Palm Desert, CA Short-Term Rentals: Occupancy Limits (2026)

Palm Desert Municipal Code § 5.10.090.G caps occupancy by bedroom count. Overnight guests cannot exceed two persons per bedroom. Additional daytime guests are allowed between the hours of seven a.m. and ten p.m., with the additional maximum daytime guests not to exceed two persons per bedroom, and a maximum of twenty guests allowed for five bedrooms or more.

The code prints a table for off-site rentals. Under the headings Number of Bedrooms, Total of Overnight Guests and Total Daytime Guests (Including Number of Overnight Guests), the rows read 1 bedroom, 2 overnight, 4 daytime; 2 bedrooms, 4 overnight, 8 daytime; 3 bedrooms, 6 overnight, 12 daytime; 4 bedrooms, 8 overnight, 16 daytime; 5 bedrooms, 10 overnight, 20 daytime; 6 bedrooms, 12 overnight, 20 daytime; and 7 bedrooms, 14 overnight, 20 daytime. If the property is an on-site rental, the host is deemed to occupy at least one bedroom, which reduces the bedrooms available for overnight guests and the total daytime guests permitted.

A bedroom has a precise meaning in § 5.10.030: a private habitable room other than a kitchen, bathroom or living room, intended for sleeping, separated by a door, with at least one window meeting the Emergency Escape and Rescue Openings requirements of the California Building Code, a built-in closet or storage area, and access to a bathroom without crossing through another bedroom. A room that fails that test does not count toward the cap.

The cap travels through the paperwork. The application under § 5.10.060.A lists the number of bedrooms and the applicable overnight and daytime occupancy limit, every advertisement must state the maximum overnight occupancy under § 5.10.090.C, and § 5.10.100.F requires the host to give the responsible person a copy of both maximums. Section 5.10.090.F sets a minimum duration of three days, two nights.