After repeating those same steps daily, you would be doing deals without even thinking about it! 

(Usually would advise not letting current PM go until you've got another PM waiting in the wings to take over as daily PM tasks are often set aside in spite of being fired- including rent collection in  some cases!)

Foreclosures Daily is one, Foreclosures Listing Service is another....MLSIQ is another. 

I'm happy to travel as far as Austin or Waco on a daily basis.

Is this known by guests to be the "magic bullet" in asking a host to refund money or am I misreading the tea leaves?

Part of that mindset is consistency and doing something in the arena of real estate daily.

If they don’t move in time, a steep daily rate and any eviction/legal costs get deducted from that escrow amount. 

Daily coaching & training. 

Having said that, you obviously fall into some tourist, Airbnb opportunities in some areas in NC as well and there are plenty of investors that use this niche as their bread and butter, so maybe worth considering if you find a Class A area that fits this criteria - this would change your % of monthly rental yield accordingly as “nights stay” charges usually are far superior to monthly rental charges (a quick prorated daily charge would show you by what %)If you’re going towards a college town, I would caution you to move your lease agreements to student ‘friendly’ - co-signer at minimum (make sure you know that parents/guardians can/will foot the bill for damages/rent ultimately) but I’ll include a link that should help with this too. https://www.rentecdirect.com/blog/the-pros-and-cons-of-renting-to-college-students/With all of this in mind- it might be best to speak with an agent in your area/desired areas and get someone who’s familiar with working with investors and the best investing areas you’re talking about in NC.

I have 90+ reviews for the first cabin and we charge double the daily rate and are about 85% occupancy.