Short-term rentals in Yucatán, Mexico: a 4.5% lodging tax and no rental law yet
If you manage vacation rentals in Yucatán, there's still no state law written for them, and in January 2026 the state's tourism business council, Cetur, started lobbying the city halls of Mérida and Valladolid and the state government to write one. What did change in 2026 is the lodging tax, which came down from 5% to 4.5%. 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
As of September 25, 2026, when we checked, there are three things to know.
| Topic | What it says | Status | Since | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A law for vacation rentals | There isn't a state law for platform rentals. Cetur's president says local rules have gaps and don't treat the platform as a service business at all. | No specific law | January 2026 | Diario de Yucatán |
| Lodging tax (ISH) | The 2026 reform lowered it from 5% to 4.5%. | In force | 2026 | El Contribuyente |
| Tax audit (dictamen fiscal) | Once your yearly lodging income passes a set amount, a specialized accountant has to audit how you worked out the tax. | In force | 2026 | El Contribuyente |
What Cetur wants isn't law yet. In January and again in June 2026 it asked that rentals meet the same bar as hotels, with municipal licenses, zoning, Civil Protection sign-off, commercial water and electricity rates, and an official register of properties and operators. As its president, Jordy Abraham Martínez, put it in June, you can't look after what you don't know is there.
The SAT's withholding on platform income works the same in every state, and we explain it 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
Most of the supply is in the city. In June 2026 the Diario de Yucatán counted 6,662 listings in Mérida, 1,499 in Progreso and 1,111 in Valladolid. So in this state a turnover is more often a house in town than a condo on the beach.
Progreso is the seasonal exception. PorEsto expected high occupancy in July and August 2026, with beachfront houses at 2,500 to 12,000 MXN a night that usually come with air conditioning, a pool and wifi. For a cleaner, that's two months of back-to-back checkouts in houses with more to check, and on the supply side, toilet paper, soap and pool chlorine run out fastest exactly when there's the least time to restock.
If Civil Protection checks and a property register do arrive, the way Cetur wants, it'll help to already have a written record of how each house was left after every stay.
Where Upbridge fits
For a Progreso summer, per-property inventory deducts what each stay uses, based on the products you set up, and alerts you in the app, by email and on WhatsApp when something's running low.
For houses with a pool and AC, we set up a room-by-room photo checklist with you, with the items nobody can skip, and at the end there's a report with a timestamp on every photo. That report is your record of how the house was left.
Whether you run rentals in Mérida, Progreso or Valladolid or you're the one cleaning them, Upbridge can help with the work that happens between one guest leaving and the next one arriving.
If you run a cleaning company in Yucatán
July and August in Progreso are when you find out whether your crew knows which house is next. The account for cleaning companies pulls every owner's calendar into one, from their iCal or their PMS, and the client stays yours, with no cut per job.
Cities and areas
Mérida
It had 6,662 rental listings in June 2026, about six times as many as Valladolid (Diario de Yucatán). It's one of the two city halls Cetur asked in January for tighter rules.
Progreso
At 1,499 listings it's the state's second market, and its high season is summer, July and August (Diario de Yucatán, PorEsto).
Valladolid
It had 1,111 listings in June 2026, and it's the other city hall Cetur started talks with in January (Diario de Yucatán).
Other states
Questions about running rentals in Yucatán
Is there a vacation-rental law in Yucatán?
Not as of September 25, 2026, when we last looked. In January 2026 Cetur started asking the city halls of Mérida and Valladolid and the state government for one, and in June it asked again for the same rules hotels follow.
How much is Yucatán's lodging tax now?
It's 4.5%. It used to be 5% and came down with the 2026 reform (El Contribuyente, February 2026).
What's the Yucatán lodging-tax audit, the dictamen fiscal?
Since 2026, if your yearly lodging income is above a set amount, a specialized accountant has to review how you calculated the tax.
Sources
Checked on September 25, 2026
- Diario de Yucatán, “Exigen tener ‘piso parejo’: El Cetur realiza gestiones para regular los Airbnb”, January 25, 2026.
- El Contribuyente, “Airbnb, hoteles y rentas: así cambia el Impuesto sobre Hospedaje en 2026”, Yucatán section, February 2, 2026.
- Diario de Yucatán, “Cetur pide reglas parejas para las aplicaciones de hospedaje en Yucatán”, June 18, 2026.
- PorEsto, “Renta de casas en Progreso 2026: precios por noche y qué incluyen en verano”, June 22, 2026.