You might know about the popular travel service called Airbnb. It's an online marketplace for hospitality services, which allows property owners in different countries to offer anything from a room to a home, to tourists. Airbnb offers travelers cheaper accommodations than the traditional hotels and resorts, and part of the attraction is that it puts the tourist in the heart of a country like a local.
Airbnb rentals are available in every corner of the world - including Belize.
There are over 400 property owners in Belize who are already registered as hosts in Airbnb. It matters because in countries where Airbnb has established a foothold, hotels have complained that the service has cut into their market.
So, today, BTB hosted a 2-hour conference with representatives of Airbnb to learn first-hand about how their business works. 7News was there, and we got a chance to speak with the representatives of the online company, and with BTB. Here's what they told us:
Shawn Sullivan, Representative - Airbnb
"Belize is not a big market for us but we think we have significant potential to grow. The countries where we are able to strike a collaborative relationship with governments are countries where we end up growing faster and are more successful. Our hope is to strike a deal with the government of Belize on a range of issues that would allow us to continue to grow and drive more tourism to this country."
Karen Bevans, Director of Tourism
"This is the way the industry is going. We have been seeing many articles particularly in the US, talking about the Airbnb issue. We have received concerns and questions from our stakeholders. We believe that the more information we gather the more information they get as well; we would be able to jointly put together the best way forward for Belize. Our intention is to better the tourism industry and we want to ensure that what we promote Belize as a destination as having a good experience, is the experience that guests and tourists truly get when they arrive in Belize. Our interest is to ensure that what is offered with Airbnb is of course up to the standard and the level that the destinations offer. We want to ensure that those who operate via Airbnb is also operating legally within Belize and it is a level playing field for those on Airbnb and those on their own reservation system as well."
Shawn Sullivan, Representative - Airbnb
"It's an open platform if people have a unique place that they want to put on our website, they can do it and our hope is that working with the government and stakeholders we're going to be able to bring more tourists here and create more revenue for the government."
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Sir I've noticed that one of the complaints that Airbnb seems to be getting from the traditional hospitality industry is that you're all supposedly muscling on the market share that they already enjoy, by offering cheaper housing and accommodation arrangements than they are able to market themselves as. How do you respond to that sort of criticism that you are negatively affecting the hotel industry that's already established in these countries?"
Shawn Sullivan, Representative - Airbnb
"So one of the things that we offer the government and one of the things I've offered the government of Belize is that we're willing to collect and remit taxes on behalf of our host. The same applicable tax rate that hotels face here we will apply that to our host to help level the playing field. We're also willing to work with the government and stakeholders to figure out what would be an appropriate type of regulation that would be appropriate for small business people which are basically what our hosts are. They are people who have one or two homes they're renting out and we think that working with them and the government we should be able to strike a balance that makes everyone happy. In general, what we found Airbnb starts growing in a market, we grow tourism by 30%, so that also benefits the hotels as well."
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"So you don't feel that you muscle in on their territory?"
Shawn Sullivan, Representative - Airbnb
"No I think it's a misunderstanding of how we operate."
Karen Bevans, Director of Tourism
"It's mixed views. I don't think anyone can definitely say Airbnb is the only factor impacting the tourism industry in any way but there are concerns. First of all, the hoteliers want to ensure that it's a level playing field and we as BTB want to ensure that as well. We want to ensure that all operators of accommodations are in compliance with the hotel and tourism accommodation act."
Currently, the Airbnb and BTB are in negotiations to ensure that the Belizeans acting as mini-hoteliers are properly taxed and regulated in a similar manner as the big resort owners and hoteliers. Right now, the BTB is not actively policing those 400 Airbnb hosts to ensure that they are compliant with the country's hotel and hospitality laws and standards.
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