Mexico

Vacation rentals in Mexico: what changes from one state to the next

If you rent out a house or a condo by the night in Mexico, what you have to comply with depends a lot on the state it's in. As of September 25, 2026, Mexico City, Quintana Roo, Oaxaca and Nuevo León already make hosts sign up to a registry, Jalisco's 180-night cap is still only a bill, and the state lodging tax runs from 2% in Chiapas and Campeche up to the 6% a platform booking pays in Quintana Roo. 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 in each state

The table pulls together the main points from each state page, and we checked every row on September 25, 2026. The sources behind each fact are on that state's page, and so are its cities.

State	The main rule	Status	Lodging tax	City pages
Baja California	The state doesn't license nightly rentals, so what's most likely to hold you back is your building's own rules, which in Tijuana sometimes ban vacation rentals outright.	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 5%, including when the booking comes through an app, under the 2026 revenue law.	No city here has its own page yet.
Baja California Sur	There's no vacation rental law, though since June 2026 the hotel association has been asking for rentals to be treated as a commercial activity.	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 4%, filed every month.	Los Cabos and Todos Santos each have their own page.
Mexico City	Every property goes on the Padrón de Anfitriones, it can be rented for up to 183 nights a year, and the host reports to the tourism ministry in January and July.	In force	The city's lodging tax is 5% for houses and apartments, against 3.5% for hotels.	It's a single city, so there are no separate city pages.
Chiapas	We read the state tourism law, including its June 2026 amendment, and it says nothing about vacation rentals or platforms.	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 2% in general and 5% for motels.	San Cristóbal de las Casas has its own page.
Colima	Since June 2024 the state revenue law names furnished houses and apartments and makes the platform withhold the tax, but there is no cap on nights and no rental register.	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 3%, or 5% for motels, filed by the 17th of the following month.	Manzanillo has its own page.
State of Mexico	There's no short-term rental law, but the state tax code names furnished apartments let to tourists in so many words.	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 4%, dropping to 2% once a guest stays more than 15 days in a row.	Valle de Bravo has its own page.
Guanajuato	A 2020 law created a host registry, but the regulation that would put it to work still hasn't been issued.	In force, not enforced	The state lodging tax is 4%, withheld by the platform since December 2022.	Guanajuato city and San Miguel de Allende each have their own page.
Guerrero	We didn't find a state host registry or a cap on nights.	No specific law	The lodging tax rate isn't clear, because El Contribuyente says 4%, or 5% through a platform, while Vezpa says 3%, so it's worth checking with your accountant.	Acapulco has its own page.
Hidalgo	There is no law written for short-term rentals, although the revenue law already names houses and booking platforms, and the sustainable tourism law asks anyone who hosts tourists in their property to join the state tourism register. A bill filed in June 2026 would create "Estancias Turísticas Eventuales".	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 2.5%, and in September 2026 the deal for Airbnb to withhold it still wasn't signed.	Huasca de Ocampo has its own page.
Jalisco	In May 2026 a congress committee passed a bill capping nightly rentals at 180 nights a year in Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, and the full chamber hasn't voted on it.	Bill, not law	The state lodging tax is 5% as of 2026.	Puerto Vallarta has its own page.
Michoacán	Since February 2026 the state tourism law has required every house to be entered in a host register and to show its number on every listing, but in September the regulations were still being drafted.	In force, not enforced	The state lodging tax is 3%, and Airbnb withholds it under an agreement with the state.	Pátzcuaro has its own page.
Morelos	We found no registry of homes and no cap on nights.	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 3.75%, which platforms have filed monthly since April 2025.	Tepoztlán has its own page.
Nayarit	There's no state law for nightly rentals and no host registry, and Jalisco's cap wouldn't apply here.	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 5%, due by the 10th of the following month.	Riviera Nayarit has its own page.
Nuevo León	Under Decreto 206, from May 2026, hosts sign up to a Registro de Anfitriones with their RFC, proof that each property owes nothing, and liability insurance.	In force	The state lodging tax is 3%.	Monterrey has its own page.
Oaxaca	Since April 2025 every home needs its own folio from the Padrón de Anfitriones, a host can have five homes at most, and nights get reported every two months.	In force	The state lodging tax is 3%, according to a table we didn't check against the state law.	Oaxaca City and Puerto Escondido each have their own page.
Puebla	We couldn't find a host registry or a cap on nights.	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 3%, and in July 2026 the state said Airbnb now pays it just like a hotel does.	Puebla and Cholula share one page.
Querétaro	There's no host registry, and in June 2026 the city of Querétaro set up working sessions with hosts because it had struggled to reach them.	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 5% on platform bookings, cleaning fee included, against 3.5% for hotels.	Querétaro city has its own page.
Quintana Roo	Since March 2024 you need to be in RETUR-Q, the listing has to show the folio, and skipping registration can cost up to 100,000 pesos.	In force	The state lodging tax is 5% in general and 6% when the booking comes through a platform.	Puerto Morelos has its own page.
Sinaloa	The tourism law dates from 1988, and in June 2026 Mazatlán's hoteliers asked for it to be amended so vacation rentals pay into destination marketing.	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 3%.	Mazatlán has its own page.
Sonora	In May 2026 the state congress approved a registry of hosts and platforms, but as of October 23 we couldn't find the decree published.	Bill, not law	The state lodging tax is 3%, with a monthly return for each house.	Puerto Peñasco has its own page.
Yucatán	There's no law for platform rentals, and since January 2026 the state's tourism business council, Cetur, has been asking for one for Mérida and Valladolid.	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 4.5% in 2026, down from 5%.	No city here has its own page yet.
Campeche	We found no vacation rental law or registry, and Airbnb already collects the tax on each booking.	No specific law	The state lodging tax is 2%, due by the 20th of the following month.	Campeche City has its own page.

For Campeche, the 2% comes from a note on the state government's press site, published on June 7, 2023. It covers lodging in general, including stays booked through intermediaries, but it doesn't mention platforms or rental homes. If you have places in Campeche, it's worth asking your accountant whether that 2% is already being charged on each of your bookings.

This is not legal or tax advice, and Upbridge does not file anything for you: no registrations and no tax returns.

What the platforms withhold from hosts for the SAT

This part works the same everywhere in Mexico, which is why it lives here and not on each state page. When you rent through Airbnb, Booking or Vrbo, the platform holds back income tax (ISR) and VAT (IVA) from every booking and pays it over to the SAT, the federal tax authority. If your RFC, your Mexican tax ID, is registered with the platform, it withholds 4% ISR and 8% IVA, which is half of the full 16%. If it isn't, the withholding goes up to 20% ISR and the full 16% IVA.

If you take in less than 300,000 pesos a year through platforms and have no other business income, you can choose to treat that ISR withholding as your final payment. Above that figure, or if you don't choose it, you still have to file and settle up with the SAT. On top of that, Carbajal Contadores says the lodging platforms now report each host's information to the SAT every month.

To be straight about the sources here: they're two accounting firms, Tesio and Carbajal Contadores, which agree on every rate, and we didn't read the text of the law itself. Each state's lodging tax is a separate charge on top of all this, and it's in the table above.

Where Upbridge fits

We don't handle any of the paperwork above. What we do sits on the operations side, and it works the same in Tulum as it does in Monterrey: every checkout on your calendar turns into a cleaning with a room-by-room list and photos, and we build the guide your guest opens on their phone, with directions and how to get in. There's more on photo cleaning checklists and on the guest guide.

If you manage vacation rentals or run a cleaning company in any of these states, Upbridge can help you see everything between one guest and the next from your phone, even when your places are in two different states.

Questions about vacation rentals in Mexico

How much ISR and IVA does Airbnb withhold from hosts in Mexico?

With your RFC registered on the platform, it withholds 4% ISR and 8% IVA. Without an RFC, it's 20% ISR and 16% IVA. That's how Tesio and Carbajal Contadores explain it in 2026.

Which Mexican states make you register a vacation rental?

As of September 25, 2026, Mexico City does with its Padrón de Anfitriones, Quintana Roo with RETUR-Q, Oaxaca with its own padrón, and Nuevo León with the Registro de Anfitriones set up by Decreto 206. Guanajuato has had a registry in its law since 2020, but without a regulation it isn't enforced.

Which Mexican state has the highest lodging tax on platform bookings?

Of the states we checked, it's Quintana Roo, where a platform booking pays 6%. The lowest are Chiapas and Campeche, at 2%.

Sources

Checked on September 25, 2026

Tesio, “Plataformas Digitales SAT 2026: ISR, IVA y cuánto te retienen” (in Spanish), March 22, 2026, updated August 13, 2026.
Carbajal Contadores, “Airbnb en México 2026: ISR, IVA e Impuesto sobre Hospedaje” (in Spanish), August 6, 2026.
Government of Campeche, press site, “Impuesto sobre servicios de hospedaje” (in Spanish), June 7, 2023.