Vacation Rental Management
Vacation Rental Management in Santa Fe, NM
Opera season, Indian Market, ski weekends — Santa Fe draws guests in every month, and Fairly runs the home behind them: listings on Airbnb, Vrbo and Fairly.com, pricing tuned to the city's seasons, lodgers' tax collected and remitted on every booking, and a caretaker nearby who treats the house as their own.
4.9
Average review in Santa Fe, NM
Fairly is an Airbnb Superhost, and our Santa Fe homes average 4.93 stars across 82 guest reviews — better guest reviews than Santa Fe Property Solutions, Kokopelli Property Management, and Casas de Santa Fe. Fewer than 4% of stays rate below four stars. Better reviews attract better guests, at higher prices, maximizing your revenue.
What our guests say
Santa Fe market overview
Santa Fe trades on what no other market has: four centuries of history around the Plaza, the gallery mile of Canyon Road, and a food culture that made red-or-green a state question. Guests come year-round, but the calendar has a clear shape. Demand builds through spring and peaks from July through October — opera season and the big summer markets, Folk Art in July and Indian Market in August, fill the city, and October pairs golden aspens in the Sangre de Cristos with some of the strongest occupancy of the year. Nightly rates crest in August and again in October. Winter is the soft season: January is the quietest month, and December sees a modest lift around the farolito walks on Canyon Road and ski days at Ski Santa Fe. Tourism Santa Fe keeps the full event calendar.
What homes earn in Santa Fe, NM
These figures come from short-term rentals inside Santa Fe itself, not the wider county: listings on Airbnb and Vrbo that hold a review score of 4.8 or higher and were available or rented at least 300 days of the year. That filters out part-time and poorly run homes, so the bands reflect what a well-located, well-managed property actually earns across the city's long July-to-October high season. You can customize a projection for a specific home.
| Month | Total rent | Occupancy | Avg. daily rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | $2,708 | 39% | $224 |
| Feb | $2,974 | 45% | $236 |
| Mar | $4,736 | 57% | $268 |
| Apr | $4,214 | 53% | $265 |
| May | $5,245 | 60% | $282 |
| Jun | $5,142 | 61% | $281 |
| Jul | $6,380 | 70% | $294 |
| Aug | $6,889 | 71% | $313 |
| Sep | $6,560 | 71% | $308 |
| Oct | $7,115 | 75% | $306 |
| Nov | $3,652 | 47% | $259 |
| Dec | $4,269 | 51% | $270 |
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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 Santa Fe, NM
A Santa Fe address can sit inside the City of Santa Fe or out in unincorporated Santa Fe County — Eldorado, La Cienega, Las Campanas, Tesuque and the rest of the land around the city. Short-term rentals are legal on both sides of the line; the city limit decides whose licence you need and which lodgers' tax applies.
Inside the city limits
The City of Santa Fe allows short-term rentals citywide. A home on residentially zoned property needs a city-issued short-term rental permit; a home on non-residentially zoned property registers with the city instead. Both carry a city business license, and the permit or registration number must appear in every listing. The city caps residential permits at 1,000 citywide, issues them first-come, first-served, and keeps a waiting list once the cap is reached. Permits are issued to a natural person, one per person, and do not transfer with a sale — a buyer applies fresh. Before a permit or registration is issued, the home needs a certificate of occupancy and a city inspection covering smoke alarms in every bedroom, carbon monoxide detection, fire extinguishers on each floor and a posted fire evacuation plan. Permits renew annually, and each issuance or renewal is followed by a mailed notice to residential neighbors within 200 feet naming the local operator.
A permitted residential rental may host one rental in any seven-day period, except for stays beginning between November 15 and January 15 — the rule that most shapes a city calendar, and one that favors the week-long stays the high season already prefers. Occupancy is capped at twice the number of bedrooms, gatherings beyond that are prohibited, quiet hours begin at 10 p.m., and a local operator must be reachable at all hours and able to be at the home within one hour. Owners keep three years of rental records available to the city.
Outside the city limits: Santa Fe County
Santa Fe County allows short-term rentals in every zoning district where homes are permitted. Each one needs a county licence from Building and Development Services: a business registration if the home is your primary residence or a casita on the same lot, or a business licence for each home you don't live in, renewed every year. The home must be a legally permitted dwelling on a legal lot of record. Applying includes a fire-safety self-certification, a letter to adjacent owners and any homeowners' association naming the rental's 24-hour contact, and a Business Notice to Renters posted inside the home. Your Fairly caretaker lives nearby and can serve as that 24-hour contact.
Licences for homes the owner doesn't live in are capped at 3% of housing stock in Eldorado at Santa Fe, La Cienega, Las Campanas, Santa Fe Foothills, Agua Fria, Arroyo Hondo, La Tierra and other named communities, and at 7% in Tesuque, Chimayó, Pojoaque and others. The county posts each community's allowance every January and keeps a waiting list once it fills. A home licensed before the caps keeps renewing while it stays with the same owner; a new owner applies under the cap. No one may hold an interest in more than two county STR licences, and occupancy is capped at two people per approved bedroom, up to ten.
Lodgers' tax and gross receipts tax
Inside the city, the City of Santa Fe levies a 7% lodgers' tax — a 5% occupancy tax plus a 2% convention center fee — reported and remitted to the city monthly. Outside it, Santa Fe County levies its own 5% lodgers' tax, reported and paid to the County Treasurer by the 25th of each month. Both exempt stays of thirty days or longer under a written agreement. On either side, rental receipts also carry New Mexico gross receipts tax, filed with the state Taxation and Revenue Department: 8.1875% at a city address and 6.875% in the unincorporated county, with rates reset each July.
How Fairly handles it
Fairly collects and remits New Mexico gross receipts tax and the city or county lodgers' tax on every booking, and assists with the city permit or county licence application, inspection preparation, neighbor notices and each annual renewal. Inside the city, your listing carries its permit number on Airbnb, Vrbo and Fairly.com from day one.
Operating a vacation rental in Santa Fe, NM
At 7,000 feet, Santa Fe homes work harder than guests ever notice. Winters bring hard freezes and snow, so furnaces, kiva fireplaces and exposed pipes need attention before the first cold night; summers bring intense high-desert sun and monsoon downpours that test flat roofs and canales. Turnover runs heaviest from July through October, when opera, the markets and aspen season keep the calendar full. The city's permit adds conditions an owner must keep meeting: a local operator reachable around the clock and able to reach the home within an hour, occupancy held to twice the bedroom count, quiet after 10 p.m., and off-street guest parking. Fairly's caretaker answers the first of those by design — a single point of contact who lives nearby, handles every turnover personally, and knows how an adobe home behaves in February.
Frequently asked questions
We charge a flat 20% of the rental revenue your Santa Fe home earns, with no hidden fees and no long-term contract. Because it is a commission, the fee follows your bookings rather than arriving as a monthly bill, and it covers listings on Airbnb, Vrbo and Fairly.com, pricing, guest messaging and lodging-tax remittance. Your caretaker keeps the guest cleaning fee and a share of Fairly's commission.
Inside city limits, if the home sits on residentially zoned property, yes — a city short-term rental permit, capped citywide at 1,000 and limited to one per person, with a waiting list once the cap is reached. Homes on non-residential zoning register with the city instead. Fairly assists with the application, the pre-issuance inspection and each annual renewal.
Yes. In unincorporated Santa Fe County — Eldorado, La Cienega, Las Campanas, Tesuque and the land around the city — you need a county business registration for a primary residence or a business licence for a second home, not a city permit, and guests pay the county's 5% lodgers' tax instead of the city's 7%. Second-home licences are capped in many communities; see Santa Fe County's short-term rental page.
Inside the city, two: the City of Santa Fe's 7% lodgers' tax — a 5% occupancy tax plus a 2% convention center fee — and New Mexico gross receipts tax on the rental income. Outside city limits, Santa Fe County's 5% lodgers' tax replaces the city's. Fairly collects and remits both on every booking. Stays of thirty days or longer under a written agreement are exempt from lodgers' tax.
City rules allow one rental in any seven-day period, except for stays beginning between November 15 and January 15, when the limit does not apply. In practice that favors the longer stays Santa Fe's high season already draws, and the exception window covers the winter holidays.
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Fairly Vacation Rental Management
Serving Santa Fe, NM and neighboring areas
Available 24/7