Amsterdam Using Airbnb Listings To Identify Illegal Hotels

An anonymous reader writes "In a move that might dampen the popularity of Airbnb's site for Amsterdam, the city government is now using the accommodation listing service as a source of tips about illegal rental property. 'Airbnb is never a smoking gun,' said Jan-Jaap Eikelboom, spokesman for the city of Amsterdam, regarding use of the service. But the government does use Airbnb and its competitors to compare its own nuisance data with street listings on sites like Airbnb, and has been doing so for a while, he said. This combined information can come in handy when investigating suspicious buildings and can help with spotting illegal activity, he said."

Comments

Are we all supposed to know what Airbnb is?

[nuckfuts]

I for one have never heard of it.

Re:Are we all supposed to know what Airbnb is?

[DarwinSurvivor]

The submitter could have done that just as easily and saved hundreds of people the effort.

Re:Are we all supposed to know what Airbnb is?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's really not rocket science. An "illegal hotel" is (of course) an unlicensed hotel.

The reasons these are of concern is primarily safety. These kind of illegal hotels often violate basic fire safety rules, and are death-traps in case of a fire. Remember that most buildings in the inner city of Amsterdam are old (2-3 centuries old is not exceptional). If you cram dozens of people in such buildings without basic fire safety precautions and safety exits, that's a recipe for disaster. Indeed, people have died in fires in illegal hotels over the past years.

In addition, these locations are crime magnets.

So, is it so odd that the Amsterdam municipality wants to get rid of them? Me thinks not.

Re:Are we all supposed to know what Airbnb is?

[leuk_he]

That is exactly what the officail stance is...

Volkskrant (dutch)

Taxes, fire safety, and illegal rent.
Illegal rent: social rented space that is sub-rented.