Running short-term rentals in Myrtle Beach, where the city wants the oceanfront to stay short-term
If you manage or clean short-term rentals in Myrtle Beach, most of your units are probably east of Kings Highway, because the city's zoning keeps short-term rentals largely out of its residential neighborhoods. Since December 10, 2024 the city has also stopped rental buildings in that area from converting to long-term housing, so the condo towers along the ocean stay in the vacation market. Every operator needs a city business license and collects the state's accommodations tax. Upbridge's AI operations assistant, Cleo, works over WhatsApp with vacation rental operators and cleaning companies and organizes the cleanings and the inventory for each place.
The rules here
The city's website would not load for us, so the city rules below come from dated reporting, and the tax rows come from the South Carolina Department of Revenue. We read every page on October 24, 2026.
| Topic | What it says | Status | Since | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| License and zoning | Short-term rental operators need a city business license and have to follow the zoning rules, which largely ban short-term rentals from traditional residential neighborhoods. Most rentals of less than 90 days are allowed east of Kings Highway. | In force | Reported January 21, 2025 | Avalara, The Sun News |
| Short-term rental overlay | City council unanimously approved an overlay that bars converting short-term rental buildings into long-term housing of more than 90 days, east of Kings Highway. It covers hotels and rental buildings of more than two units, exempts single-family homes and duplexes, and lets owners who already held a long-term rental license keep it as long as they renew it. | In force | December 10, 2024 | The Sun News, Avalara |
| City and county fees | Hosts collect the city's local accommodations tax and file returns with the city, and they open a Horry County hospitality fee account and pay that fee to the county. | In force | Reported January 21, 2025 | Avalara |
| State accommodations tax | Any sleeping accommodation rented for less than 90 consecutive days owes the 5% sales tax and the 2% accommodations tax, plus local sales taxes the state collects for the county. Renting six or fewer bedrooms in the home where the owner lives is exempt, but only if no rental agency or online travel company is used. | In force | Page not dated | SC Department of Revenue |
| Rate in Myrtle Beach | The state's table lists a total accommodations rate of 10% in Myrtle Beach, which includes a 1% tourism development tax that the neighboring Horry County towns on the table do not have. Local taxes collected directly by the city or the county are not in that figure. | In force | Table revised February 5, 2026 | SC Department of Revenue, ST-575 |
We could not confirm the rates of the city's own accommodations tax and hospitality fee, or the county's hospitality fee, on a page we could open. This is not legal or tax advice, and Upbridge does not file anything for you: no registrations and no tax returns.
How it works on the ground
The city's argument for the overlay was money. The Post and Courier reported in April 2024 that the city manager, Fox Simons, said visitors eat out daily and spend more than long-term tenants do, and a September 2024 study cited by Avalara put the loss at $2.48 million to the city for every 1,000 short-term units that turn into long-term rentals.
So the oceanfront stays full of rental condos. If your units are individually owned, twenty units can mean twenty owners spread over four towers, each with their own ideas about linens and repairs, and the week-long stays the Post and Courier described mean many of them turn over on the same day.
Where Upbridge fits
On a tower changeover day the work is a stack of units on different floors, and Upbridge lays it out per unit. Each checkout from Guesty, Hostaway, Lodgify, Uplisting or an iCal link becomes a cleaning task with a room-by-room photo checklist, and you can add the balcony and the beach chairs to the list.
Inventory per property keeps a separate count for each condo, which matters when each unit has a different owner paying for its supplies. Arriving guests open the guest guide on their phone with the tower, the parking deck and the unit number.
If you run a cleaning company in Myrtle Beach
When several managers send you units in the same tower, it helps to see them together. The cleaning company account shows every client's checkouts in one schedule by date, so one crew can work a building floor by floor, and every client relationship is still yours.
Questions about short-term rentals in Myrtle Beach
Do I need a business license for a short-term rental in Myrtle Beach?
Yes. Avalara reported in January 2025 that the city requires short-term rental operators to hold a business license and follow its zoning rules, and to collect the city's local accommodations tax.
Where are short-term rentals allowed in Myrtle Beach?
The zoning largely keeps them out of traditional residential neighborhoods. The Sun News reported that most rentals of less than 90 days are allowed east of Kings Highway, the area the December 2024 overlay covers.
Can I convert my Myrtle Beach rental condo to a long-term rental?
Not if the building is inside the overlay east of Kings Highway and has more than two units, unless you already held a long-term rental license before the ordinance passed and keep renewing it. Single-family homes and duplexes are exempt.
More questions
What tax does a Myrtle Beach vacation rental collect?
The state's February 2026 table lists a total accommodations rate of 10% in Myrtle Beach. On top of that come the city's local accommodations tax and Horry County's hospitality fee, which the city and the county collect themselves.
Sources
Checked on October 24, 2026
- Avalara MyLodgeTax, “Myrtle Beach law bans converting short-term rentals to long-term rentals in key areas”, January 21, 2025.
- Ben Morse, The Sun News, “Myrtle Beach to ban converting short-term rentals. What does this mean for hotel owners?”, December 10, 2024, as republished by AOL.
- Janet Morgan, The Post and Courier, “Why Myrtle Beach wants to stop hotels from converting rooms to long-term rentals”, April 10, 2024.
- South Carolina Department of Revenue, “Accommodations”, undated, read October 24, 2026.
- South Carolina Department of Revenue, “ST-575: South Carolina sales tax rate by municipality”, revised February 5, 2026.