Cape Town’s New "Airbnb Tax" will Triple Your Rates. Forces Booking Sites to Hand Over Your Data

Willem Petzer

Willem Petzer

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The Cape middle class already pays the country’s highest cost of living on some of its lowest incomes.

About 27,000 Airbnbs are listed here. For a lot of owners renting out that extra room is how the month gets paid.

The new by-law would force a home listed on Airbnb as Commercial. Commercial rates are 2.41 times residential. Same flat, 2.41x the rates before a night is booked.

Booking sites must hand over your availability data, show a registration number, and pull the listing if you do not comply with the new tax.

This is the hardest squeeze they have put on the middle class yet.