Airbnb visits soar 70 per cent in a year

The number of people staying in Airbnb accommodation in Edinburgh has rocketed by 70 per cent in the space of a year, according to a detailed new survey.

The Edinburgh City Council is pushing ahead with proposals to tighten its grip on short term lets as it was revealed almost one third of Airbnb bookings in the Scottish capital are now taken by landlords with three or more properties listed on the website, effectively using Airbnb lets as a platform for commercial business.

Research from Colliers International found Airbnb’s share of the visitor accommodation market in the city grew from 13 per cent in 2016 to 20 per cent last year.

Airbnb dismissed the worries as a smear campaign by the hotel industry. The company, which is an official partner of the Fringe, has taken around 120,000 bookings for August in Edinburgh.

The Colliers findings revealed there were more than 1.1 million overnight stays in Airbnb accommodation in Edinburgh last year – a 70 per cent rise from 2016. The council said it believed there were more than 9,000 properties listed on Airbnb, with many more are available through other companies.

The city council will ask the Scottish Government to allow it to introduce a licensing system for shortterm lets, which could allow the number of Airbnb properties to be capped.