STR Terms & Abbreviations Every New Host Should Know
Short-term rentals come with their own language, and it doesn’t take long before terms like ADR, RevPAR, PMS, and NOI start showing up in articles, calculators, software, and market research. You don’t need to memorize everything at once, but understanding the most common terminology makes it much easier to evaluate a property, follow your numbers, and make informed decisions.
The STR Numbers You’ll See Most Often
These are some of the most common financial and performance terms used when evaluating how a short-term rental is performing.
| Term | Stands For | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| ADR | Average Daily Rate | The average nightly rate earned across booked nights. |
| Occupancy Rate | — | The percentage of available nights that were booked during a specific period. |
| RevPAR | Revenue Per Available Rental | Measures revenue across all available nights, including nights that were not booked. |
| NOI | Net Operating Income | Income remaining after normal operating expenses, before financing costs and taxes. |
| CoC Return | Cash-on-Cash Return | Measures annual cash flow compared with the amount of cash invested in the property. |
| ROI | Return on Investment | A broad measure of how much an investment earns compared with its cost. |
| DSCR | Debt Service Coverage Ratio | Compares property income with the amount required to cover its debt payments. |
| Break-even Occupancy | — | The occupancy level needed for rental income to cover the property’s expenses. |
| P&L | Profit and Loss Statement | A financial report showing income, expenses, and profit or loss over a specific period. |
No single number tells the entire story. For example, a rental can have high occupancy but still produce disappointing cash flow if nightly rates are too low or expenses are too high.
Common Hosting, Booking & Operations Terms
Some terminology describes the type of rental, while other terms relate to how reservations and day-to-day operations are managed.
| Term | Stands For | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| STR | Short-Term Rental | A furnished property rented for relatively short stays, often by the night or week. |
| MTR | Mid-Term Rental | A furnished rental typically used for stays of several weeks or months. |
| LTR | Long-Term Rental | A property rented under a longer lease, commonly six months or more. |
| OTA | Online Travel Agency | A booking marketplace such as Airbnb or Vrbo that connects travelers with rental properties. |
| PMS | Property Management System | Software used to manage reservations, calendars, guest communication, and other rental operations. |
| Channel Manager | — | Software that synchronizes rates, availability, and reservations across multiple booking platforms. |
| Direct Booking | — | A reservation made directly with the rental business instead of through a third-party booking platform. |
| Booking Window | — | How far in advance guests typically make their reservations. |
| Lead Time | — | The amount of time between when a reservation is made and the guest’s arrival date. |
| LOS | Length of Stay | The number of nights included in a guest’s reservation. |
| Minimum Stay | — | The minimum number of nights a guest must reserve for a particular booking period. |
| Turnover | — | The cleaning, restocking, inspection, and reset of a property between guest stays. |
| Dynamic Pricing | — | Adjusting nightly rates based on factors such as demand, seasonality, events, and availability. |
| Instant Book | — | A booking option that allows qualifying guests to reserve without waiting for host approval. |
| Blocked Dates | — | Dates intentionally made unavailable for guest reservations. |
| Cleaning Fee | — | A separate charge intended to cover the cost of cleaning and preparing the rental between stays. |
Understanding these terms becomes especially helpful once multiple tools or booking platforms are involved. Knowing what each system is responsible for can also prevent unnecessary overlap between software and processes.
If your tools are starting to feel disconnected, Your STR Doesn’t Need More Tools. It Needs a Better System. looks at how to build a simpler workflow around them.
Market Research & Investment Terms Worth Knowing
Before setting up a rental, you may also encounter terminology used to evaluate markets, neighborhoods, competitors, and potential investment opportunities.
| Term | Stands For | What It Means |
|---|---|---|
| Comps | Comparable Properties | Similar nearby rentals used to compare pricing, amenities, demand, design, and performance. |
| Market Demand | — | The level of traveler interest and booking activity within a particular market. |
| Supply | — | The number of available short-term rentals competing for guests within a market. |
| Seasonality | — | Predictable changes in demand throughout the year based on travel patterns, weather, events, or other factors. |
| Peak Season | — | The time of year when a market typically experiences its strongest demand. |
| Shoulder Season | — | The period between peak and slower seasons when demand is usually moderate. |
| Low Season | — | The period when a market generally experiences its lowest travel demand. |
| Market Saturation | — | A situation where rental supply is high relative to available guest demand. |
| Acquisition Cost | — | The total cost associated with purchasing a property, including the purchase price and related transaction costs. |
| Operating Expenses | — | Recurring costs required to operate the rental, such as utilities, maintenance, insurance, supplies, and management. |
| Fixed Expenses | — | Costs that generally stay relatively consistent regardless of how many nights are booked. |
| Variable Expenses | — | Costs that increase or decrease depending on occupancy or guest activity. |
| Rental Arbitrage | — | Leasing a property and, with the proper permission, operating it as a short-term rental rather than purchasing it. |
| House Hacking | — | Using part of a property as a rental while living in another portion of the property. |
| STR Regulations | Short-Term Rental Regulations | Local laws and requirements governing whether and how short-term rentals may operate. |
| Permit or License | — | Local authorization that may be required before legally operating a short-term rental. |
Market averages are useful starting points, but they shouldn’t replace research into regulations, neighborhood fit, competition, likely guests, expenses, and the characteristics of the individual property. MarketLens can help you explore some of those market and neighborhood factors when you’re researching a potential location.
If you’re still gathering information, the STR Market Research Checklist gives you a simple way to keep track of the questions and data worth reviewing before making a decision.
Understanding STR terminology won’t make every decision simple, but it does make the information surrounding those decisions easier to understand. Keep this glossary as a reference and return to it whenever an unfamiliar term shows up in your research, calculations, or rental planning.
You can also explore more STR planning tools and resources as you move from research into setup.
Happy Hosting!
