I get it. Short term rentals are a WHOLE different ballgame.
I believe we have mitigated our renter related risk by only owning SFHs in modest middle class neighborhoods, setting rent below market value, requiring a high credit score (650) and solid rental history/references, approving nearly every tenant request for repairs and improvements and making SURE our tenants know we understand that our properties are their HOME and that we want to know about every little thing that needs attention (so that there is never a long list of updates that needs to be done between renters).
We give them gifts at Christmas and flowers of their choosing for the yard in the spring. Basically we try to have a mindset that we want our rentals to be sound investments but we do not need to squeeze every penny we can out of our tenants/properties in slum-lord fashion. This strategy has worked very well for us and I believe that it can for most investors who are careful about location and who can afford to weather market volatility.