One in five vacations that led to Airbnb's 64 million fine are in the Canary Islands

**One in five** unlicensed or falsely registered properties that have led to the **€64 million fine** imposed by the Ministry of **Consumer Affairs** on the vacation rental multinational **Airbnb** are located in **Canary Islands**.

Specifically, Consumer Affairs detected that Airbnb advertised **59,229 vacation rental properties without a registration number** in Spain, **12,486 of which were in the Canary Islands**, and another **5,769 under a false registration number, with 242 in the islands.** In total, the irregularities detected in the archipelago amount to 12,728, representing **19.54%** of the total that prompted the sanction.

The resolution with the **fine** has become **final** and exhausted the administrative route after the appeal filed with the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Pablo Bustinduy, was resolved.

Furthermore, it entails **two accessory sanctions** that oblige the platform to rectify the identified non-compliance, by removing the illicit content published, and to make the imposed fine public.

The infringements of consumer regulations, identified in 65,122 Airbnb advertisements, include, in addition to advertising **unlicensed** accommodations, publishing advertisements that indicate a **registration number that does not correspond** to those used in said tourist advertisements.

These, categorized as serious infringements, are subject to a fine of €64.05 million, equivalent to **six times the illicit profit obtained by Airbnb** during the period the advertisements remained published from the warning issued by the ministry until their removal by the platform.

Likewise, Airbnb is sanctioned for non-compliance with the regime or obligations of distance contracts, such as omitting information about the legal nature of the host of the advertised tourist accommodation.

The platform is also fined for obstruction or refusal to supply data after Airbnb refused to respond to Consumer Affairs' requests during the investigation of this case, as well as for non-compliance with the duties and prohibitions imposed through provisional measures during the processing of the case.

Upon learning of the news, the consumer association **Facua** has welcomed the sanction and highlighted that it is the **second largest fine in history**, surpassed only by the €108 million with which Ryanair was fined for charging a surcharge for hand luggage.

In a statement, Facua points out that regional consumer protection authorities "should take note and start acting decisively against real estate fraud like this once and for all."

The **financial users association Asufin** also agreed with the fine and stated that technology-based platforms like Airbnb "cannot claim to be mere intermediaries who only take profits without assuming any responsibility" for the advertisements they publish.