New rules: Venues with up to eight rooms are no longer regulated as hotels

Until September 1, the norm was four rooms, providing an opportunity for new players in the tourism market. But the traditional hotel industry is not in favor of this, and warns of significant losses in tax revenues for the country.

Until September 1, an owner can have a maximum of four rooms and a maximum of 20 guests to avoid having to register the business as a hotel. Now this has been increased to eight rooms and 30 guests.

One of the presidents of Airbnb in Southeast Asia, Mitch Goh, Utters To TTG Asia the new rules take into account the changing tourism market, especially after the pandemic. Many are staying for longer periods each time, and there are new offers not related to hotels, but e.g. Homestay and tent camp.

Regulations have been an issue for Airbnb specifically. Five years ago, a court case came to light in Hua Hin, terrifying many property owners. Here, a company was found guilty of having more than four rooms for short-term rental, as we mentioned:

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Read: Airbnb can't be stopped (July 1, 2018)

These regulations are the alpha and omega of small businesses in the industry. If they had to register the business as a hotel, there would be many additional costs and a large paper mill.

But according to the hotel industry, this is exactly what is causing a huge loss to the country.

Vice President of the Thai Hotel Association (THA), Udom Srimahachota, advertiser Recently, the Bangkok Post reported that this would entail a significant loss of income from value-added tax, income tax and corporate tax.

He also claimed that the property tax on hotels is ten times higher than that imposed on businesses that do not need to register as hotels.

The Vice President fears that savvy businessmen will now divide the business into individual parcels of up to eight rooms or villas for rent, thus escaping a much cheaper cost than traditional hotels and resorts.