Bike rental companies in Amsterdam are calling on the local council to stop βlarge-scale and false competitionβ from hotels offering their own bikes to guests.
The hotels are using the street as a commercial space, and that is against the rules, the rental companies say. βWe have to rent expensive premises to store our bikes. We think that is false competition,β Maurits Wijzenbeek of Amsterdam bike rental organisation PAF told the Parool.
Bike shops are struggling, Wijzenbeek said, and renting out bikes is a βlifelineβ.
On the Rolly, which manages bike rental for 29 hotels, said it is abiding by the rules in place for any bike rental company. βThe council does not allow bikes at the hotels on the canals, and no more than four in some other places. They have to be parked within two metres of the hotel, without hindering pedestrians,β owner Simon de Vries said.
De Vries says the false competition argument does not wash. If bike rental companies in trouble it is because they have not moved with the times, he said. βWe spotted the possibilities of renting bikes via hotels,β he said.
VVD councillor Stijn Nijssen said βsmall local businesses must be kept for the city and treated differently from the competion of the hotelsβ.
GroenLinks councillor Elisabeth IJmker said her party has always been critical of the use of public space by commercial parties, βfrom bike delivery services to hotels. Delivery services have to put their bikes inside and hotels should too,β she told the paper.
Nijssen said he had invited PAF to talks to discuss the matter.
Amsterdam has also been criticised for expanding the number of βsharedβ bikes and scooters that it plans to sanction on the cityβs streets.
Companies offering the rental two-wheelers at fixed locations throughout the city do not have to pay any rent to place their vehicles in public spaces, while the council picks up the bill for making the area ready.
Elsa Selma 
Edgar Visser