COLLABORATIVE PLATFORMS IN ACCOMMODATION A) Information channels of the Administration a) Citizen collaboration through reporting and active monitoring One of the most relevant channels of information that the Administration has is citizen collaboration: the neighbors of the property and the tourists themselves can be of great help in denouncing or “reporting” the existence of these unlicensed flats. However, very few rules of positive law attempt to favor or stimulate the presentation of complaints about irregularities or situations of disobedience to the law. Barcelona City Council, in its fight against illegal VUTs, has set up a website where it is possible, by filling in a form, for both tourists – who have contracted an illegal tourist accommodation – and the neighbors of a property – where there is unlicensed tourist accommodation – to inform the Administration of this situation21. This website provides any interested party with a search engine that gives access to a Register where they can check whether or not a dwelling is registered – whether or not it is legal. Another tool used by Public Administrations is the screening of both municipal and Autonomous Community tourist license databases, to check that everything is in order, by visiting the physical address22. For this reason, it has become normal for local councils to hire workers whose primary mission is to carry out these active surveillance tasks consisting of on-site searches in buildings detected on websites based on the addresses of the properties listed on the offers of intermediary platforms. This task facilitates the work of the inspectors, as these “viewers” alert the inspectors to the existence of irregularities, which is the first step towards the opening of proceedings and, if necessary, the subsequent sanction23. In addition, the spotter’s interview tourists to obtain the address where they are staying, the channel through which they have contracted the flat, and, if possible, a copy of the contract. This information will be useful to carry 21 using claim phrases such as: “Just because this bed is available on the internet does not mean it is legal. It helps to detect unlicensed tourist accommodation” http://meet.barcelona.cat/habitatgesturistics/es/, last access date: 17 February 2022. 22 It is common for providers of TUV services to have a license, but not to have it visible to the public (as required by some regulations). 23 In Barcelona, there is a team of forty workers, visualizers, who are dedicated to this task. They work in pairs for 7 or 8 hours a day, equipped with a Smartphone with license data and maps of the city from which they can open and close files. https://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/cataluna/2017-05-27/barcelona-airbnb-ada-colau- -pisos-turisticos-gentrificacion-turistificacion_1389472/, last accessed: 17 February 2022.
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