Complete STR Glossary

The Short Term Rental (STR) industry is full of industry speak and acronyms. Sound like an industry insider with our helpful guide! Our Airbnb, Short Term Rental and Vacation Rental Glossary. 

Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) - An ADU is an additional dwelling unit on a property that can be rented out separately from the main unit. Often called a "mother-in-law" suite. 

Active Listing - Homes are assets that follow their highest rate of return which may be financial or personal. Homes exit the STR market for a number of reasons such as Long Term Rental (LTR), renovations, reconstruction (think hurricanes), regulatory changes or long term owner usage. Active Listings are defined as at least one reservation in a given period and is live for marketing. 

ADR - Average Daily Rate, is the average rate a home was booked for or advertised for. Context will help you understand if you are talking about booked ADR over a period of time or reservation level or people are referencing Advertised ADR. Booked ADR is calculated by: Total Rent / Total Nights Booked. 

Advance Deposit or Advance Payment: A portion of the total rental amount that a guest pay in advance for checking in for their stay or final payment. 

Airbnb - One of the top three Online Travel Agency (OTA) marketplaces. Founded in 2007 and public in 2020. Airbnb is often a word used to describe STRs, much like Kleenex. Look like an industry insider by calling homes that rent for short term periods STRs instead of Airbnb. There is a movement in the space for #WeAreNotAirbnb.

Amenities - The features and services that are included in a STR. Common amenities  might include Hot Tub or Wifi.  

Apart-Hotel - A serviced apartment that offers conveniences of a hotel with the independence of a STR. May also be called a Serviced Apartment. 

Application Programming Interface (API) - An API allows PMS and OTAs to connect and pass listing information and prices between each other along with reservation details. This keeps all calendars in sync. An Open API means that no special keys from the creator are required and developers can build out to it.

Arbitrage - Arbitrage became very popular where one rents in the LTR market and re-rents in the STR market place after furnishing. This is most often done in urban jurisdictions and may run into legal, zoning or lease issues. This model is also very sensitive to shocks such as COVID which led a number of operators to close shop or pivot. 

Available Day/Nights - These are the Day or Nights that are available to book and have not yet. It is important to note that when discussing Available Days in terms of Occupancy or RevPAN it would be both nights Available and Booked + Available and Not Booked. 

Availability - The number of calendar rental days a property is available and bookable. This can be expressed in days or percentage terms over a period. 

Back to Back (B2B) Booking - A Back to Back (B2B) booking means that a guest is checking out at check-out time and that same day a different guest is checking in at check-in time. While this earns more revenue it puts pressure on the cleaning teams. Some managers may block these in peak seasons or others may do set turnovers to only do this type of booking. 

Batting Average - A metric used for the percent of units in a portfolio that exceed prior period revenue or prior management revenue. It is helpful to determine how a portfolio of homes is performing. This can be measured against revenue, RevPAN or other KPIs. 

Benchmarking - Comparing one's performance at the company, cohort or unit level to the market, competitive set or competition. 

Billboard Effect - Exposure from OTAs or Channels results in direct bookings. This happens when the brand is displayed on the listing and the guest searches for the manager directly to book and save money. You should be doing this ;) 

Blocked Day/Night - A home may become unavailable to rent due to a number of circumstances such as owner usage, extra cleaning days, damage or seasonal closures. These are not easily clear from just looking at a calendar on a major OTA, however, we leverage our own source reservations to model Blocked vs Booked nights.  

Booked Day/Night - A day or night with a paying guest staying in the property. These are not easily clear from just looking at a calendar on a major OTA, however, we leverage our own source reservations to model Blocked vs Booked nights.  

Bookend Night - A Bookend Night is a night that is touching another reservation but not booked. These have a much lower probability of booking because the following day is the mandatory check out date or may not even be able to be booked if the host does not allow B2B bookings. 

Booking Window (BW) - Booking Window or Booking Lead Time or just lead time are the number of days in advanced a home is booked. This is measured by subtracting the date a reservation was made from the day of check in. This means a same day booking would have a Booking Window of 0 days. 

Bookings - Bookings are defined as paying guest reservations either created during a period or staying over a period. This metric by booking created date or guest stay date is important to understand. 

Booking.com (BDC) - Booking.com or BDC is an OTA primarily focused on Hotel inventory with 20M listings being hotels with many rep level per listing and about 6M STR listings. 

Booking Confirmation - A Booking Confirmation is a notification sent to the guest by the host to let the guest know the booking is secure. This often may be the firs time the guest sees the manager's name if they booked on an OTA and is a first impression of communications and experience to come. 

Booking Curve - A booking curve is a visual map or break out of how many bookings, occupancy or revenue is booked by a certain period in the booking window. By way of example 90 days out we would expect to be at 65% of final occupancy for July 4th, we are only at 50% so we are lagging our booking curve. This is very similar to pacing.

Booking Engine - Software used to securely process reservations and payments. Typically this is built into the PMS. 

Booking Request - A Booking Request is where a property may be on an as request basis or a guest would like to book a stay that cannot be booked online (ie less than the minimum length of stay). 

Booking Fee - A Booking Fee will often include the variable costs of accepting a booking such as credit card fees, guest screening costs, customer service allocation or guest damage protection etc. Every manager is different and these can be rolled up differently. 

Cancellation Policy -  The terms and conditions under which a guest can cancel a booking. These may vary by channel the home is marketed to and by manager. Managers may also change cancellation policies to generate bookings as more flexible policies convert better. 

Cancellation Fee - A Cancellation Fee is the fee the guest must pay based on the Cancellation Policy at the time of booking. This is often a portion of the booking value and may or may not be shared with the owner. 

Cap Rate - Cap Rate, or Capitalization Rate, is a way to compare properties ignoring financing. Cap Rate is calculated by the Net Operating Income of the property by the Value of the property. 

Cash on Cash Return (CoC) - Cash on Cash is a measure of the profitability of an investment property. Cash on Cash is calculated by dividing the annual net cash flow of the property by the initial cash investment. Reviewing this metric next to Cap Rate helps you to see the returns based on leverage or financing of a property. 

Channel - A Channel is a marketing website, marketplace or OTA where listings are pushed to. Some examples are Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking etc. 

Channel Fees - Channels like Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking etc will charge a fee for their marketing and facilitation of the booking. These can range from a flat fee to 3% - 18% of the booking value. Some channels will apply this to just rent or rent plus fees. 

Channel Manager - A Channel Manager is a tool that allows a PM or Host to distribute their listings to several OTAs (Vrbo, Airbnb, Booking, Marriott etc) and accept bookings from multiple sources. Sometimes referred to as a Distribution Channel or Channel Router.

Change of Ownership (COO) - When a home changes hands in a managers portfolio but is retained under management. The COO may result in more activity on the sales team to retain the home, new owner usage patterns and potentially changes in restritions. This is a great opportunity to bring new revenue optimization ideas prior ownership might of been against. 

Check-in - The time at which guests are allowed to arrive at a STR.

Check-out - The time at which guests are required to leave a STR.

Cleaning Fee - A fee charged to guests to cover the cost of cleaning a STR after their stay. This may include labor, cleaning supplies, guest supplies and overhead. 

Commission - A percentage of the booking price that is paid to the OTA or from the owner's perspective paid to the property management company to manage the property. Typical OTA commissions range from 3% - 18% and typical manager commissions range from 10% - 50% depending on services provides from a la carte (with extra fees or owner duties) to hotel services (white glove).

Comparable Set (CompSet) - A Comparable Set (CompSet or Comp) refers to a similar home or collection of homes based on location, amenities, size and booking patterns than can be used as a benchmark on rates, performance and pacing. 

Comparable Market Analysis (CMA) - A Comparable Market Analysis (CMA) is a term borrowed from real estate to show a collection of properties and their performance to infer a pro-forma or projection on the subject property. 

Co-Host - A Co-Host is where the owner is involved in marketing and booking or managing the listing but has a local manager to help with on the ground operations. The local manager will be the Co-Host. 

Condo-hotel - A building of Apart-Hotels. Condos operated as a hotel, and may by managed by a hotel brand. 

Conversation Rate - Conversion rate is the number of bookings per view on the listing. This rate is often used for OTA search rankings as it shows and prioritizes listings that book and drive commissions for OTAs. Managers will meet with their account representatives to learn how to improve these metrics through listing optimization. 

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) -  CAC or Customer Acquisition Cost is the total amount of money a company spends to acquire a new customer. CAC can be calculated by dividing the total amount of money spent on marketing and sales by the number of new customers acquired. On the Demand side this would mean the marketing expenses paid to attract a guest to the property--a cost that may be direct or allocated. On the Supply side this would mean owner marketing, direct mail or commissions paid to get a homeowner onboard. 

Damage Waiver Fee - A fee the manager will charge to provide additional guest damage protection. This can be self insured or through a third party provider and is often not optional if charged. 

Demand - The method of quantifying may vary but ultimately the goal is to measure guest's appetite for short term rentals. It can be measured by search volume, inquiries, conversions, bookings or nights booked over a period for a segment. Demand can be measured by booking or stay date. 

Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) - A Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) is a local organization often associated with the local tourism board to promote tourism to their destination. These are very important groups to partner with to help have a voice in how marketing campaigns are designed and run. They also will be a helpful advocate in sharing the economic impact of travel to your area when it comes to regulation discussions. 

Direct Booking - A Direct Booking is when a guest reserves a property directly on the host or managers website and not on a third party website like Airbnb. This will often be the cheapest way to book a STR.

Double Booking - A Double Booking (or Whoopsie!) is when a STR is booked twice for the same date. This can happen when listings are not synced across channels, a manager does not use a PMS or a technical issue happened. 

Dynamic Rates - Dynamic Rates are those that change regularly by algorithms based on demand at the daily level or itinerary level. This allows hosts to maximize revenue for their properties. 

Early Check-In (ECI): When a home is ready for the guest to show up early this notification is a good surprise value add to start a guests stay on a positive note. It is difficult to charge for an ECI because the guest knows the home is available, however, a few days early you can offer it for a percentage of the prior day's rate and call it a cleaning prioritization expense. 

Exclusivity - The majority of managers will require exclusivity meaning they own the calendar and it cannot be rented by the owner or other managers elsewhere. This helps to reduce double bookings, forced moves and drive more revenue for both owner and manager. 

Gap Nights - Gap Nights are nights that are between two reservations. These nights have a lower probability of booking as the maximum length of stay is now capped to just those nights. 

Global Distribution System (GDS) - The Global Distribution System (GDS) is a network enabling travel agencies and travel agents to book inventory. The main GDS providers are Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport with mostly hotel inventory connected and little STR penetration. 

Group Booking - Group Bookings are where a block of demand comes through and books multiple units. This may be for a sports event, church group traveling, TV production crew etc. 

Guest - A person who is staying at a short term rental. Guests include the Primary Guest, the one who booked, and their guests.

Forced Move (FM) - A forced move ideally never happens, however, things do happen. If a home is damaged or not safe for a guest to stay they may have to be relocated to another portfolio property or another home rented elsewhere. 

For Rent By Owner (FRBO) - For Rent By Owner (FRBO) is where there is not a management company and the owner is doing everything themselves. 

Holiday Let - The European or UK phrase for Vacation Rental.  

HomeAway - HomeAway is an Online Travel Agency (OTA) or marketplace for STRs. Homeaway was founded in 2005 acquiring smaller listing sites at the time and eventually acquiring Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO) the largest at the time. In 2015, HomeAway was acquired by Expedia Group and in 2019 Homeaway rebranded as Vrbo.

Homeowners Association (HOA) - An HOA is an organization that manages and enforces rules and regulations of a residential community. They may have additional rules for STRs or even manage their own STR program. 

Host - A person who owns or manages a short term rental.

iCal - A standard method or platform for sharing calendar information. 

Insurance - There are a few types of insurance in STRs. There is Guest Damage Insurance which is often bundled or required at booking and covers the guest for accidental damage. There is trip insurance that will cover the guest beyond the cancellation policy for trip disruptions.

Instant Book - Instant Book is a listing feature or status that allows guests to book instantly online a property for the dates they would like. 

Inquiry - The same as a booking request. 

Keyless Entry - A system that allows guests to enter a STR without a physical key. This can be via key pad, key fob or cell phone app. 

Key Level Listing - On traditional OTAs it is important to differentiate between one listing per unit or one listing per many units. A key level listing means the listing is for that exact units. 

Key Performance Indicator (KPI) - A set of quantifiable metrics used to evaluate performance of an objective. 

Late Check Out (LCO) - Often the manager or host can offer this for an additional fee, normally a percentage of the next days rate. This lets the guest stay later and not rush out the door. LCO is a great offering if you do not have a B2B. 

Length of Stay (LOS) - Length of Stay (LOS) is the average length of a guest reservation over a period of time. This can be at the reservation level or at the annual level. This can also be looked at in terms of booked day versus stay date and have a pacing view. Longer LOS is often booked further out versus a short LOS is often booked much closer in. Think about planning a month long tour around Europe, you might book that much future out to secure your preferred place. However a weekend trip might be booked even same day. 

Rates and Discounts have a large impact on LOS. For example if your mid weeks are priced too high compared to your weekends you will likely have a shorter LOS as only shorter trips are booked. However if you have a good LOS discount you may start booking longer trips. It is important to monitor this so you do not undersell periods or oversell period. A ski lease would be a good example over underpricing a prime period and someone booking a large block of peak time, which could of resulted in more money with shorter stays. Understanding this interplay will make you sound like an expert! 

Length of Stay Pricing (LOS Pricing) or Itinerary Pricing - A pricing strategy by which a host or manager will have a different price for each permutation of stay length. For example a stay that fills a gap completely may earn a discount over one that creates gap/orphan nights. 

Letting or Lets - European word for STR or VRs. 

Life Time Value (LTV) - The Life Time Value (LTV) of a guest or an owner are monitored by the manager. For the homeowner it will be the average contribution margin of the property multiplied by 1 over the average annual churn rate. On the guest side it would be the average net revenue to the manager times 1 plus the average repeat rate.

Listing - A listing is STR that is available for booking either on a managers website directly or on an OTA.

Listing Optimization - The process by which a host or manager ensures their listings are dialed in to drive conversions through description length and details, amenities completeness, photos (quality, order and quantity), 3D tours or videos, changing tag lines etc. 

Lockbox - A Lockbox is still used at a majority of STRs as a method of access to the property. The host will share the most recent code with the guest to gain access. 

Long Term Rental (LTR) - A Long Term Rental (LTR) in most markets is a rental that spans more than 30 days consecutively. These rentals often have more regulations and physical contract attached to them. Most STR managers will steer clear due to complications around evictions and future reservations and legal requirements. 

LTM - Last Twelve Months (LTM) is a common measuring period in the STR space. It can be done on a minus 365 days or from the last completed month. 

Market - A Market is the geographical area a STR is located in. This can be broad from US Vacation Rental Market to city or sub destination. Markets may also be defined by attributes such as rural, urban, beach, mountain, summer, winter or other creative definitions to segment the inventory. 

Marketplace - A website or app that allows guests to book STRs. This is often the same as OTA. 

Marketing & Booking (M&B) - Marketing & Booking (M&B) is where the management company simply does marketing and yield management of the property as well as reservation support. When it comes time for the guest to check in to on the ground maitenance and cleaning that would be on the owner or their agents. 

Markup - A manager may typically mark up rent by a certain amount in order to cover channel fees. Without this channel fees can eat up all of the managers profit margin. 

Master Unit - The primary unit where the unit can be sub divided or locked off to rent to smaller groups in off season or shorter booking windows. For example a 6 Bedroom house may be rented as a 3 Bedroom in a one week booking window to attract couples or smaller parties by locking off rooms. A 6 Bedroom last minute booking has a higher chance of a parter. The 6 Bedroom listing will be the master unit. 

Medium Term Rental - A Medium Term Rental (Mid Term) is often referred to for rentals between 30 and 365 days. 

Minimum Stay or Rate - A Minimum Stay or Rate is the shortest booking or lowest daily rate a owner would be willing to accept. Some owners may rather let the home sit vacant than take a shorter stay. Some revenue managers may use minimum stays as a yield management strategy for key dates or far out booking windows. 

Multi-Channel: Multi-Channel is the process of advertising and synching the same listing across multiple OTAs or platforms to be in front of as many guests as possible. 

Multi-Unit Listings (MUL) - A listing of multiple properties owner or managed by the same ownership that can be clustered together in a combination to attract more bookings. 

Net Cash Flow - Net Cash Flow is the total free cash generated by a rental property after subtracting all expenses from the gross rental income. By way of example this would be Rental Revenue recognized plus fees shared from the management company minus management fees, minus operating expenses (cleaning, utilities, ware and tare, etc) minus carrying costs (property taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc). 

Net Rate - The net rate after channel fees. Managers may take a net rate strategy their the rate they split with owners is what is on the manager's site and is marked up from there to cover channel fees. This means the manager will split with the owner the net amount received from channels after this mark up. 

Noise Detection or Noise Monitoring - This is a smart decible reader often in the property or near noisy amenities that connect to WiFi to alert the manager to parties or noise. These are often more common in party properties or in heavily regulated areas. 

Non-Exclusive - In some markets the norm might be non-exclusivity in which a listing may be listed with multiple managers. With the internet and OTAs this is starting to become less common as it sacrifices online conversions and rankings while encouraging a race to the bottom in pricing. 

NTM - Next Twelve Months (NTM) is the forward looking calendar either today plus 365 or the current calendar month forward 11 extra months. This is used to forecast future revenue or talk about pacing. 

PCI Compliance: A set of measures a manager must take if they are processing payments to protect guest sensitive information. 

Pacing - Pacing is defined as how demand or bookings are happening compared to a previous period. Most often this is done at the market, portfolio or unit level comparing the NTM to the TTM. It is very important to make sure you are looking at Same Store Sales (SSS) so the benchmark (TTM) is the same population as the future (NTM) to control for changes in supply. 

Pet Rent, Pet Fee or Pet Deposit - Hosts and managers may charge an extra fee to allow a guest to bring pets to help cover additional cleaning and to increase revenue. This fee may or may not be split with the owner. If this is a deposit an inspection and refund will have to happen. Managers may opt for the fee instead of a deposit for simplification. 

Pool Heat Fee - An additional fee to heat the pool may apply. Despite the pool being in the listing many owners wont include this for free due to the cost. This fee either goes entirely or mostly to the owner to cover the cost of pool heat while the manager must coordinate with the guest and ensure heat is turned on an off. 

Property Manager (PM) - A Property Manager (PM) is someone who manages a property on behalf of an owner, they will build a portfolio of homes to manage and often create their own brand. These PMs will be called Hosts on OTAs. 

Property Management Software (PMS) - Property Management Software (PMS) is the backbone of every STR PM and is how they manage their calendars, reservations and even push inventory to channels. This software is what keeps the lights on at most PM companies. Some examples are Track, Hostfully, Guesty, Direct and many more!

Projection - A Projection is when a manager uses the best data they have available to infer what a property might perform in the NTM. This can be a simple average or expected occupancy multiplied by expected ADR across different periods. A sophisticated model may take a daily average occupancy for the TTM multiplied against what rates would be for the future for the given property with any NTM occupancy expectations. They may also be range bound to add a margin of error. 

Occupancy  (Occ) - Occupancy (Occ) is percentage of paying guest nights over all available nights (available and unbooked & available and booked) over the same time period. This metric is often compared by month or TTM period and can be at the unit or portfolio/market level. To measure success it should always be compared against a benchmark. Occupancy can be swayed by rate changes, market changes, more or less available nights etc. 

For example if you overprice mid week days you will likely have lower occupancy as people book weekends only. The shorter Length of Stay (LOS) will result in lower Occupancy, higher ADR (you rented the more expensive days) and lower Revenue Per Available Night (RevPAN). Understanding the interplay will make you sound like a true expert. 

Online Travel Agency (OTA) - Online Travel Agency (OTA) is a formal more old school term for when all bookings were done through people versus now a days they are done all online. Major OTA examples are Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking. 

Orphan Nights - Orphan Nights are Gap Nights between reservations that may not be booked due to minimum stay or local regulations. 

Rack Rate - The advertised rate for a stay excluding any discounts for length of stay, credits, last minute discounts or repeat guest discounts etc. 

Rate Parity - OTAs will often require rate parity in their agreements and terms meaning the rate displayed on their site is the same as displayed on other sites. While this is the agreement, in practice this is largely ignored due to enforceability challenges. 

Regulations - STRs may be regulated at the State, County, City or even zoning/HOA level so it is important to understand your local area by partnering with a PM. Regulations can range from an outright ban to background checks to none at all. 

Representative Level Listing (Rep Listing) - A Representative Level Listing (Rep Level Listing) is where a listing is for an example unit where many of the units are similar and interchangeable. The unit assigned with be determined later. This saves from listing an identical unit X number of times and gives the host the advantage of combining reviews. Typically used on traditional Hotel OTAs only. 

Rent Per Available Night (RevPAN) - Rent Per Available Night (RevPAN) is the one metric that controls for a number of variables like availability. Often the this is the metric revenue managers will optimize for. RevPAN is the STR adaption of RevPAR a hotel term for Revenue Per Available Room. Since STRs are an inventory of one and not 100 rooms behind the listing, this means we need a different metric. RevPAN is the Rent divided by Available Nights over a given period. This can also be calculated by multiplying Occupancy by ADR and can be viewed pacing wise as RevPAN increases to final RevPAN unless more nights become available later on (homeowner holds release etc).  

It is important to understand when talking about RevPAN if fees are included. This number should be strictly Rent in order to control for a number of other factors and look at just demand and performance. There is a lot of interplay between ADR and Occupancy which is why we isolate to this one variable. Understanding this interplay makes you look like an expert! 

Revenue - How much rent and fees a property brought in a given time. This can be by bookings created or by recognized revenue on stay date. It is important to understand if you are looking at Rent or Revenue. Revenue may include fees that are not split with the homeowner with a management company or even taxes. 

Revenue Management (RM) - Revenue Management (RM) or often called Yield Management is the practice of setting and managing dynamic rate algorithms and adjusting price, discounts, marketing, cancelation policies and considerably more to optimize RevPAN for each listing. 

Revenue Management Software (RMS) - Revenue Management Software (RMS) for the STR space helps Revenue Managers to manage portfolios of homes, cohorts or single units with rate logic, custom rates, overrides and different dynamic pricing algorithms and logic. These systems also help managers manages these complex rules across many different channels. Examples would be Wheelhouse, Beyond, Price Labs etc. 

Review - A written assessment of a STR by a guest. These can be on scales of 0 - 10 or 1 - 5 depending on the site. It is important to check property reviews to understand what your getting into. If a property does not have reviews it is important to check the review of the management. 

Room Type - A Room Type is what it is called when a property has identical inventory and they rent representative listings. This is what hotels do when they rent for example a "King with view". The property may have many units behind this listing and the unit number will be assigned later. 

Same Store Sales (SSS) - Sames Store Sales (SSS) is when the population of homes evaluated is filtered down to only those active on the evaluation date minus one year. This allows for apples to apples comparison in portfolio or cohort performance without skewing results due to inventory growth or changes. Not controlling for SSS will skew results for market growth or inventory make up. 

Screening - Guest screening may be required by location or done by manager preference to ensure the guest is who they say they are and to attempt to deter parties. This may include a selfie and ID scan or out of wallet questions.

Seasonality - Seasonality is defined by the seasonal variations of a market. A highly seasonal market make have a sell out in prime time and low to no demand in off season, for example very small ski markets. A low seasonal market or evergreen market may be a place like Hawaii where demand is constant but prices will vary. This is most often measured by occupancy. 

Security Deposit - A sum of money that is held by the host to cover any damage to a short term rental during a guest's stay. These have largely gone away and been replaced with insurance products. Managers have realized that the less cash held up front means higher conversion and higher rates they can charge. 

Self-Check-In - A process by which a host can grant the guest direct access to the property. They do not need to stop by an office for key, but rather let themselves in when they arrive. 

Short Term Rental (STR) - A Short Term Rental (STR) is either a property or a stay typically less than 30 days and can be interchangeable with Vacation Rental (VR). However, since not every STR reservation is a vacation the industry have moved to STR. The length of the definition may vary by market as some markets consider 90 days or less an STR. 

Shoulder Season - A period that separates high and low seasons and might not easily fall into either. These seasons can be widened with dynamic rates, better snow seasons or shortened in recessions etc. 

Static Rates - The opposite of dynamic rates. A host or manager may set the rates once for the year and then let the chips fall where they may. 

Supply - The total number or STR listings or STR nights available to book. 

Super Unit - Sometimes called a combination unit, this is when multiple units next to each other can be combined together to rent to a larger party. For example two 3 bedroom duplexes owned by the same owner may be rented together as a 6 bedroom home to rent further out in the booking window to larger parties for a premium. 

Total Addressable Market (TAM) - TAM is the total amount of market opportunity either in terms of guest demand to book a give date range in a market or the amount of homeowners that can be managed by PMs. 

Transient Taxes - Taxes applied to STRs, often less than 30 day stays. Taxes can vary between 0% - 20%+ in some markets depending on local regulators. 

Travel Agent (TA) - A Travel Agent (TA) is someone that books on behalf of their guest or client. This often happens with celebrities or people looking for someone to manage the whole vacation package. They may command up to 20% fee from the booking for their services. 

Vacation Rental (VR) - Vacation Rental (VR) is a rental with the primary purpose being for leisure or vacation. However, since not all STRs are for vacations (especially in urban markets) this term has been going out of style. 

Vrbo - Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO) was one of the first rental listing sites (OTA) originally set up for owners eventually became a place for professionally managed homes as well. VRBO started in 1995 and was purchased by Homeaway in 2005, who was acquired by Expedia in 2015 and brands consolidated to Vrbo in 2019.  

VRMA - The Vacation Rental Managers Association is currently the largest association of STR managers. 

Hear a term you think we have missed? Let us know!