Neighbors of this building in the Gòtic neighborhood say that the bustle of tourists that enters and leaves the clandestine pension that was set up here in the second second a couple of years ago has recently dropped a lot. The siege on the mafia dedicated to renting out real estate and then renting them out for days to tourists, which is currently the most active in Barcelona, ??is tightening. Now, finally, about time, Airbnb is removing the listings and profiles posted by these scammers.
“Yes, we are calmer,” the residents of this farm murmur in a low voice. For some time now, many fewer tourists have been coming.” “And those who come are much calmer – they continue on the portal – they are mostly couples and families.” “Yes, groups of friends don’t come with a lot of desire to party anymore.” “And the woman who is in charge of receiving them is more tense. It seems that finally these people no longer believe that they can do whatever they want ”.
A couple of weeks ago, La Vanguardia explained that the most active tourist rental mafia in Barcelona at the moment has its most profitable business in this building on Cucurulla street, a building with 157 m2, five rooms, three bathrooms and a kitchen, a illegal boarding house crowded with beds purchased at Ikea. A private detective verified these fraudulent activities, the City Council has already opened a disciplinary file of 60,000 euros for the tenant, the Mossos are aware of these goings-on. Meanwhile, the owner of this property in Cucurulla is trying to rescind the signed rental contract once and for all. The trial will take place in March of next year… Sources close to the investigations also detail that in recent years this organization, made up of a dozen people each with a different function, came to control 59 properties, and now has a score.
The researchers also point out that in recent days the Airbnb portal dedicated to vacation rentals has taken down some fifty ads posted by this group. And that most of the profiles of this organization were also deactivated. Sources indicate that they came to operate through a dozen. Most likely, they are currently using ads for other apartments that work as lures, on this platform or others, or that they are making themselves known through Facebook posts or other claims on conventional real estate portals. In fact, lately, infringers are turning more and more to their mailing lists to privately contact former clients and offer them their rackets again without leaving a digital trail.
Airbnb prefers not to go into too much detail. “Airbnb has zero tolerance for this type of behavior –replenish sources from the multinational–. We disabled these ads from the platform as soon as we became aware of the situation. The platform is willing to support the owner and the authorities with any investigation. Airbnb works with the City to tackle wrongful sublets and is committed to taking action against bad actors.”
In addition, also in its defense, the vacation rental multinational highlights that in 2021 it implemented a mandatory address verification protocol, and that thanks to the collaboration with the Barcelona City Council, since 2018 it has withdrawn around 7,000 problematic advertisements. And also that in the last year and a half it has not received any list of sublessors or multiple offenders from the Consistory, at least within the framework of the agreement signed with the municipal executive known as Notification and Withdrawal. In the event that someone suffers the consequences of a sublet of these characteristics, they can write to terms@airbnb.com.
