The way I watched it happen was the business was spiraling down and nobody was refurbishing the hotels. As the occupancy rates dropped, the owners of hotels converted them to condos and sold them. Then Airbnb came along and people rapidly started to use them, which is good for the consumer that does use Airbnb because the prices got driven downward over time.
- Thread starter TropicalPaul
- Start date
Is this a terrible year so far for tourism?
The way I watched it happen was the business was spiraling down and nobody was refurbishing the hotels. As the occupancy rates dropped, the owners of hotels converted them to condos and sold them. Then Airbnb came along and people rapidly started to use them, which is good for the consumer that does use Airbnb because the prices got driven downward over time.
A lot of the hotels went downhill hill no Reno’s old furniture carribean style and feel and a lot of mom and pop places on Airbnb are done up to tee... look at Casa Linda model not on beach but thriving...you always get the bargain hunters where it’s easier to pull penny out of frogs ass... a lot want nicer better modern and willing to pay for it , times are changing...
I was talking to someone who owns a large hotel and is very well connected with key people in government and powerful families. He said that there is a lot of discussion about AirBnB and he is certain that it will either be outlawed in some areas, or will be regulated with owners having to register to carry on. He said that the arguments being put forward are that AirBnB's are not paying ITBIS and there are security concerns. So this is definitely on the radar of the powers that be.
Many countries are "dealing" with Airbnb. Time will tell how the DR does it.
Several locals commented to me yesterday that they had never seen so many tourists in Jarabacoa as they have these past three months.