These data points should give you a sense of the demand.

Often you run into the issue where appraisers are using MLS rentals for comps since that is the data they have access to, and in many markets for the last couple years landlords have just rented properties themselves versus hiring an agent.

@Katie BustosMetro Detroit (my rental portfolio is here)Purchase: $80k-$130kRent: $1200-$1500ROI: Double DigitCash flow: couple hundred/monthAppreciation: Double digit (for past 10 years, will gladly send data)Location: C, B- (suburbs and certain markets)We have over a dozen Fortune 500 companies just in Metro Detroit with huge Healthcare and Auto industries.

Keep it close, keep it safe, keep it simple....You did not give enough data to give any deeper answers...

Do not rely only on AirBnB data....what if the owner got most of their booking from VRBO?

Should I take that data to mean that I could probably do just as well operating an STR here as I could in a vacation hot spot?

Bank's generally like to see leases and income data for investment properties but with AirBNB it's not as secured.

One data point for you. 

I thought I'd share some of the data I produced as it may help you in your evaluation of this market.West Michigan and particularly Grand Rapids is experiencing an inventory shortage of available homes to purchase and rent.   

Just make a post on BP about having $1MM to invest passively and check your DMs hahaIn all seriousness, I think that would be difficult data to collect, as there's no universal, aggregate dataset.