Berkeley Springs STR Rules: Town of Bath vs Unincorporated Morgan C…

Guests say Berkeley Springs, and the clerk says Town of Bath. Those are not the same stamp, and the first job on this page is to tell them apart before you pay a photographer. Town of Bath Ordinance 2024-03-08 plus the Short-Term Rental Info Sheet v5.24 is the in-limits path. Unincorporated Morgan County is a different desk. Sleepy Creek, Great Cacapon, and most of the Cacapon ridge do not inherit the Bath license because a listing title says Berkeley Springs. Confirm the parcel, and then read the rest.

AirROI’s Berkeley Springs page, updated 2026-08-08, prints a regulation badge that says Low and a licensed count of zero. That badge is a vendor label, and it is not Ordinance 2024-03-08. It is not a lawyer. It does not repeal the $200 non-refundable per-unit filing at 271 Wilkes Street. Anyone who underwrites this town from the badge is skipping the only document the town actually published. Open the ordinance, and open the info sheet. or if the sheet and the parcel still disagree.

This page is a feasibility check, not a permission slip. The market extract,, ADR $278, occupancy 41.8 percent, median month $3,213, does not move a boundary line. A license does not guess an August. If you are comparing a Bath porch to a ridge cabin, start here. Then read theinvestmentmemo before you treat $3,213 as a note. Thestartuppost is the checkbook version of the same gate. Do not furnish until the parcel has a named desk. This is not legal advice.

Parcel first: Town of Bath versus unincorporated Morgan

Open the Town of Bath boundary map before you open AirROI. Green is in limits, and everything else in Morgan is not this ordinance. There is no City of Berkeley Springs overlay you can hide behind. Guests will keep typing Berkeley Springs. The clerk will keep stamping Town of Bath or nothing. A 25411 mailing line is not a license. A Hancock, Maryland, grocery stop on US-522 is not a sibling jurisdiction. Walk the assessor map, and then walk the town map. Then decide which desk you are about to call.

Unincorporated Morgan, Sleepy Creek, Great Cacapon, most Cacapon-ridge towns, is a different conversation later on this page. Do not apply the Bath license county-wide. Leave out unverified a county STR chapter because this cluster could not find one. Absence of a Bath form is not permission and is not a prohibition this draft will guess. It is a different clerk, and ask that clerk. Keep down the name, and date the call. A ridge listing that pastes 271 Wilkes Street into the house manual is already lying to the guest and to the clerk. Ask which desk stamps the published market year before you Keep the walk.

If the published market year sits on the line, treat it as a site question, not a marketing question. the clerk the map names or and ask whether this parcel is inside the green. Bring the tax map number. Do not let a photographer, a manager, or a wholesaler answer for the town. The rest of this walkthrough assumes you already know which side of the line you are on. If you do not, stop. The $200 filing will not fix a wrong desk. A photographer cannot fix it either, and the map is the first hire.

Ordinance 2024-03-08 and the $200 license

Town of Bath Ordinance 2024-03-08 is the short-term rental ordinance this cluster will quote. The companion document is the Short-Term Rental Info Sheet v5.24. Together they describe a license, not a hearing lottery and not a numeric cap. This draft did not find a numbered ceiling in those papers. Leave out unverified one. Scarcity here, if it exists, is the parcel test and the per-unit filing, not a Woodstock-style permit count someone pasted from another town.

The fee on the info sheet is $200, non-refundable, per rental unit. Hedge the $200. Fees move. Confirm on the live sheet or at 271 Wilkes Street before you put $200 on a spreadsheet as eternal. One license per unit. Two cottages on one parcel are two filings if both rent. A 28-night stay is still a short-term rental under Bath’s under-30-night license. Do not treat a month as a way around the form. Hedge the ordinance’s 30-plus line if your product is a remote desk. A 28-night February stay is still this license until the town says otherwise in writing.

The license is not a hotel certificate and not a WV-only business registration. You still need the West Virginia Business Registration Certificate from business4wv.com or 1-. You still need current hotel/motel occupancy taxes, which are a separate desk later on this page. The ordinance is the local stamp, and the state registration is the state stamp. Occupancy tax is the occupancy stamp, and stack them. Do not pick a favorite, and the startup post is the checkbook. This page is the order of the stamps. A missing state certificate will bounce the Bath packet even if the $200 check is good.

What you file at 271 Wilkes Street

File at 271 Wilkes Street. The phones on the info sheet are and. Bring what the sheet asks for: the $200 non-refundable per-unit fee, a scaled site plan, a designated operator, proof of current hotel/motel occupancy taxes, and the WV Business Registration Certificate. If the live sheet has added a line since v5.24, the live sheet wins. This page will not guess a form number the town did not print. the week you file and ask whether the packet on the counter matches v5.24.

The designated operator is a person the town can call. That can be you, and that can be a manager. The license still sits on the unit. A brand that offers to “hold the license in our entity” is offering a product this draft cannot find in Ordinance 2024-03-08. Ask the town, in writing, before you sign that sentence. Cottage Rentals’ 28 doors and Tony’s 18 doors do not change the per-unit rule on your porch. A brand is not a second license, and the unit is the unit.

A scaled site plan is not a listing photo. It is a drawing that shows the unit, parking, and how a guest reaches the door. If you cannot produce one, you are not ready to file. If the operator lives in Washington and the porch is on Fairfax Street, say so on the form. The town is licensing a unit in Bath, not a vibe. Mail or drop the packet at 271 Wilkes Street. Date the receipt. Keep a copy in the house manual next to the occupancy-tax contacts. A guest does not need the site plan, and the next clerk who asks will. Date the folder.

Occupancy desks: Morgan 6 percent and Bath 6 percent

Occupancy tax here is West Virginia, not Ohio, and it is not a 3 percent village line from another cluster. Morgan County occupancy is 6 percent. The county contact this cluster locked is Laura Breeden at. Town of Bath occupancy is 6 percent. The town contact this cluster locked is Scott Merki at. Those are two desks. A Bath published market year may owe the town occupancy conversation. A Morgan published market year owes the county conversation. Do not remit the wrong 6 percent to the right-sounding name.

Confirm which desk stamps your parcel before you load a 6 percent line into the listing. The market extract’s $3,213 median month is a gross town figure. Occupancy tax is a remittance, and they are not the same object. Do not treat the AirROI year of $39,580 as already net of Laura Breeden or Scott Merki. Ask each desk how they want the return filed and what they want to see on the guest folio. Keep it down, and date the call.

Hotels and motels already in the occupancy system are not your short-term license. The info sheet still wants current hotel/motel occupancy taxes as part of the Bath packet. That sentence is why this section sits next to the Wilkes Street walkthrough. You do not get to skip occupancy because you already paid $200. You do not get to skip $200 because you already have a county account. Stack. Confirm. Leave out unverified a combined 12 percent just because two desks both say 6. Ask each desk, in a dated email, whether a Bath published market year remits town only, county only, or both. Print the reply.

State sales, municipal 1 percent, and what to hedge

West Virginia state sales tax is 6 percent. Town of Bath added a 1 percent municipal sales tax beginning 1 January 2025. This cluster will hedge whether lodging nights sit in that municipal base. Confirm with the town and with the state before you print a 13-percent stack on a guest quote. A hedge is not a shrug, and it is a phone call you date. Do not copy an Ohio 3 percent lodging excise onto a Bath folio. That rate belongs to another village in another state.

Sales tax and occupancy tax are different stamps even when both print as 6 percent. Occupancy is Laura Breeden or Scott Merki. Sales is the state, plus the Bath municipal 1 percent if lodging is in that base. A listing that folds everything into one “local tax” line is how you over-collect or under-remit. Split the lines the way the desks split the lines. If a platform collects one piece and not the other, you still owe the piece it missed.

The cash stack you can actually Keep a check for is the $200 hedge, state registration, occupancy setup, and the cleaner. This page is the legal order of those checks. Do not treat the municipal 1 percent as a 2024 fact. It began 1 January 2025, and recheck it the year you list. Recheck it if the town amends the base. Print the confirmation in the house file next to the license. A guest quote that invents a 13 percent stack is a complaint and a remittance error waiting for the same weekend.

28-night stays and the under-30 license

Bath’s license is an under-30-night short-term rental license. A 28-night stay is still an STR under that license. Hosts who want a remote-worker month in February or March, the extract’s low months, do not escape Wilkes Street by asking for 28 nights. Hedge the ordinance’s 30-plus line before you advertise a calendar month as a different class of lodging. If the live ordinance treats 30-plus differently, the live ordinance wins. This page will not guess that sentence.

AirROI shows 36.1 percent of the sample already on a 30-plus-night minimum, and 51.2 percent on a two-night minimum. Those are product choices inside one search page. They are not two legal regimes unless the ordinance says so. Ask Scott Merki’s desk and the Wilkes Street license desk how they want a 28-night folio coded. Ask Laura Breeden the same question if the published market year is county. Keep the answers into the listing so the guest is not the first person to notice the seam.

A 2.9-night average stay is still the town’s default product. Building a 28-night desk is a second product, not a compliance trick. The house needs a closed door, a real chair, and a tax answer. The license still needs to exist if the stay is under 30 nights in Bath. Do not hide the license number because the guest is staying four weeks. Do not hide the occupancy remittance because the guest called it a sabbatical. The remote-worker post later in this cluster is the desk and the closed door. This page is why the license still sits on the unit.

AirROI Low is a vendor label

AirROI’s Berkeley Springs page prints regulation as Low and licensed listings as zero. That is the vendor’s badge, and it is not Ordinance 2024-03-08. It is not Info Sheet v5.24. It is not a finding that Bath has no license. A zero in a scraped licensed-count town figure means the vendor did not match a license file, or did not ingest one. It does not mean you can skip 271 Wilkes Street. Quote the badge only to retire it. A zero in a vendor town figure is not a finding that the town stopped licensing porches.

Anyone who pastes “regulation = Low” into a feasibility memo for this town is using the wrong document. The right documents are the ordinance, the info sheet, the boundary map, and the two occupancy desks. The market extract is allowed to be wrong about law. The town is not required to update AirROI. Superhost share, Instant Book share, and the $3,213 median do not become more true because the badge is green. Law and the extract are different objects, and keep them in different paragraphs of the memo.

If a later AirROI refresh changes the badge, date the refresh and keep using the ordinance. Law does not travel with a vendor color. The same warning applies to any national “West Virginia Airbnb rules” roundup that never names Town of Bath. This cluster will not cite those roundups as the rule. Ask whether your parcel is in the green, and that call is the regulation research. A screenshot of the AirROI badge is not research. It is a reason to open the ordinance.

Unincorporated Morgan is a different conversation

If the parcel is not in the green, stop applying this walkthrough. Unincorporated Morgan is not Town of Bath. This cluster did not find a county STR chapter to paste onto Sleepy Creek or the Cacapon ridge. That absence is not a finding of “no rules.” It is a finding that we will not guess a chapter. Call the county. Ask Planning, the assessor, and Laura Breeden’s occupancy desk what they want on that published market year. Date the call, and keep the notes.

Cacapon Resort State Park at 818 Cacapon Lodge Drive is 6,000-plus acres of state park lodging and trail, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.,. The lodge and cabins are competitors, not a guest amenity of a private listing and not a Bath license. A ridge cabin that sells “in the park” is already in trouble. A ridge cabin that sells Berkeley Springs as if Fairfax Street were a walk is a marketing problem the how-to-market post will handle. First it is a jurisdiction problem.

Hancock, Maryland, is the last fuel and the grocery stop on US-522. It is not Morgan County and not Bath. A published market year on the Maryland side is a different state stack this page will not guess. Prospect Peak at 3299 Cacapon Road is a roadside pull-off, not a lodging overlay. Sleepy Creek WMA is a WV DNR property, and none of those towns issues a Bath license. Confirm the parcel. Then decide whether you still have a Bath product, a Morgan product, or a listing title that needs to be rewritten before it goes live.

Related Reading

More Berkeley Springs, Town of Bath, Morgan County, and Cacapon reading already live on Crest & Cove.

• The Mineral-Springs Town DC Actually Drives To: Berkeley Springs STR Report 2026

• How to Market a Berkeley Springs Airbnb: Roman Baths, Not a Ski Town

• DIY vs Hire in Berkeley Springs: Photos Against a 28-Listing Local Brand

• Cottage Rentals 28 and Tony 18: Is an Agency Worth It in Berkeley Springs?

• Is Berkeley Springs a Good Short-Term Rental Investment in 2026? One Unit at $3,213

• Berkeley Springs Shoulder Season: Not a Ski Calendar

• A 28-Night Berkeley Springs Cottage for DC and Baltimore Remote Workers

• Who Books a Berkeley Springs Cottage: Bath House, Cacapon, DC Weekend

• Morgan County Tourism Spending and Berkeley Springs Hosts: What the Number Measures

• The Complete Visitor's Guide to Berkeley Springs, West Virginia

• What It Actually Costs to Start an Airbnb in Berkeley Springs, WV

• Financing a Berkeley Springs Cottage: DSCR vs Second-Home on $3,213

• Cacapon Resort and Prospect Peak: The Overlooks Page for Berkeley Springs Hosts

• Pricing the Apple Butter Festival: A Berkeley Springs Host Calendar

• A Berkeley Springs Weekend From Washington, DC: I-70 and US-522

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if my Berkeley Springs property is in the Town of Bath?

Check the parcel against the Town of Bath's official boundary map rather than relying on the commonly used 'Berkeley Springs' place name. The incorporated town and unincorporated Morgan County are governed by different rules, and a host needs to confirm the specific parcel's status before filing anywhere. This is not legal advice; confirm directly with the town or county.

What does the Town of Bath STR license cost?

The fee on the current Short-Term Rental Info Sheet is $200, non-refundable, per rental unit, under Ordinance 2024-03-08. A multi-unit property should confirm whether that fee applies per unit or per property. Confirm the current fee directly with the town, since fee sheets can be updated after this page is published.

Where do I file for a Town of Bath STR license?

Filing is done at 271 Wilkes Street. Confirm current office hours and required supporting documents before visiting, since requirements can change. Ask the clerk specifically what constitutes a complete application, and request any verbal guidance in writing, especially guidance about which side of the Bath boundary a parcel falls on. Bring the $200 non-refundable per-unit fee, a scaled site plan, a designated operator, proof of current hotel/motel occupancy taxes, and the WV Business Registration Certificate.

What is the occupancy and sales tax rate in this area?

Available figures show occupancy tax at 6 percent for both Morgan County and the Town of Bath, plus 6 percent state sales tax. The Town of Bath also began a 1 percent municipal sales tax on January 1, 2025, and whether lodging nights fall inside that base is unresolved on this page; confirm with the town's finance office directly.

Does a 28-night stay avoid the STR license?

No, not automatically. The ordinance treats any stay under 30 nights as the licensed short-term rental product, so a 28-night booking still falls under that license. Confirm the exact 30-plus threshold and its implications in writing with the town before relying on stay length as a way to avoid the license or its fee.

Does a 'Low' licensing label from a market-data platform mean I'm compliant?

No. That label is a vendor's own data-confidence tag, not a legal determination, and it is not equivalent to the Town of Bath's own licensing records. The only reliable confirmation of license status comes directly from the town's clerk's office at 271 Wilkes Street, not from a third-party market platform's inferred label. A zero in a scraped licensed-count figure means the vendor did not match a license file, not that the town stopped licensing.

Is unincorporated Morgan County unregulated for short-term rentals?

No. It simply falls under a different set of county-level rules rather than Town of Bath Ordinance 2024-03-08. A host in unincorporated Morgan County should confirm the applicable requirements directly with the county rather than assuming either full exemption or an identical ruleset to the town's ordinance. Call the county planning office and the occupancy-tax desk, and date the call.

Can I use the AirROI market numbers to argue my license status?

No. The market extract's ADR near $278, occupancy near 41.8 percent, and median month near $3,213 describe market performance, not licensing jurisdiction. Those figures do not move a boundary line and cannot be used to argue which desk a property should file with. Confirm jurisdiction and licensing separately from market performance data.

Work with Crest & Cove Creative

Berkeley Springs listings routinely apply Town of Bath licensing rules to parcels that actually sit in unincorporated Morgan County, a jurisdiction mix-up that misleads both guests and local clerks.

We help hosts confirm Bath-versus-county identity before a listing promises a license path the parcel cannot actually deliver.

Reach out at crestcove.co or (256) 998-7502.