Airbnb worried hotels won't be able to fill the gaps left by BC regulations

Booking an Airbnb will be a little more complicated in BC as regulations take effect later this year, and Airbnb says the “misguided” rule changes come after a record-breaking 2023.

The rental housing platform worries that hotels won’t be able to make up for the accommodations that’ll be lost to regulations, especially in smaller communities.

Airbnb’s performance update comes just over two months before BC’s short-term rental regulations (STRs) take effect.

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According to new data from Airbnb, people in BC accounted for over 1.1 million guest arrivals last year, which was a 10% year-over-year increase.

Airbnb says those big numbers from last year represent “tourism spending to every corner of the province, including many communities where Airbnb hosts are often the only providers of local accommodations.”

Vancouver is a tourist hotspot named by Airbnb as one of the cities with the highest share of guests who travelled abroad in 2023.

The accommodation platform worries that hotels won’t be able to pick up the slack in parts of BC that may not have the hotel capacity that a city like Vancouver does.

Airbnb says that according to a recent analysis, 60% of BC “is home to Airbnb listings in areas without hotels, where Airbnb hosts are often the only providers of local accommodation and drivers of local tourism.”

Property owners are also worried about the regulations being a “disservice” to tourism in the province.

In March 2023, local tourism bureau Destination Vancouver released a report that forecast the need for 20,000 additional hotel rooms across Metro Vancouver over the coming decades, including 10,000 within Vancouver and another 10,000 elsewhere in the region outside Vancouver. The report predicts an annual shortage in hotel rooms could begin during the 2026 peak season for tourism. These estimates were made prior to the provincial government’s announcements relating to short-term rental policy changes.

“The government’s new short-term rental rules will not help alleviate the province’s housing crisis. Instead, they will limit accommodation options for more than 1.1 million BC residents, take income away from British Columbians during an affordability crisis,” said Nathan Rothman, Canada policy lead at Airbnb, in a statement.

BC standing firm on Airbnb regulations

Jennifer Jessica Peck/Shutterstock

BC’s position has stayed consistent, and the province’s priority is restoring housing stock to long-term renters who are severely lacking in a province where demand for rental accommodation has consistently outpaced supply.

“British Columbia is in a global housing crisis, and we need to make sure that homes are being used to house people, not as an investment opportunity. The number of short-term rentals (STRs) in BC has ballooned in recent years, removing thousands of long-term homes from the market,” the BC Ministry of Housing told Daily Hive earlier this month.

“The new legislation offers a balanced approach that will return thousands of homes to the long-term housing market while still accommodating our province’s tourism needs.”

The ministry added that there are alternatives in specific communities.

“The short-term rental regulations announced in December 2023 clarify a process where larger communities (population of 10,000 people or more) that are covered by the principal residence requirement but which have a vacancy rate above 3%, can request to opt-out, providing an option for communities where the need for rental housing is not so extreme.”

The ministry says significant investments have been made to combat the supply issues.

“These actions are part of our work to deliver the homes people need faster while creating more vibrant communities throughout BC. The province is making the largest investment in housing supply in BC’s history – $19 billion – and has nearly 78,000 homes that have been delivered or are underway throughout the province since 2017.”

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