Rents a room in Arrecife and stumbles upon a place with tents

A tourist who rented a room on the Airbnb platform in Lanzarote has reported that what he found upon arrival was not the urban 'coworking' that the advertiser promised, but a commercial space with more than 20 tents, with shared bathrooms, at 25 euros per night.

The affected tourist has related his experience when settling into the accommodation he had chosen, which was not even at the advertised address, but in another "to mislead". In addition, he has provided as evidence a video in which more than 20 tents set up on the floor of an open space with windows to a street in Arrecife are counted and a photo with a sign in English and Spanish hanging on the door with instructions for guests on how to interact with the neighbors.

The owner marked the following instructions when renting the "room": "You should not give explanations to neighbors and people from outside about this coworking. The neighbors do not want tourists. Do not allow them to enter the premises. They are not friends."

The mayor of Arrecife, Yonathán de León, has confirmed that he has given orders to the Local Police to visit the premises and draw up a report, because he considers it "evident" that "an economic activity is being carried out in a place that does not have the corresponding license."

The circumstances that the agents record in that report will be brought to the attention of the Tourism Department of the Government of the Canary Islands so that they "act accordingly with this type of tricks that are being generated in the city and that cannot be allowed in a municipality like Arrecife," the mayor pointed out. "We are not going to allow this type of tourism in our city," he emphasized.

For his part, the president of the Lanzarote Confederation of Entrepreneurs, Francisco Martinez, explained that his organization has also filed a "complaint with the Cabildo", because they do not "consider that type of accommodation offer acceptable".