At the Fitur tourism fair in Madrid on Thursday, the president of the Balearics, Marga Prohens, announced that the government will be working with Booking.com on detecting and reporting illegal holiday let offers.
Prohens held a meeting with the regional manager of Booking in Spain and Portugal, Pilar Crespo, to launch this cooperation in the fight against illegal letting in the Balearics. Noting that the illegal offer has "proliferated without limits in recent years", she stressed the importance of decreasing it.
There is to be cross checking of data, the president saying that the agreement will improve inspection efforts that are the responsibility of island councils. The government is looking to establish the same agreement with other accommodation platforms.
She thanked Booking for its cooperation and referred to future European regulation, currently being processed, which has to do with this type of information exchange and online letting agencies' obligations.
Prohens added: "The illegal offer represents unfair competition to both hotel accommodation and regulated holiday rental accommodation. It is detrimental to our quality as a destination and to our image for those who visit us and merely contributes to a surplus of tourists without any control."