is it true that in some countries banned small apartments to protect the Hotels from losing profit

[Petar16]

I apologize for bringing this up here if its the wrong section to ask , and if this post needs to be removed i understand.

Im from Croatia  and a year or two ago  about a 100 000 Croatians left the country in search for a better life  somewhere else.

The only people here with a decent amount of money left ( to be able to pay bills and perhaps invest in the business they run)  are people who have their own apartment/s

and inside our community where we exchange information( updates , rules , tips)  there was talk about certain countries that banned  apartments in some of their cities , bcs (and im not joking) they are putting "Hotels  out of business " , i dont know how much of that is true, but that talk has been going around for about  a good year now.

And recently we read some news article where a politician that runs his own Hotels has suggested increasing taxes on hosts so that we can increase our prices there fore his Hotels can get a chance at more bookings .

I just want to know if that rumor was also being spread around your communities and if there is any sort of truth in it

[Ann72]

@Petar16 You're right, this kind of thing is happening all over the world.  In the United States, it's not a country-wide rule, nor is it a state-wide rule in any state.  But towns and cities are starting to look closely at the short-term rental market.  Some towns ban them altogether and some have restrictions.  In New York City, where the hotel industry is powerful, Airbnb has been banned in many apartment buildings.  In Maine, where my listings are, the state started applying occupancy taxes when Airbnb got popular.  And I'm sure they did this in response to pressure from hotels and inns who thought they were losing market share.  Here's one of many articles about it:  https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2018/05/07/why-most-states-are-st...

[Petar16]

this feels like a hostile take over that makes no sense, its just there to make the little guy poor 

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Petar16 

Airbnb is not banned on the national level but some cities prohibit or limit the number of days people are allowed to rent it short term. Somewhere it's 30, 40, 60... days per year. The rest of the year they should rent it long term (28 + days)

I don't think this will be the case in Croatia as tourism is the only profitable business here so the state and cities would shoot themselves in the foot.

Besides, we don't have enough hotels and Croatia already has depopulation problem which would be even worse if they would restrict or ban short term rentals.

It would also affect the real estate market, many apartments and houses would end up for sale and prices would drop. This is not in the best interest of investors and others in the real estate business. In fact, the shortages of long term rentals (the main problem caused by Airbnb) is good for investors and contractors as they can build new buildings and will be able to sell them quickly and easily.

[Mark1412]

You are correct. Different countries, cities and counties will have different laws in reguards to short term rentals. I would suspect a lot of presure for these laws comes from the hospitality business.

Hotels have a lot of hoops they have to jump through. They have bulding codes they have to meet in order to have a business that is open to the public. The doors have to be so many inches wide, hallways have to be so many inches wide with proper lighting. There has to be an approved path of egress. They have to have proper signs, emergency exits. Each town, county, state, etc might have a different set of laws but they all have laws the hotels have to follow. One place I worked at extentions cords where not allowed. Health code inspected the kitchen and that came with another set of rules. The fire department came in on a regular bases to inspect the building and look for hazards, issue repair orders or issue fines.

An airbnb doesn't have to go through these expenses. We can open our home as a business without the laws that oversee the guest safety. The hospitality might see the new laws about airbnb as leveling the playing field.. and, yes... to protect thier business and the investment of their stock holders.

I'm not defending the hotel industry showing the other side of the coin. Don't be surprised if you don't see more laws.