The Estonian Hotel and Restaurant Association calls on the government to regulate short-term accommodation platforms to ensure fair market competition for hotels.
Data from Statistics Estonia show that nearly 2 million overnight stays were booked through accommodation platforms last year – about a quarter more than before the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Kulli Kraner, executive director of the Hotel and Restaurant Association, short-term rentals have long moved beyond the sharing economy.
“This has already become an invisible market growing in parallel with the hotel sector. A very large number of these landlords manage multiple apartments. If someone rents out their home during their vacation, that’s an exception – but if they have several apartments, it is essentially a systematic business,” Kraner said.
She explained that the current situation affected hotel pricing and profitability, as hotels must meet stricter requirements and bear higher costs.
“This state-invisible short-term rental industry takes demand away from us without incurring comparable costs. That includes taxes – such as labor taxes – as well as compliance requirements that require investment in fire safety, hygiene, and so on,” she noted.
The Hotel and Restaurant Association believes the government should more clearly define the boundary between shared accommodation in a private home and business activity. “We are certainly not opposed to the sharing economy, but we are dissatisfied with the current situation, which lacks regulation. We want clear and equal rules – not a ban – so that this sector in Estonia is properly organized and managed.”
The association supports the creation of a national registry where platforms could verify whether a person offering accommodation services is officially registered. According to Kraner, moderate regulation could help avoid the much stricter restrictions already introduced in some European cities.
“We see that a registry, a clear definition of accommodation services, and the provision of statistics are, in our context, the first and most important steps. By regulating carefully, we can avoid finding ourselves in a situation where radical measures become necessary,” Kraner said.
Finnish tourists accounted for 27% of all foreign overnight stays booked through accommodation platforms in Estonia last year, according to Statistics Estonia.
Finland was followed by Latvia at 10%, Germany at 9%, the United States at 5%, Lithuania at 5%, and the United Kingdom at 4%. Compared to 2024, the number of stays by visitors from Estonia’s neighboring countries saw the highest growth. The largest increase was among visitors from Lithuania, followed by Latvia and Finland. (ERR)