MADRID, Nov 18 Reuters Global holiday home rental company Airbnb has urged Barcelona39;s mayor to rethink a widening crackdown on shortterm rentals, arguing that it only benefits the hotel sector while failing to address overtourism and a housing crisis.

The only winner from Barcelona39;s war on shortterm rentals is the hotel industry, Airbnb39;s head of Policy for Spain and Portugal, Sara Rodriguez, wrote in a letter to Mayor Jaume Collboni sent over the weekend and seen by Reuters.

Barcelona city hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In June, Collboni announced a plan to shut all shortterm rentals by 2028 to contain soaring rents for residents. The measure is being challenged in courts.

Airbnb argued in its letter that none of Barcelona39;s earlier measures that had imposed strict limits on new tourist accommodation licences in the city centre since 2014 proved to be effective.

A decade later, official data shows that while shortterm rentals numbers have fallen, challenges related to housing and overtourism are worse than ever, it said.

It cited official data showing longterm rents have soared more than 70 and the average price of a hotel room has increased by more than 60, even as the number of shortterm rental homes halved to 8,842 last year from 2020 levels.

Meanwhile, it argued, Spain has built fewer houses in the past decade than at any time since 1970 despite a sharp increase in demand, also pointing to official data showing that…