AMPI Cancun calling on businesses to curb Rental Properties

Cancun, Q.R. — Some real estate professionals are concerned about the amount of new developments being purchased for rental purposes in Cancun and throughout Riviera Maya.

Taydé Favila Soriano, president of the Mexican Association of Real Estate Professionals (AMPI) in Cancun, says there are around 1,000 new housing units being constructed with the objective of being used as rental properties on platforms such as Airbnb. She says Airbnb is like a “tsunami” that hoteliers cannot oppose since it is an international trend that fills needs that traditional hotels cannot meet.

“The All Inclusive concept in the hotel industry had its moment as a market need, however, today all hotels are All Inclusive because the concept went out of control with the effects of lack of economic dispersion,” Favila Soriano.

The new vacation trend of platforms such as Airbnb is the reason almost 40 percent of the new subdivisions being built are being marketed with that sales strategy, to become a productive investment as a vacation rental. She says the trend is particularly high in Riviera Maya, in places such as Playa del Carmen and Tulum where developers are promoting the new developments as investments through profits generated by renting it out to vacationers.

She says that to prevent this from getting out of control and having negative effects, AMPI is calling on business chambers to create a regulation that allows a healthier coexistence of traditional hospitality with the new platforms such as Airbnb. Miriam Cortés Franco, executive director of the Association of Vacation Clubs of Quintana Roo, said that the “deep” regulation of digital platforms such as Airbnb will be one of the commitments that the hotel industry will require candidates to assume as part of their political platforms for the elections in July.

She explained that they are asking for a detailed regulation not only to force the owners of rental housing to pay taxes, but also so that the urban ordinances can be revised to define areas in which the operation of the vacation rentals could be allowed and other areas where it will be prohibited. She added that already in Cancún, the cost of rent in central areas is increasing significantly and it’s displacing the local population because the price for traditional housing is out of reach for most.

Source: Riviera Maya News

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