The proliferation of vacation rentals in private homes has grown out of proportion in many places-their increment being facilitated by digital platforms such as Airbnb. This growing trend means a substantial rise in the number of available rooms. This may imply that this is a case of unfair competition, given that they are not subject to the same regulations of legal accommodation providers. Because of this, in turn, the myth of the sharing economy is largely debunked and it simply becomes another business model. Extremadura has been no stranger to this trend, a fact that has led to our working hypothesis: the proliferation of vacation rentals in private homes deepens the problems of competition among registered businesses-more so among specific types of accommodation providers. In order to test this hypothesis, the rentals available at the digital platform were retrieved. They were then georeferenced alongside the available rooms at registered businesses. Next, the data was analyzed in a correlation matrix that yielded a strong correlation between illegal rentals and the number of rooms offered by hotels and tourist apartments. However, when a geographical analysis was carried out, two issues become apparent: that the situation also affects other types of accommodation businesses and that it is especially prevalent in popular tourist areas and their surroundings.
