Auckland City plans to exempt 'room only' Airbnb from targeted rates labelled unfair
Thursday, 29 March 2018
The tourism industry says it is unfair for Auckland City to exempt 'room only' Airbnb operators from a targeted rate paid by accommodation providers.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) pushed to have peer-to-peer accommodation such as Airbnb included in the targeted rate paid by about 300 Auckland hotels and motels.
TIA chief executive Chris Roberts said the move to charge some online accommodation operators was a move in the right direction, but did not go far enough.
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The latest version of the rate outlined in the council's draft long term plan proposes that online accommodation operators renting out entire homes for 28 or more nights a year will have to pay the targeted rate to help cover the cost of tourism promotion.
Business rates will also be applied on a sliding scale based on the number of nights a year a property is listed, with those listed for more than 135 nights a year treated as fully commercial.
Roberts said the 'inefficient and ill conceived' proposal was still unfair because it exempted 'room only' lets which made up almost half of the 12,357 Airbnb properties in Auckland.
He said the draft plan noted the targeted rate imposed on traditional accommodation providers would drop by up to 55 per cent if it was applied to all online providers.
'By including them in the reach of the rate, the proposed changes will lessen some of the inequities of the original scheme,' Roberts said.
TIA's submission to the council said traditional accommodation providers paid the full targeted rate, regardless of occupancy.
It said that while it was difficult applying commercial rates to residential properties, that should not deter councils from attempting to do so.