I grew up in Lake Wawasee/Syracuse, but there are tons of lakes up there that make for great short term rentals. 

I currently 100% owner of a prime piece of lakefront property on a very popular lake with very limited lakefront availability. 

We have the mountains of course, but also Watauga Lake, Boone N.C., and the Virginia Creeper Trail and the Appalachian Trail that both go through Damascus VA which is a short drive away.

Being nestled right next to Northern CA and Lake Tahoe drives a lot of equity and growth over the mountain with limited amounts of buildable land, increasing appreciation here significantly.  

Still wanted to be close to CA and Lake Tahoe but have much more favorable tenant/landlord laws, property taxes DO NOT reassess on the sale, stable diversified job growth, population growth, land constraints force appreciation, and a ton of outdoor activities that I enjoy. 

Acquired several off market with great margins especially in the Mililani and Salt Lake area.  

It can be worth some money (Midwest farm land is about $160/ac per year in rent) and obviously land on a popular lake, the strip, or NYC can be be north of a $1m/acre.

We enjoyed our lake house for many years, but it has been very idle for the last 2 years. 

Down lake about 36 miles.

hot tubs in that area i would not imagine are THAT big of a necessity. they are going to be more of a non-negotiable in mountainous/woodsy/lakes regions, like in the smokies you really need to have one... however, the maintenance and headaches are notable when you have a hot tub at a STR. really only do it if you absolutely have to. when you ran the #s with that software, i wonder if the properties that do have hot tubs, also had other amenities that were driving the ADR up, and that's what you were seeing. know what i mean?