Many popular tourist destinations in Spain have seen demonstrations with locals protesting against property rental giant, Airbnb.
When the Spanish public demonstrates, the Spanish government often hears their plea and in this case, Spain has levied a fine of €64 million ($75 million) on Airbnb for advertising unlicensed properties. Moreover, some of the properties currently advertised on their website were banned from being rented.
According to the Consumer Affairs Ministry, the fine cannot be appealed. However, Airbnb did say it intends to challenge the fine in court. In the meanwhile, the rental platform has to withdraw adverts promoting unlicensed properties.
As noted by Euronews, Spain is renowned as being one of the most visited countries in the world and enjoys a buoyant tourism economy. However, this has fueled concerns over unaffordable housing for locals, as high tourist demand raises the price of housing, pushing local residents out of the market.
Consumer Rights Minister Pablo Bustinduy said in a statement, “There are thousands of families who are living on the edge due to housing, while a few get rich with business models that expel people from their homes.”
Nearly 3,000 people rallied against mass tourism in Barcelona. The conversion of many homes to holiday apartments has driven up rents by almost 70 percent. pic.twitter.com/x9fIaQXlY4
— DW News (@dwnews) July 7, 2024
However, Airbnb stated it was “confident that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs’ actions are contrary to applicable regulations in Spain.” Moreover, a spokesperson said that since short term rental regulations in Spain changed in July, the rental platform was “closely collaborating with Spain’s Ministry of Housing to support the enforcement of the new national registration system.”
Like many popular tourism countries, the government in Spain is concerned over how short term vacation rentals can change a neighborhood, fueled by a transient population of tourists. Recently, the European nation has been fighting a battle over thousands of Airbnb listings, banning them and restricting how many properties a company can advertise. In May 2025, many demonstrations were held ahead of the busy summer season.
According to the Spanish government, 65,122 adverts on Airbnb breach consumer rules, including the promotion of unlicensed properties, and properties where the license number doesn’t match those on official registers.
Writing on social media platform Bluesky, Bustinduy said, “We’ll prove it as many times as necessary: no company, no matter how big or powerful, is above the law. Even less so when it comes to housing.”
Nadie está al margen de la ley.
El Ministerio de Consumo sanciona con 64 millones a AIRBNB por publicitar pisos turísticos ilegales.
Ningún beneficio de ningún buitre vale más que el derecho a la vivienda.
👏🏽Adelante, Pablo Bustinduy.
— Rita Maestre (@ritamaestre.bsky.social) December 15, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Spain isn’t the only destination placing heavy restrictions on Airbnb, and several popular tourist cities are taking action, including Barcelona, Berlin, Paris, New York City and even San Francisco, where Airbnb was founded.
While the website was launched in 2007, it became hugely popular around 2014 for tourists seeking cheap accommodations without the taxes imposed on hotels. As anyone on the website can become a “host,” many people chose to make extra cash renting out their spare rooms. However, many cities have already placed limits on this type of rental, after complaints of noisy house parties became a major issue with local residents.
