Colorado town opens STR licenses for Sundance 2027

Louisville, Colorado is now accepting short-term rental license applications ahead of the 2027 Sundance Film Festival, and the window to get compliant is narrower than it looks.

The city’s program gives homeowners a structured, time-limited path into the short-term rental market without requiring a year-round license, a model other cities are watching closely as major events create sudden, enormous lodging demand.

According to the City of Louisville’s official STR page, licenses are valid only for the Sundance Festival rental period established each year by City Council, currently set as January 11 through February 9, 2027.

The initial application fee is $200, with annual renewals available at $100, and the city commits to reviewing applications within 14 days of submission.

Operators using short-term rental analytics platforms will recognize this as precisely the kind of high-demand, compressed-calendar event that can generate outsized returns in a very short window.

What Louisville’s STR license means for Sundance-area operators

Every residential property type in Louisville is eligible — single-family homes, condos, townhomes, apartments, mobile homes, and ADUs can all qualify.

Applicants must submit a signed safety affidavit confirming compliance with city codes, smoke and carbon monoxide detector requirements, occupancy standards, and noise regulations. The city strongly encourages submissions at least 30 to 45 days before an intended hosting start date, which means operators eyeing January need to be in motion well before the holiday stretch.

Related: Austin’s short-term rental deadline hits July 1

On the tax side, hosts who list through a marketplace facilitator like Airbnb or VRBO will have sales and lodging taxes remitted on their behalf, though they still must file a return showing what was owed and paid.

The city plans training workshops and office hours on tax submission in Q4 2026.

Hosts who miss the compliance window early won’t get a second chance, and failure to meet regulations can result in fines or license revocation, per the city’s guidance. For a read on how neighboring communities are calibrating their own STR tax frameworks in anticipation of demand spikes, the Louisville model offers a useful template.

The Sundance Film Festival moves to Boulder for the first time in January 2027 under a 10-year agreement, replacing its longtime home in Park City, Utah.

In its final Utah year, the festival drew more than 85,000 attendees; Colorado projects $2 billion in economic impact over the decade.

Operators who get their licenses in order now, and pair them with dynamic pricing strategy tuned to festival compression, will be ahead of every host who waits until December to figure out the permitting and tax requirements.