These information pages can help you get started in learning about some of the laws and registration requirements that may apply to your trips or experiences on Airbnb. These pages include summaries of some of the rules that may apply to different sorts of activities, and contain links to government resources that you may find helpful.
Please understand that these information pages are not comprehensive, and are not legal advice. If you are unsure about how local laws or this information may apply to you or your experience, we encourage you to check with your city or an attorney.
Please note that we don’t update this information in real time, so you should confirm that the law has not changed recently.*
Your guest’s health and safety should always come first. For example, here’s what host Alissa recommends: “I always make sure that my kitchen is spic and span, that I only use fresh ingredients and that I tell my guests about the ingredients I use. I also ask my guests in advance about any food allergies they may have and religious or philosophical codes that I need to keep in mind when I prepare a meal to share with them."
It would also be a good idea to take your guests to (or otherwise serve them food from) reputable restaurants, or reputable professional caterers who keep clean facilities and use fresh ingredients.
If your experience involves you serving meals at home for commercial sale (i.e. you receive a fee for serving food), your home may be considered a catering service establishment under the Law on Food Safety. A catering service establishment is defined as a “food-preparing facility, such as a shop or stall trading in ready-to-eat food and cooked food restaurants, a facility preparing ready-to-eat food portions, a canteen or a collective kitchen”. “Food” includes drinks and beverages.
You will not need a Certificate of Eligible Facilities for Food Safety if your food activity is carried out on a “household scale”. A certificate is required only if the food activity is carried out on a large scale. However, as there is no clear definition of “household scale”, you are encouraged to check with the People’s Committee of your district whether your activity would qualify for this exemption.
Here are examples of where you will not be considered to be operating a catering service establishment:
Certificate of Eligible Facilities for Food Safety
If you do require a Certificate of Eligible Facilities for Food Safety, and your catering service establishment has a scale of less than 200 servings per time of serving, this may be obtained from the People’s Committee of your relevant district. (For example, for District 1, the application form for this Certificate may be obtained from and submitted to the People’s Committee of District 1.) More information is available here.
Note that you will also be required to obtain a Certificate of Eligible Facilities for Food Safety if you are operating as a company (please also see the business licensing section) or running a restaurant (in which case you would be a large-scale catering service establishment).
Please note that if you operate your premises as a catering service establishment without the Certificate of Eligible Facilities for Food Safety when you do in fact need one, you may be liable to pay a fine of between VND 500,000 to 1,000,000 (approximately USD 22.50 to 45).
Yes. As a catering service establishment (whether or not you require a Certificate of Eligible Facilities for Food Safety), the Law on Food Safety requires you to ensure that the following regulations are met: