How about an entire luxury highrise apartment on Avenida Balboa for $170 per night? There are many more and as cheap as $20 per night. Click on the picture above and below and see how it is done.
Just when you thought that had the best rental deal in Panama for night and then came AirBnB making it even cheaper. But first this in from CentralAmericaData.com
Renting homes for a few days as an alternative to traditional hotel accommodation for tourists, is a growing trend all over the world and Panama is no exception.
In Panama City, the phenomenon is also being driven by the widespread availability of apartments built and purchased as an opportunity to gain profit from resale, which the current market stagnation has left unoccupied.
An article in Prensa.com examines the issue from the point of view of the established hotel industry, whose occupancy levels have been strongly affected by the competition of this system, the vast majority of which operate without paying taxes.
“You can find ads online, including specialized pages offering rentals for one night, or up to seven days. Prices per night are less than 100 dollars, well below the prices of most hotels on the seafront in the capital. ”
It has been mentioned that sector authorities are preparing a draft law penalizing Vacation Rentals with high fines and restrictions such as minimum rental periods of 30 days.
It would be wise not to try to go against a global trend that is here to stay, because it favors tourists reducing their costs and brings benefits-including privacy- that hotels can not offer.
The smart thing would be to integrate the supply of Vacation Rentals as part of the overall supply of tourism accommodation both for holidays and business trips.
Source: Prensa.com
Inexpensive is false, if anyone reads the daily price advertised they will almost always see it is based on a 30 day stay, so yes renting by the month is cheaper than a hotel by the day. The daily prices for vacation rentals are similar to the prices of a high-end hotel. But it is a very different product. Hotel rooms are 30 to 50 m2 in size where vacation rentals are 80 m2 and up, you can rent a 400 m2 furnished apartment in Panama City. This is a different product than a hotel room and brings different clients. Any country serious about bringing foreigners, particularly corporate clients and high-end tourist wants a well-developed vacation rental market. The law requires vacation rentals to pay more tax than hotels which have a lot of exemptions and most managed companies that are on the web do pay taxes, they are easy to find and easy for the government to check. There are some small mom and pop operators that do cheat on taxes and many small mom and pop hotels also cheat on taxes. But the law is that all vacation rental companies have to have the fiscal printer same as any other company and have to pay all taxes. Competing with hotels is a hard one to imagine with less than 400 vacation rentals in Panama and about 18,000 hotel rooms the entire vacation rental market is smaller than one hotel. Vacation rental clients are more often people looking to do business in Panama, or people looking to move here, corporate clients and they normally stay longer than people stay in hotel meaning that the average vacation rental client is more valuable to the economy than the average hotel guest. The bottom line is that the vacation or corporate rental market brings more tax revenue to Panama than hotels, bring more money into the economy per stay than hotel rooms, and are a big factor making Panama a viable option for new corporation moving here as well as a first step for many people looking to bring business here. They are also an absolute must for medical truism business. They are taxed and regulated and should be strongly encouraged by the government of Panama. Laws against them will drive real estate prices down, as Panama will become a joke for investors, when a country start making laws that say when and how you can rent your investment it is time to sell and leave and all investors know this. It will make Panama less attractive for corporate, and tourist reducing the overall number of tourists coming to Panama and will do nothing to improve the hotel occupancy but will actually reduce hotel occupancy. Studies have been done and the countries with a well-developed vacation rentals industry have higher hotel occupancy than countries without them. Laws against them will just take out the well-managed companies that serve a need and pay a lot of taxes and increase the number illegal rentals, which pay no taxes and are run by offshore companies. Every successful tourist city encourages this industry and there is a reason, it is good for the economy, good for the hotels, good for corporate, and good for tourists.
Hello Tom,
I certainly enjoy your articles and writing style. Many thanks for all tht you are doing to keep us informed as to what is happening in Panama. Much appreciated.
As a note for you and your readers, I have a very large one bedroom, two bath condo on the 16th floor of Oceanaire, both city and magnificant ocean views, walking distance to the huge shopping mall and also Johns-Hopkins Hospital.
Brand new, never lived in, priced to sell at $239,000. Maintenance fees paid through the middle of 2013. Plus a selling commission BONUS – on top of the regular commission – to the agent who sells the condo.
Contact Pat della Sera: pat@panamacasarealty.com
Many thanks,
Lawrence Klepinger