Cost segregation for STR with a business partner (50/50) - material participation

[Soroush Akbarzadeh]

My business partner and I co-own (50/50) a STR in Hawaii that we both manage on our own. We've completed Cost Study and are working with a CPA. There are some questions that we are having a hard time getting answers to which I'd like to post here for more insight.

- If we both want to use this benefit, for material participation eligibility, how would that work? Do we have to both exceed 500hrs of participation due to partnership? or can we each exceed 100hrs assuming thats higher than any other individual participating in the activity? 

- assuming 500hrs each, we have spent enough time this year to get to that but wondering if thats a red flag for IRS with high chance of getting audited (we travelled 7 times over the past year to work on the unit and spend at least a week each time excluding the time we spent managing the guests)

- Lastly, our understanding is that each can take 50% of the final offset to our W2 assuming we prove material participation eligibility. 

Thanks in advance for your responses.