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.

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

[PopeRatzo]

No, that's just a strawman created by left wing ideologues. In fact, what's objectionable about these kinds of so-called "health and safety laws" is that

We've really gotten to the point where food inspectors are part of the world collectivist left-wing conspiracy?

Too much AM radio.

Don't rent vacation rentals in Amsterdam!

[Anonymous Coward]

Three years ago I set up a group trip to Amsterdam. Two weeks, 16 people, everything paid for up-front (food, transportation, accommodations). When I take groups on trips to large cities, I choose apartments because you get to live amongst the locals instead of being in a hotel where you get 'American-style service and amenities' (I can get that in America, thank you very much). I took a special trip ahead to set everything up and check everything out. Seven luxury apartments all in the historical center, all beautiful... everything checked out to my liking. I rented from three different agencies (web-based), all of which I visited in-person on my scouting trip and everything seemed legit.

When we arrived four months later, I was warned by our drivers that he needed help to sneak the luggage into each apartment so nobody might see us. Turns out, it's illegal to rent apartments in the city of Amsterdam. Foreigners (and even locals) had been buying up properties at a rapid rate and then renting them out to tourists for huge profits. After signing away over US $70k for the accommodations, I found out we were all breaking the law, and worse, if we were found out we would all be kicked out immediately with no refunds. I have arranged many trips like this to different countries, and I was completely blind-sided.

Thankfully nobody was vacated from their apartment, but I must say it added a great deal of stress to the trip!

In a city where there isn't enough property to go around for the locals, having the city converted into makeshift hotels and apartment rentals creates a problem for the local population. Prices soar as the supply dries up and people are forced to move outside the city center and commute when (by design) they shouldn't have to.

It also kills the flavor of the community. Anyone who has ever spent any time in Prague can attest to this. Almost no locals live in the heart of the city - everything has been converted to hotels and vacation rentals. I talked to dozens of Czechs in the two weeks I was there and only two of them lived in the city. To get a feel for the local people you have to leave the heart of the city (beautiful but total tourist trap).

So I can see why Amsterdam has taken these measures, I just wish they were communicating it better to travelers.

Re:Don't rent vacation rentals in Amsterdam!

[Solandri]

if it's so good business renting them, you'd think they'd accommodate for it and just tax it accordingly.

Normally I'd agree with the free market approach. But having visited Amsterdam, I can see why they wouldn't want to accommodate it. Pretty much the entire city can be traversed by walking/biking (there are a *lot* of bikes there). If they want to keep it that way and slow the growth of the city, then they want to maximize utilization of the buildings that are there.

Tourists rental apartments which sit empty half the time waste space, and drive up prices for residents by adding tourists to the demand side of the equation. I can see the city's logic here. Divide the real estate economy into two separate groups - residents and tourists. Confine the tourists to hotels so the market prices for tourists' housing expenses are decoupled from the market prices for residents' housing expenses. That way as more or fewer tourists visit, the price for hotel rooms will rise or fall. But they won't affect the price of residential apartments in the city.

The market approach solves the higher housing prices by sprawling the city outward, expanding its size. Real estate on the periphery has (initially) lower prices, thus encouraging people to move outwards rather than stay in the center. But much of the charm of Amsterdam is in how accessible the entire city is by foot or bike, and the lack of skyscrapers. If the city wants to preserve that, then segregating tourist housing from residential housing makes sense.

Re:Don't rent vacation rentals in Amsterdam!

[OverlordQ]

After signing away over US $70k for the accommodations, I found out we were all breaking the law, and worse, if we were found out we would all be kicked out immediately with no refunds.

If you're going to play travel agent, knowing the local laws is usually a first step.