There are currently 424 hotels, comprising 45,740 guestrooms, legally registered and operating on the island, Governor Chockchai recently told a meeting of relevant officials at Provincial Hall.
In total, there are 204 hotels with 19,395 rooms in Muang District (including Phuket Town, Chalong and Rawai); 148 hotels with 18,839 rooms in Kathu District (including Patong); and 72 hotels with 7,506 rooms in Thalang (including Surin, Cherng Talay and Mai Khao).
However, the officials found a further 1,366* properties illegally offering rental accommodation for 30 days or less.
“The Phuket Provincial Office has ordered all 1,366 places to register correctly from December 29, 2016 to January 31, 2017,” Gov Chockai said.
Rental accommodation operators are asked to register at their local District Office, he added.
“If they can’t make it in time, we will consider extending the registration period, but it must not be more than six months,” Gov Chockchai said.
Short-term rental operators who failed to register would face legal action, Gov Chockchai warned.
The huge number of properties in Phuket illegally providing short-term rentals was having a drastic effect on hotel bookings, Gov Chockchai noted.
“Bringing these ‘hotels’ (sic) under regulation also helps tor educe to likelihood of corruption,” he said.
Phuket Vice Governor Snith Sriwihok, added, “Tackling this issue will increase tourists’ confidence in Phuket as a tourist destination, and helps to ensure they will stay in a good-quality hotel during their holiday to Phuket.”
The deadline to register properties as hotels follows the Ministry of Interior on August 19 issuing a new regulation to make it easier for more property owners to obtain a hotel license.
The regulation – called the Ministerial Regulation Prescribing Descriptions of Other Types of Building Used for a Hotel Business Operation 2016 under the Building Control Act (1979) – will remain in effect for five years.
However, it applies only to buildings that existed before it came into force and whose owners desire to use the property as “Hotel” as defined by the Hotel Act. (See story here.)
* As of December 5, global hotel booking site Agoda listed 1,806 properties in Phuket available for rent.