Running vacation rentals in Tulum, Mexico, in a year with fewer flights

What Airbnb withholds for the SAT is the same in every town, and it's covered in the national section.

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

The weekly report Tulum's tourism office publishes with Sedetur data puts the average rental stay in Tulum at five nights, nearly half of listings ask for a two-night minimum, and the average rate sits around 2,200 pesos. Since almost everything is rented whole, every checkout means a full house with its own kitchen.

Sedetur had occupancy at 46% in April, but José Manuel Lozano of the managers' association told Por Esto that Tulum fell to 29% in May and that occupancy in Tulum and Playa del Carmen was down as much as 10% for the year. In weeks like that some houses sit closed for days, and it's worth having someone look in before the next guest arrives, even if nobody's been there.

Tulum's airport handled 1,244,661 passengers in 2025, just 0.9% more than in 2024, according to its operator, Grupo Mundo Maya. International passengers dropped 34% in the first quarter of 2026, and the only US routes left were Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Miami (UnoTV, May 2026). If the direct flight doesn't work for your guest, they may well land in Cancún instead, and then they need directions from there.

On July 5, 2024, at 5:05 in the morning, Hurricane Beryl came ashore as a Category 2 north of Tulum, and CFE figures had half of Tulum without power (N+, preliminary numbers from that day). A guest sitting in the dark wants to know where the flashlight is, what to do about the fridge and who to message.

Tulum's hotel association, which competes with rentals, says nobody knows how many operate in irregular settlements, and that guests share the same water, drainage, power and trash pickup as the neighbors (The Tulum Times, August 2026). That's a good reason for your house rules to say which day the trash goes out and where to leave it.

For houses that sit empty between bookings, photo checklists can repeat on a schedule, say a walk-through every Monday. Whoever does it sends a photo of each room and you get the report with the time on it.

In the guest guide we add directions to the house from both the Tulum and the Cancún airport, what to do if the power goes out and which day the trash is collected. We build it, in English or Spanish, and the guest opens it on their phone.

Because Tulum rentals are whole houses with kitchens, per-house inventory deducts what you've set up, like coffee, toilet paper or dish soap, after each stay, and sends you a WhatsApp when something's running low.

Whether you run houses in Tulum or clean them for other people, Upbridge can help make sure an empty house still gets checked and every guest knows how to get there and what to do if something breaks.

With five-night average stays and months as slow as May 2026, your week can swing from three checkouts to none. The account for cleaning companies shows all your clients' bookings together, each from its own iCal or PMS, so you know days ahead when your crew is going to be short of work. Your clients stay yours.

Cancún · Playa del Carmen · Puerto Morelos