What is the average period of customer use?

The average length of the customers' right to use the property during the year, in days. It decides whether renting the property is a rental activity for the passive loss rules: 7 days or less, it is not (§1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A)).

How do I calculate the average stay for the short-term rental loophole?

List every stay that ends in the year or is still running on 31 December, add their days, and divide by how many there are. Treat back-to-back bookings by the same guest as one stay.

Do cancelled bookings count?

A period of customer use is a period in which a customer has the right to use the property. A cancelled booking with no stay gives no use; ask your CPA about a cancellation where the guest kept the right to use the dates.

Do owner and family stays count?

They are personal use under §280A(d)(2), not customer use. The export tool keeps them out of the average and counts them as personal days instead.

How to calculate the average period of customer use (with examples)

Average period of customer use = the days in all periods of customer use that end in the tax year (or are still running on 31 December), divided by the number of those periods (Treas. Reg. §1.469-1(e)(3)(iii)(C)). Ten weekends and one 30-night stay: 60 / 11 = 5.45 days. The steps and a table of stay mixes below.

Open the average stay calculator

Step by step

Each period during which a customer has a continuous or recurring right to use the property (whether under a single agreement or renewals of it) is one period of customer use; a period that includes the last day of the year may be measured by reasonable estimates.
The average period of customer use is the aggregate number of days in all periods of customer use (taking into account only periods that end during the taxable year or that include the last day of the taxable year), divided by the number of those periods.
Compare with 7: 7.00 exactly still passes ("seven days or less").

Sample data: how stay mixes average out

Computed with the calculator's own code, in nights booked and in calendar days (nights + 1). One month-long stay among weekends is enough to move a property from 3.00 days to 5.45 days; two take it to 7.50 days.

Sample data: average period of customer use for mixes of stays (computed)
Stays	Periods	Nights	Average (nights)	7-day test	Average (calendar days)
Ten 3-night weekends	10	30	3.00 days	Met	4.00 days
Ten weekends and one 30-night stay	11	60	5.45 days	Met	6.45 days
Ten weekends and two 30-night stays	12	90	7.50 days	Not met	8.50 days
Twenty 5-night stays and two 14-night stays	22	128	5.82 days	Met	6.82 days
Four 8-night stays	4	32	8.00 days	Not met	9.00 days
One 7-night stay and one 8-night stay	2	15	7.50 days	Not met	8.50 days

Nights or days?

The regulation counts days and does not say whether the check-out day is one. Booking exports give nights. Counting calendar days adds one day to every stay, which can push a borderline property over 7. Choose one count with your CPA and keep it every year.

Several properties in one activity

When one activity holds several classes of property (daily rents that differ significantly), the activity's average is the sum of each class's average weighted by that class's share of gross rental income. This site treats each property as its own activity; if your CPA groups properties, the weighting is theirs to run.

Type your stays into the average stay calculator, or let the export tool read your booking CSV.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average period of customer use?: The average length of the customers' right to use the property during the year, in days. It decides whether renting the property is a rental activity for the passive loss rules: 7 days or less, it is not (§1.469-1T(e)(3)(ii)(A)).
How do I calculate the average stay for the short-term rental loophole?: List every stay that ends in the year or is still running on 31 December, add their days, and divide by how many there are. Treat back-to-back bookings by the same guest as one stay.
Do cancelled bookings count?: A period of customer use is a period in which a customer has the right to use the property. A cancelled booking with no stay gives no use; ask your CPA about a cancellation where the guest kept the right to use the dates.
Do owner and family stays count?: They are personal use under §280A(d)(2), not customer use. The export tool keeps them out of the average and counts them as personal days instead.

Short-term rental loophole: the 7-day average stay test
Why an average guest stay of 7 days or less takes a rental out of the rental-activity rule, how the average is counted, and what it does not decide. Worked sample.
The 14-day rule and personal use days on a rental (§280A)
When personal use makes a rental a residence (more than 14 days or 10% of rental days), the rented-under-15-days rule and the expense split, with a table.
Material participation hours for short-term rentals: the 100-hour test
More than 100 hours and not less than anyone else, cleaners included: how turnovers decide the 100-hour test, the 500-hour test and how to log hours.

Last updated 2026-09-30. Arithmetic under Treas. Reg. §1.469-1T(e)(3), §1.469-5T and IRC §280A applied to the stays you enter. Not tax advice; confirm the treatment with your CPA. Not affiliated with Airbnb or Vrbo.