Airbnb to Share Rental Data with European Commission

Public authorities in Europe will soon have access to independently published data on short-term rentals on Airbnb and other platforms, following the launch of a landmark data sharing partnership on Thursday with Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Commission.

According to the Commission, the agreement will for the first time permit access to reliable data about holiday and other short-stay accommodation offered via collaborative economy platforms.

The shared data will include the number of guests using short-term rental platforms and the number of nights booked. Data will be shared on a quarterly basis and be aggregated at the level of municipalities.

The other platforms that have agreed to share data on tourism accommodation with Eurostat include Booking.com, Expedia Group and TripAdvisor. The agreement was signed between each platform and Eurostat, on behalf of the Commission.

“It will contribute to more complete statistics on tourist accommodation around Europe, allow public authorities to better understand the development of the collaborative economy and support evidence-based policies,” the Commission said.

The privacy of citizens, including guests and hosts, will be protected in line with applicable EU legislation. Data will not allow individual citizens or property owners to be identified.

The data provided by the platforms will undergo statistical validation and be aggregated by Eurostat.

“Eurostat will publish data for all Member States as well as many individual regions and cities by combining the information obtained from the platforms,” the Commission said.

It is expected that the first statistics could be released in the second half of 2020.

“Eurostat’s role is to provide reliable and comparable statistics on Europe so that all stakeholders can make informed decisions,” the Commission said.

The platforms Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia Group and Tripadvisor have agreed to share data on a continuous basis.