“Prostitution Networks Exploit Short-Term Rentals in Thionville, Moselle”

“We can a priori speak of high-end prostitution networks that would use this channel. A response is expected…” Pierre Cuny’s statement resonated one evening at the municipal council. Without saying more, the mayor then echoed an Airbnb offer plagued by sexual “tourism” in Thionville. The phenomenon is not new. However, it seems largely undervalued by the famous global furnished reservation platform. It claims that 0.086% of reports are related to safety issues that include prostitution. A very low percentage in total mismatch with the figures of the Central Office for the Suppression of Trafficking in Human Beings. In 2019, in an article published by our colleagues from Parisian the divisional commissioner Jean-Marc Droguet estimated “at 30 or 40% the share of pimping networks using short-term rentals offered on the Internet by sites”.

Owner fined €20,000

If this criminal reality escapes the majority of rental companies, some would derive significant benefit from it. And this knowingly. In May 2022, an owner was thus sentenced by the Thionville criminal court to a fine of €20,000 for having made two apartments, located in Metz and Thionville, available to women and a transvestite who sold their charms. A case which would not be isolated according to Pierre Cuny. The elected official fears that the geographical location of northern Moselle, on the border of the rich neighbor Luxembourg, will favor this lucrative illegal business. A situation likely to aggravate the strong rental tension of the Thionville real estate market…