Unfortunately, I travel every other month or so for work. I tend to rent AirBNBs or VRBO properties, as they’re less sterile than the hotel alternative, and I can save the company a pile of money on food (and myself a pile of time) by making breakfast and coffee and dinners (if I’m not scheduled for dinners with other folks at the company) in the short-term rental.

Here is my rubric for evaluating these places. Each section enumerates the bare minimum a host must provide in order to achieve that number of stars. Enjoy.

PS: This is more of a running list than a definitive guide; I’ll be adding more criteria here as I’m variously disappointed.

5 stars

• Bidet
• Enough coffee (pre-fabricated for included machine) for guests * 2 * days of servings

4 stars

3 stars

• Guests * days rolls of paper towels
• Provided towels
• Washer/dryer
• Air conditioning

2 stars

• Coffeemaker of some kind
• Fully equipped kitchen
• Dishwasher

1 star

• Enough toilet paper for guests * days