Your Barcelona Trip Is About to Get Very Expensive

Last week, Spain’s top court ruled that Barcelona’s plan to ban all short-term rentals by 2028 does not violate property rights. It’s a massive blow to Airbnb, Vrbo, and other start-ups in the sector. With 94 million visitors last year, Spain is the world’s second-most-visited country, after France. Within Spain, Barcelona comes in just after Madrid in terms of tourists.

After years of anger about cost of housing, in 2023 the region of Catalonia passed a decree allowing municipalities to ban short-term rentals. Last summer, Barcelona's mayor Jaume Collboni, announced that the licenses of thousands of rentals would be tossed come 2028.

Now, this is still three years away and we’ll see if the politicians there still have the stomach for such a drastic move come 2028. But my gut says yes. Tech companies have done little to make themselves beloved of late and that comes after years of heavy-handed tactics. Five to ten years ago, one’s general feeling regarding Airbnb and Vrbo was often, “Thank goodness for Airbnb,” but of late it’s been “Oh gosh, I wish I had an alternative.” The fees, the cheap global decor, etc. It’s why I’m bullish on companies like One Fine Stay.

And the particulars of housing problems in Barcelona (low Spanish salaries, height limits, being attractive for a continent of half a billion people) are unlikely to abate by 2028.

When you couple this removal of thousands of beds a night with the existing ban on new hotels in the center of Barcelona, it’s a simple math problem. Hotels will be able to charge an exorbitant amount, and the cost of a trip to Barcelona is going to skyrocket. Where that line will be in terms of how much they can charge until people just stop going, I’m not sure.

There are real risks to Barcelona. Tourism is a huge economic driver and hundreds of businesses are built around the current tourism numbers.

But the risk I’d worry about most if I’m Barcelona that I haven’t read about elsewhere is that of day-trippers. Spain has an excellent train system, and in 2020 it deregulated it to allow for private operators making it even more affordable. It’s just 2.5 hours from Madrid to Barcelona or dozens of minutes from nearby cities and towns. As Barcelonans well know from the cruise industry, day trippers are the worst tourists for a destination.