Czechia prepares new regulations for Airbnb accommodation providers

The Czech Republic is preparing measures to bring private owners using Airbnb, Booking.com, and other short-term accommodation platforms under supervision as part of efforts to regulate the current informal economy, reports iDnes.cz.

An amendment to the country's Act on Business Conditions in the Tourism Industry, proposed by the Ministry of Regional Development, is currently undergoing an interdepartmental comment procedure and is expected to be effective from July, 2025.

The amendment mandates that providers of short-term accommodations must be registered and assigned a unique registration number. This number will need to be displayed for every listing on the platforms, and the platforms will be responsible for regularly sharing information about these registration numbers with the Ministry of Regional Development.

According to Veronika Hešíková, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Regional Development, all registration and information sharing processes will be conducted electronically through remote access. This move comes in response to a regulation proposed by the European Commission that is set to take effect in the near future.

The primary aim of the amendment is to bring transparency to the short-term accommodation sector and curb activities that currently operate in a grey zone.

Many providers of short-term accommodations operate unofficially, which not only undermines fair competition but also poses challenges for regulatory oversight. With the implementation of this amendment, the state will have a better overview of hosts and accommodation facilities in the sector.

Despite this development, the new amendment will not address complaints of excessive noise and nighttime disturbances that are often associated with short-term accommodation.

The Ministry of Regional Development clarified that such disturbances are not within the scope of the legal regulations pertaining to the tourism industry. Issues related to nighttime peace are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior.

While up-to-date data on the number of tourists utilizing online accommodation platforms is unavailable, statistics from 2019 indicated around 9.4 million overnight stays occurred in the Czech Republic through platforms like Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and Tripadvisor.

The majority of these stays were in Prague, and the highest number of foreign tourists came from Germany and the United States.