Running vacation rentals on Isla Mujeres, Mexico, at 4,100 pesos a night on average
If you manage vacation rentals on Isla Mujeres, you're working on an island where the state tourism office counted 1,006 active rentals on April 10, 2026, at an average rate of 4,100 pesos a night, more than twice Cancún's 1,800 in the same table. Occupancy was at 54%, and guests stayed four days on average. 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 found no town regulation for rentals on Isla Mujeres, so state law is what applies. We looked on October 22, 2026.
| Topic | What it says | Status | Since | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| State rules | For signing up with the state tourism registry, paying the lodging tax and knowing what the fines are, see the Quintana Roo page. | In force | March 5, 2024 | Quintana Roo |
| Town rental regulation | We found no regulation, no registry and no announcement from the town council about rentals listed on booking platforms. | No specific law | No date | Quintana Roo |
| Environmental sanitation fees | The town's 2026 revenue law expects to collect 223.5 million pesos from these fees, about one peso in five of everything it plans to take in this year. The law doesn't say who pays them or how much, and we couldn't find whether vacation rentals are charged. | In force | January 1, 2026 | Quintana Roo Congress |
What Airbnb and the other platforms withhold for the SAT is the same in every town, and it's 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
In the first half of 2026 the scheduled ferries from Puerto Juárez and Cancún's Hotel Zone carried 2,791,180 passengers to Isla Mujeres, almost exactly the same as a year earlier, according to Apiqroo (Riviera Maya News). If your cleaning team lives in Cancún, they ride those same boats, so the ferry timetable sets when they can start.
In December 2025 water was rationed right in the busy winter season. According to Por Esto, from December 24 the water utility Aguakan cut supply because of high winter demand, hotels got priority sixteen hours a day, and pressure dropped by half at night. In a house with a cistern, checking the level before each arrival belongs in the cleaning.
In the south of the island, people on calle Coral have waited seven years for a sewer line and use septic tanks, and because pressure is so low, those with a cistern fill it before dawn (Por Esto, May 2026). If your place is down there, it's worth telling guests that water pressure can drop during the day.
The municipality also has a mainland side. In Ciudad Mujeres, on the mainland, 90% of residents had no piped drinking water in December 2025, according to Por Esto. The Sedetur table doesn't say whether its 1,006 rentals and 4,100 pesos a night include that side, so treat them as a general reference, not as what any one house charges.
Where Upbridge fits
At that nightly rate, a missing towel gets noticed. Your cleaner follows the photo checklist room by room on their phone, you can make the cistern check a required item, and when they finish you get the report with the time of every photo.
We connect your Guesty, Hostaway, Lodgify or Uplisting calendar, or import your iCal, and every checkout creates its task, so your team knows ahead of time which ferry to catch.
In the guest guide we put which ferry to take, how to get from the dock to the house and what to do if the water pressure drops. Guests open it on their phone, in Spanish or English.
If you manage vacation rentals or run a cleaning company on Isla Mujeres, Upbridge can help make sure every checkout is checked with photos and that your guest knows the way from the dock to the door.
If you run a cleaning company on Isla Mujeres
If your people come over from Cancún, every workday starts with a boat ride, and in December they may walk into a house that's short on water. With the cleaning company account you put every client's checkouts in a single calendar, from each owner's iCal or PMS, and the client stays yours.
Other towns in Quintana Roo
Cancún · Cozumel · Puerto Morelos · Playa del Carmen · Tulum · Bacalar
Questions about running rentals on Isla Mujeres
How many vacation rentals are there on Isla Mujeres?
Sedetur counted 1,006 active on April 10, 2026, 84% of them rented whole, at 54% occupancy and an average rate of 4,100 pesos a night.
Does Isla Mujeres have a town vacation rental regulation?
We found none as of October 22, 2026. What applies is Quintana Roo state law, with its state registry and its lodging tax.
Does Isla Mujeres run short of water in high season?
It did in December 2025. From December 24 Aguakan cut supply because of high demand, with priority for hotels and lower pressure at night, according to Por Esto.
Sources
Checked on October 22, 2026
- Tulum weekly tourism report (April 4 to 10, 2026), carrying Sedetur's table for every destination in the state, April 2026.
- Riviera Maya News, "Boat and Yacht Rentals in Isla Mujeres Plummet 80% in First Half of 2026", July 12, 2026.
- Por Esto, Ovidio López, "Familias de Isla Mujeres activan pozos ante desabasto de agua potable", December 29, 2025.
- Por Esto, Ovidio López, "En la zona continental de Isla Mujeres, el 90% de los habitantes carecen del servicio de agua potable", December 15, 2025.
- Por Esto, Ovidio López, "Habitantes del sur de Isla Mujeres exponen siete años sin drenaje sanitario", May 19, 2026.
- Quintana Roo Congress, "Ley de Ingresos del Municipio de Isla Mujeres, Estado de Quintana Roo, para el Ejercicio Fiscal 2026", Decree 174, published December 10, 2025.