Are there too many Airbnbs in Bogotá now?

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Why are people worried about too many Airbnbs in Bogotá now?

Bogotá's Airbnb market is getting crowded in several neighborhoods, and developers are preparing thousands of apartments for a tourism market that has recently shown signs of slowing down.

The clearest warning comes from Camacol Bogotá y Cundinamarca. Its 2026 research identified 20,358 apartments in 79 active Bogotá developments marketed with the possibility of short-term rentals. That's roughly as many units as the city's entire existing Airbnb inventory.

These apartments aren't all new Airbnbs about to open. The projects include presales, buildings under construction and completed developments. Some apartments may already be operating, while others may never become tourist rentals.

Still, developers are betting heavily on demand for short stays. And the timing is awkward.

Bogotá's foreign visitor arrivals fell during the first eight months of 2026, while hotel occupancy also weakened in several recent months. Meanwhile, official figures show more registered tourist-accommodation providers entering the market.

Our initial assessment is that Bogotá already looks overcrowded for ordinary Airbnb studios in some neighborhoods, even if the citywide market remains viable. The concern is less about whether travelers will keep visiting Bogotá and more about how many nearly identical apartments will be competing for their bookings.

How many Airbnbs are operating in Bogotá right now?

Bogotá currently has around 15,000 active short-term rental listings according to the broadest commercial estimates, although a complete count of distinct operating properties is unavailable.

Inside Airbnb identified 19,187 Airbnb listings in June 2026, including 15,863 classified as short-term rentals. AirDNA reported 14,677 active rentals in September 2026.

The difference comes partly from how the two companies count properties. Inside Airbnb captures advertised Airbnb listings, while AirDNA tracks properties available or booked during the preceding twelve months across Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com, removing duplicates between platforms.

Airbtics reports just 1,975 active listings, but its much narrower tracked inventory cannot reasonably be treated as a full census of Bogotá's rental market.

We therefore use Inside Airbnb and AirDNA to understand the size of the market, while keeping their definitions separate.

Inside Airbnb also classified 13,865 Bogotá listings as entire homes or apartments. That's 72.3% of its observed inventory, showing that Airbnb in Bogotá has become a substantial apartment-rental business rather than simply a platform for spare bedrooms.

Source	Period	Listings	What the number measures
Inside Airbnb	June 2026	19,187	All advertised Airbnb listings
Inside Airbnb	June 2026	15,863	Classified short-term rentals
AirDNA	September 2026	14,677	Active rentals across major platforms
Airbtics	August 2026	1,975	Narrower tracked rental sample

Is the number of Airbnbs in Bogotá still growing?

Bogotá's Airbnb market has grown enormously over the past several years, but its active listing count may actually be falling now.

Camacol's research shows that registered short-stay accommodation providers across Bogotá and Cundinamarca increased from 1,676 in 2019 to 16,086 in 2026. That's almost ten times as many, although the figures cover the wider region rather than Bogotá alone.

The recent picture is less straightforward.

Bogotá's tourism authority reported 1,274 additional registered tourist-housing providers in July 2026 compared with July 2025. By contrast, AirDNA reported a 32.3% annual decline in active Bogotá rental listings as of September 2026.

Airbtics reported the opposite trend, with its own tracked inventory increasing 49.7% over the preceding year.

We wouldn't interpret any one of these percentages as definitive proof of how many physical apartments opened or closed. Registered accommodation providers, advertisements and actively available rentals are different measurements.

The contrast is interesting. Bogotá continues to add formally registered tourist accommodation, while some commercial platforms are tracking fewer active properties.

Some owners may be withdrawing inventory, reducing availability or changing platforms. The published figures cannot tell us exactly how much each explanation contributes.

So the longer-term expansion is undeniable, but claims that Bogotá's active Airbnb inventory is still growing rapidly today deserve skepticism.

Is tourism in Bogotá growing fast enough to fill more Airbnbs?

Bogotá still attracts millions of tourists, but the latest visitor figures give little reason to assume Airbnb demand will keep growing quickly.

According to Bogotá's Tourism Observatory, the city welcomed 14,650,975 tourists in 2025, an increase of 4.1% over 2024. International visitors accounted for approximately 1.99 million, with domestic travelers making up the vast majority.

The city initially projected around 15.3 million tourists for 2026. More recent information has been less encouraging.

Between January and August 2026, Bogotá received 1,195,447 foreign visitors, down 5.6% from the same period in 2025. Meanwhile, inbound flight movements increased 5.6% during the first seven months, and airline passenger traffic rose 4.2%.

That difference is worth watching. Bogotá is handling more air traffic without attracting more foreign visitors. Airline passenger numbers include residents and other travelers who don't necessarily need tourist accommodation.

Hotels are feeling some pressure too. According to DANE figures reported by the Tourism Observatory, Bogotá's hotel occupancy fell from 58.9% in June 2025 to 50.7% in June 2026. July occupancy declined from 61.3% to 58.5%.

Bogotá's hotel occupancy was also above Colombia's national average, so the city is hardly experiencing a tourism collapse.

But the combination of softer international arrivals, falling hotel occupancy and growing registered accommodation supply makes aggressive Airbnb growth forecasts increasingly difficult to defend.

Do Bogotá's millions of tourists actually stay in Airbnbs?

Only a small minority of Bogotá's tourists choose Airbnb, even though the platform is considerably more popular among international visitors.

The city's official 2025 traveler survey found that 11.3% of international tourists stayed in accommodation booked through digital platforms such as Airbnb. Hotels attracted 49.8%, while 29.4% stayed in their own homes or with relatives and friends without paying.

Domestic tourists behave very differently. Just 3.1% used Airbnb-type platforms, compared with 34.1% staying in hotels and 59.1% staying with family or friends.

We applied those accommodation shares to Bogotá's official tourist totals to estimate the platform's potential customer base.

The result is approximately 224,000 international tourists and 393,000 domestic tourists, or around 617,000 people combined. That represents roughly 4.2% of Bogotá's total tourist population.

This is an estimate based on survey responses, not a direct count of Airbnb bookings. Travelers often share accommodation, and the number of people cannot be converted directly into apartment nights.

Still, it changes how we interpret the city's tourism boom. Developers targeting Airbnb guests are competing for a much smaller group than the headline visitor numbers suggest.

There's another interesting finding in the surveys. Domestic Airbnb usage barely changed between 2024 and 2025, increasing from 3.0% to 3.1%.

International usage was reported at 20% in a November-December 2024 survey, but that shorter observation period isn't directly comparable with the full-year 2025 study. We therefore cannot confidently claim that foreign Airbnb usage almost halved.

For now, there's no convincing evidence that Airbnb is rapidly taking market share from other accommodation types.

Accommodation choice	International tourists	Domestic tourists	Interpretation
Hotels	49.8%	34.1%	Leading paid option
Airbnb-type platforms	11.3%	3.1%	Smaller share of tourism
Own home, family or friends	29.4%	59.1%	Major alternative to paid lodging
Hostels	7.8%	1.2%	Mainly foreign visitors
Apartahotels	1.5%	1.5%	Small separate segment

Are Bogotá Airbnbs sitting empty most of the year?

Many Bogotá Airbnb listings appear to generate relatively few bookings, but published occupancy estimates vary so widely that we can't describe the average property as consistently full or empty.

Inside Airbnb estimated just 55 booked nights per listing annually in its June 2026 analysis. That amounts to approximately 15% of a full calendar year.

AirDNA paints a much stronger picture, reporting 61% occupancy across nights made available for booking. Airbtics estimates 52%, while BNBCalc's detailed market summary reports around 30%.

These differences come partly from the properties and periods each provider tracks. Available-night occupancy also tells us something different from annual utilization.

Imagine an apartment advertised for 180 nights and booked for 110. It achieves 61% occupancy on available nights, but guests occupy it for only 30% of the year.

Inside Airbnb's booked-night estimate is also modeled from platform activity rather than confirmed reservation records. We wouldn't use its 55-night figure as proof that every host struggles to find guests.

For investors, the useful question is how many paid nights a comparable property actually achieves over twelve months. A high occupancy percentage means little when the apartment was available for only part of the year.

Source	Reported performance	Main measurement	Limitation
Inside Airbnb	55 nights/year	Estimated booked nights	Model-based estimate
AirDNA	61%	Booked share of available nights	Excludes unavailable nights
Airbtics	52%	Occupancy in tracked sample	Smaller market coverage
BNBCalc	Around 30%	Modeled market occupancy	Different inventory and methodology

How much money are Bogotá Airbnb hosts making now?

Bogotá Airbnb hosts can still generate meaningful revenue, but market-wide earnings estimates differ by more than twofold depending on the provider.

AirDNA currently estimates approximately $8,500 in annual gross revenue per active rental, with an average booked nightly rate of $41.

Airbtics reports around $8,000 annually. BNBCalc's September 2026 summary estimates COP 27.1 million, roughly $7,400 at an illustrative exchange rate of COP 3,672 per dollar.

Inside Airbnb's estimate is much lower: approximately COP 14.95 million per listing annually, equivalent to about $4,100.

The distinction comes from different tracked properties, platforms, revenue definitions and booking estimates. Inside Airbnb's figure is modeled from Airbnb listing data, while AirDNA includes guest fees and tracks multiple booking platforms.

We should also be careful with the dramatic growth statistics. AirDNA currently shows annual revenue rising 192.9%, yet its average booked nightly rate increased only 3.6%.

Revenue rising nearly threefold while rates barely move suggests that changes in availability, booking activity or the composition of tracked listings deserve close examination. It doesn't mean an owner who earned $5,000 last year can expect almost $15,000 from the same apartment today.

BNBCalc's property-size data provides another clue. One-bedroom rentals average approximately COP 19.6 million annually, compared with COP 31.3 million for two-bedroom units and COP 72.1 million for properties with four or more bedrooms.

A citywide revenue average can therefore be misleading for someone evaluating a 25-square-meter studio.

Provider	Annual gross revenue estimate	Approximate COP equivalent	Basis
AirDNA	$8,500	COP 31.2M	Average active rental
Airbtics	$8,000	COP 29.4M	Median tracked rental
BNBCalc	COP 27.1M	COP 27.1M	Average listing
Inside Airbnb	COP 14.95M	COP 14.95M	Modeled revenue per listing

Is an Airbnb in Bogotá really more profitable than a normal rental?

A Bogotá Airbnb can earn more gross revenue than a conventional rental, but the published numbers don't establish a reliable profit advantage for the average investor.

Consider Chapinero, one of the city's main short-term rental districts.

Aptologia's recent sample of 241 advertised studio apartments showed a median monthly asking rent of COP 1.8 million. Among 70 furnished studios in its sample, the median reached COP 2.05 million.

Now compare that with AirDNA's citywide Airbnb revenue estimate of roughly COP 2.6 million per month.

The difference against a furnished studio is about COP 550,000 monthly, or 27%, before accounting for the different property samples.

That premium could disappear quickly with cleaning, utilities, consumables, furniture maintenance, management fees, platform charges and additional vacancies. AirDNA's gross revenue also includes certain guest fees, which do not necessarily become profit for the owner.

And the comparison changes completely if we use Inside Airbnb's lower revenue estimate, equivalent to approximately COP 1.25 million per month.

We cannot treat these citywide estimates as interchangeable measurements of the same apartment. They show why advertised nightly rates make such a poor substitute for a detailed investment calculation.

For an apartment that would otherwise rent furnished for COP 2 million monthly, we'd want convincing evidence of a substantial net earnings premium before accepting the additional work and uncertainty of short-term rentals.

Is Chapinero already overcrowded with Airbnbs?

Chapinero is currently Bogotá's most crowded Airbnb locality by listing count, and another ordinary furnished studio will face a lot of established competition.

Inside Airbnb identified 5,097 listings in Chapinero, representing 26.6% of all Bogotá Airbnb advertisements.

That concentration is unusually high. For comparison, Inside Airbnb found that São Paulo's largest district, Itaim Bibi, accounted for just 10.3% of that city's inventory.

Chapinero's dominance is also longstanding. Bogotá's tourism authority reported that it accounted for 28.1% of registered tourist housing in its April 2024 analysis.

We therefore have two independent observations, roughly two years apart, showing that more than a quarter of the city's short-term rental activity is concentrated in the same locality.

The appeal is understandable. Chapinero has restaurants, nightlife, universities, business destinations and access to some of Bogotá's wealthier neighborhoods.

Those attractions also make it easy for travelers to compare dozens of similar apartments within a relatively small area.

A well-located property with exceptional reviews or something genuinely distinctive can still find customers. But location alone is no longer a convincing advantage when so many nearby hosts can make the same claim.

Which Bogotá neighborhoods could have too many new Airbnbs?

Barrios Unidos, La Candelaria, Santa Fe and Teusaquillo currently stand out as the localities most exposed to new short-term rental development relative to their general housing construction.

Camacol's project data, analyzed by Zonario in 2026, shows that 51.5% of active residential units in Barrios Unidos are being marketed with a short-term rental proposition.

The equivalent figure reaches 45% in La Candelaria, 32.1% in Santa Fe and 27.5% in Teusaquillo.

Fontibón provides an interesting contrast. It has the largest absolute number of short-term-rental-marketed apartments, at 3,840, but they account for only 8.9% of its active residential development. The locality is building far more housing overall, partly around the airport and corporate travel districts.

We also combined the five localities with the highest short-term rental proportions.

Together, Barrios Unidos, La Candelaria, Santa Fe, Teusaquillo and Chapinero hold 51.5% of Bogotá's short-term-rental-marketed apartments, despite representing only 13.1% of all units in active residential developments.

Their share of the Airbnb-oriented pipeline is therefore almost four times their share of general housing construction.

One clarification is essential: these figures concern apartments being marketed with the possibility of short stays. They don't measure actual occupancy, operating Airbnbs or the proportion of all existing homes used for tourism.

Locality	Short-term-rental-marketed units	Share of active local construction	Main concern
Barrios Unidos	3,470	51.5%	Extreme specialization
La Candelaria	532	45.0%	Highly concentrated market
Santa Fe	2,770	32.1%	Large competing pipeline
Teusaquillo	1,715	27.5%	Heavy investor-focused development
Chapinero	1,997	19.9%	Adds to existing competition
Fontibón	3,840	8.9%	Largest absolute pipeline
Usaquén	945	3.5%	More diversified construction
Bogotá total	20,358	8.1%	Significant citywide exposure

When will all these new Bogotá Airbnb apartments open?

Bogotá's next wave of short-term rental competition could arrive over several years, with 2027 and 2028 standing out in the construction schedules of unsold units.

Camacol and Mis Propias Finanzas examined apartments marketed for short stays that were still under construction and unsold.

Of 2,908 units in that category, approximately 2,416, or 83%, were scheduled for construction completion in 2027 or 2028.

This is a specific subset of the development market, rather than a forecast that exactly 2,416 new Airbnbs will open in those years. Other units are already sold, some projects are completed, and actual tourist-rental use remains uncertain.

But the timing deserves attention.

Investors buying into the same buildings may begin offering similar apartments around the same completion dates. If many owners choose the same operating model, competition could increase sharply within individual buildings even without a dramatic rise in citywide listings.

We also lack evidence that tourist demand in those exact neighborhoods will grow at a comparable pace.

For someone buying off-plan, the occupancy figures shown in a developer's presentation may describe today's competitors rather than the market conditions when the apartment is delivered.

That gap between purchase and operation is one of the biggest risks in Bogotá's current short-term rental investment boom.

Are developers building too many tiny Airbnb studios in Bogotá?

Bogotá's short-term rental development boom is heavily concentrated in small apartments, and many investors are paying unusually high prices per square meter for them.

A July 2026 study by Camacol and Mis Propias Finanzas examined 23,065 apartments in 92 projects across Bogotá and Cundinamarca marketed with a short-term rental proposition.

Nearly 48% measured 35 square meters or less, and around 75% measured no more than 45 square meters.

Zonario compared this with its broader Bogotá new-housing dataset and found that only 21% of sampled apartment types were 35 square meters or smaller. Its comparison counts apartment types rather than individual units, so the proportions aren't perfectly equivalent, but the difference is substantial.

The pricing is even more striking.

Unsold apartments measuring 25 square meters or less averaged COP 14.7 million per square meter, while apartments between 45 and 60 square meters averaged approximately COP 7.1 million.

The tiny units were therefore more than twice as expensive per square meter, despite having lower overall purchase prices.

Camacol's figures also showed median purchase prices of COP 282 million for the smallest apartments, compared with COP 309 million for apartments measuring 45 to 60 square meters. Those summaries describe groups of unsold properties rather than specific comparable individual units.

The small price difference in total purchase cost helps explain the appeal. A compact studio looks financially accessible to an investor.

But paying a premium for a product that thousands of other investors are purchasing creates a difficult starting point. Each unit then needs to earn enough to justify its purchase price while competing with many similar alternatives.

Apartment size	Units in sample	Share	Average price/m² of unsold units
Up to 25 m²	4,850	21.0%	COP 14.70M
Over 25–35 m²	6,252	27.1%	Approximately COP 11.42M
Over 35–45 m²	6,113	26.5%	COP 8.66M–9.56M
Over 45–60 m²	2,436	10.6%	COP 7.11M
Over 60 m²	3,414	14.8%	COP 8.48M

Are professional Airbnb hosts taking over Bogotá?

Professional and multi-property operators already control a large share of Bogotá's advertised Airbnb inventory, making the market increasingly competitive for occasional hosts.

Inside Airbnb found that 13,226 of the city's listings were managed by hosts advertising more than one property. That's 68.9% of the observed inventory.

The largest single host account managed 166 listings. In Airbtics' separate sample, operators included Espacioya with 153 listings and Mario Rental with 92.

Managing multiple listings doesn't necessarily mean owning every apartment. Agencies can operate properties for different owners, while some individual hosts manage only two or three units.

Still, running multiple properties creates advantages.

An operator handling 100 apartments can spread guest communication, maintenance coordination, cleaning management and pricing software across a much larger business.

Experienced managers also have more booking history to understand which rates and minimum stays attract customers at different times of year.

Independent hosts can offer excellent service, but they face experienced competitors with established systems and substantial inventories.

It's especially relevant for investors planning to hand their apartments to third-party management companies. The economics depend on the operator's actual performance and fees, not simply on the headline revenue projections used to sell the property.

Is Airbnb pushing up rents for people living in Bogotá?

Airbnb is contributing to housing-price pressure in parts of Bogotá, with academic research finding particularly strong effects in neighborhoods where tourist rentals are concentrated.

A 2025 study by Angélica Camargo Sierra and Alex Smith Araque Solano examined Bogotá's housing sales, residential rental advertisements and Airbnb activity using data from 2019 and 2023.

The researchers found that a doubling of annual Airbnb revenue was associated with approximately 6% higher residential sale and rental prices in their model.

In neighborhoods with particularly high concentrations of tourist accommodation, their estimated effects on residential rents could reach 26%.

These are statistical estimates, so we should avoid attributing every rent increase directly to Airbnb. Housing prices also depend on construction, household incomes, access to financing and changing neighborhood preferences.

But the mechanism is understandable. When an apartment can generate attractive income from tourists, owners have another option besides renting it to permanent residents.

The effect can also become concentrated. A few hundred tourist apartments spread across an enormous city create a different housing problem from hundreds clustered within a few central neighborhoods.

The study supports treating Airbnb as a real local housing-policy issue. It doesn't demonstrate that the platform is the dominant cause of Bogotá's overall housing affordability problems.

Could tougher Airbnb rules stop Bogotá from becoming oversupplied?

Colombia already regulates tourist apartments, but the current rules haven't prevented Bogotá from developing a large short-term rental market.

Commercial tourist accommodation generally requires registration in the Registro Nacional de Turismo, known as the RNT. The legal framework includes Law 2068 of 2020 and Decree 1836 of 2021.

Providers must renew their registrations annually. Properties in apartment buildings governed by horizontal-property rules must also be expressly authorized for tourist accommodation under the building's registered regulations.

That second requirement can be particularly important. An owner cannot automatically operate a tourist apartment just because the property is attractive to visitors or advertised as investment-friendly.

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism has also been considering changes to tourism-registration and digital-platform obligations. Consultation proposals appeared in December 2025 and July 2026.

We shouldn't confuse those proposals with rules that have already taken effect. We found no established citywide limit on the number of Airbnb nights or a general freeze on Bogotá short-term rental registrations resulting from those consultations.

For investors, existing building permissions and RNT compliance are immediate legal questions. Possible future restrictions add uncertainty, especially in developments marketed primarily around nightly rental income.

Stricter enforcement could eventually reduce noncompliant supply, although the available evidence doesn't establish how many properties would leave the market.

Can a new Airbnb in Bogotá still be a good investment?

A new Bogotá Airbnb can still work, but buying an ordinary studio in a building full of similar investor apartments looks increasingly difficult to justify without detailed revenue evidence.

We see several reasons to be selective.

Airbtics currently gives Bogotá a C grade for short-term rental investability, describing moderate returns that depend heavily on the specific market. Its tracked median annual revenue is around $8,000, with occupancy of 52%.

BNBCalc also shows large differences between property sizes. Its estimated annual revenue rises from approximately COP 19.6 million for a one-bedroom rental to COP 31.3 million for a two-bedroom property.

Larger properties can generate more total revenue, although they also require more capital and have different expenses. We cannot infer that larger apartments automatically offer higher percentage returns.

The neighborhood matters just as much as the bedroom count. Investors entering areas with a heavy supply of newly built studios need to know exactly how many competing units will become available around the same time.

I'd be particularly cautious with apartments whose investment case depends on developer-provided occupancy assumptions, premium nightly prices or continuous appreciation.

A stronger case would use actual booking records from comparable properties, a realistic annual calendar, full management costs and a conventional rental alternative.

We would also want to see whether the apartment can still produce a satisfactory return with meaningfully fewer paid nights than projected.

Our investor decision framework is simple: First, verify twelve months of actual bookings from comparable properties, not promotional projections. Second, calculate net income after management, cleaning, utilities, platform fees, maintenance and financing. Third, count the competing apartments scheduled to arrive nearby. Fourth, check whether long-term renting still makes financial sense if Airbnb bookings disappoint.

If the investment only looks attractive when occupancy stays high, nightly rates remain premium and competitors don't cut prices, we'd pass.

A property with a distinctive location, size or target customer may still outperform. But Bogotá's market now rewards careful property selection far more than enthusiasm for Airbnb as a business model.

Are there too many Airbnbs in Bogotá now?

Yes, in several neighborhoods and particularly for small investor-focused apartments. Bogotá already looks overcrowded in those segments, although the citywide market hasn't shown convincing evidence of a general collapse.

The case for overcrowding is strongest when we look at where the apartments are concentrated and what developers are preparing.

Chapinero already holds more than a quarter of the city's advertised Airbnb inventory. Barrios Unidos, Santa Fe, Teusaquillo and La Candelaria have unusually high proportions of residential developments marketed around short stays.

As we saw above, the 20,358 apartments identified in Bogotá's short-term-rental-oriented development pipeline are comparable in number to the city's observed Airbnb listings. Their eventual conversion into operating rentals is uncertain, but the potential competition is substantial.

Demand gives us less reason for optimism. Foreign visitor arrivals have recently declined, hotel occupancy has weakened, and official traveler surveys show that Airbnb-type accommodation still captures only a small share of Bogotá's tourists.

At the same time, commercial rental databases continue to report substantial occupancy and gross revenue for active properties. We therefore cannot reasonably declare Bogotá's entire Airbnb market unprofitable.

Our conclusion is sharper for new investors than for existing operators.

An established host with a well-performing apartment, strong reviews and proven management can continue earning money. Someone buying a small, expensive studio today may face thousands of similar apartments entering the market over the following years.

The greatest risk is that developers have been selling the same Airbnb investment idea to too many buyers, often in the same neighborhoods and with nearly identical apartments.

Bogotá still has room for short-term rentals that genuinely stand out. But for another standard furnished studio purchased mainly on the promise of easy Airbnb income, the market already looks crowded enough to be a serious problem.