Antwerp’s hotel sector is struggling due to growing competition from Airbnb, legitimate or otherwise, as well as the effects of the slow revival of business tourism following the Covid-19 pandemic and the energy crisis.
Hotels are calling for more checks on Airbnb operators who circumvent the rules, but the City of Antwerp claims it is doing everything possible within its powers, Gazet van Antwerpen writes.
The number of accommodations rented out through Airbnb in Antwerp has risen from 1,494 in 2017 to 1,942 today.
Within that offer, there is great diversity, ranging from a simple room without breakfast to full holiday homes or hotel-like formulas. Depending on the type of accommodation, there are different rules that the operator has to comply with. However, the hotel industry believes there is too little control over this.
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This enforcement must come from both the local government and the Flemish Government. The city council says it will do what it can, such as charge catering and city taxes, including retroactively if it turns out that an operator did not register correctly.
Violations such as not complying with the accommodation decree, are passed on to the competent Flemish level, according to Tourism Councillor Koen Kennis. In turn, Tourism Flanders said it checks mainly by means of spot checks and on the basis of complaints.
The hotel sector, however, complains that when all is said and done, hardly any fines are handed out, and unfair competitors are never stopped. The situation is pressing, it says, all the more so on weekdays because the business tourism that traditionally fills hotels then is still lacking since the Covid-19 crisis.
