Local Airbnb and business owner says new city ordinance will not affect short-term rental owners
Heriberto Perez Lara
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) — ABC-7 reported the City of El Paso approved a new ordinance requiring short-term vacation rental owners to contribute to El Paso’s hotel occupancy tax (HOT).
The city said this will create a more equitable lodging tax structure while generating an estimated $3.5 million annually to support tourism-related investments throughout the community.
Isaac Martinez, a local Airbnb and business owner, said he was first concerned about the ordinance, but then he learned it is not going to impact owners directly. The tax will be directly applied to guests looking for a short-term rental to stay in El Paso.
“Between my wife and me, our main way of running our business is to be, you know, to be servant-led, to be servant to our guests,” Martinez told ABC-7.
Once he and his wife became Airbnb owners, they wanted to start supporting other homeowners because they knew people who do that here want an extra source of revenue and income to support their families.
“So that’s the main reason why we wanted to start and operate a full-service business that helps people start their Airbnbs, pretty much maintain them as well, clean them and also support with guest communication and support. The main reason was just to help other families that are also kind of sort of like us that are starting and maybe they have children or they have elderly parents are trying to support,” Martinez also said.
According to him, these taxes will be applied directly to the guests and the city is trying to have a partnership with all the short-term rental platforms for them to apply for taxes directly.
It is unknown how much extra will be charged by those taxes, as the city is still taking time for implementation and outreach; the City of El Paso also said that the action approved will begin no earlier than 90 days or later than 180 days after adoption.
“The owners or hosts that are running their businesses like an actual business, I don’t I feel like there’s not going to be any big problem or there’s not going to be a big issue as far as occupancy or getting fewer bookings, because everything’s going to be on an even playing field, with the hotels and other hosts,” Martinez added.
He also said, “This ordinance will not affect guests as much as they think it will.”
“A lot of these guests, they’re looking for amenities that hotels don’t provide, or motels don’t provide, because they’re looking for a more comfortable stay somewhere where they could host some of their family, because a lot of the times we get people from out of state or even from out of the country that have family here in El Paso, and they want to host their families inside our Airbnbs to have a reunion or just like a lunch or dinner.”
For him, his wife and their business, their plan is always to improve their properties and make them better for their guests and anyone coming from out of town.
“I just wanted to give some reassurance to hosts all around El Paso that this tax ordinance should not be a big factor and as far as getting bookings, instead of trying to see this as a negative, we should definitely look at it as an opportunity to become better hosts, so that we could attract the right guests,” Martinez said.
“More than anything, I think these taxes, once that are implemented into the city and as a city keeps on bringing in events such as Coldplay and BTS, all that to is going to be a benefit to us because we’re getting more bookings and now we’re able to to charge a better price for our homes and also be competitive with with other hotels and motels.”