What's definitely not the answer is leaving valuable real estate empty. I'm out of town a couple weekends a month, and travel to visit the wife's family overseas for around a month every year. No way to do short term rentals (our building has a 6mo minimum), so a property that could be generating almost $9k/y for us is instead a liability. Extremely frustrating when we're new parents just getting by, and a bunch of wealthy old people or young people who inherited their big ~$800k+ units have made this decision for us.

Not saying any complaints about guests are baseless, but they're balancing a small amount of comfort for them against what would be life-changing value for us.

The problem being solved by a 6mo minimum isn't you renting out your spot for a month every year to help make ends meet. The problem is your slightly wealthier neighbor buying a spare apartment or two in your building in order to run a pirate hotel in it all year long. Unfortunately, it's hard to prevent the latter without blocking the former...

... at least legally. I assume you could work something out for your case with people you know who are in need of a place to stay for vacation, or - at a higher risk - with second-degree connections, or even complete strangers. It's not a perfect solution but it does place the risk where it belongs - on you. You have to make absolutely sure that the guests you invite aren't causing problems, or else someone will rat you out.