Certain Legal Aspects of Airbnb in Thailand

Main Article Content

Alisa Pandey

Abstract

Airbnb is a concept of sharing economy that developed from the traditional walk-in hotel accommodation to an online platform, where people can create a listing of their own houses or rent out an accommodation online as a short-term rental. In spite of having the advantage upon the business under Airbnb in Thailand, there are no specific laws that cover Airbnb, which include the Hotel act in Thailand, the said law cannot be applied to Airbnb accommodations as there is no definition that covers the meaning of the hotel under the Hotel Act for Airbnb and it is an illegal business also, short-term rental is not allowed in Thailand. The matter of facts could be solved by considering to legalize Airbnb in Thailand by amending the Hotel Act and other minor laws and regulations to protect our citizen, visitors, and the Government. Thailand should take action by not only promoting the tourism of the country but also providing good accommodation for visitors.


 

Article Details

Section
Articles

References

Laws & Regulations

The Hotel Act, B.E. 2547

The Immigration Act, B.E. 2522

Article

จักรี อดุลนิรัตน์, ปัญหากฎหมายเกี่ยวกับการนำห้องชุดคอนโดมิเนียมให้เช่าระยะสั้น (ปีที่ 11 ฉบับที่ 2 วารสารนิติศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยนเรศวร) (Chakri Adunnirat, ‘Legal Problem Concerning Condominium Unites offering Short-Term Rental’, (Year 11, 2nd edn, 12 July 2018)

Tourism Development, Office of Tourism Development, Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Thai Home Stay Standard. 4th ed. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University, 1979

Journal

Parichart, B. and Than, D., “Review Article: The Review of Legal Issues Related to the Impacts of Online Vacation Rental Platforms (OVRPS) on Vacation Condominium Rentals and the Hotel Industry in Thailand,” Journal of Architectural/ Planning Research and Studies, 15, 1, pp.1-16, 3 April 2018.





Book

Arun Sundararajan, The Sharing Economy: The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-Based Capitalism (MIT Press), (Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2016).

Electronic Media

Kailla Coomes, what is Airbnb? accessed 1 March 2019

Hannah Neuburger, The ever-growing sharing economy: Pros and Cons, accessed 12 February 2019

Michael Rozenblit, ‘Airbnb vs Booking.Com for Guests & Hosts: The Pros and Cons’ accessed 30 May 2019

Airbnb, ‘Terms of Service’ accessed 21 January 2019

Tracey Edginton, Visit Britain, ‘Tourists to UK forecast to spend record level in 2018,’ accessed 3 June 2019

Airbnb, ‘Traveling help: New York,’ accessed 27 March 2018

NYC Business, ‘What's required to do business in New York City?’ accessed 3 June 2019



Other Material

Suchat Sritama, Thai Airbnb hosts serve 1.2M’ Bangkok Post – Business, accessed 17 February 2018