New STR Rules in San Antonio affecting Hosts!

[Sherylyn Holden]

San Antonio has been one of the cities with the largest increase in short-term rentals in recent years. Given this, the city of San Antonio has changed their short-term rental rules and regulations. Below you can find a quick FAQ sheet of the updates they have implemented and will be implementing soon.

Quick Overview:

- The cost of application fees has increased

- Platforms will remove listings without legitimate permit numbers

- Platforms will have to remit the Hotel taxes directly to the city of San Antonio (Operators still have to file revenue reports monthly)

- STR operators can change the operator of the permit without a new application being required (it seems the permits are still non-transferable upon sale, however)

- Updated Party Prevention measures

My Take:

This should weed out some hosts that have not been abiding by the permit requirements. The fee increase for the permit was not exorbitant so that likely won't be a deterrent for professional hosts and investors. Having the platforms remit the taxes should ease the burden on most hosts having to do that each month currently.

[Jeremy R.]

Quote from @Sherylyn Holden:

San Antonio has been one of the cities with the largest increase in short-term rentals in recent years. Given this, the city of San Antonio has changed their short-term rental rules and regulations. Below you can find a quick FAQ sheet of the updates they have implemented and will be implementing soon.

Quick Overview:

- The cost of application fees has increased

- Platforms will remove listings without legitimate permit numbers

- Platforms will have to remit the Hotel taxes directly to the city of San Antonio (Operators still have to file revenue reports monthly)

- STR operators can change the operator of the permit without a new application being required (it seems the permits are still non-transferable upon sale, however)

- Updated Party Prevention measures

My Take:

This should weed out some hosts that have not been abiding by the permit requirements. The fee increase for the permit was not exorbitant so that likely won't be a deterrent for professional hosts and investors. Having the platforms remit the taxes should ease the burden on most hosts having to do that each month currently.

Hi @Sherylyn Holden! I’ve been looking forward to these changes since they started working on them and even lobbied some of the council members. Proud to say it passed unanimously! It remains to be seen how much this will impact the supply for those of us who have been abiding by the rules. I imagine there are still a large number of “mom and pop” hosts who had no idea there were taxes or a permit needed who’ll be weeded out, but they prop weren’t our competition anyway  ;-) Good luck!