3 of platform means that accommodation providers themselves obtain less information on their customers and become more dependent on the platform’s data. Since a few large mediate the vast majority of transactions between consumers and accommodation providers, they benefit from strong network effects.9 Their gatekeeper role gives rise to the concern that they will act as private rule-makers as businesses often feel pressured into accepting the platforms’ terms on a ‘take it or leave it basis’.10 This can result in unfair conditions, such as high commission rates and price parity clauses which restrict the hotel from offering better prices or otherwise more favourable conditions on their own website (narrow parity clause) or through any other sales channels other than the contracted platform (wide parity clause).11 Hučková and Semanová point out that the emergence of online platforms is accompanied by three main problems: i) insufficient possibility of competition and weak competition in platform markets; ii) unfair trading practices towards commercial users; and iii) fragmented regulation and supervision of entities operating in these markets.12 2.2 Short-term holiday rental platforms Short-term rental platforms, such as Airbnb, serve as intermediaries between the owners of different types of lodgings who wish to rent them out (hosts), and visitors (typically tourists) looking for shortterm accommodation (guests). Hosts and guests communicate and transact directly with one another through the platform.13 Accessible via a website and mobile application, the digital platform allows hosts to present their residential premises (individual apartments, entire houses, holiday cottages, single or shared rooms) and the per-night prices for their use. Prospective guests can contact the homeowner through the platform and make a reservation for their selected option. Platform operators usually charge a service fee in the form of a commission on each booking made.14 This relationship may be described as a sharing economy where individuals temporarily rent out their residential property for a period in which they do not intend to use it themselves. However, digital platforms are also seeing increasing use by owners who do not use the property to live in but invest in it mainly for the purposes of renting it out to tourists, namely, as their supplementary economic activity.15 Before the onset of the pandemic, many European cities were faced with tourist overcrowding, partly boosted by short-term rental platforms, which had the negative social effects of removing housing from the market and driving up prices. Local authorities in many places have tried limiting the availability of short-term rentals in order to protect general interests like preservation of public space, neighbourhood coexistence, and guaranteeing a balanced offer of affordable housing and shops for residents. For this reason, urban planning restrictions have been introduced as well as limitations on 9 Hučková and Semanová, 2022, pp. 513–514. 10 VVA and LE Europe, 2022, p. 21. 11 Quinn, 2021, p. 3. VVA and LE Europe, 2022, p. 22 and 69. 12 Hučková and Semanová, 2022, p. 512. 13 Airbnb, 2020, p. 1. 14 The Airbnb platform is made available to users free of charge, but Airbnb charges fees to guests and/or hosts when a booking is made. Airbnb, 2020, p. 1. 15 Vlahek and Damjan, 2018, p. 119.
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