Not a rental activity
The passive rental rules don’t apply. Whether the loss is passive now depends on material participation, measured over the same year.
FREE CALCULATOR · SHORT-TERM RENTALS
STR 7-Day Rule
Average Stay Calculator
A free calculator for Airbnb, Vrbo and other short-term rental owners: enter your guest stays and get the average period of customer use that decides the 7-day rule. No sign-up, and nothing you enter leaves your browser.
Educational estimate only. It doesn’t determine how your property is classified or replace a CPA.
YOUR 2026 AVERAGE
Average
guest stay
- Stays counted
- —
- Total counted
- —
- Longest stay
- —
- Longest extra booking that keeps you at 7 or under
- —
- Lines not counted
- —
Inputs stay in your browser. Nothing is sent or saved.
THE FIRST GATE OF THE STR LOOPHOLE
How the 7-day rule works
Under Treasury Regulation §1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A), renting out property isn’t a “rental activity” under the passive loss rules if the average period of customer use is seven days or less. A short-term rental that clears this test is treated like a business, so its losses are non-passive if you materially participate and can offset wages and other income. That is the first gate of the STR loophole.
The average is simple: add up the days in every guest stay during the tax year and divide by the number of stays (Treas. Reg. §1.469-1(e)(3)(iii)). Each booking is one stay, even if the guest extends it.
Rental, unless you provide hotel-like services
The property escapes the rental rules only if you provide significant personal services, such as daily housekeeping or meals. Services that come with an ordinary lease, like repairs and trash collection, don’t count.
A rental activity
Losses are generally passive. They can offset wages only through real estate professional status or the $25,000 allowance for active participation, which phases out above $100,000 of income.
How this calculator counts your stays
Nights or days
The regulation counts days but doesn’t say how to count a stay from check-in to check-out. Most hosts and CPAs count booked nights; counting days (nights plus one) adds a day to every stay. Pick one method and use it for every stay and every year. If your average sits close to 7, try both and talk to your CPA.
Stays over New Year
Only stays that end during the tax year, or that include its last day, count toward that year. A stay from December 30 to January 2 includes December 31, so it counts toward the year it began, at its full length. The regulation doesn’t say whether it also counts in the following year; the calculator counts it once, in the earlier year.
What to leave out
Nights you or your family use the property, and free stays for friends, are personal use, not customer use. Leave them out and track them separately. Canceled bookings don’t count either; lines that mention a cancellation are skipped automatically.
More than one property
Calculate each property on its own. If you treat several properties as one activity, the regulation weights each property’s average by its share of rental income, so ask your CPA to combine them.
How to keep your average at 7 or under
Set a maximum stay. A seven-night maximum in your Airbnb or Vrbo calendar settings is the simplest protection.
Check before accepting a long booking. The “longest extra booking” line above tells you how long a booking you can take without going over. A property with 60 stays averaging 3.5 nights has room for a 217-night booking; one with 10 stays averaging 5 nights has room for 27.
Watch low-volume properties. A quiet condo with 25 stays averaging 3.6 nights moves to 6.9 after one 90-night booking and to 10.0 after a second. The fewer stays you have, the more a single long booking moves the average.
Review it before December 31. The average is measured over the calendar year, and the last weeks are your last chance to change it. If you’re launching late in the year, read Buying a Short-Term Rental in December: with no guest stays at all there is no average to compute, and the Tax Court refused the exception in that situation in Rogerson v. Commissioner.
THE SECOND GATE
Under 7? Material participation
is what makes the loss usable.
Pick the test that fits
Most hosts use the 100-hour test (more than 100 hours and at least as much as anyone else) or the substantially-all test (you do nearly all the work).
Count everyone’s hours
Your cleaner, co-host and handyman sit on the other side of the 100-hour comparison. See the 100-hour trap, and if you have a day job, the W-2 playbook.
Log it as you go
Keep booking exports for the average, plus a contemporaneous hour log. Start with the free log template, or log by timer, voice or receipt scan in the PropHours app.
See how PropHours works →Then estimate what the loss is worth with the STR loophole tax savings calculator.
7-DAY RULE QUESTIONS
7-day rule calculator FAQ
What is the 7-day rule for short-term rentals?
If the average guest stay at a property is seven days or less for the year, renting it isn’t a rental activity under the passive loss rules. Its losses can then offset wages and other income if you also materially participate.
How do I calculate my average guest stay?
Add up the days of every guest stay during the tax year and divide by the number of stays. Three stays of 3, 4 and 5 nights average 4 nights.
Do I count nights or days?
Most hosts and CPAs count booked nights. The regulation counts days but doesn’t say how to count a stay, so pick one method and use it consistently.
Does an average of exactly 7 days qualify?
Yes. The rule is seven days or less, so an average of exactly 7.0 qualifies, while 7.1 doesn’t.
Do my own stays count toward the average?
No. Nights you or your family use the property, and free stays for friends, are personal use, not customer use. Leave them out of the average and track them separately.
How is a stay over New Year counted?
A stay that includes December 31 counts toward the year it began, at its full length. The regulation doesn’t say whether it also counts in the next year, so this calculator counts it once, in the earlier year.
Does a guest who extends their stay count as two stays?
No. A continuous right to use the property is one period of customer use, even if the guest extends or renews the booking.
What if my average is between 7 and 30 days?
The property is a rental activity unless you provide significant personal services, the hotel-like kind such as daily housekeeping or meals. Services that come with an ordinary lease, like repairs and trash collection, don’t count.
What if I had no guest stays this year?
Then there is no average to compute. In Rogerson v. Commissioner, the Tax Court refused the seven-day exception for property with no customer use, so plan for real bookings before December 31.
Does passing the 7-day rule mean I can deduct my STR losses?
No. It only takes the property out of the rental activity rules. You still need to materially participate, for example more than 100 hours and at least as much as anyone else, for the loss to offset other income.
How do I calculate the average for several properties?
Calculate each property on its own. If you treat several properties as one activity, the regulation weights each property’s average by its share of rental income, so ask your CPA to combine them.
Are the stays I enter saved or uploaded?
No. The calculator runs in your browser, and nothing you paste or type is sent or stored. Reset restores the example.
STAYS · HOURS · EVIDENCE
Keep the record
behind the average.
PropHours syncs your booking calendar and keeps it next to your hour log and receipts, ready for your CPA.
Explore PropHours →Sources: Treas. Reg. §1.469-1T(e)(3) · Treas. Reg. §1.469-1(e)(3)(iii) · IRS Publication 925. Rules reviewed November 3, 2026. PropHours records the work you log; it does not determine tax treatment or eligibility.