Two homes come across your desk this week. Both sit inside Osceola County, both are within nine miles of Walt Disney World, both are listed within a few percentage points of each other on price per square foot. One is inside Reunion Resort. The other is a residential parcel outside any resort overlay. On the surface, the comparison looks like a coin flip decided by finish, furniture package, and taste.
It is not. The two parcels are priced against completely different legal rights, and the delta shows up not in the listing photos but in what you are permitted to do with the property after closing. This post is about that delta, why the Reunion premium is defensible, and where investors underweight the costs that sit behind it.
The Zoning Right You Are Actually Buying
Osceola County does not treat every parcel the same. Short-term rentals are permitted only inside designated Short-Term Rental Overlay districts and Short Term Rental Planned Development zones, and the county's Land Development Code excludes standard residential neighborhoods from that map. Kissimmee's STRO framework divides the eligible geography into a Western District closest to Disney and Universal and an Eastern District near Florida's Turnpike, with more than 40 communities inside the overlays. Buy a residential parcel in St. Cloud or in an unincorporated pocket outside those overlays, and the county treats a nightly rental the same way it treats an unlicensed hotel.
Reunion sits inside that overlay, and its governing documents go a step further. Reunion Resort specifically has no rental restrictions and no minimum stay, which means an owner can list directly on Airbnb or Vrbo the day after closing. That is unusual even inside the STR-friendly portion of Osceola County. Many HOAs elsewhere in the county allow rentals but embed 30, 90, or 180-day minimums into their covenants, which quietly converts a "vacation rental" community into a mid-term rental market with different economics and a smaller guest pool. The Reunion premium is priced against the absence of that friction.
What Osceola Charges You For The Right
Ownership inside the overlay comes with a compliance stack that is not visible in the MLS remarks. Budgeting for it accurately is where the deal either survives underwriting or does not.
| Cost or Requirement | 2026 Figure | Applies To |
|---|---|---|
| Florida DBPR vacation rental license | ~$155 initial, $155 renewal | Any stay under 30 days |
| State sales tax | 6% | Gross rental including cleaning fees |
| Osceola Tourist Development Tax + surtax | 6% + 1.5% | Same base |
| Combined tax on gross rent | 13.5% | Osceola County |
| Liability insurance minimum | $1,000,000 | County STR license requirement |
| On-site resort management fee range | 35–45% of gross | Reunion, ChampionsGate on-site programs |
| Owner-managed or off-site management | 20–35% of gross | Central Florida broadly |
The tax base is worth reading carefully. The combined 13.5% applies to the total rental amount, including cleaning fees, pet fees, and any other charges. Underwrite to gross-of-fees, not to headline nightly rate.
The Amenity Moat Around The Right
A zoning right without demand is a permit to operate at a loss. What keeps the Reunion right defensible is the concentration of amenities that competing residential parcels cannot replicate at any price. The 2,300-acre property carries three signature courses designed by Palmer, Watson, and Nicklaus, the Leadbetter Golf Academy World Headquarters, a mini-golf course, a tennis complex with pro shop, casual and fine-dining venues, a five-acre water park with a 1,000-foot lazy river, and more than 25,000 square feet of meeting space.
Two developments in the last four years matter more to an investor than the raw amenity list. First, the Golfzon Leadbetter Academy opened at Reunion as the headquarters for a portfolio of 36 academies across the world, including eight in the United States, and the academy functions as a full-time training facility for about 30 students at Windermere Preparatory School in addition to serving local amateurs and resort guests. Second, Reunion is contracted as both host venue and official sponsor of the Under Armour Junior Golf World Championship for 2026, 2027, and 2028, an event that draws more than 700 elite junior golfers from over 50 countries competing over 54 holes. That is three consecutive years of pre-booked international demand, with parents and coaches paying for on-property accommodation because the tournament runs on-property. A Kissimmee residential parcel five miles away sees none of that demand.
Restaurant infrastructure follows the same pattern. 7593 Chophouse anchors the steakhouse program, Eleven serves modern steakhouse fare from a rooftop with views of the nightly fireworks, and the Grande Lobby Sushi Bar handles the after-golf crowd. An investor's guest does not need to leave the property for a memorable dinner, which shortens the average booking's decision cycle and lifts return-guest rates.
The Management Math Buyers Underweight
The line item most spreadsheets get wrong is management. Off-property Central Florida STRs typically clear at 20 to 35% of gross for full-service management. Inside a resort with on-site check-in staff, amenity coordination, and preferred-partner booking volume, the number is higher.
On-site resort programs at Reunion and ChampionsGate run 35 to 45 percent of gross, and the extra points buy check-in staff, amenity access, and booking volume that off-site managers structurally cannot match.
That extra 10 to 15 points is not overhead. It is the price of participating in the resort's own booking channel, which is what most guests search for when they book a "Reunion villa." A Reunion owner who insists on going owner-managed to save the fee often discovers that the missing bookings cost more than the fee would have.
What The County-Level Demand Data Actually Tells You
Tourism data has to be handled carefully because a county-wide figure does not underwrite a specific property. That caveat aside, the direction of travel is unambiguous. Experience Kissimmee reports that Osceola County generated $10.6 billion in tourism economic impact in 2024 and supported 40,700 jobs, and the FY2023-24 impact report shows 10.9 million lodging room nights in 2024, with vacation home demand up 4% year over year against hotel demand up 1%.
The 4-versus-1 spread is the number that matters. Guests are choosing vacation homes over hotels at four times the growth rate, and that preference concentrates inside communities where the overlay actually permits the product. A Reunion parcel is one of a finite number of legally rentable homes participating in that demand shift. Parcels outside the overlay are, at best, month-to-month rentals competing against a different pool of tenants at a different price point.
Friction At The Closing Table
Where investor deals in Reunion tend to stall or reprice is not the walk-through. It is the paperwork.
- Zoning verification letter. Osceola's overlay map is authoritative, but title companies and lenders sometimes ask for a written verification. Request one from the county Zoning Division early, not the week before closing.
- HOA and community documents. Reunion's rental posture is favorable, but sub-community and condo declarations inside the resort can carry additional restrictions on parking, guest counts, or booking channels. Read the recorded CC&Rs for the specific parcel, not the summary marketing sheet.
- Membership and amenity access. Certain amenities require Reunion Resort membership, and access details vary by parcel. If your pro forma assumes water park access as a guest amenity, confirm the specific home is enrolled in a program that grants it.
- Insurance binder timing. The $1M liability requirement is a licensing precondition, not a nice-to-have. Bind the policy before you submit the state DBPR application, not after.
- Tax remittance responsibility. Airbnb collects the county Tourist Development Tax in Osceola under a direct agreement, but Vrbo does not collect Florida taxes, and in all counties without platform agreements the host remits directly. Owners running direct bookings alongside platform listings often forget the direct portion, which builds a tax liability.
- License display. Kissimmee hosts roughly 2,313 Airbnb listings, and 0% currently display official short-term rental licenses, which suggests active enforcement pressure is building. Assume that pressure is real and post the license.
A Short FAQ
Does Reunion require a minimum stay? No. Reunion's community documents do not impose a rental minimum, which is the structural feature that separates it from most Osceola residential HOAs.
What is the total tax rate on gross rent? 13.5% in Osceola County, applied to the entire booking including cleaning and other fees.
Do I have to use the resort's rental program? No. Owners may list on any platform. Owners who bypass the on-site program often see lower occupancy because a meaningful share of Reunion demand routes through the resort's own booking channel.
Is Reunion the same as Reunion West? The names are used loosely in casual conversation. Governing documents differ between sub-communities inside the broader Reunion footprint. Verify the specific parcel's CC&Rs before assuming rental rights.
Working The Numbers On A Specific Parcel
The Reunion premium is not paid for granite counters or for palm trees. It is paid for a legal right that neighboring residential parcels do not carry, an amenity concentration that keeps that right in demand, and a booking infrastructure that captures a growing preference for whole-home stays over hotels. Whether the premium pencils out on your specific target property depends on the parcel's sub-community, its enrollment in the resort's amenity and rental programs, and the management structure you are willing to run.
If you want that math done on a specific address before you write an offer, Andrea Alonso and the team work through Reunion pro formas with investors every week, including cross-market comparisons for buyers weighing Reunion against Brickell or a second Central Florida STR asset. Let's connect and start your Florida search.
