Some 300 apartments for rent in Palma are currently being advertised on Airbnb. These are short-term rentals for a few days and are therefore considered, by the Balearic government, to be holiday rentals. The adverts for the properties do not have tourism ministry licence numbers, which any holiday rental must have, while in Palma there is in any event a town hall ban on holiday rental apartments.
Unlike last year, there is greater availability - the consequence of the pandemic - although some apartments show good bookings for July and August. The website indicates that prices have come down from what they were last summer. An example is a one-bedroom apartment on the Paseo Marítimo. The price is 656 euros for six nights; this includes cleaning and service. It was previously offered at 1,100 euros.
The Balearic government fined Airbnb for carrying advertisements for properties which didn't include the licence number. This fine was recently annulled by the Balearic High Court, which accepted the Airbnb defence that it was merely an e-commerce intermediary and that its activity therefore conforms with the relevant EU directive. The owners of properties face being fined, and they cannot claim this defence.