My plan is to contact them in effort to get them to sell the property based on the assumption that they are out of state or possibly out of country and the property looks like it is in a fixable condition. 

Some base it only on property and dscr others take fico and liquidity.... and some take all.

Following - I'm based in California

A fix and flip is based on your credit, assets and most importantly the property itself. 

I own a Vacation Rental Management company based in Branson.

Based on cursory reading looks like your purchase might qualify for USDA B&I.

Based on what I have heard there are two tests we have to pass in order to be qualified as a contractor.

I am also going to required annual increases in rent based on the CPI index, among a few other things.Does anyone have experience with this?

You basically need to assign a value to all of the personal property (furniture, appliances, TVs, kitchen supplies, etc) inside the STR and they'll send you a tax bill based on the total. 

Call a local commercial real estate broker and get a Broker's Opinion of Value, or ask for current cap rates based on the Class of property.