New Orleans Raises Its Rental Fee as Endymion Weekend Outbooks Fat Tuesday
The New Orleans City Council has raised its nightly charge on short-term rentals by two-thirds as Carnival's priciest nights sell. The first to sell is not Mardi Gras but the Saturday before, when Endymion rolls.
For Mardi Gras 2027, 53% of the 2,907 active whole-home Airbnb listings that AirROI, a short-term-rental data firm, tracks in the city were already booked for Saturday, Feb. 6, as of Sept. 30. That is about three times the share on an ordinary Saturday. The Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras nights trailed, at 42% and 38%.
Those shares are four months out and will climb. Among U.S. cities with at least 200 active whole-home listings, the median was about 6% booked that Saturday.
Endymion, which bills itself as Carnival's largest parade, starts in Mid-City. The krewe calls its pre-parade gathering on Orleans Avenue Samedi Gras, "which may well be the world's largest block party," on its website.
Carnival ends at midnight on Fat Tuesday, the eve of Ash Wednesday. That Wednesday night was 20% booked.
The fee lands just as hosts set prices for the nights that pay them most, and as visitors decide when to commit. At the 2026 Carnival, renters who booked Endymion Saturday in the final month paid about twice what early bookers did. City Hall needs the money: the increase should bring in about $3.5 million in added revenue, the Council said, toward a budget gap nola.com put at $100 million.
The same proposed budget could trim the city's rapid cleanups after parades by $1.7 million.
The ordinance, adopted Oct. 15, sets a $20 fee for each night of occupancy of a dwelling unit used as a short-term rental, up from $12. The owner remits it with tax filings. It covers commercial and non-commercial rentals alike.
The text says the program's cost to the city "is estimated to exceed $20 per occupied short-term rental per night." Council member Aimee McCarron, the lead sponsor, told nola.com: "This new rate better reflects the costs of city services associated with short term rental guests."
Because the charge is flat, it weighs least on the priciest nights. The $20 comes to about 4% of the median booked rate on Endymion Saturday this February, roughly $475, and 7% of an ordinary Saturday's. The $8 increase is under 2% of a Carnival Saturday.
A typical whole home, booked about 160 nights in the year to September, would owe about $3,200 at the new rate, some $1,300 more than at the old one.
Where the markup lands
On nights still open, hosts are asking about twice the usual. Open Endymion-Saturday nights asked a median of about $675, against roughly $305 on an ordinary Saturday. The Fat Tuesday night asked about $520, nearly twice an ordinary Tuesday.
The nights already sold for Endymion Saturday were booked, not merely listed, at a median $515, and half of them were reserved by mid-July.
The markup sits near the parade routes; the bookings do not. Homes more than a mile from the Uptown St. Charles and Canal Street routes and the French Quarter were as booked for Feb. 6 as homes within a mile, 54% against 52%, at about half the asking price. The table compares open-night asking prices for that Saturday with an ordinary one, by home size.
| Homes | Booked for Feb. 6 | Asking, Feb. 6 | Asking, ordinary Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio or 1BR, within a mile | 37% | $465 | $195 |
| Studio or 1BR, beyond a mile | 49% | $190 | $165 |
| 2–3BR, within a mile | 57% | $820 | $355 |
| 2–3BR, beyond a mile | 55% | $385 | $260 |
| 4BR or more, within a mile | 60% | $1,855 | $795 |
The biggest group is the two- and three-bedroom homes within a mile of the route, more than 1,200 of them. Their open nights ask more than twice an ordinary Saturday, and over half are already taken. Small apartments farther out mark up far less, about a sixth.
The premium stays close to the parade, much as the Las Vegas Grand Prix's bump stayed near the track.
Last Carnival's late bookers paid double
Final bookings for this February's Carnival show how the season filled. Endymion Saturday ended 83% booked among the active whole-home listings AirROI tracked, at a median of about $475, the rate listed when each night was booked. An ordinary Saturday booked at about $280. Fat Tuesday night ended 65% booked.
Endymion Saturday nights booked by the end of the previous September went for a median of about $350; those booked in the final 30 days went for about $710. The homes were much alike: those booked early and late asked similar rates on their ordinary Saturdays. What changed was the markup. Among two- and three-bedroom homes near the route, the gap held: about $370 a night booked early, about $770 in the final month.
Ordinary winter nights ran the other way, with late bookings going for less than early ones.
Last Carnival's peak likely had help from the calendar. Endymion fell on Valentine's Day, inside Presidents' Day weekend. "This is Presidents Weekend, which means that across the country a lot of families can travel. There are kids who are out of school," Toni Weiss, a Tulane University economics professor, told WWL-TV in February. This time, Presidents' Day falls the week after Mardi Gras.
Hosts are already repricing. In a sample of 188 of the homes checked again on Oct. 20, the Endymion Saturday nights that had closed in the meantime, booked or blocked, had been listed at a median of about $200. All open nights in the sample asked about $675, so the cheapest closed first.
Most hosts whose night was still open had raised the asking price; across those still-open nights the median change was a rise of 14%. For an ordinary late-January Saturday, most had cut theirs.
Hotels, permits and a fraud case
Hotels compete for the same weekend. "This weekend is chock-a-block," Chris Valentino, whose family owns six downtown hotels, told nola.com as Carnival weekend began in February. "We have holes here and there, but no length-of-stay availability."
Some hotel owners blame rentals for undercutting them. David Gindin, who owns The Quisby, a boutique hotel on St. Charles Avenue, told nola.com in August 2025 that unpermitted listings had "decimated our rates and occupancy, especially around large events."
Rental supply is tighter than it was. Platforms must confirm a city permit before taking a booking, a system a federal appeals court upheld in August, the Council said.
Airbnb fought the rules. "The Fifth Circuit Court's decision overlooks the constitutional rights of New Orleans homeowners," spokesperson Jessica King-Garcia said in response to the ruling.
That verification rests on the city's permit registry, which is now under scrutiny. Elisha Collier, a former Safety and Permits employee, is accused of using her city credentials to generate short-term rental licenses, including one in the French Quarter, where such rentals are prohibited, WDSU reported. She faces charges of malfeasance in office, injuring public records, computer fraud and forgery.
"Let me be absolutely clear: We have zero tolerance for fraud, corruption or anyone abusing their position of public trust," Mayor Helena Moreno said in a statement Monday.
The Quarter's ban carries its own cost for owners there. "When they banned short-term rentals in the Quarter, they killed the condo market," Earl Weber, a developer who also owns hotels, told nola.com. "I also own hotels, so I'm not saying it was a bad thing. It's just a fact." Six of his Conti Street condos remain unsold.
A budget vote by Dec. 1
The Council is expected to adopt next year's budget by Dec. 1, the same budget that proposes trimming post-parade cleanups by $1.7 million. The ordinance sets one flat $20 for every occupied night, whether a Carnival Saturday or an ordinary Tuesday.
About the data: Figures cover New Orleans whole-home Airbnb listings with stays under 28 nights and a booking in the prior year: for 2027, as of Sept. 30, 2026, with asking prices as open-night medians; for 2026, booked nights at listed rates.
Frequently Asked Questions
As of Sept. 30, whole homes still open for Endymion Saturday asked a median of about $675 a night, roughly twice what whole homes ask on a typical winter Saturday. For a place to stay, homes more than a mile from the parade routes and the French Quarter were as booked as closer ones but asked about half as much. Those are nightly asking prices before fees.
At the 2026 Carnival, whole homes reserved for Endymion Saturday by the end of the previous September went for a median of about $350 a night, about half what renters paid in the final month. The homes themselves were similar; what changed was the markup on the night. The 2026 Carnival weekend also overlapped Presidents' Day weekend, and the 2027 one does not.
Ordinance Cal. No. 35,574, adopted Oct. 15, 2026, sets a flat $20 fee per occupied night for each rental unit, commercial or non-commercial, in place of a $12 fee. Legally the owner owes it and sends it in with tax filings. The Council estimated approximately $3.5 million in additional revenue.
Yes, if the property holds a city short-term rental permit, and booking platforms must check that permit before accepting a reservation; a federal appeals court upheld that system on Aug. 5, 2026. Under the city code, an owner pays a $500 permit fee a year for a non-commercial rental or a $1,000 permit fee for a commercial one, plus a $50 application fee.
