Is Airbnb ethical?
Our research highlights multiple ethical issues with Airbnb, including having subsidiaries in tax havens and its significant carbon footprint. The company also faces a boycott call over multiple listings in illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land.
Below we outline some of these issues. To see the full detailed stories, and the Airbnb overall ethical rating, please sign in or subscribe.
Airbnb properties in illegal Israeli settlements
Airbnb has been widely and repeatedly condemned for advertising multiple properties on its site that are in illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.
Israeli settlers have forcibly and often violently displaced Palestinian people from their lands since the 1960s, supported by the Israeli state. The groups have then established their own villages and towns, allowing Israel to tighten its control over the state. The UN has recognised the settlements as illegal under international law.
A 2025 Guardian investigation identified 321 houses, apartments or rooms listed on Airbnb that were in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem. These included properties in the West Bank settlement of Tekoa, a region where at least 100 Palestinians have been forced out since 2023.
Since 2019, Airbnb has donated its profits from the settlement rentals to an Australian non-profit. The company refused to tell the Guardian how much it had donated, but stated “we will continue this approach as part of our global framework on disputed territories.”
As a result of the listings in settlements, the Palestinian-led campaign Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) has called for a boycott of Airbnb. “Corporations that are implicated in the commission of international crimes connected to Israel’s unlawful occupation, racial segregation, and apartheid regime - within or beyond the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 - are all complicit and must be held accountable,” the group says.
Airbnb pushes up property prices
Airbnb has also come under fire for helping to push up rental prices and accelerate gentrification in cities around the world.
Experts, housing unions, and locals say that rent prices are rising due to the number of properties being let on Airbnb and other similar sites, for short-term stays and at prices out of the reach of residents.
In 2025, more than 150,000 demonstrators marched through Madrid chanting, “Get Airbnb out of our neighborhoods”, while protests were also seen in Barcelona, Milan, Venice and Naples, among other cities.
Academic studies have provided evidence of Airbnb’s impact. A 2024 study found that in Berlin each commercial Airbnb listed increased per metre rent by between 1.3 and 2.7%. A 2021 study found that in Portugal the average increase was 3.7%, and that in touristy areas like the historic centres of Lisbon or Porto, it could be as much as 30%.
Subsidiaries in tax havens
As of 2025, Airbnb owned multiple subsidiaries in tax havens including the Netherlands and Ireland. Some of these appeared to be particularly high risk for tax avoidance strategies.
A web page titled Airbnb’s UK Tax Strategy stated: "Airbnb does not enter into artificial or abusive arrangements in order to reduce our liability to UK taxes. Our tax positions and reporting reflect the business activities undertaken in the UK. Airbnb is committed to ensuring that we pay the correct amount of tax in each country in which we operate."
However, the company had not provided any explanation for its subsidiaries in tax havens, or evidence that they were not being used for tax avoidance purposes. It therefore scored very poorly in Ethical Consumer’s tax conduct rating overall.
“Sizeable” and increasing carbon emissions
Airbnb has promoted itself as a greener way to travel, arguing that home sharing can cut water use, energy use and waste compared to other forms of accommodation. Yet, in 2021, a study by University of New South Wales in Sydney found that Airbnb came with “sizeable greenhouse emissions”.
Airbnb lets in Sydney were found to have emissions per night comparable to those from a room in an economy hotel. The academics concluded that Airbnb, like traditional travel options, had a significant role in climate change: accommodation accounts for about 1% of global emissions and 20% of tourism emissions, it noted.
According to its sustainability reporting, Airbnb has taken some steps to try and cut its emissions, the majority of which come from the accommodation listed on its site. Many suppliers had committed to measure and report on emissions, and set targets for reduction, Airbnb stated. It said that it was “offering programs to help them electrify their homes, install EV chargers, and more."
Yet, despite its efforts, Airbnb failed to reduce emissions in line with vital international climate goals. While it had cut its emissions for every dollar of revenue generated, the company continued to rapidly expand, offsetting environmental benefits with what it called “carbon-efficient growth”. Between 2019 and 2024 its emissions increased overall.
Airbnb therefore scored poorly in Ethical Consumer’s climate rating.
The text above was written July 2026, and most research was conducted in December 2025.
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