Short-term rentals in Marco Island, explained properly.

In the single-family (RSF) districts a guesthouse is a conditional use on a lot of one acre or more. Section 30-84(3)b says a guesthouse shall not be used for commercial purposes, including leasing or renting, and that if the main residence is leased, the guesthouse may not be occupied by the property owner.

The City notes that some condo or home owners associations may have their own specific restrictions on vacation rentals. These are private rules, separate from City law.

The City says vacation rental owners must still register with the State Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the State Department of Revenue and the County Tax Collector. The Collier County Tax Collector says its Tourist Development Tax department requires all owners of short-term transient accommodations to register, including hosts on online platforms, and agents or management companies that collect rent for owners.

The Department of Revenue's rate table lists Collier County at 5%, collected by the county, on rentals of six months or less.

The Department of Revenue's discretionary sales surtax table lists no surtax for Collier County. The table at the Department's current link is the Calendar Year 2025 edition.

Florida Statutes § 509.032(7)(b) says a local law, ordinance or regulation may not prohibit vacation rentals or regulate how long or how often they are rented. Local rules adopted on or before June 1, 2011 are exempt from this limit, so some older local rules on rental length can still apply. Section 509.032(7)(a) also reserves the regulation of public lodging establishments (sanitation, inspections and similar matters) to the state, while local governments keep building-code and fire-code inspections. Local governments can still require registration and set other rules that do not ban rentals or limit their length or frequency.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), Division of Hotels and Restaurants, licenses vacation rentals. A license is needed when an entire unit is rented more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or one calendar month, whichever is less, or when the unit is advertised or held out to the public as a place regularly rented to guests. Houses, townhouses and buildings of up to four units take a Vacation Rental – Dwelling license; condominium and cooperative units take a Vacation Rental – Condominium license. Renting single rooms rather than the whole unit does not need a DBPR license, though local rules may still apply. Current licenses must be displayed in a conspicuous place on the premises.

New DBPR vacation rental applications pay a $50 application fee, a $10 Hospitality Education Program fee and a license fee. For a single rental unit the full-year license fee is $170 (half-year $90); group licenses for 2 to 25 units are $180 (half-year $95), with higher tiers for more units. Renewals pay the $10 education fee plus the full-year license fee. Renewal and half-year dates depend on the county's DBPR district.

Anyone who rents, leases, lets or grants a license to use transient accommodations must register with the Florida Department of Revenue to collect, report and remit sales tax.

Florida's 6% state sales tax, plus any applicable county discretionary sales surtax, applies to rent paid for living, sleeping or housekeeping accommodations rented for six months or less.

Counties (and certain cities) may add a local option transient rental tax, such as a tourist development tax, on rentals of six months or less, on top of the 6% state sales tax and any surtax. The Department of Revenue's rate table lists each county's rate and who collects it. Most counties administer the tax themselves, and in those counties it is reported and paid directly to the county rather than to the state.