Tourism Law in Europe

30 VI. The Accommodation Contract Concluded Through the So-Called Collaborative Platforms It should be pointed out, for this specific work, that the accommodation arranged through the so-called collaborative platforms is very disparate, because from the outset, and although all of them today seem to qualify as providers of information society services 63 , despite our reticence, the truth is that not all of them are, and they provide different services, some of which may be similar, occasionally, and serve the same purposes as the contract that has been the object of study 64 . VI.1. Concept and Characteristics of the Hosting Contract Concluded on These Platforms The truth is that if anything characterises the intermediation carried out by any of the so- called collaborative platforms (exchange, hospitality or accommodation booking platforms), it is precisely its triangular nature, as both the provider and the applicant contact each other through the platform to agree on the demand for a specific service: accommodation. In any case, what does seem relevant today, and in accordance with our regulatory framework, is that the specific contract is concluded between the host and the guest, albeit through the platform as an intermediary. Well, in our opinion, this contract is none other than that of accommodation, albeit with certain particularities, which make it worthy of the low-cost qualifier. Certainly, we can continue to classify this relationship as atypical, bilateral, of successive tract, although not always of a commercial nature, since when it has two individuals as subjects, it will necessarily have to be classified as civil 65 . 63 Beyond the various pronouncements of the Commission regarding what should be understood by the collaborative economy, and its specification with respect to the matter under study, the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) of 19 December 2019, Case C 390/18, Case Ireland/Airbnb, which we are obliged to share with the current European rules, is of interest, but which must be raised, at least as a mixed platform because it does not properly fit with the concept that we hold regarding what should be understood by the collaborative economy. In this regard, see, among others, GONZALEZ CABRERA, I. “La economía colaborativa: del intercambio entre pares a una nueva economía de mercado”, Revista de Derecho Mercantil , no. 309, 2018, Electronic edition; Bajo el paraguas de la economía colaborativa: el transporte a escena , Dykinson, Madrid, 2020, pp. 21 et seq. 64 See our position on these platforms in GONZALEZ CABRERA, I. El alojamiento colaborativo o el nuevo hospedaje low cost , op . cit ., pp. 28 et seq . 65 In short, the commercial nature of the transaction derives, on the one hand, from the status of one of the parties as an entrepreneur and, on the other hand, from the fact that the legal transaction is part of an organised activity of a commercial nature in the broad sense and in its own name, thus serving an economic