Why 35% of STR hosts lose sleep (October 2024 survey)

In October 2024 we surveyed 50 Ontario short-term rental operators — properties from one to ten units, concentrated in Waterloo Region, Toronto, and Ottawa — about what property failures actually cost them. The financial numbers were what we expected. The psychological ones were why we started the company.

The headline findings

66% had a property failure affect guests in the previous 12 months, and 32% had two or more. Average direct cost ran $1,000–1,500 per incident, with one bad review costing roughly $3,000 in future bookings. 86% spent two-plus hours a month coordinating maintenance; more than a third spent five-plus. And the two we keep coming back to: 68% reported significant stress about their property — and 35% lose sleep over it.

The on-call tax

Hosting puts you permanently on call for a building you’re not in. Every unexplained notification, every guest message after 10 PM, every cold snap in the forecast is a small interrupt — and the interrupts don’t respect your job, your family dinner, or your own vacation. Operators told us the worst part isn’t the incidents; it’s the anticipation: the low-grade scan for what might be going wrong right now, in a house that can’t tell you.

That’s why 22% ranked after-hours incidents as their single biggest operational headache. Not the cost — the hours and the dread.

What “peace of mind” means mechanically

We’re suspicious of the phrase, so here’s the mechanical version: peace of mind is knowing the detection window is covered by someone who will act. Not an app you have to check — a person who checks for you, dismisses the noise, and only reaches you when something real needs a decision. The survey told us operators don’t want more data about their property. They want fewer reasons to think about it.

The full methodology note: anonymous online survey, October 2024, 50 respondents, Ontario STR operators with 1–10 units. We cite these numbers across the site, always with the date — survey data ages, and we’d rather you know how fresh it is.