PriceLabs co-founder says systems, not portfolio size, now separate successful short-term rental operators

The short-term rental industry is filling up with a new kind of business owner.

They are not casual hosts renting out a spare room, and they are not running ridiculously large property management companies.

They sit somewhere in the middle, managing between five and 50 properties with small teams, big goals, and a growing list of responsibilities to keep their business running.

In a new report, PriceLabs calls these short-term rental owners the industry’s “invisible entrepreneurs.”

A new survey of more than 750 verified short-term rental operators across more than 15 countries found that this group is quickly turning what was once considered a side hustle into a full-time business.

Seventy-one percent of the operators surveyed said they work full-time in their business, while more than half, or 53 percent, said their ultimate goal is financial independence or building a company they can eventually exit.

But making the jump from casual side hosting to a full-time operation is not always straightforward.

Richie Khandelwal, Co-Founder of PriceLabs, told REWire Media the biggest barriers are often financial.

Many part-time operators are reluctant to give up a dependable paycheck until they’re pretty confident their rental portfolio can reliably replace it.

“Our interviews for the Global Property Manager Report made it clear that many operators are risk-averse, prioritizing a stable paycheck until their portfolio can reliably replace it. However, for many, there’s also an access problem: traditional banks often lack lending frameworks for STR businesses, making it difficult for them to access the capital they need to go full-time,” Khandelwal told the STR Wire exclusively.

“In some markets, particularly in Europe, operators can hit ceilings where expanding further or hiring more staff triggers much higher tax burdens. This penalizes growth, keeping otherwise successful businesses stuck,” Khandelwal continued. “The final reason is simply a lifestyle choice. Some of the operators we spoke to feel that their businesses are performing well as ‘side hustles,’ and they don’t feel incentivized to scale further.”

The industry has traditionally been split between casual hosts and large management companies. But Khandelwal believes a more professional middle tier is now taking shape.

“The short-term rental industry has long been a tale of two halves, one made up of casual hosts and the other, large management companies with varying levels of operational maturity. However, we’re now seeing the emergence of a category in the middle, formed by ambitious and hands-on invisible entrepreneurs,” he said, adding, “When done well, this group offers a more professional service than hosts and closer attention than enterprise companies.”

The most important factor for success is “professionalism and operational structure,” Khandelwal says.

“In such a competitive market, it’s no longer enough to simply have nice photos on your listing and run the property in your spare time,” he explained. “Guest expectations are higher than ever, and the only managers that will succeed are those who invest in operations, technology, and their team.”

The divide is not about portfolio size

The number of properties an operator manages may matter less than how well the business runs behind the scenes, the study also revealed.

Operators who said their tools and systems work well were three times more likely to feel energized by their business.

Those feeling stressed were twice as likely to say their operations were still too manual.

That divide also shaped how operators viewed the year ahead.

Those who said they lacked the right tools were nearly twice as likely to expect 2026 to be worse than 2025.

But there’s a fix for that.

For operators hesitant to hand more control to technology, Khandelwal said automation does not have to be an all-or-nothing decision.

“Automation should be viewed as a tool to enhance, not replace your decision-making,” he told The STR Wire.

He recommends starting with low-stakes tasks that aren’t guest-facing and do not directly affect revenue. An operator might automate an owner report, for example, while continuing to review it before it is sent.

“Then you can gradually expand that automation into higher-stakes areas when you’re comfortable,” Khandelwal said. “You also never have to surrender control.”

That divide also shaped how operators viewed the year ahead.

Those who said they lacked the right tools were nearly twice as likely to expect 2026 to be worse than 2025.

But the report does not show one industry racing toward the same technology.

Instead, operators appear to be at very different stages.

The businesses that leaned less on AI and technology said pricing automation and calendar syncing were their biggest unmet needs.

Khandelwal said operators can use data-backed tools without giving up the final say.

“Use data-backed tools to set rules and help generate responses, but you and your team can remain the ultimate authority,” he said.

Pricing software is one example. Operators can rely on data-backed recommendations while retaining the ability to override rates based on local events, booking patterns or their knowledge of the market.

“Many successful operators use pricing tools but retain the ability to make manual overrides based on their local market knowledge,” Khandelwal said.

The more advanced group had already moved on to a different set of frustrations.

Forty-four percent wanted help automating listing optimization, while 41 percent pointed to owner reporting.

Spreadsheets are not going anywhere yet

Despite the growing use of property management systems and pricing software, nearly half of the businesses surveyed still rely on spreadsheets and manual work for at least part of their operations.

Forty-eight percent said some areas of the business remain manual.

Performance tracking topped the list of tasks operators most wanted to automate at 47 percent, followed closely by listing optimization at 46 percent and owner reporting at 41 percent.

But Khandelwal cautioned operators against automating the parts of the guest experience that make their business stand out.

“Avoid automating the interactions that make your brand special,” he said. “If high-touch hospitality is your differentiator, keep doing it personally.”

Instead, he recommends focusing first on what he called the “invisible” work behind the business, including calendar syncing, owner statements and cleaning schedules.

The findings suggest that while guest messaging and booking tasks have received plenty of attention, much of the work that happens after the reservation still involves spreadsheets, reports and time-consuming updates.

Negative reviews remain the biggest worry

Technology may shape how operators feel about their businesses, but it is not their biggest concern.

In the study, negative guest reviews ranked first, cited by 79 percent of respondents, while regulatory changes followed at 62 percent, and 41 percent said they were worried about becoming overwhelmed by AI.

These are all fair concerns that should rank high on an STR operator’s list.

The report paints a picture of operators who are no longer treating short-term rentals as something they manage around another job. They are building businesses, chasing revenue and trying to create financial independence, even if parts of the operation are still held together by spreadsheets.

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