Wise Property Management · Calgary
Airbnb Management Calgary.
The One Market Still Open To Investors.
Calgary does not require you to live in the property. It licenses a Non-Primary Residence short term rental outright, which makes it one of the few major Canadian cities an investor can still enter. It is also the city I live in, and the only market where the cleaning and maintenance crews are my own companies rather than a vendor I coordinate.
Calgary permits short term rental in a property you do not live in. The City licenses two categories, Primary Residence and Non-Primary Residence, and no longer ties the licence to the number of rooms. A first licence is $289 for a primary residence and $627 for a non-primary residence, both including a $117 fire inspection fee, and a fire inspection has to pass before the licence is issued. Wise Property Management licenses, lists and operates the unit at twenty percent of net revenue.
First Licence, Primary
City business licence including the $117 fire inspection fee. Renewal is $248.
First Licence, Non-Primary
The category Toronto and Vancouver do not have. Renewal is $377.
Alberta Tourism Levy
On bookings made after 31 March 2026, up from four percent. Collected on the stay and remitted.
Fine Per Offence
Per offence upon conviction. The City publishes no separate first offence amount.
What Calgary Actually Requires
Four rules decide whether a property can operate. Every figure here was read off the City of Calgary site on 17 September 2026 and is cited at the bottom of this page.
You Do Not Have To Live There
Calgary licenses both a Primary Residence and a Non-Primary Residence short term rental. In the City’s own words the licence type is issued on whether the rental is operated from a primary or non-primary residence and no longer on the number of rooms. An investment property is legal here, which is not true in Toronto, Vancouver or Victoria.
Both categories licensed
Licence Before You List
A first licence is $289 for a primary residence and $627 for a non-primary residence. Renewal is $248 and $377. Every one of those figures includes a $117 fire inspection fee, and all of it is payable at application and non refundable.
Application and renewal handled under management
A Fire Inspection Gates The Licence
All short term rentals must pass a fire inspection before a business licence can be issued, a fire safety plan is attached to the application, and liability insurance of at least $2 million from an Alberta registered insurer is required. Renewal inspections now run on the fire department’s risk model, so a renewal year may or may not bring one.
Inspection booked, attended and filed
Six Percent Goes To The Province
The Alberta Tourism Levy is six percent of the purchase price of accommodation on bookings made after 31 March 2026, raised from four. It is collected on the stay and remitted. It is not revenue and it never lands in your net.
Tracked and remitted under management
Calgary In Public Data
Two figures from public registers and national statistics, both under open licences that permit this use. Neither is a revenue number.
licensed short term rentals
On the city’s own public register, refreshed daily. This is the competing set, counted rather than estimated.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Calgary. Source: City of Calgary Open Data.
Of the housing stock, 2021
1,846 of 565,286 dwellings in the Calgary census metropolitan area were short term rentals that could otherwise house someone long term. This is the number the rules on this page exist because of.
Statistics Canada, 2021
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Short-term rentals in the Canadian housing market, Catalogue no. 11-621-M2024010, 2024. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product. The Statistics Canada figures are for the 2021 reference year, which is the most recent published in that study. They are a housing supply measure and not a revenue estimate, and nothing on this site estimates what a property earns.
What I Run In Calgary
One team instead of three vendors pointing at each other. Twenty percent of net revenue, month to month, no onboarding fee and no monthly minimum.
Guest Communication
Fast responses, pre arrival messaging, check in support and full stay coverage, on the same clock as every property under management. You never have to answer a guest.
Turnover Management
Scheduling, quality control, laundry and staging on every reset, with photo proof filed against the property. Outside Calgary the crew is local, vetted and run to the CleanStays standard.
Issue Coordination
Maintenance, access problems and urgent requests routed to a vetted local trade and quoted before any work happens. Nothing gets done and then billed.
Listing And Rate Strategy
Photography direction, title, description and amenity strategy, plus pricing and review management. In a capped market the calendar is managed for rate, not for occupancy.
Registration And Tax Admin
Registration, annual renewal, the licence number displayed on the listing, and accommodation tax tracked and remitted. The part owners forget until the city writes to them.
What Is Different About Calgary
The rule that makes this market worth entering, the three that quietly disqualify a room, and the one thing that is only true here.
The Crews Are Mine Here
CleanStays and Wise Property Services are Calgary companies with Calgary crews. In this city the turnover cleaning and the maintenance are my own companies rather than a vendor I coordinate to a written standard. This is the only market on this site where that sentence is true, and every other market page says so in a card of its own.
Two Per Room, One Booking, Every Room Needs A Window
A host cannot allow more than two individuals per room, cannot rent a room without an egress window, and cannot run overlapping bookings in the same dwelling. Those three rules are what disqualify a finished basement bedroom, and they are the most common reason a Calgary sleeps-eight listing is actually a sleeps-six.
The City Stopped Asking Your Condo Board
Condo board consent used to be part of the application. It is not any more, and the City states plainly that it is the applicant’s responsibility to determine whether the condo bylaws allow short term rentals. The risk moved off the application and onto you. Read the bylaws before you furnish anything.
There Is A Pause Mechanism On Non-Primary Licences
Council approved a conditional pause on issuing new non-primary residence licences that triggers if the rental vacancy rate falls below 2.5 percent. It had not taken effect at the City’s last published statement on it. I am not publishing a vacancy figure I cannot date to this month, so confirm the current status with the City before you buy a second unit.
Why Guests Book Calgary
Demand here is not evenly spread across the year. These are the drivers a listing is positioned against.
Stampede Is Ten Days That Fund A Quarter
The Calgary Stampede in July is the single largest rate event in the Alberta calendar and it moves the entire city, not just the grounds. A calendar that is not repriced for Stampede leaves more on the table than a bad month costs.
The Gateway To Banff And Kananaskis
Calgary is the airport and the first night for a large share of mountain trips. That produces a steady one and two night pattern on either side of a park stay, which prices differently from a week in town.
Conventions, Sport And The BMO Centre
An expanded convention calendar downtown, plus Flames and Stampeders home dates. These are the midweek nights that decide whether a downtown unit clears its fixed costs.
Neighbourhoods Guests Search By Name
Kensington, Inglewood, Bridgeland, Mission and the Beltline. Guests search the neighbourhood before they search the city, and the listing title has to answer the search they actually ran.
Calgary Questions
Yes. Calgary licenses a Non-Primary Residence short term rental as its own category, which means an investment property you do not live in can be licensed and operated legally. That is not true in Toronto, Vancouver or Victoria, where short term rental is restricted to a principal residence. Calgary is one of the few major Canadian cities where the investor case still works on paper.
A first licence is $289 for a primary residence and $627 for a non-primary residence. Renewal is $248 and $377. Each of those figures already includes the $117 fire inspection fee. All business licence fees are payable at application and are non refundable and non transferable. Application and renewal are handled for you under management.
The City of Calgary publishes no annual night cap on its own website. That is a statement about what the City publishes, not a statement about what the bylaw says, and the difference matters. There is no maximum number of nights per year stated anywhere on calgary.ca that I have been able to find, which is why the calculator shows no cap for this market rather than showing a number.
Yes. All short term rentals must pass a fire inspection before a business licence can be issued, and a fire safety plan is submitted with the application. You also need liability insurance of at least two million dollars from an insurer registered in Alberta. Renewals are now included in the fire department risk model, which means a renewal year may or may not bring a physical inspection.
No. Condo board consent used to be required as part of the application and it was removed. The City now states that it is the applicant’s responsibility to determine whether the condominium bylaws allow short term rentals. A City licence does not override your condo bylaws. Read them before you spend anything on furniture, because this is the most expensive avoidable mistake in this market.
Yes, and Calgary is the only market where that is true. CleanStays and Wise Property Services are Calgary companies with Calgary crews, so in this city the turnover cleaning and the maintenance are run in house. In every other market Wise Property Management manages the property and coordinates vetted local cleaning and trades to the same written standard. That is said on every market page rather than implied.
Twenty percent of net revenue, month to month, with no onboarding fee and no monthly minimum. Cleaning is billed to the guest as a turnover fee rather than to you, and maintenance is quoted before any work happens. The fee is the same in every market.
Send Me The Calgary Property
Three short steps. It takes about a minute, and it tells me enough to price the opportunity before we speak.
Got it.
I read every one of these myself. You will hear back with what the property should earn against the Calgary rules and what it would take to run it.
Where These Numbers Come From
Every figure on this page, checked 17 September 2026. Rules change. Confirm against the City before you list.
Short Term Rental Rules And Regulations
City of Calgary. The primary and non-primary licence categories, the two guests per room rule, the egress window rule, the overlapping bookings rule, the $2 million insurance minimum, the $1,000 per offence fine and the condo bylaw responsibility.
Read it at the source
2026 Business Licence Fee Schedule
City of Calgary. Primary residence $289 new and $248 renewal, non primary $627 new and $377 renewal, each including the $117 fire inspection fee.
Read it at the source
Short Term Rental Business Licence Changes
City of Calgary. The move from room count tiers to primary and non-primary categories, the 180 consecutive day definition, and the risk based renewal inspection model.
Read it at the source
Short Term Rental Business Licence Application Requirements
City of Calgary. The fire safety plan requirement and the statement that fees are payable at application and non refundable.
Read it at the source
Alberta Tourism Levy
Government of Alberta. The six percent rate on bookings made after 31 March 2026 and who is required to register and remit.
Read it at the source
Registration, night caps and accommodation tax are set by the municipality and change. Confirm the current rules, and your own condominium declaration or lease, before you list. Nothing here is legal advice.
Send Me The Address.
I Will Tell You What It Does.
Calgary is the market I know street by street. Tell me the building and the bedroom count and you get back what it should earn against the real comparable set, and what it would take to run it.