.com, but illegal accommodation tend to have over descriptive names like ‘charming sunlit balcony apartment’ or ‘central studios & apartments Barcelona’ - rather than a company name of a hotel or business.
If the former is the case, Google the name. At the very least you should expect to see the accommodation listed on other large booking platforms like Expedia or Kayak, a Google review page, or a website. If none of these things come up, best to stay away.
Registration numbers are listed under the policies tab, scroll down to important information, you need to know.
Other red flags to look out for:
If a host asks you to send tourist tax via Paypal or another online payment system like Revolut or Venmo prior to your arrival.
Any legal hotel or apartment will collect the tax from you upon or after check in. Some might add the tax on to your booking cost so you won't necessarily see the charge.
Make sure to always Google the name of the place before you book. Illegal tourist rentals want to keep a low profile so they'll be missing a website or Google review page. Any legally registered accommodation will have some sort of online presence.
Once you've booked responsibly, get ready to enjoy one of Europe's most beautiful cities with peace of mind.
Comments