Airbnb faces backlash in Europe over rising house prices and over-tourism, prompting stricter regulations.
Paul Lewis and Jennie Brockie share tips for avoiding booking pitfalls after their European travels.
Key advice includes thorough research, querying parking availability, and obtaining detailed instructions from owners.
Airbnb may be coming under siege in various parts of the world – none more so than Europe – but its short-term rentals and those of its cousins are still a fine way to avoid stiff hotel tariffs … if you manage your bookings carefully.
We must say up front that most of the apartments we booked in Italy, France and Spain were perfectly fine and some were terrific – roomy, light, comfortable and well-appointed with the basic things travellers need (like soap in the showers).
Some were not; one was plain old ghastly. More of that later but first let’s have a look at the current scene and the best way to handle it.
Since Airbnb (and its clones) first burst on the scene, they have been coping with a serious backlash from some quarters. In Europe, locals complain bitterly of over-tourism and house prices pushed up so much that many are locked out of their own property market.
Paul Lewis and Jennie Brockie.
Countries around the world are now seeking ways of restricting and/or regulating property owners listing on Airbnb and their ilk. The Mayor of Marseille, for example, said recently that his city’s register used to turn down only 4% of those residents applying to become short-term renters. Now it’s 82% refusals. Marseille has also a residents’ Airbnb “brigade” which sniffs out illegal rentals – and the mayor has also decreed that all lock boxes must now not be visible from Marseille streets (or be removed by council bolt cutters).
Paris famously won a case against Airbnb, meaning any rental of second homes in Paris is prohibited; all owners are limited in the days they can rent out their main home on the platform. In addition, any property owners – French or otherwise – renting out property in France via Airbnb must declare their income to French tax authorities, making the whole idea much less appealing.
While officialdom is having its day, there are still thousands upon thousands of rentals to be had across Europe. The trick is to make sure you are getting (a) what you pay for and (b) something that closely resembles the paradise photos found on the booking sites.
For two 71-year-olds who have so far driven across 6000km of Europe, the booking must-haves were: parking (which can be enormously difficult in Europe), free Wi-Fi, and value for money. Anyone can pay a lot and be guaranteed a luxury apartment – but then why bother? Might as well stay in a hotel …
Airbnb has faced significant restrictions in cities like Paris and Marseille. Photo / 123rf
Here are the few occasions where we went wrong or where the property owners didn’t do us (or themselves) any favours and the things to look for when you are booking a stay:
1] Unrepresentative marketing/claims on the website. In Italy, one rental said it came with a balcony and a patio. We knew it was small (one bedroom, one bathroom) but it was more of a tall, narrow cupboard; the patio and balcony were the same, postage stamp-sized, thing.
2] Lack of relevant information. In Spain, one property said on the website: “Parking available”. Parking was not, in fact “available”; what the owner meant was that we could park on the street – but there were no spaces left in the narrow, one-way street. He also omitted to tell us that the apartment was on the third floor, with no lift – not a lot of fun when toting heavy bags.
3] Wi-Fi. One apartment in Italy had Wi-Fi – but a woefully weak signal that eventually dropped out altogether. We texted the owner. He did not respond for the three days we were there. However, he was in touch like lightning when we forgot to leave the tourism tax on the table. He got a nasty review.
The hardest things to avoid are what they don’t tell you. One apartment in Spain had a nasty-smelling bathroom. The owners were obviously aware of it and had installed one of those periodic puffing perfume dispensers – but it was simply overpowered.
The worst example we struck was in the beautiful French lakeside town of Annecy. It was billed as “a superior studio”. This turned out to be a whole complex of chicken-coop-sized apartments of poor quality. Ours bore no relation to the pretty picture on the website.
The complex was set up to be completely remotely run – there was no reception area and no staff; it had a woeful entry/exit system. It was on a busy main road, no parking. Jennie had to run in while I drove multiple loops around the block. On arrival, she was texted a code for the front door and a code for the lock box outside the (you couldn’t call it an apartment) unit. Inside the unit was the remote control to raise the barrier arm to the car park on the second floor.
She then had to come downstairs, flag me down and direct me to the ramp – the narrowest ramp in the entire world; the car’s wheels squealed, rubbing against the sides. When we left, I had to help a French driver by steering his Audi down the ramp – he was stuck and quailed, thinking he and his car would plunge over the side.
A well-reviewed Airbnb in Annecy can mask hidden design nightmares like narrow carpark ramps. Photo / 123rf
It didn’t end there. Safely in the carpark, we tried to enter by the door leading from the carpark to the accommodation – only none of the keys would fit. If another victim – sorry, fellow traveller – hadn’t come out, we would have had to lump our luggage down The Ramp Of Terror to the front door on the main street.
Didn’t end there either. There was something wrong with the front door. If you pressed the exit button to leave, often nothing happened; the door remained stubbornly closed. If there’d been a fire, we all would have fried; how they got that place past the French equivalent of Health & Safety was a mystery requiring Hercule Poirot.
Paris successfully banned short-term rentals of second homes via Airbnb. Photo / 123rf
So what can be done to avoid horrors like the Annecy accommodation (don’t be put off; Annecy itself is major beautiful)? Top tips:
Research, research, research before booking. Contact the owners or the booking agency and push for answers.
If driving, always query whether there is on-site parking or some other arrangement. “Parking available” does not always mean what it says and sometimes means the exact opposite.
Make sure you get instructions from owners before you get there. They never want to give the lock box code before you arrive, just in case you default but still have access. However, they can impart a lot of useful information ahead of time. Example: in one town, the apartment came with parking in an off-road garage – perfect, but we couldn’t get details from the owners until we arrived. Try telling that to angry drivers in a blocked one-way street as we tried to offload luggage and get the car out of the way. Press owners hard for early info.
Paul Lewis and Jennie Brockie have been driving across Europe (Italy, France, Spain and Portugal) for the past three months.
