The growth of holiday rental agency Airbnb in Amsterdam is slowing and last year there was a drop in the number of people offering their homes to holidaymakers through the online platform, according to a report by property advisory group Colliers.

The figures come from data analysis company AirDNA, which scrapes the website for information about users and landlords. Airbnb itself has not published any figures for 2018 and the report does not include other online platforms.

AirDNA says there was a 5% drop in the number of nights spend in Airbnb accommodation, taking the total to just under two millions. At the same time, the number of apartments for rent via the website fell over 8% to 25,380.

This has reduced Airbnb’s share of the Amsterdam holiday rental market to 10%, when compared with hotels and hostels, Colliers said.

Nevertheless, the Colliers report also says that 41% of homes offered via the site were rented for more than the official limit of 60 days. This year the limit has been cut further to just 30. Last year, one in five homes was rented out for more than 120 days, the scrape service said.

‘This is shocking,’ Colliers chairman Dirk Bakker told the Parool. ‘Airbnb won’t enforce the rules and Amsterdam would appear to be unable to. This is a failure in policy.’

Flawed

Airbnb told DutchNews.nl the report is wrong and uses flawed methodology.

‘While Amsterdammers hosting on Airbnb have increased in 2018, the number of listings shared over 60 nights a year without permission have been eradicated on Airbnb in the city,’ the spokesman said.

‘Airbnb is part of the solution to the mass tourism problems caused by big hotels – which pack vast numbers of tourists into crowded hotspots – and helps spread sustainable benefits to regular people and their communities, which don’t typically benefit from tourism.’

City rules

In February, Amsterdam officials failed to reach a deal with Airbnb and other online holiday rental agencies on making sure that the city’s 30-day limit is kept.

The city council is due to debate the tourist rental sector next week and has so far declined to comment on the Colliers report.