Short-Term vs. Long-Term Rental: What Makes Sense for Denver Landlords?

Every few months, we talk to a Denver landlord who is seriously considering listing their property on Airbnb or VRBO — usually after a vacation where they stayed in a nice short-term rental and started doing the math in their head.

The math in their head is usually incomplete.

That's not a knock on short-term rentals — they can work well in the right situations. But the decision deserves an honest look at both sides, including the parts that don't come up in the optimistic blog posts about making $8,000 a month from your spare bedroom.

Here's how we think about it.

The Appeal of Short-Term Rentals

The income potential of a well-located, well-managed short-term rental in Denver is real. Properties near RiNo, Capitol Hill, Washington Park, or close to Red Rocks or Breckenridge ski access can generate significantly more gross revenue per night than the equivalent monthly rent from a long-term tenant.

For owners who want flexibility — to use the property themselves part of the year, or to reserve the ability to sell without navigating a tenancy — short-term renting also offers that optionality.

The Reality Check

Here's what the income projections don't always account for:

Denver's STR permit requirements are real and enforced. Denver requires a Short-Term Rental license for any property rented for fewer than 30 consecutive days — and since 2023, that license is only available for an owner's primary residence. If you don't live there, you can't get a Denver STR permit. That eliminates a large swath of investment properties from the legal short-term rental market entirely. The Denver STR licensing page has current requirements — they've changed in recent years and could continue to evolve.

Other Denver-area municipalities have their own rules. Englewood, Aurora, Lakewood, and Centennial all have different regulatory frameworks. If you're considering a short-term strategy, the first call is to the city clerk in your municipality, not to an interior designer.

Operating costs are much higher. Long-term rentals have relatively predictable costs. Short-term rentals require: professional cleaning between every stay (typically $100–$200+ per turnover for a two-bedroom), consumables (toiletries, paper products, coffee), linens and their ongoing replacement, platform fees (Airbnb and VRBO both take 3–5% or more), occasional maintenance at short notice, and usually a higher-tier landlord or vacation rental insurance policy. A property generating $5,000/month in gross bookings might net $2,500–$3,000 after all of this. A long-term tenant in the same unit might generate $2,200/month with minimal ongoing effort.

Time and management intensity. Running a successful short-term rental is a hospitality business, not a passive investment. Responding to guest inquiries, coordinating cleaners, handling check-in logistics, managing reviews, adjusting pricing seasonally — it's genuinely time-consuming. Landlords who underestimate this either burn out or see their ratings suffer, which directly affects booking rates. Short-term rental management companies exist to handle this, but their fees (often 20–35% of revenue) significantly change the math.

Seasonality hits hard. Denver's short-term rental market is strong in summer and around ski season, but slower in late fall and early spring. Long-term tenants pay the same rent in November that they do in July. Your Airbnb income doesn't.

Lender and HOA restrictions. If your property has an HOA, short-term renting may violate your CC&Rs — and HOA enforcement actions can be costly. Your mortgage lender's terms may also restrict short-term rental activity, particularly on conventional investment property loans. Check both before making any decisions.

When Short-Term Makes Sense

There are scenarios where short-term rentals genuinely pencil out for Denver property owners:

• Primary residence with a dedicated ADU or separate suite — this is Denver's most common legally compliant STR structure, where the owner lives on-site and rents a separate unit or basement apartment
• Mountain-adjacent properties — if you own in Evergreen, Conifer, or other Front Range mountain communities with their own STR frameworks, the demand profile and pricing dynamics are different
• Furnished corporate rentals (30+ day stays) — this hybrid approach avoids STR permit requirements (stays are 30+ days, so they don't trigger STR licensing) while still capturing above-market furnished rates, often from traveling professionals, relocating executives, or insurance displacement situations

That last option — furnished mid-term rentals — is increasingly popular with Denver landlords who want premium rents without the operational intensity of nightly turnover or the regulatory complexity of full STR licensing.

The Long-Term Rental Case

For most Denver investment property owners — particularly those with properties in good long-term rental markets like Englewood, Arvada, Aurora, Thornton, and the central suburbs — a well-managed long-term tenancy offers:

• Predictable, consistent monthly income
• Much lower operational overhead
• Simpler insurance and legal compliance
• A tenant who has an incentive to care for the property
• Easier financing and refinancing

The ceiling is lower. The floor is also much more stable. For most investors whose goal is steady cash flow and long-term equity growth, the long-term rental is still the right foundation.

Our Honest Take

We manage long-term rentals, so we have a perspective here — we'll be transparent about that. But our view comes from watching landlords experiment with short-term strategies and come back to long-term rentals when the operational reality set in.

The exception is the mid-term furnished rental model, which we've seen work well for certain property types and owner situations. If you're curious about whether that model fits your property, it's worth a conversation.

If you'd like to talk through what the right rental strategy looks like for your specific Denver property, give us a call at 303-228-7800 or visit rentmyhaven.com. We're happy to give you a straightforward assessment — even if the answer is that short-term might work better for you.

My Haven is a full-service property management company proudly serving the Denver metro area.