What Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 really changes for apartment-first travelers
Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 is a directly applicable European Union law that reshapes how short-term rentals operate across participating member states. For travelers who prefer apartments to classic hotels, it turns a previously opaque market into one where registration, data sharing and enforcement are designed to line up. The core aim, set out in Article 1, is to improve transparency and help authorities monitor the impact of short stays on housing and local communities.
The regulation requires mandatory host registration in areas where a registration scheme exists, the allocation of a unique registration number for each short-term rental unit and systematic verification by online platforms before listings go live (Articles 5–7). Under a single framework, intermediaries such as Airbnb, Booking.com and other home-sharing platforms must check registration identifiers, display them clearly on compliant listings and remove or block offers that fail to provide valid details. For travelers using these services in European cities, this means that lawful apartments will show traceable registration numbers, while non-compliant rentals may simply vanish overnight as platforms are obliged to delist them.
Under the new framework, platforms must transmit monthly activity data to national authorities, including the number of guest nights, registration identifiers and basic capacity figures such as beds and occupancy (Articles 8–10). This data-sharing obligation covers both short stays and many medium-length bookings and gives public bodies a unified view of tourism pressure in specific cities and regions. Listings that fail to provide valid registration details can be suspended or removed, and authorities may order platforms to block repeat offenders.
Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 was adopted on 11 April 2024 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 29 April 2024 (OJ L 2024, p. 1). It enters into force on 20 May 2024, but most obligations apply from 20 May 2026, giving states and platforms time to adapt. As an EU regulation, it has direct effect, yet member states still decide where to introduce or adjust registration schemes, how strict their local night caps and tourist taxes will be, and which authorities will handle enforcement.
For travelers booking short-term rentals from 2026 onward, the immediate effect is a cleaner marketplace where apartment listings must prove their legal status. Expect some properties to disappear in cities where hosts never completed registration or ignored local rules for primary residences. Hosts who fail to comply can face penalties under national law, including administrative fines, delisting orders and, in serious cases, temporary bans from advertising on major platforms.
Travelers should also anticipate potential price shifts as hosts absorb compliance costs and as some apartments return to the long-term rental market. In Berlin, for example, the Zweckentfremdungsverbot law has already pushed thousands of units back into residential use; the Senate Department for Urban Development reported more than 8,000 illegal holiday rentals removed or converted between 2018 and 2023. In Spain, the Catalan consumer agency (Agència Catalana del Consum) fined Airbnb €600,000 in 2018 for advertising unlicensed apartments in Barcelona, signalling that enforcement is not theoretical. For visitors, the new EU rules build on this trend by making it easier for local authorities to spot irregular listings and act on them.
Where travelers will feel the shift first: from Barcelona to lesser known coasts
The sharpest changes for apartment-focused visitors will appear in European cities that already battle overtourism and housing shortages. Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin have spent years tightening local rules, and the new EU framework gives them better tools to track platform data and enforce existing caps. By standardising how registration numbers and activity statistics are shared, Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 makes it harder for illegal short lets to hide in plain sight.
Amsterdam’s 30-night cap for renting out a primary residence, combined with a 12.5 percent tourist tax in the city centre, already limits casual holiday rental activity. With mandatory registration numbers and platform verification, non-compliant listings will be easier to detect, pushing some stays toward licensed apartments in outer neighbourhoods or to smaller Dutch towns. In Spain, where authorities have repeatedly fined platforms for unregistered rentals, coastal cities such as Valencia and Málaga are expected to purge illegal listings quickly once they can cross-check EU-standardised data against local registers.
France’s major cities will use the new data-sharing rules to compare platform listings with municipal databases and to distinguish short-term tourist stays from mid-term corporate housing. Paris, for instance, limits most primary residences to 120 rental nights per year and requires a registration number on every advertisement. For business-leisure travelers extending a Paris work trip into a weekend in the Loire or the Basque Country, this could mean fewer options in central arrondissements but more legal holiday homes in secondary towns and rural areas that welcome regulated tourism.
Germany’s large cities, including Berlin and Munich, have already used strict local regulations to return many apartments to the long-term market. With EU-wide activity data from short-term rental platforms, these cities can refine enforcement, potentially reducing tourist flats in central districts while allowing more controlled rentals in peripheral neighbourhoods. For travelers who value quieter stays, this nudges itineraries toward smaller university towns and countryside villages where rules are clearer and pressure on housing is lower.
In southern member states such as Portugal and Greece, the impact will vary by city, as local authorities decide how aggressively to use the new tools. Lisbon has frozen new licences in some historic districts, while Athens is debating tighter limits in dense neighbourhoods, yet inland regions and lesser-known islands may welcome compliant listings as a way to spread visitor spending. For off-the-beaten-path travelers, this divergence between city and region becomes a planning advantage rather than a constraint.
Across the bloc, the regulation’s emphasis on transparent data and verified registration creates a new map of opportunity for those who skip hotels. Travelers who are willing to trade a central city postcode for a well-regulated village stay will often find better value, more space and a more grounded sense of place. The law does not end apartment-style travel in Europe; it simply rewards those who pay attention to local rules, registration numbers and neighbourhood dynamics as carefully as they read the reviews.
How to book safely under the new rules, from city alleys to rural lanes
For travelers planning European apartment stays from 2026, the most practical shift is the need to verify that every chosen rental is properly registered where required. Before confirming any booking, check that the listing shows a registration number and that this identifier appears again in the host’s messages, house manual or check-in instructions. Many cities also maintain public databases where you can cross-check registration details by address or code.
On Airbnb and other platforms, compliant listings should now be clearly marked, as intermediaries are required to verify registration before publishing new rentals and to perform regular checks on existing ones. When a listing lacks a visible registration number in a city that mandates one, treat that as a red flag and either ask the host for clarification or move on. This is especially important in markets with strict night caps or where primary residence rules limit how many days per year a home can be rented to visitors.
Business-leisure travelers extending a work trip into a rural escape should also pay attention to how local rental rules interact with their preferred length of stay. Some member states distinguish between short-term tourist stays, medium-term corporate housing and long-term leases, with different tax and registration requirements for each category. If you plan a multi-week stay in a remote valley or coastal village, confirm that the host’s registration covers your intended duration and that the activity data they report will match your actual use.
Safety for off-the-beaten-path stays now has a regulatory dimension as well as the usual common sense. A registered holiday rental in a small alpine town or on a lesser-known Adriatic island is more likely to meet basic housing standards, fire safety rules and local insurance requirements than an unregistered spare room. Choosing fewer, longer stops can also make it easier to understand local expectations, from quiet hours to waste sorting, and to build a more respectful relationship with neighbours.
Travelers who rely on airports as their main gateways into European cities should align their rental planning with evolving transport and identification rules. Treat regulatory details—such as verifying registration numbers, reading local rental regulations and understanding any city-specific tourist taxes—as part of your safety kit, alongside travel insurance and emergency contacts. Keeping copies of booking confirmations and registration numbers on your phone can help if authorities conduct spot checks or if a platform removes a listing shortly before arrival.
Finally, remember that travelers who adapt quickly to Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 will often gain access to a quieter, more authentic layer of European tourism. As some unregistered listings disappear from saturated districts, compliant homes in lesser-known quarters and rural communities will stand out more clearly. For those willing to follow the rules and embrace a slightly longer train ride, the path where the map runs out may now be easier—and safer—to reach.
Sources
Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 April 2024 on data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services (EUR-Lex) ; Official Journal of the European Union, L 2024, 29 April 2024 ; Eurostat tourism statistics ; national and municipal housing and tourism authorities in Spain, Germany, France and the Netherlands ; public statements by the City of Barcelona and the State of Berlin on short-term rental enforcement, including Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development reports on Zweckentfremdungsverbot and the 2018 decision of the Agència Catalana del Consum imposing a €600,000 fine on Airbnb for advertising unlicensed tourist apartments in Barcelona.