@Alex S.
I'm on board with Alex S.. I think a little different than most people here. I don't look at vacation destinations to start a STR. I'm not saying vacation destination rentals are bad but just hear me out. I live in a small town that a majority of people wouldn't put on their vacation bucket list. It all started a few years back with a vacant unit in our 4-plex and my wife watching too much HGTV. She had a blast decorating the unit and put it up on Airbnb. Between you and me I thought she was crazy. Nobody is going to rent this. I was wrong, I can't say we have one certain clientele, we have all walks of life and different reasons. We ramped up to 4 STR then COVID-19 hit, our bookings dried up. We even turned one back into LTR, mistake. The downturn lasted just a few months and has come back strong.
So now you know my story around STR here are my thoughts. I dont want the STR to be the destination. You know, big house with the hot tub. Everyone knows this destination people are partying. Uncle Bob drinks to much and throws up in hot tub, cousin Sara spills the red wine on the carpet, nephew Jimmy breaks the lamp playing ball in the house, no thank you. People that stay at my STR basically want a place to sleep and are out and about during the day. A majority of the time the only thing people use in the kitchen is the coffee maker. Low impact on rental, cleaned on a regular basis, what more could you ask for. The key is having a good cleaner, ours is awesome, she has access to calendar and handles it without any input from us. Airbnb is a great platform to use. My wife handles all the questions, bookings and check ins and outs. Let's face it, we are all on our phones so answering a few questions, cut and paste info for the people, no big deal. Smart locks for easy check in.
Make sure you have a cushion, make sure it will work for LTR if you have to transition. Well that’s my two cents,