Mix together soccer, taxes and tourism, add a dash of ‘sharing economy,’ and you have a recipe for unrest in the lodging industry.
The organizers of Euro 2016, the European soccer championship, started the ruckus by designating HomeAway, a vacation property rental site, as its “official fan accommodation service.” That means that fans will be encouraged to rent from HomeAway, known in France as Abritel, rather than traditional hotels.
Since the hotel industry has a long-standing beef with home-sharing services and the government over the daily tourist tax which they pay and home-shares have mostly escaped, they’ve taken the opportunity and publicity to announce that they will stop collecting the tax. Taxes for the month would come to about €7.5 million for the month of the tournament, June 10 to July 10, in ten cities.
Although home-sharing companies are now required to collect the tax, and Airbnb adds it as a separate item in France, it is still laxly enforced; hotels claim they are paying 95% of the tax, while housing 50% of visitors. The hotels claim that HomeAway has not made a commitment to the ten cities to collect the fee.
Photo: Dinkum/Wikipedia
