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The Spanish Tax Office Hacienda is taking a stand against investment property owners who fail to declare their rental income after sourcing their advertisements on real estate websites.

In a bid to control cash-in-hand rental activities, the tax office is mainly targeting people who advertise their property on the Internet through various property platforms, and is particularly interested in holiday or short-term rentals.

For the first time, such taxpayers will receive a written warning together with their income tax review draft stating:

“In accordance with data available to the tax office, it has come to light that you have taken out a number of adverts announcing property to rent in various media, including the Internet.

“We remind you that in the case of having earned money through these adverts, this should be included in your annual declaration, as should any other type of income earned through activities that do not correlate with our fiscal information.”

According Spanish online newspaper elmundo.es, anyone who has advertised a property to rent via the internet is likely to receive one of these written warnings with their annual income tax declaration draft in the post.

It’s understood, Hacienda is collating all the property to rent ads found and adding the details to the Tax Office database to allow the ability to match properties with taxpayers who haven’t declared their income.

While the officials won’t know how much has been earned by a rental property, or even whether it has actually been rented, they will nevertheless send correspondence as a way to let alleged offenders know they are being monitored.

Elmundo.es adds data from other sources such as the electricity and water companies will also be cross-checked to gain an idea of whether a property has been lived in or whether it has remained empty.

If the owner of a property has deposited a rental agreement with the local town hall, this too will be a source of information to weed out culprits

Elmundo.es reports it’s not only taxpayers who rent out a second property without declaring their earnings that will be targeted.

“The tax office is also combing other websites and adverts to search for other types of activity that people are being paid for but that isn’t being declared, such as selling clothes, beauty products, sports equipment or even food.” the paper says.

Source: elmundo.es

Leading home-based travel franchise CruiseOne launched today the newest addition to its travel franchise portfolio – Dream Vacations A CruiseOne Company. More than 50 percent of CruiseOne’s existing franchise owners have transitioned over to the new brand, which speaks to all types of vacation experiences.

“In order for us to remain a leader in the travel franchise industry, it is important that we evolve and adapt to meet the needs of our customers – our franchisees and their clients,” said Debbie Fiorino, senior vice president of Dream Vacations A CruiseOne Company. “There has been an overwhelmingly positive response from all of our key stakeholders – franchisees, cruise lines, tour operators, resorts and employees – about the addition of Dream Vacations to our family of brands.”

Dream Vacations Start Here began as the tagline for CruiseOne, and has evolved to become the name of its new sister brand. Franchisees and customers will receive the same support and advantages; the differentiation is by having a name that conveys the product that is being sold – every type of vacation experience for every type of traveler.

Recognizing that the culinary experience is an important component of every vacation, as part of the launch festivities Dream Vacations is partnering with award-winning modern luxury vacation brand, Celebrity Cruises®, to host Food Truck Takeovers in New York, California, South Florida and other markets throughout the U.S. The first will be on Thursday, April 14, in the Flatiron District from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m.

“We believe that everybody becomes a foodie when they are on vacation and the Food Truck Takeover is the perfect way to introduce Dream Vacations to consumers while also reminding them of the culinary adventures that await on vacation,” said Rosemarie Reed, vice president of marketing for Dream Vacations A CruiseOne Company.

Several U.S.-based airlines, including American, Delta and United, recently made subtle changes to their domestic pricing structure resulting in not-so-subtle changes to the cost of some airfares, especially impacting the business traveler. The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) learned of this issue from its agent members who detected this change early, quickly began navigating through the complexities of fares and pricing and started saving their clients money.
“The simple way to explain what is happening is that certain multi-segment itineraries now cost a significantly higher amount when they are presented as a single ticket rather than multiple one-way tickets,” said ASTA President and CEO Zane Kerby. “The negative impact is on the time it takes agents to issue multiple tickets for one trip, but consumers who book multi city or circle trips through their trusted travel agent can experience significant savings.”

The changes were made to what the airlines call “combinable fare rules,” which prohibit certain one-way fares from being combined into the same passenger name record. For example, if a traveler needs to fly from NewYork to Los Angeles one day, from Los Angeles to Phoenix the next, and from Phoenix back home to New York, th
e price to ticket that all at once can be more than double the price ofpurchasing three separate one-way tickets.

To quantify, an ASTA agency owner told ASTA on Monday: “A test itinerary I did this morning on an AA circle trip showed the same ridiculously high fare display in the GDS, AA.com and Expedia. It cost roughly $1,800 for one ticket; only $450 for three tickets.”

ASTA Chairman Roger Block, who is President of Travel Leaders Franchise Group, said, “The good news is travel agents immediately spotted what was happening, and figured out a way to work around it.”
Marc Casto, President and CEO at Casto in San Jose, Calif., who is Chair of ASTA’s Corporate Advisory Council, said, “Because of the efforts of our peers and ourselves at Casto, we were able to identify these new costs and adjust our clients’ reservations to ensure these new costs were avoided.” He added that “only through active travel management can the traveling public be assured they are receiving the best value for their dollar.”

“This issue drives home a point we’ve always known – the best way for consumers to ensure they get the best price and service when they travel is to use a trusted agent,” said Steve Orens, President of Plaza Travel in Encino, Calif. “Finding value for the traveler in a world of complex and ever-changing supplier rulesis what we do—all day, every day.”

Memphis-based Rebecca Martin, President of A&I Travel Management, Inc., said: “Even though it is surely an unintended consequence, the fact is that the only defense against these egregiously higher prices is a professional travel agent who will manually price and ticket circle trip and open jaw itineraries. Corporate online booking tools can’t do it; online travel agencies and search engines can’t do it; not even the airlines’ own websites can do it. That may change with time, but for right now, a manual touch is required and that’s a powerful testament to a travel agent’s ability to pivot as needed on behalf of valued customers.”

ASTA’s Government and Industry Affairs teams met with senior officials at the Department of Transportation on this and other issues last week to raise the concern, and continue to discuss the issue with the airlines, Global Distribution Systems, ASTA members and other stakeholders.

“This is yet another example of why it just makes sense to use a travel agent,” said Kerby.

The fallout from Russian economic and political troubles is transforming the buying habits of the country’s international property investors who are turning from the residential sector towards higher yielding commercial real estate deals.

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More than 5,500 hotel projects with over 1.2 million rooms are currently in the pipeline worldwide. New technology is an important part in new projects. TOPHOTELPROJECTS, the specialized service provider in the exchange of cutting-edge information between clients and contractors in the international hotel industry, is showing some new trends:

• Tablet computers – printed documents have been replaced by digital ones. The guest can read newspapers, stream videos and control the air conditioner by using the in-room tablet.
• Service robots – a new towel, a bath robe at the pool or another soft drink in the spa is no problem for the android. Further robots are already in use in the kitchen and the basement, the logistic or in the storage.
• Entertainment in F&B outlets – embedded touchscreens in bars and in tables are offering fun with games, short video clips and simplify the re-order of food and beverage.
• Interactive smart TV as information tool – innovative screens in the lobby can be controlled by fingertip or foot kick. The digital lifestyle concierge supports the guests with valuable tips and advices for new hot spots in the area and must-do’s for sightseeing.
• The VR goggles help to discover new destinations – with brilliant 3D footage hotel guests can discover their next travel destinations along with tasting the local wines and foods.

Cyber crimes by so called travel agencies are on the rise. People travelling cross boarders often fall prey to these scams ending up losing their money and holiday pleasures, as mostly they learn that they have been duped only once they reach the destination.

Recently tourists from Paris planned a trip to Dublin and searched the Google looking for suitable travel agents. But it turned out that the individual Florian Coulan was robbed of more than €1,400 through an elaborate scam.

Coulan had planned a trip with eight friends on St. Patrick’s Day so searched for a good place to stay through Google but high prices and low availability for accommodating three people and couple at a reasonable price seemed difficult to get at the time they wished to travel. But finally he managed to get hold of a company http://www.360travelonline.com, offering holiday rentals through Europe. They could offer him accommodation in Dublin they assured.

The company showed him a three-bedroom Georgian townhouse in the city centre with an amazing price of €180 a night. It was a steal and an excellent place to spend holidays. He contacted the company through an online booking form and then inquired availability. He got an immediate response sig
ned by the customer service representative Marcus Westerlind. He was informed that the property he had chosen was available and ready to book at 180 Euro/night. They asked for a total booking value via bank transfer. Towels and bed linen provided, housekeeping was included in the price.

A few more emails were exchanged where Coulan was asked for personal identification details. He was delayed by two days but when he was in touch with the agency,  there was a note of urgency suggesting that there may be chances of the property slipping away. He immediately transferred the payment from his French bank account and within a day it had hit Westerlind’s Italian bank account.

Just five days before the St Patrick’s Day Coulan along with his friends went straight to the Georgian townhouse from the airport. Once they reached they found that it was a normal house belonging to an individual who was quite surprised to receive so many guests whom he hadn’t invited.

 
Coulan tried calling the 360travelonline contact at the landline and mobile numbers listed on the site but the phone did not work. Seeing that the group was thrown in such misery the house owner invited them and asked them to stay overnight and get their phones charged.

The carefully executed scam on tourists is creating distrust on online booking. The building from where the company claimed to operate too was also demolished eight years ago. The landline phones went to answering services and anyone choosing to hold the phone for more than 90 seconds was automatically disconnected. Dormant accounts are easily available on the black market and once the money is transferred into them, it can be wired anywhere in the world after which the trail effectively runs cold. These kinds of cyber crimes are increasing and one wonders how innocent travellers can check the authenticity of these sites.