On the first of September, 654 holiday rental places (beds) went on sale in Mallorca. The online application registration system for this immediately crashed. Problems persisted with the system and the process for applications, which remained open until September 15.
The system failures mean that the Council of Mallorca will almost certainly have to cancel the entire process and start again. The malfunctions have meanwhile led to numerous complaints. But the IT issues and the complaints might possibly have been anticipated.
On July 16, the Council opened the process for purchasing places for hotels in listed buildings, i.e. boutique-style establishments in the likes of converted mansions. The system failed on this occasion as well. The Council has had to repeat the process.
A third process, that for 416 regular hotel places, started on September 16 and is due to run until the end of the month. There doesn't appear to be a problem with this or with the new process for the listed buildings (some 500 places) that was started on September 9.
In the case of the holiday rentals, the 654 places correspond to ones that became available after the Balearic Government lifted the moratorium on acquiring places that the last government had introduced.
Under the regulations as now apply, there can be no new apartments for holiday lettings - no registrations will be permitted. With the lifting of the moratorium, the government also "stabilised" around 90,000 holiday rental places, which would have disappeared if they had ceased to be used. For critics of a government failure to "contain" tourism, an objective the government has said it is pursuing, the reactivation of these places is an indication of this failure.
Among provisions of the regulations are those designed to prevent "speculative activity". A condition is that individuals wishing to acquire holiday rental places must prove ownership of the property for at least three years prior to submitting their application. In order to be able to sell these places, they must wait five years. Only one application per person (or legal entity) is allowed.
Meanwhile, agreements between Airbnb and the Councils of Mallorca and Ibiza to remove ads for holiday letting in caravans, tents and other blatantly illegal accommodation still haven't had the desired effect. The ads are persisting. In respect of all illegal holiday letting in apartments and other homes in Mallorca, Airbnb in theory is meant to start ensuring their removal next month.