STRWATCH.AI 50/50 MARKETS · UPDATED 2026-07-18 · ALL CITIES
STRWATCH.AI / TX / Galveston

Is a short-term rental legal in Galveston, TX?

REGULATED

Galveston allows whole-home short-term rentals (stays under 30 days) in every zoning district except R-0 (Restricted Residential, Single-Family), where STRs are prohibited.

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Verified2026-07-18against official sources

STRs (rentals under 30 days) are permitted in every Galveston zoning district except R-0 (Restricted Residential, Single-Family), per the city's official zoning FAQ. No hosted/unhosted distinction or owner-occupancy requirement appears anywhere in the ordinance summary, registration FAQ, or program pages reviewed; the license and tax rules apply uniformly regardless of whether the owner is present. Each rentable unit (including each unit in a multi-unit property) requires its own separate GVR registration number and license.

What you need to operate

Short-Term Rental Annual License (GVR Registration) $250/year per unit
City of Galveston
Renewal: Annual, valid January-December; renewal window opens December 1 and closes December 31; a $500 late fee applies after December 31 per the Nov 2025 ordinance update (city summary: https://www.galvestontx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/21313/City-Council-approves-updated-STR-ordinance). Missed renewal also triggers platform delisting of the invalid GVR number. License is non-transferable and a new GVR number is required upon sale of the property.
Requires property address/GCAD number, bedroom count, sleeping capacity, and a 24-hour local contact (within one hour of the property) who must respond to complaints within one hour and resolve them within two hours. Administered via the Rentalscape/Deckard online platform. Authority transferred from the Park Board of Trustees to the City of Galveston effective October 1, 2025.
official source
GVR Number Display on Advertisements Cost not verified
City of Galveston
Renewal: Continuous obligation while the license is active
Every STR advertisement (booking platforms, property-management sites, social media) must display the city-issued GVR registration number, per Ordinance 21-021 as updated by Ordinance 25-060 (adopted November 13, 2025). Each day a unit is advertised without a valid number is a separate offense; platforms must remove listings flagged by the City as expired, invalid, or revoked.
official source

The full picture

Galveston allows whole-home short-term rentals (stays under 30 days) in every zoning district except R-0 (Restricted Residential, Single-Family), where STRs are prohibited. Every unit must hold a non-transferable annual City license (a 'GVR' number), which costs $250/year, runs January-December, and must be renewed by December 31 or a $500 late fee applies. Owners must designate a 24/7 local contact who can respond within one hour, post an in-unit information sheet, and display the GVR number on every advertisement. As of October 1, 2025 the City of Galveston (not the Park Board, which administered the program previously) collects Hotel Occupancy Tax and STR registrations directly, using the Rentalscape/Deckard online system. Combined Hotel Occupancy Tax is 15% of gross rental revenue (6% state + 9% city); Airbnb and VRBO collect and remit both lines automatically, but owners must still file zero reports. A November 13, 2025 ordinance update (effective immediately) added a three-strikes licensing system: three violations within 12 months makes a license eligible for revocation (first revocation up to six months), and violations are Class C misdemeanors punishable by fines up to $500 per offense (up to $2,000 for health, sanitation, zoning, or fire-safety violations), with each day a separate offense.

Taxes on guests & hosts

TaxRateApplies toPlatform collectsOfficial source
Texas State Hotel Occupancy Tax 6% Gross rental proceeds (room rate plus mandatory fees such as cleaning fees) for stays under 30 days Yes source
City of Galveston Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) 9% Gross rental revenue and related fees (cleaning, linen, pet, damage fees, etc.) for stays under 30 days Yes source

Enforcement

PenaltiesFailure to register, license, or remit HOT is a Class C misdemeanor: fines up to $500 per offense, rising to up to $2,000 per offense for violations relating to health, sanitation, zoning, or fire safety; each day of a continuing violation is a separate offense (per Ordinance 25-060, adopted November 13, 2025, summarized at https://www.galvestontx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/21313/City-Council-approves-updated-STR-ordinance). A license becomes eligible for revocation after three violations at the same property within 12 months; a first revocation can last up to six months, repeated post-reinstatement violations can lead to permanent revocation, and units must come off all rental platforms during any revocation period.
Platform liabilitySince an August 2021 city ordinance, Airbnb and VRBO are required to collect and remit Galveston's local Hotel Occupancy Tax on transactions occurring on their platforms (VRBO does not do so for 'Integrated Property Managers' using their own payment source). Under the November 2025 ordinance update, STR platforms must also remove listings that the City flags as expired, invalid, or revoked, and every listing must display the GVR number.
NotesThe November 2025 ordinance created a new Short-Term Rental Licensing (STRL) Board, made up of City staff, to review violations and recommend license revocations to the City Manager and City Council for final action. Complaints are reported through a 24/7 hotline (409-247-8160). Owners must still file HOT returns (including zero reports) even when Airbnb/VRBO remit tax on their behalf.

What we could not verify (5)

  • No single official citywide maximum-occupancy figure was found. The City's registration process captures per-property 'sleeping capacity' and requires owners to post maximum occupancy in-unit, but no ordinance text specifying a citywide formula (e.g., per bedroom) could be located; third-party vendor sites cite conflicting, unverified figures (roughly 6-14 people, or a flat cap of 10 adults) that could not be confirmed against an official source, so max_guests was left null.
  • Galveston's local Hotel Occupancy Tax rate (9%) exceeds the Texas Comptroller's general guidance that local hotel taxes typically run 'up to 7 percent' for most cities. The 9% figure is corroborated by an official Galveston Park Board of Trustees fact sheet and by secondary reporting, but the specific state statute provision allowing Galveston to exceed the general local cap was not independently pulled and read in full during this task.
  • The Park Board HOT Fact Sheet used to source the 9%/6%/15% tax rate split still describes the pre-October 2025 Park Board-run registration process (e.g., a $50 registration fee), which has since been superseded by the City's $250 annual license. The tax rate itself is not expected to have changed with the administrative transfer, but this could not be cross-checked against a post-transition document that restates the rate numerically.
  • Parking-specific standards referenced in the November 2025 ordinance summary (on-street parking definitions/standards) were not located in a document I could fetch in readable form, so no quantified parking requirement was included.
  • library.municode.com returned HTTP 403 for Galveston's Code of Ordinances (Chapter 19 - Licenses/STR and Chapter 33 - Taxation/HOT) throughout this session, consistent with the known bot-wall; the underlying ordinance section numbers/text (e.g., the exact Chapter 33 HOT rate section) could not be read directly and were instead corroborated via city-hosted PDFs, the city's own web pages, and the Park Board fact sheet.

Sources

A markdown mirror of this page lives at /galveston-tx.md for AI tools and researchers.

STRWatch publishes educational information about short-term rental regulation, verified against the official sources linked above as of the date shown. It is not legal advice, and rules change — a city can move between our verification passes. For decisions with money at stake, confirm with the authority linked above or a local attorney.