According to a study by Radical Storage, the luggage storage website, the price of an apartment let in Palma advertised on Airbnb is some four times higher than the average price of a hotel room in the city. The prices per night are €732 for an Airbnb and €185 for a hotel. This price difference is the greatest among 20 European destinations included in this study. Nowhere else comes close. In Madrid the hotel price is €323, an Airbnb €489; in Vienna, €351 versus €479.
These are the closest. London has the greatest difference in reverse – €503 for a hotel, €218 for an Airbnb. For all the 20 destinations, the average price per night for a tourist apartment is €284, for a hotel €244. The study attributes the Palma difference to high demand. Another factor may just be a limited supply due to the fact that tourist apartment lets in the city are illegal and have been since 2018. It was announced in April that 8,000 listings for illegal
holiday accommodation had been removed from Airbnb under an agreement with the Council of Mallorca. But adverts for Palma still appear. Earlier this year, the opposition party PSOE highlighted this when they rented an apartment for a night. Two weeks ago, the Balearic Government revised the fines for illegal holiday accommodation letting – up to 5,000 euros for minor infractions, up to 50,000 euros for serious infractions and a maximum of 500,000 euros for those considered very serious.
Palma Airbnb hotel prices, Radical Storage study, illegal holiday accommodation, Council of Mallorca, PSOE rental, Balearic Government fines