News about airbnb

With unsold completed residential properties at an all-time high in Malaysia and with landlords competing for tenants amidst a slowdown, there is one thing developers and property investors with empty homes could do — rent them out for short-term rentals instead of waiting for long-term leases.

  KUALA LUMPUR (May 23): Budget hotels in the country are struggling to keep afloat mainly because of an oversupply of hotels in cities such as KL, lower tourism arrivals last year, completion from Airbnb and online travel agencies (OTA) while the tourism tax and Sales and Service Tax (SST) provided an extra “burden”, The Star reported today.

PETALING JAYA (May 8): A woman’s occupational habit stood her in good stead when she foiled a peeping Tom’s months-long bedroom recordings in his Airbnb unit in eastern China.

KUALA LUMPUR (May 8): Short-term rentals such as those offered by Airbnb will remain illegal in Singapore, the city state's Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) announced today after nearly four years of discussions with relevant parties, say reports.

KUALA LUMPUR (April 24): Airbnb today said any cap on short-term rentals would be the equivalent of putting a cap on Malaysian tourism.

  KUALA LUMPUR (April 17): In a survey commissioned by Airbnb, half of the 880 respondents would prefer to have a national set of guidelines for short-term rentals.

KUALA LUMPUR (March 13): Women hosts on Airbnb make up almost 50% of all hosts in Malaysia, and they earn an average annual income of RM5,793.

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 16): There are currently no registration forms for Airbnb hosts to register their properties with municipal authorities, despite amendments having been made to the Tourism Industry Act recently to extend registration requirements to all homes, said Airbnb.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 26): Airbnb and local authorities are discussing the implementation of Voluntary Collection Agreements (VCAs) which will enable the platform to collect and remit tourist tax on behalf of its hosts and guests in Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 26): Airbnb has recorded a 99% increase in guest arrivals in Malaysia to two million as at July 2018, making the country the fastest growing in Southeast Asia for the platform.