Community Perks with The STR Report

🏠 Top-Tier Property Management – Lower fees, higher payouts, and premium service. Built for investors who want performance and peace of mind. See how much more your property could earn—click to get your free performance assessment.

🔎 Personal Airbnb Investment Finder – Connect with an expert to handpick profitable Airbnb properties that match your criteria. With 213+ successful deals, all cash-flowing, you’re in good hands. Take 15 seconds to fill out the form to see how all of these properties are experiencing a 10-15% Cash-on-Cash return.

🤑 STR Loans & More – Need funding for your next short-term rental? Expect expert guidance, personalized service, and the best possible rates.

December 26th, 2025

Good evening STR Report Community!

In today’s issue, you will find:

📱Today’s Article: Should You Adjust Your Minimum Stay Requirements in Q1?

📈 Trending Market Highlight: Cooperstown, New York and Hershey, Pennsylvania

✉️ STR News: How Tax Compliance Can Be a Competitive Differentiator for Short-Term Rentals

💸 Mortgage Rate Watch

🌊✨ Unique Airbnb of the Week

🏫 Subscriber Perks: Go Live Playbook, including: Beginner’s Guide E-Book, Guest Communication Messaging Templates, Airbnb Welcome Guide Template, STR Buy Box Template, & Tax Savings E-Book

✅ Community Perks: Top-Tier Property Management, Personal Airbnb Investment Finder, and STR Loans & More

📬 See our collection of newsletters here: Prior Newsletters

Should You Adjust Your Minimum Stay Requirements in Q1?

Q1 is a strange season for short-term rentals. Demand dips after the holidays, business travel hasn’t fully rebounded, and leisure guests are cautious with discretionary spending. That combination forces operators to answer a deceptively simple question: should you allow shorter stays to fill gaps, or hold firm for longer bookings?

The right answer depends on your market, your cost structure, and—most importantly—your data.

What the Data Says About Q1 Demand

Across most markets, Q1 booking patterns skew shorter. Travelers are more likely to book:

• Weekend getaways

• 1–2-night work trips

• Last-minute stays driven by events or weather

Longer leisure trips do happen, but they’re less frequent and often booked closer to arrival. Properties with rigid 3–5 night minimums often experience more vacant nights simply because demand doesn’t align with the rule.

The Case for Allowing 1–2-Night Stays

Lowering minimum stays in Q1 can improve occupancy without necessarily hurting revenue—if done intentionally.

Benefits include:

• Filling orphan nights between bookings

• Capturing last-minute demand

• Improving listing visibility on booking platforms

• Generating more reviews during a slower season

In many markets, data shows that two 2-night stays can outperform one longer booking when pricing is adjusted correctly, especially midweek.

The Hidden Costs of Short Stays

That said, shorter stays aren’t free money. They come with:

• Higher cleaning and turnover costs

• More operational complexity

• Increased wear and tear

• Greater guest communication volume

If your cleaning costs are high or your operation isn’t streamlined, accepting 1-night stays at the wrong price can erode margins quickly.

When Longer Minimums Still Make Sense

Holding a 3+ night minimum can be the right move if:

• You operate in a drive-to leisure market with longer average stays

• Your property attracts family or group travel

• Cleaning costs are disproportionately high

• Your historical Q1 data shows stable longer bookings

In these cases, selectively opening shorter stays only to fill gaps (rather than across the calendar) often works better than a blanket policy change.

The Smart Q1 Strategy: Flexibility, Not Extremes

The strongest Q1 performers rarely choose “short stays only” or “long stays only.” Instead, they use dynamic minimum stays:

• Shorter minimums for weekdays and last-minute windows

• Longer minimums for weekends or peak dates

• Pricing premiums for 1-night stays to protect margins

This approach lets demand dictate behavior instead of forcing the calendar to comply with a static rule.

Q1 rewards operators who are flexible, data-driven, and realistic about demand. If your calendar has gaps, your minimum stay rule might be the problem—but changing it without adjusting pricing and costs can create new ones.

Before you decide, review your past Q1 performance, cleaning costs, and booking lead times. The best minimum stay policy isn’t the shortest or the longest—it’s the one that matches how guests actually travel in the first quarter.

Cooperstown, New York 🍁

Downloadable Cooperstown, New York Short-Term Rental Market Report

• Average Daily Rate (ADR): $339.54 per night

• Occupancy Rate: 53.24%

• Annual Revenue Potential: Around $58,584 per year

Read our full Cooperstown, New York Short-Term Rental Market Report attached above.

Hershey, Pennsylvania 🍫

Downloadable Hershey, Pennsylvania Short-Term Rental Market Report

• Average Daily Rate (ADR): $162.67 per night

• Occupancy Rate: 53.96%

• Annual Revenue Potential: Around $54,072 per year

Read our full Hershey, Pennsylvania Short-Term Rental Market Report attached above.

📬 See our collection of 120+ market reports here: Prior Trending Market Reports

📝 How digital monitoring is reshaping short-term rental enforcement in Europe
ShortTermRentalz interviewed Francesc Serrano, CEO and founder of Talk&Code, to understand how digital monitoring tools are being used by public authorities to identify potentially non-compliant listings at scale.

🏡 Is pricing really the problem? Why content quality matters for STR performance
Dynamic pricing and revenue management solution provider PriceLabs reviewed over 10,000 STR listings across 9 cities and found that only 9 per cent achieved high quality content scores. The research underscored the importance of content quality for improving performance.

💸 How Tax Compliance Can Be a Competitive Differentiator for Short-Term Rentals 
For today’s short-term rental hosts and operators, margins are tightening as the market matures. As tax and regulatory issues continue to be a moving target, new research underscores why compliance is emerging as one of the most consequential and underestimated issues facing the STR sector today.

💸Mortgage Rate Watch – December 26th, 2025

Current Mortgage Rates (updated as of December 24, 2025):

• 30-Year Fixed: 6.21% (–0.03%)

• 15-Year Fixed: 5.74% (–0.01%)

• 30-Year Jumbo: 6.40% (–0.02%)

• 30-Year FHA: 5.86% (–0.02%)

• 30-Year VA: 5.88% (–0.01%)

• 7/6 SOFR ARM: 5.79% (–0.02%)

Market Overview: Mortgage rates moved modestly lower today, led by a three-basis-point decline in the 30-year fixed rate to 6.21%. The pullback reflects lighter holiday-week trading and steady bond market conditions, with limited new economic data influencing rate movement. Overall pricing suggests lenders remain cautious but slightly more flexible as the year winds down.

Rate Trends & Forecast:

• Short-Term: Rates are likely to remain in a tight range through the end of the year, with small day-to-day changes expected unless unexpected economic data or market volatility emerges.

• Long-Term: If inflation continues to moderate and long-term Treasury yields trend lower in early 2026, there is potential for gradual rate improvement. However, meaningful declines will still require a clearer shift in economic conditions or monetary policy.

  For real-time mortgage rate updates, visit Mortgage News Daily.

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Subscriber Perks:

📖🏡💰 Go Live Playbook

The "Go Live Playbook" is your all-in-one guide featuring a beginner’s guide e-book, messaging templates, Airbnb welcome book, STR buy box template, and tax savings tips to kickstart your short-term rental success.

Community Perks with The STR Report

🏠 Top-Tier Property Management – Lower fees, higher payouts, and premium service. Built for investors who want performance and peace of mind. See how much more your property could earn—click to get your free performance assessment.

🔎 Personal Airbnb Investment Finder – Connect with an expert to handpick profitable Airbnb properties that match your criteria. With 213+ successful deals, all cash-flowing, you’re in good hands. Take 15 seconds to fill out the form to see how all of these properties are experiencing a 10-15% Cash-on-Cash return.

🤑 STR Loans & More – Need funding for your next short-term rental? Expect expert guidance, personalized service, and the best possible rates.

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We appreciate you being a part of our STR community and for sharing our group with your business partners and associates. Thank you!