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French hotels sue Airbnb for unfair trade practices

More than two dozen French hotels have launched a lawsuit against the short-term rental platform Airbnb for unfair trade practices and are seeking nearly $10 million in damages, their lawyer said on Thursday.

Published: 20 June 2024 15:05 CEST

French hotels sue Airbnb for unfair trade practices

The logo of the application Airbnb on the screen of a tablet. (Photo by Martin BUREAU / AFP)

The case, brought by a range of independent hotels and members of large chains, alleges that the US-based platform does not collect or pay tourist taxes and fails to take down ads that don’t comply with regulations on renting out homes, said lawyer Jonathan Bellaiche.

“We know that many people rent out their apartments without authorisation,” he said.

Short-term vacation rental platforms have caused consternation in many cities for taking away business from hotels and reducing the number of apartments available for long-term rental to residents, prompting a number to introduce regulations.

Airbnb retorted that it adheres to all regulations and it had paid €187 million in tourist tax to cities last year.

READ MORE: How much is the ‘tourist tax’ in France?

“If this new legal action hinders the activity of Airbnb or the capacity of our French hosts to rent their property we will consider all options, including taking legal action, to protect our rights,” Airbnb said in a statement.

The case, filed in commercial court in the western town of Lisieux, is set to be heard on September 6th.

The French hotel trade association Umih also has a case underway against Airbnb.

Member comments

Anonymous - 20 June 2024 at 23:04 CEST

A bit like the French donkey taxi service suing the inventor of the wheel.
Anonymous - 21 June 2024 at 18:42 CEST

If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and answers to Daffy, it’s a duck. It’s time to call Airbnb what it is: A hotel. Make Airbnb follow the same rules.

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Paris Airbnb gold rush ends as Olympics approach

With a month to go before the opening ceremony, many say they have been forced to dramatically lower their prices to attract renters, while others have given up altogether.

After listing her flat on the short-term letting website Airbnb, 28-year-old real estate worker Giulia “could already picture the bundles of cash we could go on holiday with.”

But the lucrative booking she dreamt never materialised.

In January, Giulia was asking for an “exorbitant” €550 ($588) a night to rent her place in the working-class 18th district of northern Paris.

“After that, it went down to 350, then 250, and still nobody,” she told AFP.

It was only when she dropped the price to €160 — just €30 above the normal rate for the July and August — that a reservation came through from an American who booked her apartment for a fortnight.

While not as much as she had hoped for, “it’ll allow us to have a good holiday”, she said.

Advertising executive Adrien Coucaud was not so lucky.

He decided to entrust his eastern Paris flat where he lives by himself to a concierge service, so it could welcome tourists while he went on holiday.

But that experience — which he admits was motivated by greed — quickly soured.

The concierge service set the prices far too high to attract bookings between July 26 and August 11, when the Olympics will be in full swing.

When he tried to contact the concierge service, no one answered.

Even after he took back control of the listing and lowered the price to €166 a night, he was unable to find any takers.

“At that point I put an end to this endeavour,” Coucaud confided, adding that he was “disgusted” by the experience.

No golden egg goose

The failure of rental prices to match Parisian dreams is likely down to many of the French capital’s residents having the same idea at the same time.

While they did rise significantly at the beginning of the year, they have since dropped back — to no surprise from the Parisian authorities.

“We kind of saw it coming,” Barbara Gomes, who is in charge of regulating furnished tourist accommodation in the capital, told AFP.

“There was inflation at first, with a lot of fantasies about the rental prices that could be charged during the Games,” the Communist Party politician said.

But that was followed by a drop she attributes to the wave of Parisians renting out their vacant accommodation while on holiday, coupled with an abundance of hotel rooms.

The councillor added that she was being “careful” to ensure compliance with Parisian regulations, which make it very difficult to rent out accommodation that is not a principal residence.

While short-term rentals are highly regulated in France, that has not deterred Parisians from trying to cash in.

“As expected, the increase in the supply available during the Games is regulating prices,” Airbnb told AFP, while declining to reveal any details.

Despite this, the US-based tourism rental giant said that “Paris 2024 is on track to become the biggest event in Airbnb’s history”.

“Overnight stays booked in the first quarter for stays during the Games period were more than five times higher than they were in the Paris region during the same period the previous year,” it added.

But for many Parisians, the problem is that “out of 15 million tourists 13 million are French”, said Raphael Lorin, the chairman of luxury tourist rental group specialist Archides.

He pointed out that French people attending the Olympic Games are more likely to stay with friends and family.

“On the other hand, foreigners can be people with very big budgets who are customers of the very top-of-the-range hotels,” Lorin added.

“For everything that’s at the lower or middle end of the market, there is no goose that lays the golden egg.”

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