Tourism Law in Europe

Tourist Vacation Rental and Digital Platforms in Spain 1 Silvia Feliu 2 Introduction; 1. Distribution of Legislative Powers in Matters of Tourism; 2. Divergent Concept of Tourist Vacation Rental in Spanish Law; 3. Uneven and Changing National Jurisprudence; 4. Holiday Rentals in Spain in Times of COVID-19; Biblipgraphy. Introduction The so-called tourist vacation rental has undergone great development in many countries and tourist cities, including Spain, which is a tourist country par excellence. In Spain, the tourist vacation rental has become an important alternative to the traditional accommodation offer. Vacation rental is certainly not a new phenomenon: this type of activity has existed for years, traditionally managed directly between individuals or, at most, through traditional agencies. The novelty is the appearance of digital platforms that mediate in vacation rentals and that have led to the expansion of supply and demand worldwide 3 . This has meant a great development of vacation rentals, not only in tourist cities but even to expand the vacation offer to regions that the traveler could not access before because there were no traditional accommodation offer, such as a hotel. Right now, with the intermediation of these digital platforms, the vacation rental offer has expanded to the most unsuspected corners of the planet. We all have platforms such as Homeaway or 1 Este artículo se enmarca en el Proyecto de I+D+I “TRATAMIENTO LEGAL DEL TURISMO COLABORATIVO Y PLATAFORMAS ONLINE” (DER2017-83073), financiado por el Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Programa Estatal de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación Orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad, en el marco del Plan Estatal de I+D+I 2013-2016). This article is part of the R + D + I Project "LEGAL TREATMENT OF COLLABORATIVE TOURISM AND ONLINE PLATFORMS" (DER2017-83073), funded by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (State Program for Research, Development and Innovation Oriented to the Challenges of the Society, within the framework of the State Plan of R + D + I 2013-2016). 2 Silvia Feliu Álvarez de Sotomayor, Professor of International Private Law, University of the Balearic Islands, Spain. 3 Vid. in extenso , N. Tur Faúndez, “Los sujetos en el turismo colaborativo: plataformas digitales y proveedor del servicio” en Plataformas digitales en los alquileres vacacionales, Feliu Álvarez de Sotomayor, S., (Dir.), editorial Reus, Madrid, 2020, pp. 47-72.