Spain has issued a 64 million euro fine (about $75 million) to Airbnb for advertising unlicensed short-term rentals. Regulators say the penalty represents six times the profit the company earned during the period in which the disputed listings were active.
The enforcement action is the latest sign of how aggressively Spain is moving against STR platforms as it tries to address housing affordability in major cities. Officials reported identifying 65,122 ads that failed to meet Spain’s compliance rules, including missing license numbers and incorrect host information.
The Consumer Affairs ministry said the $75M fine is final and not subject to appeal. However, Airbnb said it plans to challenge the decision in court while continuing to work with authorities on Spain’s new national STR registration system. The company noted that more than 70,000 listings have added a registration number since January.
Spain has a long history of making STRs the scapegoat for its housing pressures. In 2024, the country’s competition authority fined Booking.com 413 million euros for alleged abuses of market power. Earlier in 2025, regulators ordered Airbnb to remove about 65,000 listings. And Barcelona has also made plans to phase out roughly 10,000 licensed STR apartments by 2028 in an effort to push more units back into the long-term housing supply.
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