Airbnb says thousands of B.C. reservations at risk, blames 'rushed' rental rules
CBC
Short-term vacation rental platform Airbnb said Friday that "thousands" of reservations in British Columbia are at risk of cancellation, accusing the province of rushing out regulations as it cracked down on the industry.
Alex Howell, Airbnb's Canadian policy lead, said in an interview with The Canadian Press that the new rules, which require short-term rental hosts to confirm their listings are legal, have already led to some bookings being cancelled.
The government has said platforms such as Airbnb can't post B.C. listings without confirming they are registered with the province.
Howell said many hosts whose properties qualify can't register due to glitches and other problems with the new system.
"Typically, we would have worked with a government for six months to do live testing, to make sure that things are working the way they should," Howell said.
"And unfortunately in this situation, B.C. really just rushed into launching the system that hadn't been fully tested, and that's what's brought us to this situation." The province said Friday that dozens of other short-term rental platforms serving B.C. have managed to support their hosts in registering with the government.
But Howell said that property owners have reported that typos and formatting errors have prevented them from registering with the province, despite meeting all the legal criteria for hosting short-term rentals.
"The government's short-term rental system simply isn't ready," Howell said in a statement to CBC News. "We warned that rushing this rollout would lead to serious consequences, and now British Columbians are paying the price."
The province had said that short-term rentals are being restricted to principal residences, a secondary suite or a structure such as a laneway house on the property, and the policy is meant to open up more units in B.C.'s rental housing market.
Howell said the timing of B.C.'s latest rules on short-term rentals is especially impactful, just ahead of the busy summer tourist season.
"Thousands of reservations across the province are now at risk," she said. "These are registered, compliant hosts that are failing validation protocols through no fault of their own.
"And this impacts … thousands of reservations across the province, at least 50 per cent of which are domestic travellers who are following their own government's advice to support local and travel within Canada this year."
Howell said instead of waiting until the June 23 deadline — when bookings on unregistered B.C. properties would be cancelled — Airbnb is proactively contacting affected hosts and guests to offer penalty-free cancellations.
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