If INE selects your establishment for the IPAL pilot, you will need to report stay information and a monthly summary. Having fewer than 10 beds does not, by itself, mean you have been selected.
IPAL stands for Inquérito ao Pequeno Alojamento Local, a new survey from Portugal’s National Statistics Institute (INE). INE’s pilot materials describe a randomly selected group of Alojamento Local establishments with fewer than 10 beds in Albufeira, Lisbon and Porto. The pilot is planned to begin on 1 November 2026.
Who needs to respond?
Follow the communication for your specific establishment. Check the survey code, reporting period, deadline and response instructions assigned by INE. Its WebInq guidance says that units selected for INE surveys must respond within the deadlines set for them.
The planned pilot start date is not a filing deadline for every host. If you are unsure whether your property has been selected, check your INE communication or contact INE through WebInq.
What information does IPAL ask for?
The pilot has two related parts:
Report | What it covers |
|---|---|
IPAL-A | An ongoing record for each check-in or stay, including arrival and departure dates, guest counts by country of residence, accommodation revenue, rooms or units used, and booking method. The record can also indicate a cancellation. |
IPAL | A monthly report about the establishment: whether it was operating, days open, seasonal closure, available accommodation and beds, and accommodation revenue. |
The exact capacity questions depend on whether the establishment is a house or apartment, rooms or lodging establishment, or hostel. For both reports, the specified accommodation revenue excludes VAT and municipal tourist tax.
A month without guests still matters. The monthly specification includes a way to report no guest movement, so a selected host should not assume there is nothing to submit for a quiet month.
How should hosts prepare?
Keep one reliable record of each stay’s dates, booking reference, guest counts by country of residence, rooms or units used, booking method and accommodation revenue. Record cancellations and corrections rather than deleting the history you may need to explain later.
Then check the reporting route INE assigns. INE’s WebInq guidance describes online forms and, for certain surveys, automatic transmission using XML. If software sends a file for you, check its final INE result: an upload being queued is not yet confirmation that the response was accepted.
IPAL has its own survey codes and questions. If you already respond to IPHH, check both assignments with INE rather than assuming one response covers the other.
Where EazyAL stands
EazyAL has completed successful IPAL and IPAL-A uploads using INE’s synthetic test units across the three accommodation segments. We are still working through real booking-data mapping and correction handling before offering host-facing IPAL submission.
If INE has selected your establishment in the meantime, use the response method and deadline in your INE notice.
