Post by High Priestess on Feb 1, 2016 15:38:26 GMT
See this new article:
www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/01/paris-for-parisians-city-hall-rousts-out-airbnb-clients.html
PARIS — "Tourists take heed! If your idea of a perfect vacation stay in the City of Lights involves an Airbnb Paris pad, City Hall could come knocking on your door.
Which is exactly what Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s 15-strong team of inspectors did a couple of weeks ago in the stylish 1st and 6th arrondissements when they conducted door-to-door visits in an attempt to crack down on illegal vacation rentals.
The raid on supposedly illicit holiday dwellings, the second since May, is billed as part of the municipal government’s efforts to alleviate the notorious housing shortage in Paris. Officials say it’s got nothing to do with pressure from hotel owners. But few people believe that. And the whole affair is weirdly schizophrenic in a city that prides itself on being the world’s number one tourist destination.
Of course, grumbling about the endless stream of pesky foreign visitors is a time-honored Parisian tradition. And it’s true that the most sought-after neighborhoods sometimes feel overwhelmed.
“The Marais has become Disneyland,” one disgruntled resident of the quaint, central Paris neighborhood complained to the Europe 1 radio station. “They [the tourists] come and go at all hours.”
As vacation rentals have surged in popularity in recent years, more Paris property owners are cashing in. Paris is currently Airbnb’s biggest market, with more than half a million visitors using the house-sharing service during the summer of 2014.
According to a recent article on the radio station France Bleu, up to 60,000 Paris rentals are currently offered via Airbnb and other online platforms. Statistics from the French tourist association Ahtop suggest that as many as an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 of such apartments are rented out illegally.
The majority of these down-low listings are located in the city’s prime neighborhoods like Saint Germain-des-Près or Île Saint-Louis, where an estimated 17 percent of housing comprises what the French call “tourist apartments.”
City officials say they believe this influx of holiday tenants is draining local color from neighborhoods and keeping much-needed housing away from full-time residents."
My two cents: It would seem that before long, Airbnb will begin another Great Purge of listings, this time in Paris....
www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/01/paris-for-parisians-city-hall-rousts-out-airbnb-clients.html
PARIS — "Tourists take heed! If your idea of a perfect vacation stay in the City of Lights involves an Airbnb Paris pad, City Hall could come knocking on your door.
Which is exactly what Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s 15-strong team of inspectors did a couple of weeks ago in the stylish 1st and 6th arrondissements when they conducted door-to-door visits in an attempt to crack down on illegal vacation rentals.
The raid on supposedly illicit holiday dwellings, the second since May, is billed as part of the municipal government’s efforts to alleviate the notorious housing shortage in Paris. Officials say it’s got nothing to do with pressure from hotel owners. But few people believe that. And the whole affair is weirdly schizophrenic in a city that prides itself on being the world’s number one tourist destination.
Of course, grumbling about the endless stream of pesky foreign visitors is a time-honored Parisian tradition. And it’s true that the most sought-after neighborhoods sometimes feel overwhelmed.
“The Marais has become Disneyland,” one disgruntled resident of the quaint, central Paris neighborhood complained to the Europe 1 radio station. “They [the tourists] come and go at all hours.”
As vacation rentals have surged in popularity in recent years, more Paris property owners are cashing in. Paris is currently Airbnb’s biggest market, with more than half a million visitors using the house-sharing service during the summer of 2014.
According to a recent article on the radio station France Bleu, up to 60,000 Paris rentals are currently offered via Airbnb and other online platforms. Statistics from the French tourist association Ahtop suggest that as many as an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 of such apartments are rented out illegally.
The majority of these down-low listings are located in the city’s prime neighborhoods like Saint Germain-des-Près or Île Saint-Louis, where an estimated 17 percent of housing comprises what the French call “tourist apartments.”
City officials say they believe this influx of holiday tenants is draining local color from neighborhoods and keeping much-needed housing away from full-time residents."
My two cents: It would seem that before long, Airbnb will begin another Great Purge of listings, this time in Paris....