airlines and regulating apartment rentals

pedro (☼Travelguide writer) says on Apr 16, 2009, 14:33:

Papi de Alejo says on Apr 16, 2009, 14:39:

I saw an article on this very same thing in Hoy Diario del Magadalena (Santa Marta). It was during the Semana Santa time period. Didn't pay much attention but it just might be a national thing. If I remember correctly, and I can't get at the archives, there was a concern that use of apartments were not being included in the occupancy projections and reports; which in turn leads to a lack of appropriate planning on the part of the local planning authorities.

Live simply... Love generously... Care deeply... Speak kindly...

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gorgonabob says on Apr 16, 2009, 14:40:

elcolombiano newspaper...
coming from the ministry of commerce.. complaints that while tourist numbers are rising, hotel occupancy is falling... as tourists areo opting to stay in apartments..

the jist of it seems to be that there are going to be some laws coming out for those that rent out apartments in the major cities in the next day or two.. especially, and this is just my opinion, probably to do with the sexual exploitation of kids by foreigners....because that is a big deal in hotels, they are always going on about it.. perhaps also with regard to taxes and various other laws.. who knows... they just want more control... it will be a nation wide thing id imagine...

just go to elcolombiano.com and look for it...

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pedro (☼Travelguide writer) says on Apr 16, 2009, 14:42:

Found it. Many thanks for the heads up.

http://www.elcolombiano.com/BancoConocimiento/M/mincomercio_regulara_o...

"this may seem a strange post but it is not...when in colombia men need to be aware that colombia women may try to be seductive and entice a travelling gringo to have sex with them..to be forewarned is to be forearmed..." -- pow wow

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Fence231 says on Apr 16, 2009, 15:57:

Will never fly, if it does, won' be enforced at least not in the interior. Camara Comercial does not even recognize renting rooms or subleasing apartments as a legitimate business. Would be good though to let the scumbags who are renting to scumbags know that they are being monitored more closely!

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adventuro03 says on Apr 16, 2009, 20:56:

This is something that I have heard the last couple of years was coming. I am sure the hotels in the tourist cities have been really pushing this lately. With so many vacancies at the hotels there is alot of pressure to raise money thru taxes on people who rent their apartments out short term without paying any hotel tax. This has been more visible with so much condo building the last four years, at least in Cartagena, and many, many more owners that want to earn income from their condos. The way it will be enforced will be thru the administration and the porteros who monitor everyone coming and going. Also, as in the states, their are quite a few owners who would prefer if there were less rentals in their buildings. So they will be only too happy to turn someone in if the porteros let some thru. I think the first step will probably be just to ban renting short term to people. Then, there may be pressure to allow short term rentals with the owner paying some kind of ocupancy tax. Part of the difficulty with having such a law is that many, many Colombian tourists that come to Cartagena during "high season" rent small to large apts with maybe ten to fourteen people to divide the costs. Hotels cannot offer this type of cost saving to families. Be interesting to hear others thoughts. Have been in Cartagena about half the year for the last five years.

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Escape Artist says on Apr 16, 2009, 21:01:

Interesting news about declining hotel occupancy. I'm not aware of that happening in the nicer higher end hotels in Medellin where annual occupancy rates hover around 70%.

EA

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ACampion says on Apr 16, 2009, 21:59:

Technically this is already regulated as almost all apartment rental takes place in residential buildings where it is 'technically' illegal to rent for periods of less than 6 months making the rental commercial. Of course that means nothing.

It will be interesting to see what is done on a national level to enforce this. In almost every case it comes down to the administration of the building and whether they care or not about short term rentals. Since it's already law, I don't see what else can be done to prevent owners from exercising there rights and renting their own properties. I assume the government will go after the businesses for tax reasons since they cannot simply ban short-term rentals full top. It's unconstitutional.

I wasn't ware there was a hotel occupacy problem either, at least not in Medellin. If it's 70% like EA says, I don't know a hotelier in the world that would complain about that!

Andrew Campion - www.theapartmentmedellin.com

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Brians says on Apr 17, 2009, 04:15:

I can't see how they can possibly police this effectivily. As ACampion has stated it would require the building adminstrator and a couple pesos from the owner would pay that leak off easily enough. I think it would be most effective if the penaly for violation was a 200% tax on property tax or something to that effect. Meaning that it would make the owners think twice about doing it and the consequences. Thus they would want additional compensation to try to avoid this tax. Rents up and the discrepancy between apartment rents and hotel's prices would narrow.

12VOIP.com gives free calls to Colombia. Brian

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Saltador says on Apr 17, 2009, 05:06:

They need to be very careful they don't shoot theirselves in the foot here. Were they able to wave their magic wand and eliminate apartment rentals, overall tourism would surely drop significantly. People that ( in their own words) prefer apartments over hotels will not just shrug their shoulders and pay 2-4 times more to stay in hotels, they'll look into other travel destinations. And what do you think will happen to the current glut of apartment projects when they will no longer produce rental income? Demand will plummet, along with prices being paid for them. This would surely be the straw that breaks the price bubble.
But at least the hotel owners will be happy.

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adrimm (Moderator) (☼Travelguide writer) says on Apr 17, 2009, 07:43:

Miguel_Clavo says on Apr 17, 2009, 07:53:

Hotels are being forced into competition with short-term apt rentals, forcing lower hotel room rates. Good thing. =)

Administradors wont give a shit. Good thing. =)

If passed and enforced, i see a sharp increase in quick apt sales in the tourist areas of Cartagena for those owners who are already cash-strapped..Good thing...=)

I agree with Saltador. To appease the rich hotel owners and their obvious political influence and money, the industry itself may go into a hibernation period....Bad Thing....=(

Nothing happens fast in Colombia except the weather. Good/Bad Thing =)(

Lets hear it for the new PBH Experts on Colombia! DrPhilinamillion, KY, and Darloops!!!!!!! We Salute Your Valuable Contributions to This Forum!

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gorgonabob says on Apr 17, 2009, 10:34:

the best thing about the article is that an arabian airline, probably Emirates, is looking to start flying shortly into Colombia... thats got to be big news.

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