40% of the accommodation in Lisbon recovered the vacant properties

Most home owners personally receive guests, acting as a host

Two-fifths of Local Accommodation (AL) in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region have recovered vacant properties, with 61% saying that the tax burden threatens their activity. These are the preliminary results of a survey of 6,000 Local Accommodation entrepreneurs. So far more than 1,200 responses have been obtained and the study is to be uncovered by the end of the year.

The preliminary results of this survey already allow to draw some conclusions, for instance, that half of the Local Accommodation entrepreneurs expect to recover the investment within a year and that 73% of the guests value the support of the host. With regard to the most used properties in this type of accommodation, the vast majority are apartments (74%), followed by houses (12%) and hostels (9%).

Before being used for Local Accommodation, about 40% of the properties analyzed were vacant and 27% were private housing. Regarding AL managers, 69% are property owners and 31% are tenants. Most ALs are located on relatively recent properties, but 25% are still in the buildings prior to 1950.

Most home owners (73%) use the reservation platforms for promotion and marketing. But 65% are managed by the owners and 57% host the reception themselves. The majority (63%) want to earn more income and recover the investment in one year, with 61% see the tax burden as the biggest threat to their activity.