Vacation rentals in Hidalgo, Mexico, while the state waits for Airbnb to withhold its 2.5% lodging tax
If you manage vacation rentals in Hidalgo, the state revenue law, as amended on December 31, 2025, puts whole houses and apartments under the 2.5% lodging tax and tells the booking platform to withhold it. In September 2026 the state tourism secretary, Elizabeth Quintanar, was still negotiating with Airbnb and hoped to close a deal before the end of the year. More than 600 of the 1,590 listings AirROI counts in the state sit in three Pueblos Mágicos near Pachuca: Huasca de Ocampo, Real del Monte and Mineral del Chico. 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
We read the revenue law and the sustainable tourism law in the copies the Hidalgo state congress publishes, and checked every row on October 23, 2026.
| Topic | What it says | Status | Since | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lodging tax | Article 28 names whole houses and apartments, as well as private and shared rooms, and article 31 sets the rate at 2.5%. Whoever withholds the tax pays it over to the state treasury by the 17th of the following month, with a monthly return. | In force | Last amended December 31, 2025 | Hidalgo revenue law |
| Platform withholding | When the guest pays through a platform, article 32 has the platform withhold the tax and give the host a withholding receipt. When the payment doesn't go through a platform, the host withholds it and pays it over. In February 2026 the tourism ministry estimated nearly 4,000 cabins, houses and apartments on Airbnb that weren't paying the 2.5%, because the agreement with the company still hadn't been signed (Effetá). | In force, not enforced | December 31, 2025 | Effetá |
| Taxpayer registration | Whoever withholds the tax signs up with the Padrón Estatal de Contribuyentes within a month of starting to rent, online or on the official forms. | In force | December 29, 2023 | Hidalgo revenue law |
| Tourism registry | The sustainable tourism law treats private homes that house tourists as a tourism service, and article 75 tells providers to join the Registro Estatal de Turismo and show proof within ninety days. | In force | Last amended August 28, 2026 | Sustainable tourism law |
| Guest ID and minors | Article 73 BIS requires lodging "in all its forms" to see official ID from the person booking, and to let minors into a rented home only when they arrive with an adult who can show they are a parent, a close relative or authorized. The tourism ministry has to issue the protocols; as of October 23, 2026 we hadn't found them. | In force | June 11, 2026 | Sustainable tourism law |
| "Estancias Turísticas Eventuales" | State deputy Yarabi González Martínez filed a bill that would create this category for hosts and platforms, with a report every six months and a cap on properties per person to be set by regulation, with no number in the law itself. | Bill, not law | Filed June 2026 | Effetá |
The federal income tax and VAT that platforms withhold don't change from state to state, and we cover them once on the national page.
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
Rentals in Hidalgo run on Mexico City's weekends. Real del Monte is about 97 kilometers from the Zócalo, a little over an hour and a half by car (ADN40), and in Huichapan most guests come from the capital, Querétaro and Ecatepec (AirROI). In October the tourism secretary said Real del Monte, Mineral del Chico and Huasca bring in more than four million pesos every weekend (Effetá). For your team that means arrivals on Friday night, nearly every checkout on Sunday, and Monday to get the houses ready again.
Festivals fill these towns overnight. For the 2026 Festival Internacional del Paste, held October 9 to 11, Real del Monte's hotels were already full and organizers expected 80,000 to 90,000 visitors, and people who couldn't find a room were pointed to Omitlán, Atotonilco el Grande or Pachuca (La Jornada Hidalgo). A house booked for the festival nights needs its spare toilet paper, soap and towels in place by Thursday.
Over the whole year, AirROI has July as the best month in 8 of the 11 markets it ranks, and February as the slowest in 9. A listing earns nearly twice as much in July as in February, which makes February the month for deep cleans and repairs.
Further north, a ticket to the Grutas de Tolantongo costs 230 pesos and is good for thirteen hours a day. The caves are about 104 kilometers from Pachuca and 200 from Mexico City (La Silla Rota). The ticket doesn't cover the night and the capital is close to four hours away, so visitors need a bed nearby, and AirROI already counts 113 listings in Ixmiquilpan.
For guests who fly in, the tourism secretary points to how close the AIFA airport is (Effetá). The AIFA-to-Pachuca stretch of the Mexico City-Pachuca train was still under construction on October 6, 2026, according to Crónica, so for now the trip from the airport to your house is by road.
Where Upbridge fits
With online check-in the guest uploads their ID before arriving, and you can turn on a PIN and a contract. It tells you who will sleep in the house; whether that is enough for the article 73 BIS protocol is for the tourism ministry to say once it publishes one. The same guest guide, which we build for you, carries the directions from the AIFA or from Tolantongo.
For Sunday checkouts we connect your calendar, from Guesty, Hostaway, Lodgify, Uplisting or an iCal feed, and every checkout becomes an assigned cleaning task. With photo checklists the cleaner ticks off each room on their phone, and the final report shows when every photo was taken.
Before a festival, per-property inventory warns you in the app, by email and on WhatsApp when a product is running low, because stock comes off after every stay.
If you manage vacation rentals or run a cleaning company in Hidalgo, near Pachuca or out toward Tolantongo, Upbridge can help with everything between Sunday's checkout and Friday's arrival.
If you run a cleaning company in Hidalgo
Your week in Hidalgo piles up on Sunday and Monday, and on dates like the Festival del Paste every house you clean checks out on the same day. The cleaning company account puts each owner's checkouts on one calendar, pulled from their iCal or PMS. The clients stay yours, and Upbridge takes no share of any job.
Cities and areas
Huasca de Ocampo
It's the state's largest market on AirROI, with 320 listings, most of them cabins. Its page covers the basalt prisms, the closed road to Real del Monte and who comes to stay.
Real del Monte and Mineral del Chico
AirROI counts 158 listings in Mineral del Monte, the municipality Real del Monte belongs to, and 126 in Mineral del Chico, at 28% occupancy. In the federal review of Pueblos Mágicos that Effetá reported in October 2026, Mineral del Chico scored 74.36 and Real del Monte 61, the lowest of the state's nine. In mid-September the tourism ministry counted more than two thousand properties on booking platforms across Huasca, Mineral del Chico and Real del Monte (La Silla Rota).
Pachuca
The state capital has 221 listings at the lowest nightly rate in AirROI's table, 51 US dollars, and the steadiest income across the year. The February 2026 Carnival parade drew more than 25,000 people (Effetá).
Other states
Questions about running rentals in Hidalgo
If I rent my house on Airbnb, what lodging tax rate applies in Hidalgo?
It's 2.5%, under article 31 of Hidalgo's revenue law. Since the December 31, 2025 amendment the chapter names whole houses and apartments and booking platforms, and payment is due on the 17th of each month.
Does Airbnb withhold the Hidalgo lodging tax yet?
Not as of September 10, 2026. The law asks it to, but that day the tourism secretary said a deal with Airbnb might close before the end of the year (La Silla Rota). Until then, the law holds both the host and the platform responsible for the payment.
Which registries does Hidalgo require for a nightly rental?
The revenue law requires the state taxpayer registry within the first month, and the sustainable tourism law requires the Registro Estatal de Turismo within ninety days. The June 2026 "Estancias Turísticas Eventuales" bill is not law yet.
Sources
Checked on October 23, 2026
- Hidalgo State Congress, Ley de Hacienda del Estado de Hidalgo, lodging tax chapter, articles 28 to 35, last amended December 31, 2025.
- Hidalgo State Congress, Ley de Turismo Sustentable del Estado de Hidalgo, articles 6, 73 BIS and 75, last amended August 28, 2026.
- Effetá, Claudia Martínez, on the nearly 4,000 Airbnb listings not paying Hidalgo's lodging tax, February 9, 2026.
- Effetá, Marisol Flores, on the bill to regulate Airbnb in Hidalgo, June 23, 2026.
- La Silla Rota, Jessica Manilla, on Hidalgo's talks with Airbnb before the end of the year, September 10, 2026.
- Effetá, Marisol Flores, on Real del Monte's score in the Pueblos Mágicos review, October 13, 2026.
- La Jornada Hidalgo, Dulce Castillo, on the 2026 Festival Internacional del Paste in Real del Monte, October 6, 2026.
- ADN40, Angie Tonelli, on the cost of driving from Mexico City to Real del Monte, August 25, 2026.
- La Silla Rota, Cristian Estefes, on the 2026 entry price at the Grutas de Tolantongo, March 1, 2026.
- Crónica, Eidalid López, on the AIFA-Buenavista train fares and the AIFA-Pachuca stretch, October 6, 2026.
- AirROI, Airbnb data for the state of Hidalgo, 25 markets, October 2025 to September 2026, updated October 1, 2026.