Quick answer: Buyers ask what Reunion costs to own and get a number. The number is meaningless without knowing which sub-association the house is in, what the master association adds, and what club membership is attached, because those are three separate charges governed by three separate documents.
One editorial note before the substance. Everything numerical about performance that previously appeared on this page (yields, occupancy, nightly rates, dues by neighbourhood) was unsourced, and it is gone. We have not replaced it with our own estimates, and the section below explains why not.
The community, in outline
| County | Osceola |
| Nearest town | Kissimmee |
| Site, as widely reported | around 2,300 acres |
| Type | Master-planned resort community |
| Amenity | Golf and resort facilities |
| Governance | A master association with multiple sub-associations beneath it |
| Additional structure | A resort club membership, separate from association dues |
| Short-term rental tax stack | 13.5% combined |
Why the governance structure is the analysis
A conventional community has one association, one budget and one set of rules. A master community of this scale generally does not.
| Layer | What it typically governs | What it charges |
|---|---|---|
| Master association | Roads, gates, shared landscaping, master amenity | An assessment on every home |
| Sub-association | The specific neighbourhood: its buildings, pool, landscaping | Its own assessment, varying by neighbourhood |
| Club membership | Access to golf and resort facilities | A separate fee, on separate terms |
Three consequences follow, and each of them is a question a buyer must answer specifically rather than generally.
Your total cost is a sum, not a figure. Master plus sub-association plus whatever membership applies. A quoted “HOA fee” is usually only one of the three.
Your rules are a stack. Master covenants, sub-association rules and club rules can each address short-term letting, guest access and occupancy. The strictest governs.
Your reserves are separate. Each association funds its own components. A well-funded master association tells you nothing about the sub-association that owns the roof over your specific home.
Our HOA restrictions guide covers reading the documents; the point specific to a community like this one is that there is more than one set of them.
The club membership question
A resort club membership is a commercial arrangement, not an ownership right, and it behaves differently from the association structure in three ways that matter on resale.
- It may or may not transfer. Some memberships pass with the property, some require the buyer to apply and pay an initiation, some do not transfer at all. That difference is worth real money at exit and it is in the membership documents.
- It may or may not be mandatory. A property may carry a required membership category regardless of whether the owner wants it, which makes it a fixed cost like an assessment.
- Its terms can change. Membership categories, fees and access levels are set by the club operator rather than by the owners, and can be revised.
For a short-term rental owner there is a further question: what access, if any, do guests have to the club facilities, and on what terms? Guest access to resort amenity is frequently a substantial part of what a vacation rental advertises, and if it depends on a membership category the owner holds, then the membership is part of the revenue model rather than a personal indulgence.
Establish all of that from the membership documents before making an offer, not from the sales narrative.
The tax stack, correctly stated
Reunion is in Osceola County, so the position is unambiguous.
Short-term accommodation here carries 13.5% in total, made up of three charges that go to two different places: 7.5% to the Florida Department of Revenue as state sales tax plus the county discretionary surtax, and 6% to the Osceola County Tax Collector as tourist development tax.
The 6% figure is the one to hold on to. A great deal of material about this corridor refers to a “13% tourist development tax”, and no Florida county levies anything of the sort. The confusion collapses three charges into one label, and an owner who files on that basis sends the wrong amount to the wrong authority.
One further trap sits in the definition rather than the rate. The tourist development tax reaches accommodation let for six months or less, while the state licensing requirement is triggered by lettings of less than 30 days. Those thresholds are different, so a lease long enough to avoid the licence can still owe the county tax. Our Osceola County short-term rental guide sets out the county position in full.
The licensing chain
Permissions here run in an order, and the order is the opposite of how most buyers approach it. People start with the state licence because it is the one with a form attached. It should come third.
Begin with the covenants, at both the master and the sub-association level, because a private restriction is not overridden by any licence the state issues. Then confirm county zoning permits the use on that parcel. Only then does the paperwork matter: a Florida DBPR vacation rental licence, required where a dwelling is let for periods of less than 30 days more than three times in a calendar year; a tourist development tax account with the county; a Department of Revenue sales tax registration; and whatever local business tax receipt the county requires.
Six steps, and the first two are free, take an afternoon, and are the two that can make the other four pointless.
Why this page carries no yield or occupancy figure
The version we replaced gave a net yield range, an occupancy range and nightly rates. We removed them and are not substituting our own.
No authority publishes the data. Occupancy and rate figures for individual vacation communities are not official statistics. Numbers circulating online are management companies’ own portfolios, which are a selected sample presented by a party with an interest in the answer.
The variation within a community exceeds the difference between communities. Two houses of the same size in the same neighbourhood can perform very differently depending on pool, game room, furnishing standard, photography, pricing strategy and management. A community-level average conceals the variable that actually decides the outcome.
Precision without a source is a false signal. A yield quoted to one decimal place reads as researched. Presented without a source, it is a guess that has borrowed the appearance of one.
What follows instead is the deduction chain, which is accurate and which you can run with your own inputs.
The deduction chain
| Deduction | Charged on | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| State sales tax and county surtax | Gross | 7.5% in Osceola |
| County tourist development tax | Gross | 6% |
| Platform or booking fees | Gross | Varies by channel |
| Management fee | Gross, typically | The largest single deduction on a managed home |
| Cleaning, where not passed to guests | Per stay | Scales with turnover, not revenue |
| Master association assessment | Fixed annual | Set by the master board |
| Sub-association assessment | Fixed annual | Set by the sub-association |
| Club membership, if applicable | Fixed annual | Set by the club operator |
| Property insurance | Fixed annual | Short-term use changes the policy required |
| Utilities, pool and lawn maintenance | Largely fixed | Higher on short-term use |
| Repairs, replacement and refurbishment | Variable | Turnover-driven wear exceeds residential |
| Property tax | Fixed annual | No homestead treatment on an investment property |
The three separate association and club lines are what makes this community different from a single-association one, and they are why a single quoted figure is not usable. Our gross versus net yield guide works through the arithmetic.
What the sub-association structure means for reserves
The reserve question deserves separating out, because a multi-association community distributes it in a way buyers do not expect.
In a single-association community there is one reserve study covering everything the association owns, and one funding percentage to check. Here there are at least two, and they cover different things.
| Association | Typically owns | What its reserve shortfall would cost you |
|---|---|---|
| Master | Roads, gates, master landscaping, master amenity | Spread across every home in the community |
| Sub-association | Neighbourhood buildings, roofs, pools, private roads | Spread across the homes in that neighbourhood only |
The right-hand column is the whole point. A master association shortfall divides across a very large number of homes and is correspondingly manageable. A sub-association shortfall divides across a neighbourhood, which may be a few dozen homes, and lands very differently.
So the question is not “is Reunion well funded”. It is whether the specific sub-association owning the roof, the pool and the private road at your address is well funded, and that is a separate document with a separate answer.
This matters more in a vacation community than in a residential one for a mundane reason. Resort neighbourhoods carry pools, decks, extensive landscaping and shared amenity in a climate that wears all of it quickly, and the homes are used harder than owner-occupied houses. Wear runs ahead of a study written on residential assumptions.
Ask each association for its most recent reserve study, the funding percentage the current budget meets against it, and the date of the last special assessment. Three questions, two associations, six answers, and they tell you more about the next decade of ownership than any yield projection could.
Buying into a community you will also be a guest in
One further feature of large resort communities is worth naming, because it changes the ownership experience rather than the arithmetic.
An owner in a community that is substantially let to short-term guests is living among, or letting among, a rotating population. That produces a specific set of conditions: more traffic, more turnover, more wear on shared facilities, and an amenity programme designed around visitors rather than residents.
For an investor letting the property, that is the product working as intended and the surrounding activity is what supports demand. For a buyer intending to occupy, even part of the year, it is worth understanding before rather than after. The two motivations coexist in these communities and they pull in different directions at every association vote, which is the dynamic behind the covenant amendment risk any short-term rental owner carries.
The practical read is the owner-occupier share. An association that will state what proportion of its homes are owner-occupied is telling you which way its membership is likely to vote on rental restrictions in the years ahead. Our Osceola County short-term rental guide covers the county framework those covenants sit inside.
What to request, in order
- The master association’s governing documents, budget and reserve study.
- The specific sub-association’s governing documents, budget and reserve study.
- The club membership documents: category attached to the property, cost, transferability and guest access terms.
- Confirmation of what the total annual charge on this specific home is, from all three sources combined.
- The estoppel letter, which will state what is owed and to whom.
- Minutes for the master and sub-association for three years.
The fourth item is the one to insist on. It is a single number that nobody volunteers because assembling it requires reading three documents.
Pros and cons
Advantages. A large, established resort community with genuine amenity depth, in the strongest vacation rental corridor in Florida. Substantial transaction volume, so pricing is observable. Recognisable branding that supports guest demand. And a range of neighbourhoods and product types within one community, so a buyer can choose their cost structure rather than accept one.
Disadvantages. Three separate charging structures make the true cost of ownership harder to establish than in a single-association community. Club membership terms are set by an operator rather than by owners. Fixed costs dominate the expense base, so a soft season is expensive. And the rules that permit short-term letting sit in documents the membership can amend.
Red flags
- A dues figure quoted for “Reunion” without naming the sub-association.
- Club membership described without stating whether it transfers on sale.
- Guest access to resort facilities assumed rather than documented.
- Any reference to a “13% tourist development tax”. It is 6% in Osceola.
- Yield or occupancy figures offered with no source.
- Sub-association reserve position not disclosed.
Our reading: this is a serious community with a genuinely complicated cost structure, and the complication is the thing to work through rather than a reason to avoid it. Assemble the three charges into one number before you offer. For a community where the county line rather than the governance structure is the complication, see our ChampionsGate review.
Frequently Asked Questions
There is no single answer, and that is the most important thing to understand about it. Reunion is a master community containing multiple sub-associations, each with its own budget and dues, and a separate club membership structure alongside them. The cost depends on which sub-association a home sits in and which membership applies.
In Osceola County near Kissimmee, on a site widely reported at around 2,300 acres, developed as a master-planned resort community with golf and resort amenity.
Osceola County short-term accommodation carries a combined 13.5%: 6% state sales tax, 1.5% county discretionary surtax and 6% county tourist development tax, remitted to two different authorities.
No. A resort club membership granting access to facilities is a separate arrangement from mandatory association assessments, with its own cost, its own terms and its own transferability rules on resale.
Which sub-association the specific home belongs to, what that association's dues and reserves are, what the master association charges on top, and what club membership is attached to the property and whether it transfers.
Sources: the community’s location in Osceola County near Kissimmee, its widely reported site area of around 2,300 acres, its character as a master-planned resort community with golf and resort amenity, and its structure of a master association with sub-associations, from contemporaneous local reporting and the community’s published material. Tax rates are from the Florida Department of Revenue’s local option transient rental tax and discretionary sales surtax schedules and the Osceola County Tax Collector, verified 28 August 2026. Licensing thresholds are set by Florida Statutes Chapter 509. No occupancy, nightly rate, yield or dues figures are asserted for this community; the previous version of this page stated such figures without a source and they have been removed.
Assemble the three charges into one number
Send a Reunion address. We identify the sub-association, the master assessment and the club category attached to that specific home.