Conflict management in local accommodation – The case of the Autonomous Region of Madeira

Abstract

This article analyzes the impact of the exponential growth of local accommodation on the adoption by government authorities of new laws, new policies for the management and regulation of this activity. At the methodological level, a mixed exploratory research methodology was used, which identifies the capacity of the legislator to respond to all the inherent conflicts, as well as the continuous need to adjust the law to the development of this activity. The different ways of making reservations and the multiple actors in this process result in a multiplicity of forms of local accommodation provided to customers, generating various conflicts. It was identified that this legislation is able to respond to all the conflicts identified and that the strategies or changes to the law were advocated with the objective of a greater scope of them. The case of local accommodation in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM) is analyzed in terms of practical applications.