In my area, most jurisdictions do not have anything making this distinction, but some jurisdictions (mostly the cities) have been adding the definitions/clarification in the last few years.  

Because it means you could qualify to use your rental losses — from depreciation, upgrades, or cost segregation — to offset your other active income, even W-2 income in some cases.That one distinction can mean thousands in tax savings.So before you set up your next listing, take a moment to make sure you’re classifying your property correctly and tracking your hours.A few minutes of good tax planning can easily beat weeks of chasing higher nightly rates.Curious — do you track your Airbnb hours or just rely on your CPA to handle it at tax time?

@Garret Rumbea Larger multifamily syndication is an overly broad label and using it without distinction leads to misleading comparisons.

The most distinct and occupied rentals offer more than just a roof over heads.

If your sisters were truly co-owners for years, their portion’s gain/loss will likely be different from yours — but if their names were only added for estate planning and your parents still retained beneficial ownership, all of you might qualify for the step-up.Long story short: the IRS cares about ownership intent, not just whose name was on the paper — and that distinction can make a big difference here.

If anyone can give me any suggestions, I'd be extremely grateful.

Quote from @Placeholder Placeholder: Has anyone ever heard of Funding Co Holding, LLC, was In need of hard money loan due to unqualified docs, attempting to purchase potential property with extremely great ROI.

The distinction matters, since the economics are very different between mid-term rentals and traditional buy-and-hold. 

However, one key distinction is you have to separate building from land so the portion that is land is not depreciable. 

The biggest distinctions are the presence of a prepayment penalty, and the fact that they're underwritten based on the property cash-flows rather than your individual income, assets, and employment.