Short-term rental rules and lodging tax

Can you Airbnb it, and what tax will a guest pay?

Search a city. See whether an STR is allowed, what permit it needs, and the combined lodging tax, each field citing the jurisdiction that set it. Free to save one property; Pro adds unlimited properties, exports and the API.

Search a city, for example Austin or San Diego

Atlanta Austin Charleston Chicago Dallas Denver Honolulu Las Vegas Los Angeles Miami Miami Beach Nashville All 22 cities

The rules, tax pages, calculators and API are free, need no account, and cite the source behind every field.

What you get

A cited answer, free tools, and an API for agents

Cited rules and tax, never fabricated

Whether a city allows a short-term rental, the licence it needs, and the combined lodging tax a guest pays, each field linking the jurisdiction that set it. Anything we cannot confirm on an official source is marked Unverified rather than guessed.

Browse STR rules

Free host calculators

Occupancy tax, profit and ROI, break-even occupancy and cleaning fee. Each result shows its own breakdown and runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you type never leave it.

Open the calculators

Open JSON API and hosted MCP

The same cited dataset is a single-key REST API and an MCP server, so travel, proptech and tax agents can look up STR rules and lodging tax mid-task. Free at the anonymous rate; a key lifts the throttle.

Read the API docs

One calendar across channels

Paste the public iCal export from Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com and see one merged turnover schedule, with same-day changeovers and gap nights flagged. Read-only; no platform password required.

See calendar sync

Every field shows where it came from

A rate or rule is only useful if you can check it. Each field on a rules or lodging-tax page carries the source URL it was read from and a confidence flag: verified, reported, or unverified. An unverified field shows “Verify with jurisdiction”, never an invented value. Ordinances change often, so treat every page as a cited starting point and confirm before you list.

Agents & developers

The compliance and tax layer, callable by an agent

A travel, proptech or tax agent can look up a city's STR rules and lodging tax mid-task and get a cited answer back. The same dataset behind this site is a single-key REST API and a hosted MCP server.

Single-key REST API and MCP over the same cited dataset
Every endpoint free at the anonymous rate: rules and tax in, source and confidence out

Explore the API & MCP server

lodgedeck api

$ curl "https://lodgedeck.vercel.app/api/v1/str-rules?city=austin-tx"

{
  "data": {
    "city": "Austin",
    "rules": {
      "permit_required": {
        "value": true,
        "source": "austintexas.gov/...",
        "confidence": "reported"
      }
    }
  },
  "request_id": "req_..."
}

Pricing

Free to check. $29/mo when you run property every week.

A real free tier: cited rules and tax, all calculators, one saved property with calendar sync. Pro adds monitoring, exports, unlimited properties and API quota.

Free

Check one city, run the numbers, try the API. No card.

$0forever

Every STR-rules and lodging-tax page, cited
All host calculators (profit, tax, break-even, cleaning)
1 saved property with iCal calendar sync
Test API key for developers (throttled, never bills)

+1 more

Open the free calculators

Pro

Scale

For portfolios, agencies and products built on the API.

$99/mo

Everything in Pro
10,000 API calls/mo, then $0.03 each
300 requests/minute burst
Unlimited monitored city and rate watches

+1 more

Opens at launch

See full pricing and plan comparison

FAQ

Common questions

What does LodgeDeck actually do?

It tells short-term rental hosts whether they can run an Airbnb in a given city, what permit it needs, and the combined lodging tax a guest pays, with a citation to the jurisdiction's own page behind every field. The same cited dataset is a JSON API and an MCP server, and hosts also get free calculators and an iCal calendar that merges Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com.

How do you avoid making up a rule or a rate?

Every field carries a source link and a confidence flag. Where a value is not confirmed on an official source it renders "Verify with jurisdiction" rather than a number. The eligibility check lowers its own confidence and says so when a governing rule is unknown, instead of guessing a Yes or No.

Is it free?

Yes to start. Every rules and lodging-tax page, the calculators, and the API at the anonymous rate are free and need no account. Saving one property with calendar sync is free too. Pro ($29/mo) adds unlimited saved properties, rule and tax-change monitoring, exports and higher API quota.

Can an AI agent use it?

Yes, that is a first-class use case. The REST API and hosted MCP server return the same cited rules and tax, so an agent can answer a lodging question with a source it can show its user. See the developer docs.

Is this legal or tax advice?

LodgeDeck reports publicly available short-term rental rules and lodging tax rates and cites the source of each field. It is not legal or tax advice and it does not replace your own review. Ordinances and tax rates change often and automated collection can lag, so every field shows the source it came from and a confidence flag, and unconfirmed values are marked Unverified. Confirm with the jurisdiction before you rely on a rule or rate.

Check your city, then save the property

Free for one saved property with calendar sync, no card. Every rule and rate cites the source it came from.

Open the free calculators Read the API docs