Vacation Rental Management
Vacation Rental Management in St. Petersburg, FL
From bungalows near the downtown waterfront to homes a short drive from the Gulf beaches, Fairly manages St. Petersburg rentals around the way this city actually books: winter guests who stay a month or more, priced for the season and looked after by a caretaker who lives nearby.
4.8
Average review in St. Petersburg, FL
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.
St. Petersburg market overview
St. Petersburg fills a peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, with a downtown waterfront of museums, parks and marinas, and the Gulf beaches a short drive west across the causeways. Visit St. Pete/Clearwater covers what draws visitors through the year.
Demand follows the winter. Among the area's top-performing listings, occupancy runs near 80% in February and March, nightly rates peak around $189 in March, and the median listing earns about $3,800 that month. Visitors escaping northern winters fill January through April, and many of them stay a month or longer, which is the kind of booking St. Petersburg's rules favor. Late summer and early fall are the slow stretch: occupancy falls to around 37% in September, with nightly rates near $134. Across a full year, a top listing here earns a median of about $26,000.
What homes earn in St. Petersburg, FL
The chart shows monthly earnings for St. Petersburg's top vacation rentals: Airbnb and Vrbo listings rated 4.8 or higher and available or booked at least 300 days a year. Most of those listings rent by the night. A home inside city limits, where stays are generally a month or more, earns on a different rhythm, with fewer and longer bookings concentrated in the winter season. You can customize a projection for a specific home.
| Month | Total rent | Occupancy | Avg. daily rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | $2,475 | 58% | $155 |
| Feb | $3,234 | 79% | $176 |
| Mar | $3,833 | 80% | $189 |
| Apr | $2,780 | 62% | $175 |
| May | $1,974 | 48% | $157 |
| Jun | $1,990 | 51% | $157 |
| Jul | $2,118 | 52% | $152 |
| Aug | $1,521 | 42% | $137 |
| Sep | $1,160 | 37% | $134 |
| Oct | $1,289 | 39% | $132 |
| Nov | $1,661 | 45% | $145 |
| Dec | $1,679 | 44% | $150 |
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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 St. Petersburg, FL
Can your home rent short-term?
Inside St. Petersburg city limits, a residential property may be rented for stays of under 30 days no more than three times in any 365-day period. Beyond that, nightly and weekly rentals are a transient accommodation use the city allows only in a licensed hotel or motel, or in a Resort Facilities Overlay district, an overlay the city has not yet applied anywhere. The rule predates the cutoff in Florida's vacation-rental preemption, so it still stands. The city's transient accommodation guidance sets it out.
So a home in the city rents by the month. Stays of 30 nights or more fall outside the rule, and they are the core of the winter season.
Renting nightly nearby
For nightly or weekly guests, look just past the city limit. Many homes with a St. Petersburg mailing address sit in unincorporated Pinellas County, where a home rented more than three times a year for stays under 30 days needs a county short-term rental Certificate of Use: a safety inspection before issue and every two years after, annual renewal, and occupancy of two per bedroom plus two in a common area, ten at most. The home's location relative to the city limit, not its mailing address, decides which rules apply.
Our Pinellas County guide sets out the rules town by town across the county.
Two nearby cities allow vacation rentals in all of their residential areas:
- Largo, with a responsible party on call around the clock and an annual fire inspection (city rules).
- Indian Rocks Beach, on the Gulf, with city registration and an annual inspection. See our Indian Rocks Beach page.
On the Gulf just north of John's Pass, Madeira Beach allows vacation rentals on the Gulf side of Gulf Boulevard (R-3) and along the commercial frontage across it (C-3); its bayside and canal-front streets (R-1, R-2) do not.
Further south on Anna Maria Island, Holmes Beach permits vacation rentals with a city certificate, at a seven-night minimum on the Gulf side of Gulf Drive and in the central grid between Gulf Drive and Marina Drive. Clearwater, St. Pete Beach and Seminole restrict stays under a month in their residential zones, much as St. Petersburg does.
State licence
Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation licenses a home as a vacation rental once it is rented more than three times a calendar year for stays under 30 days, or advertised as regularly rented that way. A house rented only by the month, and never advertised for shorter stays, falls outside that licence.
Lodging taxes
Every stay of six months or less is taxable, monthly stays included. Florida's 6% sales tax and Pinellas County's 1% discretionary surtax go to the Florida Department of Revenue; the county's 6% tourist development tax goes to the Pinellas County Tax Collector. Together that is 13%.
How Fairly handles it
We register your home for Florida sales tax and the Pinellas County tourist development tax, and collect and remit both on every booking. Outside city limits, we assist with the county Certificate of Use application and its annual renewal, and with the state vacation rental licence.
Operating a vacation rental in St. Petersburg, FL
Operating in St. Petersburg is shaped by long stays and hurricane season. Winter guests often stay a month or more, long enough that small problems such as a slow drain or a struggling air conditioner surface mid-stay rather than at checkout, so a home needs attention while it is occupied, not just between guests.
Summer and fall are quieter and coincide with hurricane season, June through November. Much of the peninsula sits low, and storm surge is the threat that matters most: shutters, outdoor furniture and flood preparations need a plan before a storm is named, and a home needs checking once it has passed. Salt air and humidity are hard on air-conditioning systems, screens and exterior fixtures year-round, so routine maintenance matters here more than in most markets.
Frequently asked questions
Fairly charges a flat 20% commission on the rental revenue your St. Petersburg home earns, with no long-term contract and no hidden fees, so we are paid only when it books. That covers your listings on Airbnb, Vrbo and Fairly.com, pricing for the winter season, guest messaging, and collecting and remitting Florida sales tax and the Pinellas County tourist development tax.
Inside city limits, only up to three times in any 365 days; beyond that, stays under 30 days are limited to licensed hotels and motels. Stays of a month or more are allowed and drive the winter season. For nightly guests, Largo, Indian Rocks Beach and unincorporated Pinellas County allow vacation rentals under their own permits.
Unincorporated Pinellas County's. The county allows short-term rentals with a Certificate of Use, which brings a safety inspection, annual renewal and an occupancy limit of two per bedroom plus two, ten at most. You will also need a Florida DBPR vacation rental licence. The same 13% in lodging taxes applies either way.
Yes. Florida taxes every stay of six months or less, so a month-long winter booking carries the same 13% as a weekend: 6% state sales tax and 1% Pinellas surtax to the Department of Revenue, and the 6% tourist development tax to the Pinellas County Tax Collector. Fairly collects and remits both on every booking.
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Fairly Vacation Rental Management
Serving St. Petersburg, FL and neighboring areas
Available 24/7