Airbnb in the historic center of Madrid

Is Airbnb affecting the economy of Madrid? What criteria do Airbnb hosts have to follow to rent properties to tourists? Find out the answers below.

When you’re going on a vacation, there are two main types of experiences you can get, depending on the type of accommodation you choose:

 

• Booking a hotel room – in which case you leave all “household chores” to the hotel staff, including cleaning the room, preparing the meals and so on.
• Booking an accommodation via Airbnb – in which case you may have to do some of the household chores yourself, such as preparing a specific type of meal if you want to surprise the group you are traveling with.

 

Airbnb is one of the most popular online platforms that allow you to book accommodations in regular homes around the world. Most of the times, those accommodations are the very properties that some people live in when there are no tourists to book them. This is basically the greatest difference between staying at a hotel and staying in a regular apartment when on holiday. And probably the biggest advantage as well, if you are the type of traveler that wants to get a glimpse of the way locals live in that area.

In some cases, you may share the apartment with the house owner, while there are also cases when you can book accommodations entirely for yourself. In either situation, there’s one big opportunity you should not miss here: to ask the host about some “inside tips”, certain places to visit that are better known by the locals and less promoted in tourist brochures.

Airbnb in Madrid

If you’re planning to visit Madrid for instance, you should know that there are plenty of places available for rent on Airbnb and the hosts are waiting for you to push that “Book now” button. There were some people claiming that Airbnb may affect the economy in the capital of Spain, in the sense that it impacts the prices of homes designed for long-term tenants. For this reason, numerous local concerns arose in the past period.

The truth is that, according to a report published by Airbnb several months ago, “experts around the world agree that Airbnb has no significant impact on housing availability”. In Madrid, for instance, in 2017, about 0.3% of the entire housing stock in the city was booked for more than 90 nights via Airbnb. The amount of empty housing units in the city represents about 10% (about 153,100 more exactly) of the entire housing stock. Thus, as it was also mentioned in the report, “The scale of Airbnb in Madrid is too small to have a material effect on housing.”

Airbnb criteria for a responsible host in Spain

If you think that renting your house via Airbnb is an easy task, think that twice. In Madrid, for example, there are some specific criteria that all hosts need to meet in order to be able to rent their homes via the online platform.

• City regulations – this is the first thing that every host has to be up to date with before renting their homes to tourists. Even though you may find some information related to city regulations on the official Airbnb website, it is best that you check it in more than one place to be sure it is accurate.
• Security – there are certain emergency procedures you need to take care of before becoming an Airbnb host. You should tell your guests from the very beginning where the closest hospital or health center is, as well as provide them with another method of contacting you in case of emergency. Make sure you have a first-aid kit available at the rented property, a fire alarm and a carbon monoxide detector installed. Put a map in your apartment showing any emergency exit. Establish a limit of guests to rent your apartment to at once. Make sure the house is properly ventilated and it is safe for children too.
• Neighbors – in order to affect the neighbors as little as possible, you, as a responsible Airbnb host, should present your guests the rules of the community areas from the very beginning. If you don’t want your guests to smoke inside the apartment, make sure you put up some posters to kindly remind them about this aspect. If there is a parking area around, present your guests its regulations. Make it clear from the start whether or not you allow guests with pets or babies, or any parties to be held. For this, Airbnb has created a special section called “House rules” where you can mention all these aspects so that guests are aware of them from the start.
• Permissions – who should you notify about your plans to host on Airbnb? First of all, the association of owners to make sure that this service is not prohibited. If you have any roommates staying in the same property that you intend to rent, it is best to tell them about your intentions and even write an agreement with them, explaining to them how often you plan to host and other essential details. Additionally, make your neighbors aware of your hosting intentions too.
• Local regulations – it is essential to check what taxes and national business licenses apply in the case of becoming an Airbnb host. Also, check all safety, health, urban and permit regulations that apply to this case. These taxes and regulations may be more complicated than you think, so make sure you take enough time to understand them thoroughly.

These are only the main aspects worth considering when becoming an Airbnb host in Spain. For further information, it is best to consult the entire documentation on their official website.