Is Airbnb still worth it in Bogotá?

Is Bogotá Airbnb still performing well today?

Bogotá Airbnb still works, but the latest numbers show a market where strong properties and average properties are living very different lives.

AirDNA's Bogotá dashboard (data through September 2026, updated 20 October 2026) counts 14,677 active short-term rentals, 32.3% fewer than a year earlier. It puts average occupancy at 61%, the average daily rate at $41 (about COP 131,000) and annual revenue at about $8,500 per active listing, which works out to roughly $25 of revenue per available night.

AirROI, which tracks Airbnb only, gives a much less flattering picture. For its Bogotá Capital District market (October 2025 to September 2026) it counts 2,597 active listings, 33% fewer than a year earlier, with 36.5% occupancy, an average booked rate of COP 185,658 and about COP 18.3 million of revenue per listing over the year. The median listing fills about 36% of its open nights, the top quarter 63% or more and the top 10% at least 82%.

That spread is more useful than any single city average. A top-10% Bogotá Airbnb fills more than twice as many nights as a median one, at more than twice the nightly rate. Buying the right apartment and buying an average one are two different investments.

Be careful with the supply drop. Both platforms show active listings down by about a third in a year, yet Inside Airbnb still counted 19,187 Bogotá Airbnb listings in June 2026. Much of the fall reflects how each platform defines an "active" listing, so we would not read it as hosts leaving en masse or as the effect of any ban.

So we would use Bogotá-wide Airbnb data to understand the market, then underwrite an actual purchase from comparable apartments in the same building or within a few blocks.

Bogotá STR dataset	Active listings	Occupancy	ADR	RevPAR	Annual revenue per listing
AirDNA (Oct 2025–Sep 2026)	14,677 (−32.3%)	61%	$41	About $25	$8,500
AirROI Capital District (Oct 2025–Sep 2026)	2,597 (−33%)	36.5%	COP 185,658	COP 70,778	COP 18.3M

Is tourism in Bogotá still growing enough for more Airbnbs?

Yes, Bogotá still has plenty of visitor demand for Airbnb, but foreign arrivals have slipped in 2026 while air traffic kept growing.

Bogotá received 14.65 million tourists in 2025 according to the city's Tourism Observatory, 4.1% more than the previous year. Almost 2 million were international tourists. Among those foreign tourists, 37.8% stayed four to seven nights, which fits furnished apartments particularly well.

The 2026 numbers are more mixed. Bogotá received 1,195,447 foreign visitors between January and August, 5.6% fewer than in the same period of 2025, and the drop has widened since January–May (−1.8%). Venezuela, the United States and Mexico were the main origins. That is a real softening, not a collapse.

Air traffic kept growing. Between January and July, flights into Bogotá rose 5.6% to 104,784 and passengers 4.2% to more than 13.3 million. Scheduled direct flights for August to October 2026 were 2.0% above a year earlier, with 2.8% more seats.

In mid-2026 the city's Tourism Observatory projected around 15.3 million tourists for the full year, about 4.5% more than 2025. With foreign arrivals falling since then, we would treat that as the optimistic case. Domestic travel and business trips are doing the heavy lifting.

For Airbnb investors, the more interesting part is the mix of travelers. International visitors come for leisure, friends and family, business and other reasons, while domestic tourism adds another very large layer of demand. Bogotá therefore has several reasons for people to need accommodation throughout the year.

Bogotá tourism measure	Latest reading	Change
Tourists in 2025	14.65M	+4.1%
International tourists in 2025	1.99M	Strong base
Foreign visitors Jan–Aug 2026	1,195,447	−5.6%
Flights Jan–Jul 2026	104,784	+5.6%
Air passengers Jan–Jul 2026	13.3M	+4.2%
Scheduled seats Aug–Oct 2026	—	+2.8%
Mid-2026 full-year projection	15.3M	+4.5%

Is Bogotá Airbnb getting too crowded?

Bogotá Airbnb is crowded, but the evidence does not show a city drowning in new short-term rentals right now.

Official registration gives a useful reality check. Bogotá had 15,528 active tourism-service providers in the Registro Nacional de Turismo in August 2026, 7.6% more than a year earlier, and tourist housing is by far the largest group. Camacol counts 9,746 tourist apartments in the registry for Bogotá and Cundinamarca in 2026, against 1,039 in 2019.

The private databases tell a messier story. AirDNA tracks 14,677 active listings, AirROI 2,597 in its Capital District unit, and Inside Airbnb counted 19,187 Airbnb listings in June 2026, 15,863 of them short-term rentals. Same city, three very different counts.

We would be cautious with anyone claiming that Bogotá has exactly X Airbnbs and that supply grew or fell by exactly Y%. The datasets disagree too much.

The more useful competitive test happens at building level. A one-bedroom near Parque de la 93 competes mainly with apartments offering a similar location, bedroom count, quality and guest experience. A cheap studio in Chapinero Central belongs to another competitive set entirely.

AirROI's performance distribution shows how brutal that difference can be. Its bottom quarter of Bogotá listings fills 16% or less of open nights, the median about 36%, the top quarter 63% or more, and the top 10% at least 82%.

That looks much more like a mature, selective Airbnb market than a market where merely publishing a listing is enough.

Are too many new "Airbnb-ready" towers coming to Bogotá?

This is the supply risk that matters most for a buyer now. Camacol Bogotá y Cundinamarca counted 79 Bogotá projects marketing 20,358 new apartments for short-term rental, in presale, construction or delivery (July 2026). That is roughly as many units as all the Airbnb listings the platforms track today.

They are concentrated. Fontibón, near the airport, has 22% of these projects, Barrios Unidos 17% and Santa Fe 13%. In Barrios Unidos, 51% of active new residential units are marketed as rentable by the night, according to Camacol data reported by Zonario in October 2026.

Not every unit will end up on Airbnb, and many buyers will rent long term. But a tower sold as "renta corta" to hundreds of investors is exactly where identical studios end up competing on price. Before buying off-plan, ask how many units are sold to investors, whether the bylaws already allow tourist use, and what comparable finished towers nearby actually earn.

Bogotá locality	Share of short-term-rental projects
Fontibón	22%
Barrios Unidos	17%
Santa Fe	13%
Other localities	48%

Does Bogotá Airbnb suffer from a bad low season?

No, Bogotá has relatively balanced year-round demand, although individual months can still be weak.

Bogotá benefits from being the country's main business, government and international-air gateway as well as a tourist destination. That gives Airbnb hosts several overlapping sources of bookings rather than a calendar dominated by one holiday season.

AirROI's monthly data for its Bogotá Capital District market show occupancy moving only between 37.7% (May 2026) and 44.4% (February 2026) over the twelve months to August 2026. On its two-year averages, July is the best revenue month and September the weakest.

That is a narrow swing. Bogotá does not behave like a beach market where an investor needs a few peak months to carry the whole year.

Business travel helps. In Bogotá's official accommodation data, business trips accounted for 52.6% of hotel stays in February 2026, versus 34% for vacations, leisure and recreation. That gives the city a demand base that continues outside normal holiday periods.

For an owner, this makes monthly cash flow easier to manage. It also makes discounts for seven-night and monthly stays more useful because those guests can fill periods between event-driven peaks.

Are Bogotá Airbnb prices high enough to make good money?

Bogotá Airbnb nightly prices are fairly low, so the investment works through good occupancy and a sensible purchase price rather than spectacular nightly rates.

AirROI puts the average booked rate in its Bogotá Capital District market at about COP 185,700 a night, but the median listing is closer to COP 142,000 (about $44). The top quarter gets at least COP 213,000 and the top 10% COP 313,000 or more.

AirDNA's broader dataset comes in at $41 a night.

For comparison, AirDNA puts Medellín at $72 and Cartagena at $122. Bogotá earns much less per occupied night than Colombia's two obvious short-term-rental competitors.

That does not kill the investment case because Bogotá apartments can also cost much less than property in many international capitals. Still, a $40–$50 nightly rate leaves less room for bad operations. Losing $8 per night through poor pricing, excessive management costs or unnecessary vacancies can erase a large part of the margin.

The performance distribution reinforces that point. AirROI's top 10% fill 82% or more of their nights at COP 313,000 or more. They operate in a completely different economic range from the median listing charging around COP 142,000 and filling roughly one night in three.

This is why we would pay more attention to the gap between an apartment and its direct competitors than to Bogotá's av

AirROI Bogotá tier (Oct 2025–Sep 2026)	Occupancy	Nightly rate	Monthly revenue
Top 10%	82%+	COP 313,000+	COP 5.66M+
Top 25%	63%+	COP 213,000+	COP 3.3M+
Median	About 36%	About COP 142,000	About COP 1.69M
Bottom 25%	16% or less	COP 98,900 or less	COP 719,000 or less

Does Airbnb make more money than a normal rental in Bogotá?

Sometimes, but a mediocre Bogotá Airbnb can easily lose to a normal long-term rental once we compare the economics properly.

This is probably the biggest change to the investment question. Long-term rental yields in Bogotá are already high.

Global Property Guide's Q3 2026 data put Bogotá's average gross residential yield at 7.67%, and one-bedroom apartments at about 8.0%.

That gives Airbnb a serious hurdle to clear.

Imagine a COP 400 million apartment (about $125,000) producing COP 32 million a year from a normal tenant. That is an 8.0% gross yield. If the same apartment generates only COP 34 million through Airbnb, the extra COP 2 million of gross revenue cannot pay for utilities, furniture, cleaning gaps, platform costs, extra maintenance and management.

An Airbnb producing COP 46 million or COP 56 million looks much better on paper. The next section shows how much of that survives costs and tax.

And the average Bogotá Airbnb does not get anywhere near that. AirROI's whole one-bedroom listings in Bogotá earned about COP 16.1 million on average over the twelve months to September 2026, and its median listing about COP 1.69 million a month. A one-bedroom let long term at Global Property Guide's asking rent of about $800 (about COP 2.6 million) a month brings in more. Only roughly the top quarter of listings, at COP 3.3 million a month or more, clearly beats a tenant on gross revenue. Platform averages include listings that are not open all year, but the point stands.

The exact threshold varies by property, but we would want a clear gap. A short-term rental producing one percentage point more gross yield than a long-term lease gives us too little compensation for running a more complicated business.

COP 400M apartment	Long-term rent	Weak Airbnb	Good Airbnb	Strong Airbnb
Gross annual revenue	COP 32M	COP 34M	COP 46M	COP 56M
Gross revenue yield	8.0%	8.5%	11.5%	14.0%
Extra revenue vs long-term	—	COP 2M	COP 14M	COP 24M
Our view	Good baseline	Too little upside	Only if you manage it yourself	Worth it if costs stay controlled

These Airbnb figures are scenarios rather than market averages. They show the size of the premium we would want before taking on the extra work and risk.

How much does a Bogotá Airbnb really keep after costs and the 35% tax?

Gross yields flatter Airbnb. Here is the same COP 400 million one-bedroom with the costs a non-resident foreign owner actually pays. A non-resident's Colombian rental income is taxed at a flat 35% on net Colombian-source income, whether it comes from a tenant or from guests.

Our assumptions: administración of COP 400,000 a month paid by the owner in every case, predial of COP 2 million a year, one empty month and 10% management for the long lease. For Airbnb: running costs of 24% of revenue (AirROI's modelled level for Bogotá, covering cleaning, supplies, utilities and platform fees), 20% for a local manager, COP 2.5 million a year for furniture and wear, and COP 1 million for RNT renewal, accounting and the 0.25% tourism contribution.

COP 400M one-bedroom, per year	Long-term rent	Weak Airbnb	Good Airbnb	Strong Airbnb
Gross revenue	COP 32.0M	COP 34.0M	COP 46.0M	COP 56.0M
Vacancy, running costs and management	COP 5.6M	COP 15.0M	COP 20.2M	COP 24.6M
Administración, predial, upkeep, compliance	COP 7.8M	COP 10.3M	COP 10.3M	COP 10.3M
Net before tax	COP 18.6M	COP 8.7M	COP 15.5M	COP 21.1M
Tax at 35%	COP 6.5M	COP 3.1M	COP 5.4M	COP 7.4M
Net after tax	COP 12.1M	COP 5.7M	COP 10.0M	COP 13.7M
Net yield after tax	3.0%	1.4%	2.5%	3.4%

With a manager taking 20%, a "good" Airbnb at 11.5% gross keeps less than the plain long lease (2.5% against 3.0%), and even the 14% "strong" case only adds about 0.4 point for a lot more work and risk. An owner who runs it personally keeps that 20%: the same good and strong cases then net about 4.0% and 5.2% after tax.

So the Bogotá test is simple. Either you manage it yourself, or the apartment needs to beat 14% gross with a manager. These are our own scenarios, not market averages: run them again with the real administración, predial and comparable listings of the unit you are looking at.

Can any Bogotá apartment legally be used as an Airbnb?

No. A Bogotá apartment inside a propiedad horizontal needs explicit permission for tourist accommodation in the building rules.

This should be checked before we spend much time analyzing projected Airbnb revenue.

Colombia's rules for vivienda turística say that when a property is inside a building or residential complex governed by propiedad horizontal, the building regulations must expressly allow the unit to be used for tourist accommodation. MinCIT's current RNT guidance also requires a tourist-housing operator to declare that the private units are authorized under those regulations.

That makes the building document more important than an agent's opinion. Seeing several Airbnb listings from the same tower is useful evidence of activity, but it does not replace the registered rules.

The operator also needs registration in Colombia's Registro Nacional de Turismo. Tourist accommodation is treated as a tourism service when a property is habitually offered for paid stays shorter than 30 calendar days. The RNT is one per unit and must be renewed every year between 1 January and 31 March. If the bylaws do not allow tourist use, changing them takes 70% of the building's coefficients (Ley 675, article 46), which is hard to get in a residential tower.

There are guest-registration obligations as well, and formal tourism providers fall within Colombia's broader tourism-compliance system.

For investors, the practical consequence is simple: we would treat an apartment without clear tourist-use authorization as a long-term rental when valuing it. Any future Airbnb possibility would be upside rather than part of the purchase case.

Bogotá Airbnb check	What we need to see	Why it matters
Propiedad horizontal rules	Tourist accommodation expressly allowed	The building can determine whether Airbnb use is legal
RNT	Valid tourism registration	Required for formal tourist accommodation
Guest registration process	Working compliance procedure	Tourist accommodation carries reporting duties
Building administration	Rules compatible with guest access	Legal permission can still come with operational restrictions
Tourism contribution	Correct Fontur setup	Tourism activity creates recurring compliance obligations

Is Bogotá likely to crack down on Airbnb soon?

Bogotá Airbnb faces real regulatory pressure, but the current system looks more like formalization than an imminent citywide ban.

Colombia already has a fairly clear framework for tourist accommodation: registration, building authorization where propiedad horizontal applies, guest records and tourism-sector obligations. Investors should focus less on whether regulation exists and more on whether their specific property complies with it.

Formalization is widespread. Tourist housing is the largest group of registered tourism providers in Bogotá, and AirROI says 93% of the active listings in its Bogotá Capital District market display a registration or licence number. That shows what hosts display, not that every listing is fully legal.

That is quite different from a market built mainly on informal hosts ignoring the rules.

Regulation can still tighten, and condominium rules can change through the procedures available to co-owners. A building filled with permanent residents may also become less welcoming toward frequent guest turnover over time.

For that reason, an apartment in a building where short stays are clearly part of the operating model deserves a higher Airbnb valuation than an identical unit relying on tolerance from neighbors and management.

The real 2026 news is national. In July 2026 MinCIT reopened comments on a draft decree that would require one RNT per tourist home (no more single registrations for a whole building or portfolio), proof that the building rules allow tourist use, and written owner authorization when someone else runs the unit. Platforms would have to show the RNT on each listing and remove listings without a valid one, checking every six months.

The hosts' association Asohost called the draft unworkable. According to the published timeline, the rules would apply from 1 January 2028 if adopted; we could not confirm that the decree had been signed by 22 October 2026. Either way, a unit with clean building permission and its own RNT has nothing to fear from it, and a unit without them would lose its listing.

As seen above, the building authorization is the part we would verify first. It matters far more to the investment than trying to predict the next national Airbnb debate.

Is Bogotá Airbnb losing too much business to hotels?

Bogotá hotels are strong competitors, especially for short business stays, so a generic Airbnb cannot rely on being the obvious choice anymore.

The city's hotels are running at respectable occupancy. Bogotá's Tourism Observatory reported 58.5% in July 2026, 7.9 points above the national average, after 59.5% in February, 58.7% in March and 55% in April.

The underlying business was less impressive than those occupancy rates suggest. In February 2026, hotel real revenue was down 7.2% year over year, while room rates were only modestly higher. There is demand, but hotels are fighting for it rather than enjoying unlimited pricing power.

Airbnb owners are fighting for the same travelers.

Hotels have obvious advantages for one- and two-night guests: reception desks, luggage storage, housekeeping, breakfast, corporate invoicing and a predictable arrival process. Bogotá also has a large business-travel market, which puts Airbnb directly against that infrastructure.

Apartments become more convincing when the guest wants to stay longer. A kitchen, washing machine, separate bedroom, desk and more living space become much more useful on a seven-night trip than on a one-night trip.

That pushes us toward a clearer positioning for Bogotá Airbnb. Trying to sell a small apartment as a cheaper hotel room leaves the host fighting mainly on price. A place designed for someone who wants to live comfortably in Bogotá for a week or several weeks has more room to stand out.

Are longer Airbnb stays better in Bogotá now?

For many Bogotá apartments, seven-night and monthly guests can be more attractive than chasing constant two-night bookings.

Bogotá's visitor data supports that strategy. According to the city's 2025 traveler study, 37.8% of international tourists stayed between four and seven nights. Business travel, family visits, temporary work and longer city stays add demand beyond the classic weekend tourist.

Longer reservations reduce one of Airbnb's biggest hidden costs: turnover.

Take two apartments that each sell 20 nights in one month. One gets ten two-night bookings while the other gets two ten-night bookings. The same occupied-night total can create five times as many cleanings, five times as many check-in cycles and far more opportunities for small gaps between reservations.

Airbnb also currently reduces its guest service fee for stays longer than a month, with an additional reduction for stays longer than three months. That can make longer bookings more competitive from the guest's side.

The host may need to offer a weekly or monthly discount, so longer stays will not always maximize gross nightly revenue. We care more about what remains after cleaning, vacancy and management.

For a foreign owner who wants a relatively passive Bogotá Airbnb, this middle ground looks particularly attractive: furnished pricing without the constant operational churn of weekend hosting.

Where in Bogotá does Airbnb still make the most sense?

Chapinero, Chicó, Parque de la 93, Zona T and parts of Usaquén remain the obvious Airbnb hunting grounds, but paying for the famous neighborhood name can destroy the yield.

These areas combine restaurants, offices, nightlife, shopping and strong recognition among international visitors. They also sit close to some of Bogotá's most expensive residential property.

Bogotá's cadastral authority, in its 2026 report, puts Chapinero at the top of the city for median commercial property value per square meter, at about COP 8.06 million. That is a useful warning for Airbnb investors. High tourist demand does not automatically create high investment returns when the purchase price has already absorbed that popularity.

Asking prices show the gap. In October 2026 the median one-bedroom for sale was about COP 590 million in Chicó and COP 700 million in Chicó Reservado, against COP 350 million in Chapinero and COP 410 million in Cedritos (Aptologia listing medians). A Chicó one-bedroom has to earn about 70% more than a Chapinero one just to deliver the same yield, and nightly rates are nowhere near 70% higher.

We would therefore compare revenue per peso invested rather than ranking neighborhoods by Airbnb revenue alone.

A well-bought apartment on the edge of a premium zone can beat a trophy address if the nightly-rate gap is smaller than the purchase-price gap. The same logic can make selected parts of Teusaquillo interesting: the nightly rate may be lower, but the acquisition cost can also fall materially.

La Candelaria has obvious tourist appeal, although its demand is more leisure-oriented. Usaquén can work better for corporate and longer stays. Chapinero covers such a large and varied area that a neighborhood average tells us very little without the exact street.

Area	Best fit	Purchase-price pressure	Airbnb angle	Main concern
Chicó / Parque 93	Business, international, longer stays	High	Strong location and guest profile	Easy to overpay
Zona T / El Retiro	Leisure, restaurants, shopping	High	Strong short-stay appeal	Heavy competition
Chapinero	Mixed business, leisure, university	Medium to high	Large and diverse demand	Huge variation street by street
Usaquén	Corporate and longer stays	Medium to high	Good furnished-rental fit	Less central for some tourists
Teusaquillo	Events, universities, domestic travel	Medium	Lower entry cost can help yield	Lower nightly pricing
La Candelaria	Sightseeing and cultural tourism	Lower to medium	Clear tourist appeal	More dependent on leisure guests

Are small Bogotá studios still the best Airbnb investment?

Cheap Bogotá studios can work extremely well, but buying the smallest apartment available is becoming a weak strategy in buildings full of identical investor units.

Studios start with several advantages. The purchase price is lower, furnishing costs are manageable, and the format fits solo travelers and couples.

The problem appears when dozens of owners sell essentially the same product.

If a tower contains 100 similarly furnished studios and 20 are empty next Tuesday, every host can cut the price in a few clicks. There is little physical differentiation to stop the race.

A real one-bedroom can reach more guest types. A door between the bedroom and living space, a proper work desk, a washing machine and enough room to stay for two weeks all become meaningful for business travelers and couples working remotely.

The current Bogotá Airbnb distribution supports paying attention to quality. AirROI sees occupancy around 36% at the median and 82% or more among the top 10%. Better properties are capturing a radically larger share of demand.

Property prices also make the entry decision less forgiving these days. DANE's latest residential property index shows Bogotá prices up 8.88% year over year, compared with a 5.96% annual increase at the same point a year earlier.

A studio purchased cheaply can still produce an excellent yield. An investor-marketed studio sold at a large premium because the brochure says "Airbnb friendly" needs much more scrutiny.

Are rising Bogotá property prices making Airbnb less attractive?

Yes, rising Bogotá property prices are squeezing new Airbnb buyers because what an average listing earns is not rising as fast.

DANE's latest official residential property index puts Bogotá price growth at 8.88% year over year. The annual increase has accelerated from 5.96% at the same point of the previous year.

Meanwhile, AirROI's average revenue per Bogotá listing rose 5.6% in the twelve months to September 2026.

We should be careful comparing a citywide property index with a short-term-rental dataset because they cover different properties, but the direction is still worth watching. Buying is getting more expensive faster than the average listing's income is growing.

The recent gains came from nightly rates, not from more bookings. In AirROI's monthly data, the booked rate climbed from about COP 173,000 in September 2025 to about COP 211,000 in August 2026, while occupancy stayed between roughly 38% and 44%. Rates cannot keep climbing like that in a city where hotels and thousands of new units compete for the same guests.

Future revenue growth then has to come from a better guest mix, longer stays, more useful amenities or some combination of the three.

This makes newly launched "investment apartments" particularly easy to overvalue. We would insist that the deal works using today's achievable revenue and today's purchase price. Appreciation and stronger future Airbnb pricing should improve an already acceptable investment rather than rescue one.

Do the strong peso and 15% mortgage rates change the Bogotá Airbnb math?

Yes, both work against a foreign buyer in 2026. The dollar closed 2025 at about COP 3,757 and now buys about COP 3,190, roughly 15% fewer pesos than in January. The same COP 400 million apartment cost about $106,500 at the start of the year and about $125,300 today, nearly 18% more with no change in the local price.

Rents and Airbnb payouts in Colombia are in pesos, so the strong peso also makes that income worth more in dollars. It does not change the yield you lock in at purchase. Forecasts disagree (BBVA expected COP 3,640 per dollar by end-2026 in June; Bancolombia a 3,420 average for 2026), so don't buy, or wait, on a currency bet.

Borrowing locally makes things worse. Banco de la República raised its policy rate to 12.25% from 1 October 2026 (it was 9.25% early in the year), and non-VIS mortgages averaged 15.48% EA in the week to 9 October. Against net yields of about 2.5% to 5% after tax, every borrowed peso costs far more than it earns. Bancolombia's from-abroad loans are also limited to Colombians abroad or foreigners with Colombian family ties. In practice, a Bogotá Airbnb for a foreigner is a cash purchase.

Foreign buyer view	Start of 2026	October 2026
Pesos per US dollar	About 3,757	About 3,190
COP 400M apartment in dollars	About $106,500	About $125,300
Banco de la República policy rate	9.25%	12.25%

Is Bogotá Airbnb still worth it for a passive foreign investor?

Bogotá Airbnb is much less convincing for a fully passive foreign investor than for an owner who can keep management costs under control.

The reason is the unusually strong fallback option.

Global Property Guide puts Bogotá's average gross long-term rental yield at 7.67% in Q3 2026, with one-bedroom apartments around 8.0%. An owner can therefore earn a respectable headline yield without managing dozens of reservations a year.

Airbnb has to create enough additional revenue to pay for the whole extra operating layer.

For a self-managing owner, technology can handle pricing, messages, check-in instructions and much of the calendar work, while local cleaners and maintenance providers deal with the apartment.

A foreign investor outsourcing pricing, guest communication, check-ins, cleaning coordination and maintenance starts from a very different margin.

This is where some apparently excellent Airbnb projections fall apart. An 11.5% gross Airbnb yield sounds far ahead of an 8.0% residential yield. After platform fees, management, utilities, furniture, upkeep and the 35% tax, our example shows it keeping 2.5% a year against 3.0% for the plain long lease.

As pointed out above, long-term Bogotá rents already set a high bar. We would therefore demand a visibly superior Airbnb property before choosing the short-term model as a passive investment.

So, is Airbnb still worth it in Bogotá?

Yes, Airbnb is still worth it in Bogotá, but today we would buy only a property that can clearly outperform a normal rental after realistic costs.

Bogotá still has the ingredients we want. Tourism reached 14.65 million visitors in 2025, air passengers rose 4.2% in January–July 2026 even as foreign arrivals fell 5.6%, demand comes from both leisure and business travel, and the city avoids the extreme seasonality of beach destinations.

The Airbnb market itself has become much more selective. The latest performance data shows enormous dispersion between weak and strong listings. AirROI puts the median listing around 36% occupancy while its top 10% reach 82% or more. That is probably the most useful number in the entire analysis: two apartments in the same city can produce completely different outcomes.

Regulation also has to be treated as part of the property, especially in a building governed by propiedad horizontal. Tourist use needs to be expressly allowed, the unit needs its own RNT, and MinCIT's draft decree would make platforms delist anyone without one. Supply is the other risk: 20,358 new apartments are being marketed for short-term rental in Bogotá.

The tougher comparison comes from ordinary rent. Bogotá offers around 7.7% gross residential yields on average, with one-bedroom apartments close to 8.0%. After costs and the 35% tax, a managed Airbnb at 11.5% gross keeps less than a long lease. Airbnb has to do much better than "slightly more revenue."

We would be interested when a conservatively underwritten short-term rental reaches at least 14% gross with a manager (11%–12% if you run it yourself), has clear tourist-use permission, sits in a proven micro-location outside towers sold en bloc as "renta corta", and still works as a long-term rental if Airbnb conditions change. And we would pay cash.

We would pass when the projected Airbnb yield lands around 8%–9%, when the building rules are vague, when the deal requires top-decile occupancy to make money, or when a large management bill consumes most of the short-term premium.

That gives us a fairly sharp final judgment. Bogotá Airbnb still offers good investments, especially for well-located one-bedroom apartments designed for stays of several days to several weeks. Buying a generic studio simply because Bogotá tourism is growing is much harder to justify now.

The best Bogotá Airbnb purchase today is one where the normal rental already makes sense and short-term operation adds a meaningful second layer of return. That gives us both upside and an exit if the Airbnb economics become less attractive.