How do I set up a short-term rental property?

Complete STR setup: profile, rates and fees, calendar, cleaning workflow, owner terms, and a test reservation.

Purpose

A short-term rental property needs more setup than a long-term one: nightly rates, fees, a live calendar, cleaning turnover, and owner finance rules. Follow these steps once per STR property and daily operations largely run themselves.

Who can use this

Admins and property managers. The Short-Term Rental module must be enabled.

Steps

1Create the property with management type "Short-term" (or "Mixed") — see "How do I add a property?".
2Open STR > Properties (/str/properties) and select the property to complete its STR profile.
3Set the listing basics: bedrooms, bathrooms, max guests, and description.
4Set the nightly base rate and any seasonal or weekend pricing you use.
5Set the cleaning fee and any other guest fees. All money is entered as exact amounts — Rentivue stores cents precisely.
6Set booking rules: minimum stay, check-in and check-out times.
7Review the calendar at STR > Calendar (/str/calendar) — this is the single source of truth for availability.
8Set up the cleaning workflow at STR > Cleaning (/str/cleaning) so a turnover task is created for each checkout — see "How do I create a cleaning task?".
9Confirm the owner link and management fee terms on the property, so statements calculate correctly.
10Optional: publish the property to your direct booking website at STR > Direct Booking > Listings — see "How do I create a direct booking website or landing page?".
11Create a test reservation at STR > Reservations > New to verify rates, fees, and calendar blocking behave as expected, then cancel it.

Important notes

The calendar blocks dates for confirmed reservations, owner personal use, and manual blocks. Double bookings are rejected at creation time.
If you list on external channels (Airbnb, and others), keep availability aligned — Rentivue is the operational calendar for everything booked in it.
STR revenue and fees flow into owner statements automatically when Finance and Owner Statements are enabled.

Related settings

Settings > Modules & Features (Short-Term Rental, Direct Booking); the property's STR profile.

Common mistakes

Leaving the cleaning fee at zero and absorbing cleaning costs unintentionally.
Skipping the test reservation and discovering rate mistakes on a real guest.

FAQ

Where do direct-booking requests appear?: STR > Direct Booking > Requests, where you confirm them into reservations.