Uber, Airbnb under attack in Spain as old and new economies clash. (IL)
my airbnb host is ___. she works long hour at a marketing company for about US$1000 a month. she never afford her rent without her airbnb income. i need it completely. it's the only we have to live life decently. we have no other ways. but spain's powerful hotel lobby is angry. local authorities have just slapped airbnb with a $40,000 fine for failing to list the rentals with the tourism board. ___ is nervous. ___ says yes he has the concerns about the airbnb. but he is not in the pocket of the hotel lobby. out positions in this case is not thinking about hotels. it's thinking about consumer right. it's thinking about quality. it's thinking about the security of our destinations. barcelona is one of airbnb's top detonations and the company is appealing the fines says ___, airbnb's policy director. i think it's a real shame where you have a government that's so aggressive. i mean, there are ways of protecting neighborhood and protecting citizens, and putting restrictions on these activities that make sense. but people are still gonna travel. so the point is to figure out how to make sense of these amazing activities instead of just trying to enforce old rules that were designed for really a different time. airbnb and other companies are in talk with spanish governments. among the compromises, a new rule in madrid that requires five day minimum for airbnb and other hotels get the shorter one for one to two days' visit. David Cordova's a government relations expert at Madrid's IE Business School, who's been following this clash of new and old economies.