Hi Liam,

I rent a few properties short-term myself (mine's in Italy and France), and I'm a legal and conflict resolution consultant where I work with property owners and STR hosts navigating disputes, contracts, and vendor/guest conflict. So I can add a perspective to your list that experienced hosts sometimes only learn the hard way myself included.

1. Biggest unexpected expense : From my personal experience and for hosts I work with it's not the big-ticket stuff. It's the ongoing operational drag: pest control, unplanned maintenance/repairs between guests, and restocking supplies that add up faster than expected. Insurance is another one people underestimate, since standard homeowner's policies often don't cover STR use, so you need a specific STR policy.

2. Remote turnover/cleaning: Don't try to manage it yourself remotely if your rental will be far away. Build a reliable local team (cleaner + a local point-of-contact who can physically check the property) and use a shared calendar/scheduling tool so cleaning is automatically triggered by checkout, not manually coordinated every time.

3. Tool/software I'd set up Day 1: Most experienced hosts use a property management tool like Hostaway, Hospitable, etc. that syncs to your calendar, automates guest messaging, and coordinates cleaning  rather than trying to run everything manually through a platforms app alone.

One thing I'd add beyond those three, since it's easy to miss when you're focused on the operational side: build in a plan or hire a consultant or firm for conflict before you need one. If you plan on listing your property on a booking site or platform you will quickly learn that they don't really have an experienced conflict/de-escalation team and many platforms are guest favored over the host. A guest dispute, a local regulation issue, or a falling-out with whoever's managing things on the ground. That's the cost that doesn't show up in a spreadsheet until it happens, and it can impact your host score, reviews and income. I actually work with property owners on exactly that side of things now, separate from the operational stuff.

Good luck! happy to answer anything further as you get closer.