Step out of the shadows: an experiment on the legalization of guest houses has started in the Krasnodar Territory

On November 1, an experiment on the legalization of guest houses will start in the Krasnodar Territory. The deputies of the Legislative Assembly adopted the relevant bill in the final reading in October. The experiment is being conducted in 18 regions of Russia, but the Krasnodar Territory is one of the most significant. The governor of the region, Veniamin Kondratiev, had previously announced the figures: there are about 5,000 such facilities in the region, which last year received 5.5 million vacationers. In other words, guest houses account for more than a quarter of the tourist flow. At the moment, 46 guest houses have been self-assessed and entered into the register. The experiment began a little earlier in the federal territory of Sirius. About how guest houses can get out of the shadows and whether we should expect a reduction in the number of such accommodation facilities in the region — in the Izvestia article.

Difficulties with statistics

Industry experts point out that data on the number of such facilities may be underestimated.

— The governor has repeatedly stated that 11 thousand facilities are operating in Krasnodar. Given the number of hotels that officially exist in Anapa, Gelendzhik, Tuapse district, Krasnodar, and Sochi, it can be assumed that we have approximately 8,000 guest houses, but no one knows the exact number," Dmitry Bogdanov, chairman of the expert council of the AMOS Hoteliers Association, explained to Izvestia.

He clarified that things are not as good with statistics as everyone would probably like, but an experiment on the legalization of guest houses can help solve this problem.

According to Kamila Velibekova, managing partner and founder of Premier Tourism, there are about 15,000 similar accommodation facilities in the country's beach resorts, including the Krasnodar Territory.

— Some of the owners work as sole proprietors or self-employed, they rent out housing, actually providing full-fledged hotel services. This suggests that the actual number of guest houses is likely to significantly exceed official estimates," she added.

Dmitry Bogdanov stressed that many such facilities have been paying taxes for a long time — they are officially advertised, they officially accept money into the account.

— There are some exceptions, but it is not entirely correct to say that all guest houses are in the shade. Rather, the regulatory framework and legislation lagged behind the realities of the market by 30 years. There are guest houses, but there was no law on them until today," Dmitry Bogdanov emphasized.

According to Olga Nart, Deputy General Director of the Luchi resort, the legalization of guest houses sets uniform rules of the game: all facilities must comply with safety, sanitation and technical requirements, as well as pass classification. Those facilities that will not be able to adapt will leave the market. However, in the long run, the industry will benefit — quality standards will increase, service will become more predictable, and tourists' trust in Kuban resorts will grow.

Not everything will pass

It is technically not difficult to complete a self-assessment, get a number in the registry and start working legally. As reported by Rosaccreditation, it is necessary to update the data in the EGRN, authorization on the "Hospitality" platform through Public Services will be required and data about the applicant and the guest house will be entered, including extracts from the Federal Register, phone, mail.

"You will need to sign the documents with an enhanced qualified electronic signature. It will be necessary to upload photos of the object, specify its parameters according to the checklist, and send the data to Rosaccreditation," the agency clarified before the start of the experiment.

The Russian government has approved Regulations on the classification of guest houses and, according to experts, not all facilities will be able to comply with this document. In particular, the guest house can accommodate no more than 15 rooms, the minimum square footage per person is 9 sq. m. for single rooms, 12 sq. m. for double rooms and 6 sq. m. per person for multi—bed rooms. The guest house can accommodate up to 45 guests at a time.

— There are quite strict requirements for the area, the number of rooms and other parameters, — Dmitry Bogdanov explained. — Experts interviewed by our association suggested that about 30-40% of guest houses will undergo self-assessment. Very often there are land issues. Often, a guest house is a building with 5-6 floors, that is, there are clearly more than 15 rooms. At the same time, the law puts forward quite serious requirements in terms of ensuring fire safety, concluding contracts for garbage collection, and housing and communal services.

Another problem, the expert noted, is that a person can register one guest house for himself. That is, the owners of several will have to choose which one to add to the register or reissue them, for example, for their wife, children, and other close relatives.

The owners of guest houses may face property issues. For example, there are problems with property documents: if a house is jointly owned or jointly owned, it is necessary to obtain the consent of all owners to be included in the register, and this requires additional time and does not always work out, said Natalia Osipova, Deputy director of the CSR Tourism Development Center.

"Some people have problems with land documents: many guest houses are located on lands with a complex legal history, which makes it difficult to enter them into the register," the expert explained.

Another serious expense item: after being added to the registry, guest houses in the Krasnodar Territory will have to pay a tourist tax. This means that costs are rising, and income is significantly lower in winter than in summer.

— Therefore, we expect that by the end of the year, not everyone will be able to get into the registry. Someone will choose the strategy that we are not working right now, and we will open only on May 1 or June 1. That's when we'll have a self—assessment," Dmitry Bogdanov said.

However, according to Natalia Osipova, most of the facilities will still be able to work. Some owners will have to close some of the issues that they have been postponing for a long time: put the documentation of the facilities in order, address fire safety requirements or provide a certain area of rooms, equip bathrooms.

The number of guest houses, she noted, may decrease slightly, at least in the early stages, but then there will be alignment and fair competition.

“The sign had to be hung up”

The owners and staff of the guest houses themselves, who have already passed the self-assessment and entered the registry, say that the procedure is not very complicated. The main thing is to meet the requirements.

"Everyone at Sirius has been slowly undergoing self—assessment since October 1," said the Valencia Guest House, which was added to the registry on October 31. — There are no serious difficulties, but the procedure itself can turn out to be a long story: you go through some stage, then check, wait for an answer, then the next stage. At the same time, there are quite a few explanations.

The employee stressed that the procedure itself took about three days. Since the guest house meets the requirements, it was generally easy to complete the self-assessment.

Artyom, the owner of the ArMarinHouse guest house, said that the procedure took half an hour.

— There are snags if, for example, there are several owners. The main thing is to match the purpose of the land. In principle, the whole process takes 30 minutes. There is a simplified system for guest houses, not the same as for hotels," he stressed.

According to him, it is difficult not to match the checklist if the guest house offers at least minimal hotel services.

— We put up the sign. But in general, there were no difficulties, the main thing is the issues of ownership, the purpose of the land, and then the signature is the same," he shared. And he told me that aggregators are already sending letters to objects that inclusion in the registry will be necessary to work.

However, as it turned out, not all owners of guest houses in the Krasnodar Territory are aware of the start of the experiment. One of these facilities was surprised by the question.

"Tariffs should align"

Now, according to experts, all other things being equal, the cost of accommodation in a guest house is up to 40% lower than in a hotel. However, with the start of legalization, this difference may decrease. As costs rise, so will the cost of placement.

Some of the guest houses that will not be able to get into the registry may well remain in the shadows, continuing to rent out housing directly, experts believe. Olga Nart listed other options: to bring the facility in line with the requirements and still pass the classification, change the format of activities and switch to a long-term lease regime, team up with other owners for joint investments in modernization, or consider selling or transferring control to a professional operator.

— But as the legalized facilities strengthen the position and build trust among the guests, the "gray" segment will gradually narrow. The advantages of official status — the opportunity to work with tour operators and online platforms, security and reputation - will displace illegal immigrants," the expert noted. — Due to rising costs for compliance, certification and taxes, as well as a reduction in the number of facilities, prices may rise. However, after a while, when the market is closed, tariffs should level off.

Olga Ivanova, head of the BN Group, a wooden housing developer, also noted that the main disadvantage is the inevitable price increase, especially for tenants of premium homes, since the higher the rates, the higher the taxes that will be transferred to the end user.

But there are advantages, she says.: "In case of successful legalization, everyone can benefit: the owners (the opportunity to work officially and participate in SME development programs), the state (increased tax revenues) and the tenants themselves (greater legal transparency of reservations and accommodation)."

Now, according to Dmitry Bogdanov, experts are helping the owners of guest houses as much as possible, advising them to make it easier for them to switch to new work formats.

— Of course, it is impossible to imagine our resorts without guest houses, — Dmitry Bogdanov emphasized.

Where else and how is the experiment going?

If the experiment is successful, it could spread to the whole of Russia. The list currently includes the republics of Altai, Dagestan and Crimea, Altai, Krasnodar, Primorsky and Stavropol Territories, Arkhangelsk, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Kemerovo, Leningrad, Rostov and Kherson regions, as well as the federal city of Sevastopol and the federal territory of Sirius. Gradually, they are adopting local bills on participation in the experiment.

For example, on October 30, at the 48th session of the People's Assembly of the Republic of Dagestan, the draft law "On conducting an experiment in providing guest house services in the Republic of Dagestan" was adopted in the first reading.

Currently, 484 guest houses are represented in the Unified Register of objects of classification in the field of the tourism industry. There are already 210 such facilities in Crimea, 86 in the Altai Republic, 26 in the Stavropol Territory, 22 in the Vladimir Region, and 15 in the Kaliningrad Region.