The investment that became the apple of contention for the hoteliers

of Vicky Kourlibini

The imposition of a municipal tax is just one of the demands of the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises, which is included in its letter with proposals for improving the short-term lease framework, as it states.

An additional request is to set the maximum number of properties that can be registered in the Register of Short-Term Leased Properties for the area within the boundaries of the municipality.

The context in which the properties offered for short-term lease type AirBnb operate has been in the spotlight for a long time, with representatives of the hotel area having mentioned their control and taxation regime a few times.

However, a large tourism investment in the center of Athens that was recently announced, and in fact by a large foreign hotel group, was an apple of contention.

It’s like was broadcast by Capital.gr for the investment of 30 million euros of the hotel giant Radisson Hotel Group on Mitropoleos Street which concerns a complex of serviced apartments, ie in small apartments which allow guests to use facilities such as the gym, the rooftop, while also having a meeting space .

Agents of the tourism and hotel sector in the last month, without openly naming the investment, have spoken many times about it and this new tourism product.

The letter of SETE was made public on Tuesday, requesting, among other things, short-term leases concluded through digital platforms to be subject to a withholding tax of 5% on the total lease price, which tax to be paid to the State.

In the short-term leases that are concluded through digital platforms, a tax should be imposed in favor of the local authorities of the first degree, with the name “tax of short-term leases”.

The first degree local authorities may, after a decision of their municipal council, which will be justified on the basis of a relevant scientific study, set the maximum number of properties that can be registered in the Register of Short-Term Leased Properties for the area within their municipality.

The letter is communicated to Messrs. Akis Skercos Minister of State, Vassilis Kikilias Minister of Tourism, Christos Staikoura Minister of Finance, Adonis Georgiadis Minister of Development and Investment, Konstantinos Hatzidakis Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, Theodoros Skylakakis Deputy Minister of Finance with Deputy Minister of Finance Thanos Petralia, Secretary General of Fiscal Policy and George Pitsili, Governor of AADE and follows the joint meeting on March 23.

The answer from the Association of Short-Term Real Estate Leasing Companies

“Just yesterday, the letter of SETE was published, which briefly asks for the abolition of the activity of short-term lease.

More or less, an institutional body – a social partner to be precise – is asking hundreds of purely Greek companies (Property Managers) to operate in a legal tax framework, to lose their additional income and thousands of owners across the country to be taxed stop any regional activities of short-term leasing such as construction, renovations, equipment, technology companies, cooperating companies from abroad, etc. But mainly to lose the Greek public money from the incoming tourism and the hospitality of the tourists “was the answer that came from the Association of Short-Term Real Estate Leasing Companies.

“We would not be impressed if in this letter there was a request to close the access that platforms (such as Airbnb, Booking, com, Vrbo, Holidu, etc.) have in our country.

However, we must understand that the tourism product is changing as the needs of travelers change and no one can prevent the free movement of visitors worldwide and their willingness to choose the way they travel and stay. But what surprises us is that this requirement comes from the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises. “SETE” he notes.

“If the Short Term Lease is not considered a tourism product and should disappear, we would suggest that hoteliers who have seen its potential and entered it, even if they do not advertise it, discuss it with members. Then they may change their mind, they may see “The comparative advantages they have and to be able to walk on common roads for the good of Greek tourism” is underlined in the announcement.

Great offer

The percentage distribution between beds in short-term accommodation and hotel beds for the period July 2019 – June 2020, reveals that in the whole country, the number of beds in short-term accommodation was equal to that in hotels.

This was one of the main findings of the new study of the Institute of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (INSETE) on: “Offer of accommodation on short-term rental platforms – comparative figures in tourism and the real estate market”.

According to the study across the country, in the period July 2019 – June 2020, 179 thousand accommodations with 854 thousand beds were available on the short-term rental platforms Airbnb and HomeAway.

It is clarified that only accommodations that were available on the Airbnb and HomeAway platforms for at least one day during the period under review have been considered.

Therefore, the above figures reflect the maximum capacity of short-term rental accommodation, without this meaning that for 12 months there were continuously available 179 thousand accommodations with 854 thousand beds.

The structure of the offer: Attica, Crete and the Cyclades account for more than 50% of the short-term rental accommodation, bedrooms and beds in the country.

The study showed that of the 179 thousand accommodations, 89% were autonomous accommodations, 2% hotel rooms and 9% private rooms in a larger shared house or apartment.

Of the 179 thousand accommodations, the main volume accumulates in Attica (18%), the Cyclades (17%), Crete (17%) and the Ionian (14%), while the low percentage in the Dodecanese (5%) is interesting. ). The picture is similar in the available beds, where the main volume accumulates in Crete (18%), the Cyclades (17%), Attica (17%) and the Ionian (14%).

In the Cyclades – where the number of accommodations is at the same level as Attica and Crete, but due to the larger average size the Cyclades are superior to Attica in bedrooms and beds and are of equivalent capacity to Crete – there are 3 times more short-term accommodation and 3.5 times more beds than in the Dodecanese.