Hello Guest Screen for Fort Lauderdale Vacation Rentals and Airbnb Hosts

LauderBuild is the City of Fort Lauderdale’s online permitting portal where hosts submit their vacation rental registration application. It is the final step in a four-layer licensing process — you must have your Florida DBPR license, Florida Department of Revenue sales tax registration, and Broward County Business Tax Receipt and Tourist Development Tax registration in hand before the city will accept your LauderBuild application. Submit an incomplete application and it will be rejected with a 10-business-day window to supply missing items. A complete application processes in approximately 5 business days under normal conditions (10-12 days during the August-September renewal peak). The registration fee is $350 for up to 4 rental units under the same roof. Access LauderBuild at the City of Fort Lauderdale’s official website.

Yes — and canal home guests are among the guests who benefit most from a detailed welcome display. Canal home bookings in Rio Vista, Coral Ridge, and Victoria Park attract guests specifically interested in the waterway experience: boat access, Intracoastal proximity, kayak and paddleboard use, and navigation on Fort Lauderdale’s 165-mile canal network. Hello Guest Screen’s QR code feature allows you to link to a complete boating guide covering dock protocols, idle speed zones on local canals, nearby marina fuel stops, water taxi routes, and the rules for your specific boat or dock equipment. This kind of local guidance — displayed on the TV from the moment guests arrive — prevents the misunderstandings that cause damage and disputes on waterfront properties.

Fort Lauderdale’s February-March peak — when snowbirds and spring break travelers converge — is the highest-demand period in the market. Hello Guest Screen resets automatically between every booking regardless of season, so back-to-back turnovers during peak spring weeks require no manual intervention between guests. Many Fort Lauderdale hosts update their custom welcome message for the spring break period to include beach parking tips (Beachplace Garage, A1A street parking hours), the best beach access points for families vs. young travelers, Fort Lauderdale Beach water conditions, and nearby grocery and supply options for groups stocking up on arrival. The welcome message is updated once in the dashboard and applies to all bookings during that period.

Yes. Condominiums in Fort Lauderdale operate under the city’s standard vacation rental registration requirements plus their own building-level restrictions that can be significantly more limiting. Common condo restrictions include: minimum rental periods (often 30 days or 90 days in residential-focused buildings), annual rental caps (some buildings cap rentals at 3-4 times per year), guest registration and fob access requirements, and in some buildings, outright prohibitions on transient rentals regardless of city zoning. These condo-level restrictions are private contractual rules outside the reach of Florida state STR preemption law. Always review the specific condominium’s Declaration of Condominium and Rules and Regulations before purchasing any Fort Lauderdale condo for STR purposes.

Yes. The Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in October is the world’s largest in-water boat show — it brings high-income boating enthusiasts from around the world and drives premium nightly rates across waterfront properties in Broward County. Hello Guest Screen allows you to update your custom welcome message for the Boat Show period to include show registration tips, marina and yacht basin locations, Bahia Mar dock access information, Las Olas dining recommendations for boat show attendees, and shuttle information from surrounding neighborhoods. The guest name and checkout time update automatically from each booking while your custom Boat Show message applies to all guests during that period.

The total tax rate for Fort Lauderdale STRs is approximately 12%: 6% Florida state sales tax plus 6% Broward County Tourist Development Tax. Airbnb collects and remits both the state sales tax and the Broward County TDT on Airbnb platform bookings under a direct agreement with Broward County. VRBO similarly collects and remits the applicable taxes on its platform. For direct bookings outside these platforms, hosts are responsible for collecting and remitting all taxes to the appropriate agencies — the Florida Department of Revenue for state sales tax and the Broward County Tax Collector for the TDT. Hosts who operate direct booking channels alongside platform listings must maintain separate tax accounting for direct bookings.