SAN ANTONIO – In 2024, the city has averaged around 123 new short-term rental permit applications monthly, with an average 70% approval rate for new permits.
While that number is around 30% below the highs seen during the pandemic, the total number of short-term rentals continues to increase around the Alamo City.
Permits regulating short-term rentals were introduced in 2019, and according to city data, nearly 46% of short-term rental permits are issued for properties in districts 1 and 2, around tourist hot spots downtown and Midtown.
Operators are also charged hotel occupancy taxes. By the end of 2023, the city reported a total of $14.3 million in hotel taxes since the short-term rental permit ordinance was passed in 2019, with over one-third of that amount collected last year.
Mainly facilitated through the use of vacation rental websites like Airbnb, the city boasted 3,240 active permits last year. City staff also estimates that there were between 1,200 to 1,500 rentals operating in the city last year without a permit.
In addition to operating without a permit, the city also recorded hundreds of violations last year including property maintenance issues and nuisance calls like parking and noise.
Last year, the city revoked 1,366 permits for issues like tax delinquency, ordinance violations, changes in ownership of a property and by customer request.
Read the full story in the San Antonio Business Journal.
Editor’s note: This story was published through a partnership between KSAT and the San Antonio Business Journal.