RoadmapThe European Holiday Home Association (EHHA) and the European Technology & Travel Services Association (ETTSA) welcome the European Commission conference on the collaborative economy on October 11 as an opportunity to conclude on the Commission workshops on the collaborative economy in the accommodation sector held during the course of 2017.  EHHA and ETTSA – which together represent the entire short-term rental sector – would like to use the occasion of the Commission conference to pro-actively commit to a roadmap of actions to help create a sustainable future for short-term rentals.

The short-term rental (STR) sector calls for decision-makers across the EU to better-understand the sector’s specificities and impact, and to actively cooperate to ensure a balanced development of STR services to the benefit of all stakeholders, i.e. hosts, travellers, industry and society at large.

The STR sector welcomed the Commission’s decision to organise workshops on the collaborative economy in the accommodation sector, with the participation of relevant stakeholders including Member States to discuss policies, applicable EU laws, and to share best practices. The STR sector is convinced that sustainable growth is possible by ensuring a higher degree of regulatory consistency across the EU in compliance with the existing applicable regulatory framework, namely the Services and E-Commerce Directives and the GDPR.

The STR sector is thus ready to commit to the following roadmap of actions and requests the support of the Commission and all policy stakeholders in achieving these aims:

  1. The STR sector is ready to exchange with the relevant authorities on the impact of STR services in their locality, including statistics relating to STR accommodation providers when in line with GDPR rules, and to cooperate on ways in which to address potential concerns.
  2. The STR sector supports the sharing of existing best practices with a view to eventual solutions at national or EU level where justified and proportionate.
  3. Where STR rules apply, the STR sector will inform hosts of these rules when they list their property.
  4. Online STR platforms and property managers will provide tools to STR accommodationproviders (individual hosts) to assist them in their compliance with local laws, for instance the provision of permit fields to allow accommodation providers to enter registration numbers where registration is in place.
  5. Online STR platforms will provide tools to allow STR accommodation providers (individual hosts or property managers) to identify themselves as traders and non-traders.
  6. Online STR platforms and property managers will take down any property where they have received effective knowledge of illegality from the enforcement authorities.
  7. The STR sector will cooperate with public authorities in order to facilitate compliance by STR accommodation providers, including on issues of guest occupancy taxes, and on the reporting of host earnings. Best practices on how to create positive incentives for people to declare their personal income will be shared.

“While we understand the need to regulate STR services where justified to protect an ‘overriding reason of general interest’ as noted in the Services Directive, and support the need to overcome regulatory fragmentation through the establishment of a harmonised framework, we believe that everybody is best served by free and open competition based on clear, proportionate and non-discriminatory principles. As a sector, we will continue to work in good faith with policy-makers at all levels to help develop and enforce an adequate, fair and simple regulatory framework” says EHHA Secretary General, Carlos Villaro Lassen.

“Trust and transparency are the driving force of the STR sector and we are committed to constantly delivering on these principles for the benefit of our customers and community” says ETTSA Secretary General, Emmanuel Mounier.

 

Note to Editors

 

What is European Holiday Home Association (EHHA)?

The European Holiday Home Association (www.ehha.eu) was founded in 2013 to give a voice to the short-term rental industry. The EHHA’s members range from associations representing private house owners to managers’ associations and digital platforms. Its members operate across the European Union countries. The core task of the association’s members is the distribution of short-term rentals in private houses and apartments.

What is European Technology & Travel Services Association (ETTSA)?

The European Technology and Travel Services Association (www.ettsa.eu) was launched in 2009 to represent and promote the interests of global distribution systems (GDSs) and travel distributors, towards the industry, policy-makers, opinion formers, consumer groups and all other relevant European stakeholders. The association, based in Brussels, encourages and supports full transparency, fair competition and consumer choice in the travel distribution chain.