[theBobBob]

I realise that it's a completely different country (Ireland) but I remember back when I was in university and found out that most tenants in student accommodation aren't in fact tenants but rather are licencees. Basically means that most of them pesky tenant protections don't apply. It means that they could get away with so many things that landlords of actual tenants wouldn't.

[ianferrel]

I'm not a lawyer, but I don't know that such a categorization exists in US law. If you pay money to live somewhere for a short period, you generally fall under hotel regulations. If you pay money to live somewhere for a longer period, you're a tenant. Generally 30 days is the max for "short" period.

There isn't a "sure, you live here, but you don't have rights" designation because historically such designations were abused.