The local accommodation registry is a process of administrative and regulatory simplification, providing the dematerialisation of several administrative procedures concerning the licensing of establishments that provide temporary accommodation services to tourists, for a fee and meeting the legal requirements.
This registration is done at the Entrepreneur's Desk and it is also possible to modify and cease the exploitation of local accommodation establishments.
Local accommodation establishments can be classified  into one of the following modalities:

• House – local accommodation establishment whose accommodation unit is formed by an autonomous single-family building.
• Apartment – local accommodation establishment whose accommodation unit is formed by an autonomous unit of a building or part of an urban building susceptible of independent use. 
• Lodging establishments – local accommodation establishment whose accommodation units are formed by bedrooms. This modality includes "Hostel".

For more information see Local accommodation in ePortugal.