Short-term rental glossary

40 terms owners actually run into, each with what it means and why it matters.

A

ADR (Average Daily Rate): Total room revenue divided by the number of nights actually booked.Why it matters: It measures your price per sold night. Rising ADR with falling occupancy can leave you flat, so never read it alone.

B

Booking pace: How fast nights are filling for a future period compared with the same point in a prior year or period.Why it matters: Pace is the earliest signal that your pricing or minimum stay is wrong, weeks before revenue shows it.

C

Channel manager: Software that syncs rates, availability, and reservations across multiple booking sites.Why it matters: It prevents double bookings once you list on more than one platform. With a single Airbnb listing you usually do not need one.
Co-host: A person or company an owner adds to their listing to help run it, with permissions granted by the owner on the platform.Why it matters: The owner keeps the listing, the payout account, and final say. It is the lowest-control-loss way to get help.
Comp set: The small group of nearby listings that a guest would realistically choose between instead of yours.Why it matters: A useful comp set matches your bedroom count, capacity, and amenity tier — not just your zip code.

D

Damage waiver: A per-stay fee that covers a defined amount of accidental guest damage instead of holding a deposit.Why it matters: It reduces booking friction versus a deposit, but read the exclusions; most waivers do not cover intentional damage or lost revenue.
Deep clean: A scheduled clean that goes beyond a turnover: baseboards, inside appliances, grout, upholstery, under furniture.Why it matters: Turnovers keep a property presentable; deep cleans keep it from slowly degrading. Most properties need one quarterly.
Direct booking: A reservation made through your own website or channel rather than an online travel agency.Why it matters: You avoid platform commission and own the guest relationship, but you also own payments, screening, and support.
Dynamic pricing: Adjusting nightly rates automatically based on demand, seasonality, day of week, and lead time.Why it matters: It captures high-demand dates you would forget to raise and protects far-out dates from being sold too cheap.

F

Full-service property manager: A company that takes over operations end to end, usually collecting guest revenue and remitting your share after a commission.Why it matters: Highest convenience, lowest control. Money typically flows through them first, which matters for cash flow and bookkeeping.

G

Grandfathering: A provision letting an existing use continue after a rule change that would otherwise prohibit it.Why it matters: Grandfathered status often does not transfer on sale and can lapse if operation pauses. Confirm in writing before you rely on it.
Guest screening: The checks and rules you apply before accepting a booking, such as verified ID, review history, and local-guest policies.Why it matters: Most damage and party problems trace back to bookings that raised a flag before check-in.

H

House rules: The conditions a guest agrees to when booking: quiet hours, occupancy limits, pets, smoking, events.Why it matters: Rules you did not publish are hard to enforce. Platform support decisions usually follow what the listing said.
Hybrid property management: An arrangement between co-hosting and full service: the owner keeps the listing and payouts while the manager handles some on-the-ground work such as cleaning coordination or maintenance.Why it matters: It suits owners who want operational help but refuse to hand over revenue collection and refund authority.

I

Inquiry: A guest message asking about a stay without submitting a booking or request.Why it matters: Response time to inquiries affects your platform metrics and your conversion rate. Answer with a decision, not just information.
Instant Book: A setting that lets qualified guests book without host approval.Why it matters: It typically increases bookings and visibility, and you can still require verified ID and set booking requirements.

L

Lead time: How many days before check-in a reservation is made.Why it matters: Short-lead markets fill last minute and punish early discounting; long-lead markets reward getting on the calendar early.
Length of stay (LOS): The number of nights in a reservation.Why it matters: Longer stays lower your cleaning cost per night and turnover risk, which is why LOS discounts are often worth more than they look.
Listing optimization: Improving photos, title, description, amenities, and settings so more of the guests who see your listing book it.Why it matters: It changes conversion on traffic you are already getting, which is usually cheaper than trying to buy more traffic.
Lodging tax: A transient occupancy, hotel, or tourism tax charged on short stays by a city, county, or state.Why it matters: Platforms collect it in some jurisdictions and not others. If they do not, you are still liable — including for back taxes.

M

Minimum stay: The fewest nights a guest can book for a given date.Why it matters: It is a revenue lever, not a fixed setting. Raising it on peak dates and lowering it on gaps both increase revenue.
MTR (Mid-term rental): A furnished rental for roughly 30 days or more, often for traveling professionals or people between homes.Why it matters: Lower ADR but far fewer turns, and it can sidestep short-term rental restrictions in some jurisdictions.

N

Nonconforming use: A property use that was legal when it began but no longer complies with current zoning.Why it matters: It is a specific legal status with rules about lapse and transfer. Ask the planning office about your parcel, not the neighborhood.

O

Occupancy rate: Nights booked divided by nights available in a period.Why it matters: High occupancy at a low rate is often a pricing failure. Read it against ADR, never on its own.
Orphan gap: One or two nights stranded between two reservations that your minimum stay makes unbookable.Why it matters: Gap-specific minimum-stay and rate rules recover nights that would otherwise be lost entirely.
OTA (Online travel agency): A booking marketplace such as Airbnb, Vrbo, or Booking.com.Why it matters: OTAs bring demand in exchange for commission and rule-setting power over your listing.
Owner closet: A locked storage space in the property for linens, supplies, tools, and personal items.Why it matters: It keeps turnovers self-sufficient. Without one, every restock becomes a trip.

P

Permit cap: A limit on how many short-term rental permits a jurisdiction will issue, often by zone or citywide.Why it matters: In capped markets the permit, not the property, is the scarce asset. Buying without one can mean buying an ordinary house at STR prices.
PMS (Property management system): Software that centralizes reservations, messaging, tasks, and reporting across listings.Why it matters: Worth it once you are juggling multiple units or channels; overhead for a single listing.
Primary host: The account that owns the listing and receives payouts on the platform.Why it matters: Whoever holds this seat holds the asset. Owners should keep it in their own name.

R

Resolution center: The platform tool used to request money from a guest for damage or extra costs, or to issue a refund.Why it matters: Claims filed there with dated photos and receipts, before the next guest arrives, are the ones that get paid.
Revenue projection: A modeled estimate of what a property could earn, built from comparable listings, seasonality, and assumed occupancy.Why it matters: It is a scenario, not a forecast. Treat any single number as the midpoint of a wide range.
RevPAR (Revenue per available rental night): ADR multiplied by occupancy — revenue divided by all available nights, booked or not.Why it matters: The single best summary metric, because it punishes both empty nights and underpricing.

S

Same-day turn: A checkout and check-in on the same date, leaving a few hours to clean.Why it matters: It maximizes revenue and minimizes slack. Without a reliable cleaner and a backup, it is where operations break.
Seasonality: The predictable rise and fall of demand across the year in a market.Why it matters: Annual averages hide it. A property can earn 60% of its revenue in four months and still look steady on a spreadsheet.
Security deposit: An amount held or authorized against guest damage.Why it matters: On most platforms it is a claim mechanism rather than money you hold. Know which model your channel uses before you rely on it.
STR (Short-term rental): A furnished property rented for short stays, commonly defined by ordinance as fewer than 30 consecutive nights.Why it matters: The legal definition in your jurisdiction, not the industry usage, determines which rules apply to you.
Superhost: An Airbnb status based on rating, response rate, cancellation rate, and completed stays, assessed on a rolling basis.Why it matters: It is a consistency badge, not a quality guarantee — useful as a filter signal, not as proof of a great property.

T

Turnover: Everything between one guest leaving and the next arriving: clean, laundry, restock, inspect, reset.Why it matters: It is the operational heart of a short-term rental. Most bad reviews and most fixed costs originate here.

Z

Zoning: Local rules governing what a property in a given district may be used for.Why it matters: Zoning can prohibit short-term rentals even where a permit program exists. Verify eligibility for the exact parcel.

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