If you're providing an "up-scale" environment and hope to attract more guests of this calibre (I do; they don't quibble about higher nightly rates and rarely cause problems) then I recommend white duvet covers and wash them after each guest.  

How do I reimburse them for supplies and labor in a way that is still tax deferred?

I'd be happy to connect to see if I can help or give you some recommendations.

His realtor does property management, and i recommended my realtor friend who also does it. 

There are a lot of details that can be worked into this contract, and I wouldn't recommend going into an agreement without first talking to your real estate agent or a real estate lawyer.

I successfully invested in a couple of NPNs on my own using many of the people he recommended so it seemed that his method had potential to be successful.

There are at least three monthly meetups I follow on meetup.com so I would recommend looking there for the schedule.

Amazing recommendation :-) I will explore this option for sure.

I also recommend you look for recent blog posts or YouTube videos from Dave Meyers.

What recommendations/advice does the community have for NEWBIE out of state investors?