Barcelona has ordered the closure of hundreds of unlicensed tourist flats and issued fines to various holiday operators for misconduct, including international booking website TripAdvisor.
City hall announced 615 private accommodations would be closed down and another 32 investigated for operating as hostels without adequate licenses.
Tripadvisor received a fine of €30,000 for illegal activity involving various accommodations, as did the sites Fotocasa, Rent4days, 9flats, Houstrips, Only-apartments, Windu, Oh Barcelona and Niumba.
The city council said it was investigating permit breaches at 1,123 addresses in the Catalonian capital and will impose penalties where appropriate.
“We have always offered to have a dialogue and collaboration, as long as they comply with the current laws,” Barcelona’s deputy mayor for urban planning Janet Sanz told newspaper El Mundo.
The city, under Mayor Ada Colau, is in the process of clamping down on the expanding tourist trade and last year fined flat-sharing website AirBnB €60,000 for advertising lodgings without tourism permits.
In mid-August, an anonymous group of disgruntled AirBnB hosts reportedly encouraged residents to “boycott” the city and “flood” the council with false allegations of unlicensed flats.
Barcelona council recently banned tourists from overcrowding various areas of the city, including the busy La Boqueria marketplace, and is considering imposing a tourism tax for day trip visitors.
