Article for owners
Holiday let management: what's included and what it costs
A holiday let management company runs your home as a short let for you, from the first listing to the last clean. Most charge a share of each booking, and what that share covers differs from one company to the next, so it pays to know what you're comparing before you sign.
What does a holiday let management company do?
It does the work of letting your home to guests who stay for a few nights, a few weeks or a few months. That means the listings, the prices, the guests, the cleaning and the repairs. You stay the owner. It's a management agreement, so nobody takes a tenancy of your home and you keep the final say.
Some agencies only advertise your home and take the bookings, and leave the cleaning, keys and repairs to you. A full management company runs all of it. Find out which kind you're talking to before you compare fees.
Before the first guest
- Professional photography arranged, and your listings created
- Listed on 35+ platforms, including corporate booking portals a single landlord can't join
- Safety certificates checked and prices set
- Usually taking bookings within 14 days of signing
Every stay
- Guest messages answered by our own team, early till late, seven days a week
- Every guest ID-checked, with damage protection on every booking
- Cleaned, checked and photographed after every stay, with fresh hired linen
- Repairs arranged up to a spending limit you choose
Every day and every month
- Prices changed daily to match demand and local events
- Certificates tracked, with renewals arranged before anything lapses
- A monthly statement showing every booking, every cost and our fee
- Paid into your account by the 15th of the following month
Is an Airbnb management company the same thing?
Mostly, yes. Airbnb management, holiday let management and short-let management are different names for much the same service. A full manager lists your home on Airbnb and on other booking sites too.
How much do holiday letting agents charge?
Usually a commission on each booking. The insurance broker Simply Business, in its guide to letting agent fees, says this can be anything from 15 to 25 per cent.
The headline figure only tells you part of the cost. Two companies charging the same share can leave you with quite different amounts, depending on what the fee covers and what's billed on top. Some add VAT or other charges on top.
Fixed fee or a share of the bookings?
A share of each booking goes down when the home earns less and up when it earns more, so the manager is paid for filling it. A fixed monthly fee stays the same in a good month or a bad one. Ours is a share of each booking.
What HOMEHOSTS charges
Our fee, by the length of your first agreement
- 12 months
- 15% of booking income
- 6 months
- 18% of booking income
- 3 months
- 20% of booking income
- VAT
- None: we don't add VAT to our fee
- Minimum
- £100 a month, however quiet the month
- After the first term
- End it with 3 months' notice
What's in the fee, and what you pay for
Our fee, from 15%, pays for running your home. These costs are separate, and each one shows on your monthly statement.
Costs outside the fee
- Set-up costs
- Such as photography and safety certificates, listed before you sign. If you’d rather not pay them upfront, we can spread them over your first three months’ payouts.
- Cleaning and linen
- Paid from the home's income. We build the cost into the nightly price, so what guests pay covers it. Linen is hired from a professional linen company.
- Booking-site fees
- Each site takes its own commission from the booking, before it reaches you.
- Repairs
- You set a spending limit. Below it, we get the job done straight away; above it, we ask you first.
- Certificate renewals
- We arrange them with no charge from us. You pay only the contractor's own cost.
- Household bills
- Energy, water, broadband, and council tax or business rates.
Work out your own figures
Put in your nightly rate, occupancy, cleaning and bills. The holiday let calculator takes off the booking sites' fees and shows your profit before any management fee, so you can take ours off and compare.
What to ask any manager before you sign
- Is the fee a share of the whole booking, or of what's left after the booking sites' fees?
- Is VAT added on top?
- Is there a set-up fee, and do you pay it upfront?
- Who pays for cleaning and linen, you or the guest?
- Is there a minimum monthly charge, or a monthly software fee?
- How long is the agreement, and how much notice do you give to end it?
- When are you paid, and does the statement show every booking and cost?
- Who answers guests, and at what hours?
- If you already let on Airbnb, can you keep your listing and its reviews?
Is a management company worth it?
Doing it yourself saves the fee. In return, someone has to answer guests from early till late, book a clean after every stay, adjust prices most days, and deal with keys, repairs and reviews. For owners who work, or live away from the home, that's the job they're paying to hand over.
A manager can also reach guests you can't find on your own. Corporate booking portals only take operators of a certain size. Most of our guests are people working away: contractors, business travellers, and people in insurance or relocation stays while their own home is repaired or they move for work.
The trade-offs
- The fee comes off every month, and in a very quiet month it's still £100
- You hand over the day-to-day running, though you keep the final say
- Your first agreement runs for the term you choose, then needs 3 months' notice to end
- Income moves with the seasons, with a manager or without one
Like a letting agent, but for short lets
HOMEHOSTS isn't guaranteed rent or rent-to-rent. We manage your home for you, and our fee is a share of what it earns, so we do well only when it's well booked.
Can I still use my home?
Yes. Block the dates you want in your online owner account and we take bookings around them.
Already letting on Airbnb?
You don't have to start again. If your listing is a strong one, or on a Superhost account, we keep it and its reviews and take over the bookings already in your calendar. The fee is the same as for any other home.
Are management fees tax deductible?
HMRC lists letting agent fees and management fees among the expenses you can take off your rental income, if you pay them yourself. Short-let income goes on your tax return like other rental income, now the furnished holiday lettings rules have ended (April 2025). We can't give tax advice, so check the detail with your accountant.
Where we manage
We host guests in Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon, Coventry, Warwick, Crewe, Doncaster and South Kirkby, and manage homes across England and Wales.
Short lets in Leamington Spa
Who stays in Leamington through the year, the local rules, and how we run homes there.
The bottom line
A good holiday let manager does the daily work of a short let for a share of what the home earns. Compare what each fee covers as well as the percentage, and look at the figures for your own home before you decide.
Ask for a free valuation: we'll show you what your home could earn as a managed short let, set against a standard rental (AST), with no obligation.
Find out what your property could earn
Send us the postcode and a few details. We’ll call you with figures we can stand behind, and no pressure either way.