STR and/or Furnished Month to Month Vacation/College Town

[Zeb B.]

I just finished adding a 2 bedroom basement (Garden Level) apartment to my house. We are 2 blocks from a large college campus in a town that is also a popular vacation destination. We posted the unit on Airbnb and Vrbo for July and August and have booking have been pretty good so far.

I am debating whether to continue doing the short term rental strategy in the colder months, or to switch to renting the apartment by the month from September - May. The motivation would be to have less management to do during the parts of the year when STR bookings will probably slow down a bit.

Since we are close to campus I'm getting inquiries from college students. Renting to college students from September to May and then doing short term rentals in the summer would probably give my the best income from the apartment, but I have no experience in the student rental market. All of my other properties are single family houses rented long term to professionals.

Since this apartment is brand new, and I live in the upper two floors of the house, I'm worried about potential damage and noise.  

Anyone have tips or ideas? I should I hold out for non-student monthly tenants? Stick with the short term rental market through the winter? Ideas on how to find an above average student renter?