Airbnb races to reverse bylaw before Montreal’s Road World Championships

Airbnb is lobbying about rules that limit short-term rentals in Montreal to the summer, before the city hosts the Road World Championships cycling race in late September.

Ahead of Montreal hosting a major world cycling race in September, Airbnb has increased its lobbying efforts in Quebec. The short-term rental platform has registered a second external lobbyist as it calls for changes to Montreal’s short-term rental restrictions.

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Last year, the City of Montreal passed a bylaw to limit the number of short-term rentals. Previously, the city prohibited landlords from renting secondary properties as short-term rentals outside some designated areas. With the new bylaw that came into effect less than a year ago, homeowners in Montreal may not rent out their principal residence for periods shorter than a month outside of the summer tourist season — between June 10 to Sept. 10.

Ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix in Montreal, Airbnb urged the city to reverse its restrictions. The sporting event was scheduled for May 22 to 24, before the city’s summer tourist season officially began.

Airbnb commissioned a report, published in March, that estimated about $19 million in tourism revenue would be lost during major sporting events because of the bylaw. Around the same time, a campaign led by the short-term rental giant brought dozens of landlords and property owners to a Montreal city council meeting to push easing the seasonal ban before the Grand Prix, to no avail.

Shortly after, Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada announced that, as promised during her 2025 election campaign, the city would consider changes to the bylaw in the fall. The same situation as the Grand Prix is due to repeat for the UCI Road World Championships from Sept. 20 to 27, which also falls outside the current seasonal restriction.

Airbnb is stepping up its lobbying with the help of TACT, a Quebec City-based public relations firm. On July 20, a second consultant lobbyist, Camille Thibault, registered to communicate on behalf of Airbnb with the City of Montreal. Airbnb’s internal lobbying team is also actively registered to lobby all other major municipalities across the province, the Quebec Revenue Agency and the Quebec Institute of Tourism and Hospitality.

As of July 14, Airbnb monitoring project À bas Airbnb says there were 1,874 illegal listings in Montreal, around 20 per cent of the city’s total listings.

Ghazal Azizi Kashi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Investigative Journalism Foundation