Most Nightly Airbnbs From Clearwater to Naples Beat Snowbird Winters at Typical Asking Rent
Stuart Kinsinger and his wife have been visiting Sarasota for decades. "We love it too much here to consider somewhere else," the Canadian told CNN in March, as fewer compatriots made the trip.
For owners on his stretch of coast, a winter of nightly guests typically paid more than a Florida snowbird rental at the median asking rent would have. The median nightly two-bedroom Airbnb from Clearwater to Naples took in $17,569 in booked revenue between January and March, about $3,700 more than one snowbird would have paid for the full winter at the median monthly asking rent, according to AirROI, a short-term-rental data firm. The firm tracked 3,920 nightly two-bedroom listings on that coast.
The snowbird figure is generous: a two-bedroom rented at the median asking price, with all 90 nights sold. Only a top-quarter asking rent, about $18,000 for the winter, would have roughly matched what the median nightly listing took in. Most nightly one-bedrooms, three-bedrooms and larger homes on that coast also out-earned a full season at the typical asking rent for their size, by narrower majorities.
Owners are making that call for winter 2027 now. Last season, month-long winter stays at Airbnbs from Clearwater to Naples, in South Florida and in the Keys were booked about five months ahead. An owner who wants long-stay guests typically commits months before nightly demand shows.
Next winter's monthly listings on the Gulf Coast are asking about half the nightly rate. And Canadian travel to the U.S., though rising again, was still about a quarter below its 2024 level in July. The choice reaches past the owners, to the snowbirds who pay the rent, the counties that collect tourist tax on either kind of stay and the condo associations that set rental rules.
Half the rate, every night
Gulf nightly two-bedrooms filled 69% of their open nights last winter, at about $325 a night booked. A snowbird at the median asking rent pays roughly half that rate, for every night of the season. Filling every night would not have closed the gap.
For January through March 2027, Gulf Coast monthly two-bedrooms are asking a median $160 a night, about half the $311 that nightly two-bedrooms ask. Vrbo, Expedia Group's rental site, pitches the long stay to guests as a discount on the same home. "Snowbirds can save an average of 19% when staying for a month or longer," its snowbird-rentals page says, citing Vrbo's analysis of 2024 stays.
In its second-quarter shareholder letter in August, Airbnb said growth in short-term stays "continued to outpace long-term stays," which it defines as trips of 28 days or more.
The nightly route is less certain. About two in three Gulf nightly two-bedrooms earned more than a full season at the median asking rent; the rest earned less, and a quarter took in less than $12,000. A snowbird who stays the season pays one number, agreed in advance.
"Maybe instead of staying for a week, they're staying for three days, but we're still seeing them come back to the destination," Brian Lowack, president of Visit St. Pete-Clearwater, the tourism bureau at the northern end of that coast, told the St Pete Catalyst in July.
Nightly hosting also draws neighbors' complaints. On Sept. 2, residents urged the Manatee County Commission to restrict short-term rentals, WFLA News Channel 8 reported. "I think there can be a combination of smart government and smart regulation to reward the responsible owners," Nels Lund, who owns a short-term rental in the county, said in WFLA's report.
Where a snowbird keeps pace
Among two-bedrooms, nightly out-earned a full season at the median asking rent in four of the five Gulf Coast markets, in the Keys and in Palm Beach County; in Miami-Dade, Fort Lauderdale and the Orlando area, the two ran about even.
In Miami-Dade and Fort Lauderdale, monthly two-bedrooms asked more than on the Gulf, about $6,400 and $5,800 a month, and nightly two-bedrooms filled fewer of their open nights. The two landed within about $1,100 of each other in Miami-Dade. In the Keys, short-stay two-bedrooms filled three in four open nights at about $475 a night booked, and nightly won by the widest margin, about $8,100.
"Canadian travelers stay longer than domestic travelers and spend more money," Stacy Ritter, president of Visit Lauderdale, told CNN Travel in April, making the case for the long-staying guest.
Month-long stays book five months out
The longer the stay, the earlier it books. Month-long stays that began from January through March at Airbnbs on the Gulf Coast, in South Florida and in the Keys were booked a median 153 days ahead; stays of one to three nights, about three weeks.
More than three in five of the month-long stays were booked more than three months out, and 45% more than six. Nightly guests work on a much shorter booking window, so a month-long booking typically lands long before the nightly calendar fills.
The routes differ in work, too. The median nightly two-bedroom on the Gulf had nine check-ins over the winter, against one to three for a snowbird season. The nightly premium over a season at the median asking rent works out to roughly $500 for each extra turnover, before costs. Guests pay the cleaning fee on top, a median $165 for these listings, but the owner still carries the work and wear of every stay.
Taxes don't tip the choice. Florida's local tourist taxes apply to rentals of six months or less, on top of the 6% state sales tax, so a three-month snowbird stay is taxed like a weekend.
Condo associations can rewrite rental rules, but under Florida law an amendment that bans rentals or changes the rental term applies only to owners who consent to it and to those who buy after it takes effect.
The Canadians who aren't back yet
Next winter's snowbird side also depends on who comes back. Canadian residents took 5.5 million trips that included a U.S. visit in the first quarter, 10.6% fewer than a year earlier, Statistics Canada said in August. VISIT FLORIDA, the state's tourism agency, puts Canadian visitors to Florida in the quarter at 958,000, down 20%, in revised estimates released in August.
By summer the trend had turned. Canadians' return trips from the U.S. grew in July for a fourth straight month, Statistics Canada said on Sept. 22, but were still "25.6% below their July 2024 level."
"I'd be surprised if we're talking a year from now and all of a sudden you see this huge uptick in Canadian travel over the winter months," Deborah Friedland of Eisner Advisory Group told the Associated Press on Sept. 6.
Statistics Canada is scheduled to publish its September reading of international arrivals to Canada on Oct. 13. By then, on last winter's timing, most month-long guests arriving in January will have booked. Owners from Clearwater to Naples still holding January open for a snowbird will have less than three months left to fill it.
About the data: Nightly listings are entire homes with a one- to seven-night minimum stay (March 2026 settings), open or booked at least 60 of 90 winter nights; monthly listings require 28 nights or more. Earnings are booked nightly rates, excluding cleaning fees and taxes.
Frequently Asked Questions
For January through March 2027, two-bedroom Airbnb monthly listings on the Gulf Coast from Clearwater to Naples are asking a median of about $160 a night, or about $4,800 a month. Those are asking prices, not rents a tenant agreed to pay. Last winter, even three full months at the median asking rent came to less than the median nightly two-bedroom took in.
At Airbnbs from Clearwater to Naples, in South Florida and in the Keys, month-long stays of four weeks to about two months that began between January and March 2026 were booked a median of 153 days ahead, about five months, and 45% were booked more than six months out. Stays of one to three nights were booked much closer to arrival.
Yes. Florida's state sales tax and the county tourist development tax both apply to rentals of six months or less, and the Florida Department of Revenue lists county rates of 5% in Collier, Lee, Charlotte and Monroe and 6% in Sarasota, Manatee, Pinellas, Broward and Palm Beach. Airbnb collects the state tax on those stays, and the county tax in the counties its help center lists, including Collier, Lee, Sarasota and Pinellas. It doesn't list Manatee, Palm Beach or Monroe, where hosts report and pay it to the county themselves, as they do for direct bookings.
Stays of 28 nights or more fall under Airbnb's long-term cancellation policy: the guest is charged a first-month payment and then monthly installments, and if they cancel after the trip has started, the following month is nonrefundable. Before check-in, the host's policy decides: under Firm, a guest gets a full refund up to 30 days before arrival; under Strict, only by cancelling within 48 hours of booking and at least 28 days before check-in.
