Vacation Rental Management
Vacation Rental Management in Palm Springs, CA
In Palm Springs, where the season runs from the first mild weeks of autumn to the April festival weekends, Fairly runs your vacation rental for you: listings on Airbnb, Vrbo and Fairly.com, pricing, guest messaging, a caretaker who lives nearby, and the city's occupancy tax registered, collected and remitted.
4.8
Average review in Palm Springs, CA
Fairly is an Airbnb Superhost, and our homes average 4.84 stars across 21,000+ guest reviews. Fewer than 4% of stays rate below four stars. Better reviews attract better guests, at higher prices, maximizing your revenue.
Palm Springs market overview
Palm Springs draws guests for dry winter sun at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains: mid-century modern neighborhoods, private pools and patios, the shops and restaurants along Palm Canyon Drive, hiking in the Indian Canyons and the Aerial Tramway up to the forest above town. Modernism Week fills the city in February, and in April the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals in nearby Indio bring weekend crowds across the valley.
The calendar runs the opposite way to most of the country. Among the city's top rentals, occupancy climbs from about a third in December to two-thirds in February and peaks above 70% in March. April carries the highest nightly rates of the year, around $600 for these homes. From May the heat takes over: June through September book fewer than a quarter of their nights, with August the low point. October and November bring the season back as guests return for the first cool weekends.
What homes earn in Palm Springs, CA
The chart tracks the top tier of Palm Springs vacation rentals on Airbnb and Vrbo: homes averaging a review score of 4.8 or higher that were available or rented at least 300 days of the year. Its shape is a winter-and-spring season, rising through February, strongest in March and April, and close to nothing in high summer. Where a given home lands depends on its pool, its sleeping capacity, its architecture and its neighborhood. You can customize a projection for a specific home.
| Month | Total rent | Occupancy | Avg. daily rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | $5,886 | 47% | $404 |
| Feb | $8,261 | 66% | $447 |
| Mar | $10,851 | 71% | $493 |
| Apr | $9,429 | 53% | $593 |
| May | $3,859 | 27% | $461 |
| Jun | $2,488 | 22% | $377 |
| Jul | $2,537 | 22% | $372 |
| Aug | $1,741 | 16% | $351 |
| Sep | $2,052 | 18% | $380 |
| Oct | $3,943 | 30% | $424 |
| Nov | $4,928 | 37% | $444 |
| Dec | $4,327 | 33% | $423 |
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This is based on properties listed on Airbnb, Vrbo, and Booking.com with an average review score of 4.8 out of 5 or higher, limited to homes available or rented at least 300 days a year. Earnings vary based on the unique amenities and qualities of each home.
A guaranteed $5,000 increase in earnings
We guarantee that homeowners coming from self management or other managers will make an extra $5,000 in their first year with Fairly.
Vacation Rental Taxes and Regulations in Palm Springs, CA
Can your home be a short-term rental here?
Yes, in most of the city. Palm Springs allows whole-home vacation rentals in single-family homes and condominiums, though not apartments or other multi-unit buildings, and the owner does not have to live in the home. Inside city limits the City of Palm Springs governs, not Riverside County. Three city rules decide whether a particular home can open as a new rental:
- A neighborhood cap. In each of the city's organized neighborhoods, vacation rental certificates are capped at 20% of residential units. Most neighborhoods sit well below it; where one has reached it, the city returns new applications and keeps a waiting list. The city's Vacation Rentals page links each neighborhood's current percentage.
- One certificate per owner. A person, a partnership or LLC of no more than four individuals, or a family trust may hold one vacation rental certificate, and spouses count as one owner. Corporations cannot hold one.
- No transfer on sale. A certificate ends when the home sells; the buyer applies as a new applicant, subject to the cap, and takes no bookings until the new certificate is issued.
A home in an HOA also needs the association's letter confirming rentals don't violate its CC&Rs, with the application and every renewal.
Lodging and occupancy taxes
California levies no state lodging tax, so the local charges are the whole of it: the City of Palm Springs 11.5% transient occupancy tax and, on stays under 28 days, the 1% Greater Palm Springs Tourism Business Improvement District assessment, 12.5% in all. Both go on one monthly return to the city's Finance and Treasury department, due every month, including months with no bookings.
Registering your rental
Apply once escrow has closed; the city asks a new owner for the recorded grant deed. The vacation rental certificate application carries the transient occupancy tax registration, proof of liability insurance of at least $500,000 per occurrence, and a local contact available around the clock. The city inspects the home at application and each annual renewal, and no advertising may start until the certificate is confirmed in writing. A certificate allows 26 rental contracts a calendar year.
Buying to rent?
Check the neighborhood's percentage before you buy. In a neighborhood at its cap, a Junior certificate sits outside the cap but allows six contracts a year, and an owner who already holds a Palm Springs certificate needs another city for a second rental. Nearby, Palm Desert lets owners who live elsewhere rent in planned communities whose HOA approves rentals, but not in its R-1 and R-2 single-family neighborhoods; Indio sets no cap on permits and does not require the owner to live there; and Joshua Tree, in unincorporated San Bernardino County, allows rentals under a county permit.
How Fairly handles it
We register your home for the transient occupancy tax and the TBID assessment, collect both on every booking and file the monthly return. We assist with the vacation rental certificate application and its annual renewal, and your Fairly caretaker lives nearby and can act as the home's local contact, answering a complaint by phone within 15 minutes and at the home within 30.
Operating a vacation rental in Palm Springs, CA
Operating in Palm Springs means fitting most of a year's turnovers into February, March and April, when stays run back to back and festival weekends book all at once. Most rentals here have a pool, often a spa too, and the city bars pool service, yard work and repairs from 5 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Monday except in an emergency, so that work has to land midweek. Summer highs above 100°F keep air conditioning working hard for months while the home sits largely empty, and a vacant summer house still needs regular walkthroughs. A certificate allows 26 rental contracts a calendar year, each logged with the city before the guest arrives, which makes planning the calendar around the peak matter. A local contact must answer a complaint by phone within 15 minutes and at the property within 30. Your Fairly caretaker lives nearby and can serve as that contact.
Frequently asked questions
A flat 20% commission on rental revenue, with no long-term contract and no hidden fees, so nothing is owed for a night your Palm Springs home doesn't book. The rate covers listings on Airbnb, Vrbo and Fairly.com, pricing across the winter season and the quiet summer, guest messaging, and collecting and remitting the city's transient occupancy tax and TBID assessment.
Usually, and the owner doesn't have to live in the home. Most of the city's organized neighborhoods are below its cap of 20% of residential units; where one has reached it, new applications go on a waiting list, though a Junior certificate limited to six contracts a year sits outside the cap. Each owner may hold one certificate, and it ends when the home sells. Nearby Indio sets no cap on permits.
The City of Palm Springs 11.5% transient occupancy tax and, on stays under 28 days, the 1% Greater Palm Springs Tourism Business Improvement District assessment, 12.5% in all. Both go on one monthly return to the city, due every month even when nothing was booked. California adds no state lodging tax. Fairly registers your home for both, collects them on every booking and remits them.
February through April. Occupancy among the city's top rentals reaches two-thirds in February and passes 70% in March, and April brings the year's highest nightly rates as festival weekends fill the valley. June through September are the quiet months, with fewer than a quarter of nights booked, so the winter and spring carry the year.
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Fairly Vacation Rental Management
Serving Palm Springs, CA and neighboring areas
Available 24/7