The European Court of Justice upheld France's law requiring municipal authorisation for short-term property rentals.
Airbnb has since launched its City Portal solution, which it said was built for governments and tourism organisations to help foster “a deeper partnership with Airbnb”.
Airbnb, which was not a party to the case, said: “We welcome this ruling that will help clarify the rules for hosts who share secondary homes in Paris”.
In French cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants, owners who wish to rent their residence for more than 120 days per year must first ask for an authorisation to be granted by the mayor of the municipality.
The ECJ said that the "proportionate" legislation was "intended to establish a mechanism for combating the long-term rental housing shortage, the objective of which is to deal with the worsening conditions for access to housing and the exacerbation of tensions on the property markets".
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said: ”This victory, awaited by many cities, marks a turning point for the supervision of seasonal rentals and constitutes a step forward for the right to housing for all.”
Airbnb’s City Portal will include local and global Airbnb data insights into short-term rental market characteristics and remitted tourist tax revenue in places where tax agreements have been established. It will also offer access to an Airbnb team member, providing one-to-one support with City Portal or issues that arise locally.
Brian Chesky, CEO & co-founder, Airbnb, said: “We created this tool with cities and our goal is to ensure it works for big cities and small towns, and is adaptive to different needs. The way we live and travel continues to change, with people dispersing to more places. The Airbnb City Portal will make it easier for cities of all sizes to work with us and benefit from our community.”
The Airbnb City Portal was launching with more than 15 pilot cities and tourism organisation partners in its first phase. Pilot cities and counties include Buffalo, Calgary, unincorporated Miami-Dade, New Orleans, Palm Springs, Raleigh, Sacramento, Seattle, San Francisco and Vancouver. Pilot-phase tourism partners include Visit Tampa Bay, Visit Denmark, the City of Krakow, Sao Paulo State Secretary of Tourism, Visit Scotland, Visit Tuscany and Wesgro (Western Cape of South Africa).