Is Airbnb still worth it in Santa Marta?

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Is Airbnb in Santa Marta actually doing better now?

Airbnb in Santa Marta is doing better today, but the improvement comes mainly from higher occupancy and much lower competition rather than stronger nightly prices.

AirDNA's latest completed data counts 6,999 active short-term rentals in Santa Marta. Those properties average 46% occupancy, a $71 nightly rate and about $10,900 in annual revenue. Compared with a year earlier, occupancy is up 21.1% and revenue per active listing is up 86.4%.

The odd part is what happened around those gains. Active listings fell 34.5%, while the average daily rate dropped 16.8%. Hosts are filling more nights even though they are charging less.

RevPAR, which combines occupancy and nightly prices, is up a more modest 13.3%. That is probably the cleanest measure of what has really improved operationally.

So yes, running a Santa Marta Airbnb has become easier for many of the listings that survived the shakeout. The market itself has not suddenly become twice as lucrative.

Did Santa Marta Airbnb revenue really jump 86%?

Santa Marta Airbnb owners should be careful with that 86% figure because it exaggerates how fast the total short-term-rental market has grown.

AirDNA says average annual revenue per active listing rose 86.4%, reaching $10,900. But the number of active rentals simultaneously dropped by 34.5%.

Using AirDNA's year-over-year changes, Santa Marta had roughly 10,700 active listings one year earlier. Average revenue per active listing at the time was about $5,850.

Multiplying those figures gives an implied market of roughly $62 million then versus about $76 million now. It is only an approximation because AirDNA uses trailing averages and the active-listing pool changes over time, but the order of magnitude is useful: total revenue appears to have increased by around 20% rather than 86%.

That is still a good result. It simply tells a different story. Santa Marta has a larger revenue pool being divided among far fewer active properties.

For someone buying today, this distinction is crucial. We cannot take an 86% gain in average listing revenue and build a forecast that assumes another year anything like it.

Why have thousands of Santa Marta Airbnb listings disappeared?

Santa Marta's Airbnb supply has shrunk dramatically, and the available data suggests that weaker or less committed rentals have been pushed out while other owners have moved toward longer stays.

AirDNA currently counts about 3,700 fewer active rentals than the level implied one year ago. That is a huge change for a market this size.

At the same time, more than half of Santa Marta's active short-term-rental inventory now shows a minimum stay of at least 30 nights. Roughly two-thirds of listings remain available for most of the year.

So the market tracked by AirDNA increasingly includes furnished monthly rentals alongside conventional holiday Airbnbs. Some owners appear to have changed strategy, while others have stopped competing actively.

The encouraging part for a new host is obvious: there are fewer properties fighting for bookings. The less encouraging part is that we still do not know how permanent the contraction will be. If attractive returns bring thousands of apartments back onto the platforms, some of today's occupancy gains could disappear.

Are enough tourists coming to Santa Marta to keep Airbnbs full?

Yes. Tourist demand in Santa Marta is currently strong enough to support a large Airbnb market, with growth coming from both Colombian travelers and a gradually larger international audience.

The clearest recent change is foreign tourism. According to ProColombia, Santa Marta received 69,222 international visitors in 2025, 18.8% more than the previous year. U.S. travelers remained the largest foreign group at 14,229, while arrivals from Peru rose 65.3%, Ecuador 41.1% and Argentina 44.8%.

Santa Marta is still a small international destination compared with Bogotá, Medellín or Cartagena, so we would not build an investment model around foreigners alone. Domestic tourism remains the base of the market.

Recent high-traffic periods show how large that base can become. During the latest Fiesta del Mar, Santa Marta received more than 117,000 visitors in seven days, according to the city's economic observatory. About 37,600 arrived by air and roughly 80,000 came by road.

Hotel occupancy during the event averaged 62.9%. Interestingly, the Historic Center reached 77.1%, while El Rodadero was only around 52.4%. Tourists are not concentrating only in the traditional beach zones anymore.

Santa Marta therefore has real demand depth these days. The challenge for an Airbnb owner is capturing enough of it throughout an ordinary year rather than during a handful of festivals and holiday weeks.

Is Santa Marta still oversupplied with Airbnbs?

Santa Marta still has plenty of Airbnb competition, but calling the city clearly oversupplied is becoming harder now that active inventory has fallen by more than a third.

Almost 7,000 active rentals remains a big number. The important detail is what those rentals look like.

About half of Santa Marta's active short-term rentals have one bedroom. Another 29% have two. Nearly nine out of ten listings are entire homes rather than rooms.

A basic one-bedroom apartment with a pool and balcony therefore enters one of the most crowded parts of the market. There is little reason for guests to remember it unless the price, view, beach access, building or interior stands out.

This is where citywide Airbnb statistics become dangerous for buyers. A good Santa Marta market does not automatically make an average apartment a good Airbnb.

We would be much more interested in a property that gives guests a clear reason to choose it: direct beach access, a genuinely good sea view, space for families, a large terrace, walkability to restaurants, unusually strong amenities or simply a purchase price low enough to win on value.

Are Santa Marta Airbnb prices going up?

No. Santa Marta Airbnb nightly prices are currently down sharply, even while hosts are booking more nights.

AirDNA puts the average daily rate at $71, 16.8% below its level one year earlier. Occupancy has risen enough to offset that decline, which is why RevPAR still increased 13.3%.

That combination gives us a more realistic picture of the market than revenue growth alone.

Guests are coming, and fewer active listings are sharing the bookings, but Santa Marta hosts still have to compete hard on price. The market has yet to show strong pricing power.

We would therefore avoid an investment model that assumes a $71 average rate quickly becomes $90 or $100 simply because tourism keeps growing. Recent evidence points in the opposite direction.

The more sensible upside case is better occupancy, better revenue management and a property that earns above the city average because guests genuinely prefer it.

Is 46% Airbnb occupancy in Santa Marta good enough?

A 46% Airbnb occupancy rate in Santa Marta is good enough for a cheaply bought apartment, but it is difficult to make an expensive property look exceptional at that level.

At 46% occupancy, a continuously available rental would fill roughly 168 nights over a year.

That leaves almost 200 nights without a booking. Some owners will do considerably better, particularly in established tourist buildings with hundreds of reviews, while weak listings will fall below the average.

The comparison with other Colombian cities puts Santa Marta in perspective. Medellín currently combines roughly 63% occupancy with a similar $71 average nightly price. Cartagena is around 53% occupied while charging close to $119 per night.

AirDNA therefore estimates annual revenue per active listing at about $15,500 in Medellín and $21,500 in Cartagena, versus $10,900 in Santa Marta.

Santa Marta's case rests heavily on cheaper property prices. If we pay almost Cartagena prices for a Santa Marta apartment, much of that advantage disappears.

Can a cheaper El Rodadero apartment still produce a good Airbnb return?

Yes. Buying a reasonably priced, tourist-approved apartment in El Rodadero is still one of the clearest ways to make Santa Marta Airbnb numbers work.

Current property listings show how wide the acquisition range has become.

One 71 m² two-bedroom apartment in El Rodadero is currently marketed for COP 350 million with an active tourist-rental permit. A 98 m² two-bedroom beachfront duplex with direct beach access and tourist permission is advertised around COP 470 million.

AirDNA's average $10,900 annual short-term-rental revenue currently converts to roughly COP 35 million. That figure is only a citywide benchmark, so we should never assume a particular apartment will earn exactly that amount.

Still, it gives us a useful test.

A COP 350 million purchase earning COP 35 million would generate about a 10% gross yield before Airbnb fees, administration, utilities, cleaning, repairs and management. At COP 470 million, the same revenue falls to roughly 7.4%.

The biggest return difference can therefore happen before the apartment receives its first booking. Paying COP 100 million less often has a much greater effect than squeezing a few extra dollars from the nightly rate.

Are luxury Airbnbs in Playa Salguero and Pozos Colorados still worth buying?

Luxury Airbnbs in Playa Salguero, Pozos Colorados and Bello Horizonte can work, but we would currently buy them much more cautiously than cheaper properties in El Rodadero.

These southern beach areas offer exactly what many travelers want: newer towers, large swimming pools, direct or easy beach access, security, sea views and quick access to the airport.

The problem is the purchase price.

A newer apartment can cost several hundred million pesos more than an older El Rodadero unit, while Santa Marta as a whole still averages only $71 per booked night.

A high-end apartment can obviously beat that average. The gap needs to be substantial, though. Paying twice as much for a property that earns 30% or 40% more revenue usually makes the investment less attractive despite the better guest experience.

For a buyer who also wants to spend several weeks a year in Santa Marta, that trade-off may be completely acceptable. For someone whose main goal is rental yield, we prefer to see actual booking history from the specific unit or closely comparable apartments before paying a beachfront premium.

Where would we buy an Airbnb in Santa Marta now?

For Airbnb yield today, we would start looking in El Rodadero and Rodadero Sur before paying the premium for a new tower in Playa Salguero, Pozos Colorados or Bello Horizonte.

El Rodadero has obvious flaws. There is heavy competition, some buildings are dated, and parts of the neighborhood feel considerably less polished than the newer coastline farther south.

The numbers can still be compelling because older apartments sometimes combine tourist permission, walkable beach access and much lower acquisition prices.

Rodadero Sur gives us a middle ground: generally quieter surroundings and newer inventory without always reaching the most expensive beachfront valuations.

Playa Salguero becomes attractive when the apartment itself is unusually good. Pozos Colorados and Bello Horizonte make more sense to us for resort-style units, larger family properties or buyers who value personal use alongside rental income.

The Historic Center also deserves more attention than it used to. During the latest Fiesta del Mar, hotel occupancy there reached 77.1%, well ahead of El Rodadero's 52.4%. One event does not redefine the whole market, but it shows that Santa Marta tourism is becoming less dependent on the traditional beach strip.

Would long-term renting be easier than Airbnb in Santa Marta?

For many ordinary Santa Marta apartments, long-term or monthly renting is close enough financially that Airbnb should earn a clear premium before we choose the extra work.

Current rental listings in tourist areas show conventional rents around COP 1.5 million to COP 3.5 million per month depending on size, furnishing, location and building quality.

At COP 2 million per month, an owner collects COP 24 million in annual rent before vacancies and owner expenses. Compare that with roughly COP 35 million of gross annual Airbnb revenue for the average active short-term rental.

The difference initially looks large. Airbnb then adds platform fees, electricity from heavy air-conditioning use, internet, laundry, linen replacement, cleaning coordination, furniture damage, guest communication and more frequent maintenance.

Professional management can take another meaningful share.

A hands-on owner with a well-bought property can still come out far ahead with Airbnb. An overseas investor paying for every part of the operation may discover that the extra income is smaller than expected.

That is also one reason monthly stays deserve attention in Santa Marta. They reduce turnover while preserving some of the furnished-rental premium.

Are Airbnb fees about to become more painful for Santa Marta hosts?

Yes. Airbnb's current fee changes make professional hosting more important to model correctly, especially for Santa Marta owners who use property-management software.

Most hosts on Airbnb's traditional split-fee structure currently pay about 3% on the host side, while the guest pays another service fee.

Airbnb is moving more hosts toward a single-fee model. Under that structure, the platform generally takes 15.5% from the host payout. Airbnb has announced that hosts using property-management software who have not already switched are due to move onto the single fee later this year.

Owners can raise their displayed prices to compensate, and Airbnb itself recommends doing so. Whether the market accepts the higher price is another question.

Santa Marta is particularly sensitive because average nightly rates have already fallen 16.8%. A professional host cannot simply assume every extra platform cost will be passed through to guests without affecting bookings.

Building charges add another wrinkle. Some tourist complexes charge guests separately for wristbands or registration, sometimes per person. Those costs vary widely from building to building.

For buyers, the useful number is the final amount the guest sees and the final amount the owner keeps. The advertised nightly price tells us surprisingly little on its own.

Can you legally Airbnb any apartment in Santa Marta?

No. A Santa Marta apartment needs the right building rules and tourism registration before we should treat it as an Airbnb investment.

Colombia requires providers of tourist accommodation to register in the Registro Nacional de Turismo, or RNT.

Apartments inside a propiedad horizontal face another requirement. The building's registered rules must allow tourist accommodation. Colombia's Ministry of Commerce explicitly requires applicants to declare that the unit is authorized under those regulations.

Building administrators also have reporting obligations when tourist accommodation operates without the required authorization.

This is one of the easiest ways to make a bad property purchase in Santa Marta. Two apartments can sit on the same street, have similar views and cost roughly the same amount while only one has a clean path to legal short-term renting.

A property advertisement that says "permiso turístico" is useful, but we would still verify the building regulations and RNT status independently before buying.

The permission should be valued almost like another physical feature of the apartment. Without it, the entire Airbnb model can disappear.

Is Santa Marta's water problem still a serious risk for Airbnb owners?

Yes. Water reliability is still a real Airbnb risk in Santa Marta's main coastal investment areas, and very recent service problems show that buyers should not treat it as an old issue.

ESSMAR recently reported an electrical failure at a pumping station that temporarily affected Gaira, El Rodadero, Salguero, Pozos Colorados, Bello Horizonte and the airport sector.

That episode followed several interruptions and low-pressure warnings earlier in the year. ESSMAR notices linked them to maintenance at the El Roble treatment plant, electricity works and other operational problems affecting much of the same southern tourism corridor.

The repetition is what concerns us. The affected areas include almost every neighborhood investors commonly consider for a beach Airbnb.

A modern apartment tower may handle short interruptions perfectly well through storage tanks and pumping systems. Another building a few blocks away may not.

So we would ask the building administrator very specific questions before buying: how much reserve capacity the property has, how often residents have experienced low pressure, whether upper floors are affected first and what happens during a prolonged interruption.

A guest paying for a beach holiday will tolerate an older kitchen more easily than a shower that does not work.

What can actually make a Santa Marta Airbnb investment go wrong?

The easiest way to lose money on a Santa Marta Airbnb today is to overpay for an ordinary apartment and assume tourism growth will fix the economics later.

Several risks become much more dangerous when they appear together.

Imagine buying for COP 700 million or COP 800 million in a modern coastal tower, then discovering that the apartment earns close to Santa Marta's citywide average. Add condominium fees, professional management, Airbnb fees, utilities and maintenance, and the rental yield quickly becomes mediocre.

The same investment gets worse if the building charges expensive guest-registration fees, water storage is unreliable or short-term-rental permission is less secure than the seller suggested.

Meanwhile, a less glamorous COP 300 million to COP 400 million apartment with legal tourist use and consistent bookings can produce a much better return.

This is why we would spend more time investigating the specific building than debating whether Santa Marta tourism will grow another 10% or 20%. The city already brings in enough visitors for good properties to work.

The purchase itself decides a huge part of the outcome.

So, is Airbnb still worth it in Santa Marta?

Yes, Airbnb is still worth it in Santa Marta today, but we would buy for yield only when the property is legally rentable, reasonably priced and clearly competitive with thousands of similar apartments.

The latest evidence is better than it was a year ago. Occupancy has climbed to 46%, RevPAR is up 13.3%, international arrivals are growing and active short-term-rental supply has fallen by roughly one-third.

We would not give the 86% jump in average listing revenue much weight on its own. Our reconstruction suggests the underlying market grew closer to 20%, with the much larger per-property gain helped heavily by the disappearance of thousands of active listings.

Nightly rates also deserve more attention than the bullish headline. They have fallen 16.8%. Santa Marta hosts are getting more bookings these days, but guests remain price-sensitive.

That leads us toward a fairly specific type of investment. A tourist-approved apartment in El Rodadero or Rodadero Sur bought around a sensible multiple of realistic rental income can still look very good. Selected properties in Playa Salguero, Pozos Colorados and Bello Horizonte can work too, particularly when the unit has a genuinely better view, beach position or family setup.

We become much less enthusiastic when the price moves toward COP 500 million, COP 700 million or beyond without a proven rental history that comfortably beats the market average. At that point, the owner may still have a great beach property, but Airbnb income is increasingly helping pay for the lifestyle rather than producing an unusually strong investment return.

So our answer is a clear yes, with a narrower target than before. Santa Marta still offers good Airbnb opportunities. The money is now made by buying the right apartment at the right price, rather than simply buying an apartment near the beach and waiting for tourists.

Who is the author of this content?

THE LATINVESTOR

A team specialized in real estate investing in LATAM countries

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