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2018
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2019 HOTREC ANNUAL REPORT
The so-called ‘collaborative’ economy keeps playing an ever rising role in Europe’s economy, without still
complying with the necessary rules to level the playing field with the hotel sector and to protect European
consumers. Many new platforms regularly enter this market, attracting an ever increasing number of service
providers and consumers, making the market grow steadily. For instance, besides the classic short term rental
accommodation platforms (e.g. Airbnb), Online Travel Agencies (e.g. Booking.com) are now also active on this
part of the market. Thus, it is high time to ensure that applicable legislation are complied with and enforced, so
as to protect consumers and honest businesses suffering from unfair competition by rogue traders.
EU action to enforce compliance with the rules
Following a detailed investigation of the European Consumer Protection Cooperation, European Commissioner
Věra Jourová, in charge of Justice and Consumers, requested on 16 July 2018 from one of the biggest short
term rental platforms, Airbnb, to comply with basic European rules regarding price transparency, indication of
traders and consumer contract law.
In particular, Airbnb was requested to:
•
Be more transparent on the total price displayed from the start of consumer search (e.g. by including service
fees, which were often not included);
•
Indicate whether a service provider is a trader or not, thus allowing consumers to better identify if the
transaction is protected by EU consumer protection laws;
•
Adjust its contract terms towards consumers by deleting illegal terms, which gave the impression that
consumers have more limited rights than actually provided by law.
Airbnb committed publicly on 20 September 2018 to adjust its policies in line with the above points by the end
of 2018.
A good concrete example of stepping up for a fairer collaborative economy type of
market
HOTREC has been actively advocating for a sustainable and responsible ‘collaborative’ economy in the past years
through a set of proposals and key principles included in a policy paper. HOTREC considers that these measures
and principles would bring more fairness vis-à-vis both consumers and competing businesses complying with
often complex sectoral legislation. HOTREC will continue its efforts to further level the playing field, which is all
the more required as ‘collaborative’ service providers are rapidly and intensively professionalising their services
offered on a regular basis on the market.
Collaborative economy platforms under pressure
to comply with European legislation and offer
more transparency
HOTREC’scall for asustainable
and responsible ‘collaborative’
economy was echoed by
DG Justice and translated in
commitments by AirBnB