My wife is having difficult time believing that we would profit as an STR, even after seeing nightly rates/revenue provided by AirDNA.

I'm also hoping I would get some tax benefits as I'll be paying close to 40% in taxes on my W2 income, and hopefully use the additional revenue to buy a second property the following year. 

Addition risk results in additional revenue to compensate for the increased risk.  4) large housing shortage results in large need for housing, supply/demand.   5) inflation has caused most prices to rise.

My rental license renewal is stuck in tax revenue limbo...they won't renew until cleared...I've been on the phone with them (mostly on hold) forever.Anyway, I purchased my 3 family home under and LLC but the City treats all my tax revenue info under my personal SS# and not the company's EIN. 

A lot of large/bulk management companies under-perform because they do not focus on the max potential of each property, just the overall revenue stream for the company.If you find something that has potential you may actually be able to negotiate yourself a better purchase deal if the Airdna or the rental history is currently not reflecting the true property potential.

—etc—etc—etcMore often than not, your time as an investor and/or small business owner can be used on other revenue-generating tasks that you are better at and that will push the needle in your business.

Has the sponsor owned the property and has the operating history to suggest that project revenue/costs/return is accurately projected?  

Is there an easy work around besides having to pay 20-25% of gross revenue to a property management company? 

Unfortunately, these things can and do happen on occasion, and it is the Property Manager's job to mitigate the damages by trying to charge the guest for damages (and many times this is unsuccessful), and get repairs made as quickly as possible to avoid further revenue loss.  

airdna came out with a great article last year, showing the percentages of places with different types of amenities(like hot tubs) and how much revenue they added in comparison to other rentals that didn't have it.