Short Term Rental Tax Advantages

[Frank Apap]

Hi, I am quite new to real estate investment.  I stumbled on some information about short term rental tax benefits as it pertains to lowering W-2 Income.  I am trying to figure out if this is really as good as it sounds.  I have been interested in getting into short term rentals and after reading about the tax benefits my interest is peaked.

Are there any basic rules of thumb on how to go about further researching if this is a good fit for me?  I'm a bit unclear on the math of what cost property, relative to my w-2 makes sense in terms of offsetting my income.  If my short term rental is not a positive cash-flow could it still be a good investment given the tax advantages?  

If anyone has first hand experience and an example of how to use this deduction, that would be really helpful.