12/17/2025
If you are a landlord with Short Term Rentals in Cape Coral, this is for you!
FROM: Andrew Miller Cape Coral Residents Group
I sent this letter to the city council:
Hi Cape Coral City Council and Mayor,
My name is Andy Miller, and I have wrote the council before regarding the outcomes of the recent adjustments to short term rentals within the city. I formerly owned a property management company that managed at one point 12 properties in Cape Coral, providing two full time jobs and countless others through increased tourism and maintenance on my properties. I want to thank Mayor Gunter, Councilman Joe Kilraine, and Councilwoman Rachel Kaduk for voting no on the recent approved Ordinance 53-25 and Resolution 279-25, which raised the registration fee to $350 annually for short term rental owners.
This could not have been any worse timing; as the short term rental market, especially Airbnb, has shown a steady decline in bookings. In addition, with the city actively enforcing its 6 night, 7 day minimum stay, my former properties were staying empty more than they are occupied. As you are aware, an unoccupied house still requires maintenance, and no revenue is being generated while it is in this state.
In addition, the housing market has drastically declined from its peak. This is a triple punch in my stomach…and one too much to handle. Airbnb/VRBO increasing its fees, declining bookings, a horrible housing market, and the city has now made short term rental owners out to be the villians.
This is extreme government overreach. My properties are already registered with Florida’s DBPR; which requires an annual $100 registration fee. What benefit does requiring another fee to register with another government agency when DBPR already has all of the data you need? From watching the council meetings, no one attempted to reach out to them to see if the city could tie into their database.
To say I am disappointed is an understatement. I am sick to my stomach. Cape Coral needs short term rentals. Guests always tell me the same items, they want a pool, in a residential neighborhood, with a well stocked kitchen and grill, where they can relax in private. Hotels do not accomplish this, and we do not have enough hotel rooms in this city. As an entrepreneur, I am disgusted when local governments intentionally (but hiddenly), work to eliminate an industry in their city. Florida prohibits cities from making any law that outright prohibits short term rentals, but that doesn’t mean you cannot make it difficult.
The council refuses to use any social media to gather public feedback on this issue. To say this is the most hated city council in Florida may not be far from the truth. 6 years ago I ran for city council in Urbana, IL, and it performed nothing like this council has. Note there are no such short term rental registrations in Urbana.
This new $350 annual fee is a power grab to support creating an entire new city department whose sole job is to browse Airbnb and VRBO website. I could not think of a more wasteful position than this.
Who does this city support more? Is it the elderly Karen who doesn’t like to see a new car in her neighborhood because the house next to her is on Airbnb, or is it the business owner who brings jobs, and revenue to their city? Ultimately, it has been shown that it’s the elderly Karen. This city is not business friendly. I could name a Nail Salon, a former restaurant, and a pest control company that have vowed to support me in this statement.
I do not want to be the individual who only complains and doesn’t offer any resolutions. This is why I have closed operations with my LLC to eliminate any possible retribution from the city. I want to work with the city, but my former emails have not accomplished anything. I’d like to outline my next steps, in no particular order:
· Contact Governor Ron Desantis explaining this situation to him and how the City of Cape Coral pushes to expel short term rentals
· Create a targeted ad-campaign to bring visibility to guests on Cape Coral’s ordinance; and to recommend avoiding Cape Coral and instead stay in Fort Myers
· Write software using the Airbnb/VRBO API to remove the 7 day minimum stay outside of business hours, so no city employee working regular hours can find these violations (and offering this for free for property managers)
· Build a local short term rental union; where we screen individual listings to ensure no listings include any identifiable information that government can use to enforce fines
· Work with my connections at Airbnb/VRBO to block government computers from accessing the website.
· Work with social and local news media to continue to bring light of this issue
· Potentially build a class-action case against the city with legal action
I apologize as for any typos, as I have written this letter in a hurry and have not had time to properly proof read this. I do want to thank you for your time in reading this letter.
Signed,
Andy Miller
