Key West · The Florida Keys
Property Management in Key West, FL — Airbnb & Short-Term Rentals
In Key West, nightly and weekly stays are legal only at homes holding a city transient license. We manage licensed vacation rentals, and rent every other home by the month or year.
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What we deliver
Full-service management in Key West
Florida Hosts is a full-service Key West property management company — Airbnb and short-term rental management, plus mid-term and long-term rentals: the listing and photography, nightly pricing, 24/7 guest communication, and cleaning and maintenance by our own staff. Our fee is 18–25% of booking revenue, quoted in writing before you sign. We manage homes across Key West and Monroe County.
See all services →Why Florida Hosts in Key West
- City transient business tax receipt required for any stay under 30 days or one calendar month
- Licensed homes display a city medallion and pass a fire marshal inspection
- Rentals of a month or longer need no transient license
- Monroe County's 5% tourist tax is filed with the county Tax Collector
- Old Town, the Truman Annex and Fort Zachary Taylor
Explore Key West
Where we manage in and around Key West
Every area, landmark and institution around Key West has its own demand profile and guest mix. These are the ones we manage into.
Islamorada
Islamorada caps vacation rentals at 331 licensed units, sets a seven-day minimum in residential subdivisions and retires a license when the home is sold.
ExploreKey Largo
Key Largo follows Monroe County's rules: stays under 28 days need the right zoning, an annual county permit and a licensed local manager.
ExploreMarathon
Marathon licenses vacation rentals for stays of 7 to 28 nights and bans anything shorter.
ExploreLocal vs. national
The Key West advantage: local knowledge at every level
National platforms run algorithms, not relationships — pricing from national datasets, turnovers by whoever is free, and support with no feel for your market. We price Key West around its own seasons and events, and our own cleaners and maintenance staff look after the homes.
Short-term rental and Airbnb management in Key West
Property management in Key West starts with one question: does the home hold a city transient license? The City Code treats any lease under 30 days or one calendar month as a business that needs a city business tax receipt, and the zoning code says owners who never rented transiently no longer have the chance to start under the city’s rate of growth ordinance.
That splits the island’s homes in two. Licensed transient properties, from guesthouse rooms to eligible units in the Truman Annex, can take nightly and weekly guests, and that is where our short-term rental management and Airbnb management work happens. Every other home rents by the month or longer, which is where furnished mid-term stays and annual leases come in.
Where guests come from
Visitors come for Old Town and the water. The Harry S. Truman Little White House museum sits in Old Town, the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum is open daily for walk-in visits, and Mallory Square hosts the Sunset Celebration on the waterfront.
On the island’s southern edge, Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park pairs a beach with a fort that predates the Civil War. Events fill the calendar too: Fantasy Fest runs October 16–25 in 2026. Guests fly into Key West International Airport, which Monroe County operates, and Lower Keys Medical Center provides full-service acute care and 24-hour emergency services in Key West.
Key West short-term rental rules
City Code §18-601 makes it unlawful to lease a residential property for less than 30 days or one calendar month without a city business tax receipt, and says a state or county license without the city license is insufficient. Under §18-602, an advertisement for short stays is enough to presume a violation, and each day an unlicensed unit is rented or advertised counts separately.
§122-1371 prohibits unlicensed transient use of residential dwellings. Licensed homes must display a city medallion outside, pass a fire marshal inspection, post a 24-hour contact on the exterior, keep a tenant and vehicle register, and provide one off-street parking space per unit outside the historic district. Licenses renew by September 30, and violations are misdemeanors with fines of up to $500 per day, per unit.
Two other rules matter. The zoning code’s own definition of transient lodging (§86-9) uses stays of less than 28 days, so a lease of a full calendar month or longer stays clear of both thresholds. And in the Truman Annex, §122-1372 lets units the city has found eligible rent transiently for fewer than 26 weeks a year.
These ordinances were adopted on February 20, 2002, before the June 1, 2011 date in §509.032(7)(b) that protects older local rules. Licensed homes also need a state DBPR vacation rental license.
Taxes on Key West vacation rentals
A Key West booking of six months or less, whether for three nights or a full month, owes Florida’s 6% sales tax under §212.03, Monroe County’s 1.5% surtax (DR-15DSS, 2026) and Monroe County’s 5% tourist development tax (DR-15TDT).
The tourist tax goes to the Monroe County Tax Collector, not the state. The Tax Collector says platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO do not remit it, so the owner must, and every rental property needs a county local business tax regardless of lease length.
How Florida Hosts manages Key West rentals
Florida Hosts helps owners with the paperwork side as well as the guests: the DBPR license, the city business tax receipts and the county tax accounts. Here, we take nightly and weekly guests only at homes with a valid city transient license: we keep the medallion, fire inspection, tenant register and written leases current, file the county tourist tax, and run 24/7 guest communication with our own cleaning and maintenance staff.
Homes without that license go out furnished by the calendar month or longer, or on annual leases placed by licensed brokers. For licensed homes we charge 18–25% of booking revenue in a written quote, and a free Key West rental projection is back within one business day.
Free projection · about a minute
What could your Key West property earn?
Send us the address and we'll come back with real numbers for it, from a person on our team, within one business day.
Free, no obligation. Prefer to talk? Call (321) 321-2348
Step 1 of 4 · Address
What’s the address of your property?
We’ll pull real, comparable Florida listings to build your projection.
The rules
Key West vacation rental rules
Leasing a residential property in Key West for less than 30 days or one calendar month requires a City of Key West transient business tax receipt; a state or county license alone is insufficient (City Code §18-601). Unlicensed transient use of residential dwellings is prohibited, and licensed homes must display a city medallion, pass a fire marshal inspection, post a 24-hour contact on the exterior, keep a tenant and vehicle register, provide one off-street parking space per unit outside the historic district, and use a written lease (§122-1371). The rules date from ordinances adopted February 20, 2002.
Sources: City of Key West Code §18-601 (Municode) (checked October 2026); City of Key West Land Development Regulations §122-1371 (Municode) (checked October 2026)
Rules change, so always confirm the current position for your address — we will tell you exactly what applies.
- In Florida, a home rented to guests more than three times in a calendar year for stays of less than 30 consecutive days — or advertised as regularly available for such stays — is a transient public lodging establishment.Fla. Stat. §509.013(4)(a)1 (2026)
- A condominium or cooperative unit, or a house of up to four units, that is a transient public lodging establishment (and not a timeshare) is a "vacation rental" under Florida law.Fla. Stat. §509.242(1)(c) (2026)
- Each public lodging establishment, vacation rentals included, must hold a license from the Division of Hotels and Restaurants of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR).Fla. Stat. §§509.013(1), 509.241(1) (2026)
- A Florida local law may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate how long or how often they are rented — unless that local law was adopted on or before June 1, 2011.Fla. Stat. §509.032(7)(b) (2026)
The Florida Keys
Nearby areas we manage
Common questions
Key West vacation rental management — FAQs
Is Airbnb legal in Key West?
Only at a property that holds a City of Key West transient business tax receipt. City Code §18-601 makes it unlawful to lease a residential property for less than 30 days or one calendar month without one, and says a state or county license alone is not enough. Advertising an unlicensed home for short stays is itself evidence of a violation under §18-602.
What taxes apply to short-term rentals in Key West?
Any Key West stay of six months or less, monthly ones included, owes 12.5%: Florida's 6% sales tax (§212.03), Monroe County's 1.5% discretionary sales surtax (DR-15DSS, 2026) and Monroe County's 5% tourist development tax (DR-15TDT). The tourist tax is filed with the Monroe County Tax Collector, which says online platforms do not remit it on the owner's behalf.
Can I get a new transient license for my Key West home?
Generally not. The city's zoning code (§122-1371) states that owners who never put their homes to transient use no longer have the opportunity to do so under the rate of growth ordinance, and the transfer rules in §122-1336 do not create new transient units. An existing transient license can pass to a buyer when the home is sold, for a fee of 10% of the annual license tax.
Can I rent my Key West home by the month?
Yes. A lease of 30 days or one calendar month or longer falls outside the transient license requirement in §18-601. The city still requires a non-transient residential rental business tax receipt (§66-109), and stays of six months or less still owe sales tax and the county tourist tax. The code also bars long leases written to get around the transient rules.
What does Airbnb management cost in Key West?
Managing a licensed Key West home costs 18–25% of booking revenue, set out in a written quote before you sign. Ask for a free rental projection and it arrives within one business day.
Every service we run here
What we manage in Key West
Short-term rental management is the heart of what we do in Key West, and we manage mid-term and long-term rentals here too — with licensed brokers for the leasing.
Free projection · about a minute
Ready to put your Key West home to work?
A free rental projection built from real comparable listings near you — within one business day.
Free, no obligation. Prefer to talk? Call (321) 321-2348
Step 1 of 4 · Address
What’s the address of your property?
We’ll pull real, comparable Florida listings to build your projection.
Talk to us about your Key West property
Get a free rental projection — or call and ask us anything about your home.
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