City hotel chief calls for more regulation of short-term lets
BRISTOL Hoteliers Association is calling for tighter regulations on Airbnb properties. The organisation’s chair, Raphael Herzog, spoke out this week following concerns holiday lettings were disrupting the local rental market.
An increasing number of landlords are said to be turning to Airbnb because they can charge a premium and, importantly, there is little red tape. This, in turn, is reducing the number of homes available to be rented by local people and consequently driving up prices.
Outlining the problems from her own sector’s perspective, Mr Herzog said: “As of December 8, 2022, there were 3,689 active Airbnb and VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) listings in Bristol.
“This is affecting hospitality, since Airbnb homes don’t have any of the regulations on them – and associated costs to conform to those regulations – that we have, which means, of course, that their rates can be lower.
“With so many families facing financial difficulties at the moment, it is easy to see why they would want to find the cheapest accommodation possible for a break, so by being able to regularly undercut the prices of hotels which are regulated, Airbnb properties are a threat to our businesses.
“What’s more, they also affect longterm letting in the city. There is a massive shortage of properties to rent, and Airbnb is one of the reasons.
“It was recently reported that a group called Inside Airbnb, which extracts data from Airbnb’s own website, shows that there are a total of 2,329 Airbnb properties currently being advertised in Bristol but only 835 of them are where people stay in a room or part of someone else’s home.
“A total of 1,494 are entire homes or apartments. That is nearly 1,500 homes in Bristol that could have people living in them, while those seeking overnight and short stays could use proper hotels and guest houses.”
Mr Herzog said in many European cities, landlords are limited to being able to rent out rooms for 100 days a year. Unlike the UK, they also have register and pay an annual licence fee.
She added: “I think any property offered for rental should also be subject to the same kind of controls as our businesses are, around water and fire risk assessments and other health and safety checks.
“As well as affecting the availability of housing for people who badly need it, the likes of Airbnb are taking a large share of occupancy from hotels and B&B businesses, who are trying so
hard to keep going in the wake of both Brexit and the pandemic.
“We have been saying for some time that Airbnb operators have been having a detrimental impact on Bristol’s hospitality sector, yet nothing seems to have changed.
“Another ‘hidden’ impact is that, with more properties being offered as Airbnb, it has a direct impact on hospitality sector staff trying to find accommodation for themselves in Bristol – either because it is too expensive or simply not available – and this means they are unable to take up jobs in our businesses, at a time when we are struggling to recruit the staff we need.
“Students are struggling to find accommodation, too. This year, some students ended up living in other towns and cities for attending university in Bristol, so there are plenty of reasons for something to be done to restrict Airbnb lets.”
On Monday Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees likened the city’s rental market to the “Wild West” and called for intervention in the market to prevent costs becoming any more prohibitively expensive.
He said: “What we have at the moment in Bristol is, over the last decade, rents have gone up about 52% and wages have gone up 24%. You can see there is a huge price to be paid for that.”