For holiday lets in England
I run holiday lets in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire and made most of the expensive mistakes early on. HostPlaybook is the app I wish I’d had for the first one. It checks the deal before you sign, sets the place up in the right order, and tells you what to do when the boiler goes at 9pm on a Saturday.
Free to start. Just your email, no card.
Four numbers and you’ll know roughly what it makes a month, and the lowest price you can ever charge a night without losing money.
Mortgage £1,219 a month
Roughly what you’d make a month
Worth a closer look
After rent, bills, insurance, council tax and 20% platform fees.
That’s the part everyone does in a spreadsheet. Here’s the part no training helps you with.
Saturday, first winter
Boiler’s showing F22 and I’ve got guests in. Anyone???
how long can guests be without hot water
Sorry to message on a Saturday…
So sorry, still looking into it
do I cancel tomorrow’s booking?
Why the first one is the hardest
By property three I had backup cleaners, a maintenance man who picks up the phone, automated messages every guest gets, and a list of what to buy for every property. None of it is rocket science. It just didn’t exist for property one, so every problem started with YouTube and Google.
There’s no shortage of advice out there. The hard part is knowing which of it is right, for your property, at 9pm, with guests in.
On that Saturday night your answer did exist somewhere. You just couldn’t find it, because it was in a Facebook group, an old training course or somebody else’s head. HostPlaybook puts it in one place, from the first property.
“Property three is easier than property one. The first is the hardest because you’ve got no suppliers, no checklists and nobody to ask. By the third, all of that exists. This gives you all of that from the first one.”
The app opens where you are. Most courses stop at the deal, or jump straight to running the property. Very few show you how to actually set it up. I spend most of the app on what comes after the keys, because that’s where people get stuck, confused and, the first time, a bit scared.
Before you sign · Free
Does it make money? What’s your lowest price a night? Nine questions to ask at the viewing.
When you get the keys · Free to start
Add the property and it works out a proper buying list for you, with optional links. Plus the safety checks the law needs, in the order to do them.
Every week · Host
Your week as a to-do list so nothing gets forgotten, the guest message templates we use, and what to do when something breaks.
Once a month · Host Pro
Are you charging enough, is your rating slipping, and do you qualify for business rates yet.
Operate
Ten common problems, each with the steps, the message to send the guest, and who to ring. Plus your week laid out from your calendar, so nothing gets missed on changeover day.
Swipe to see all four →
Something’s wrong · Boiler
Here’s what happens after you press start. It takes about ten minutes, and all of it is on the free plan.
Rent or price, sleeps, price a night, nights a month. You get what it makes and your lowest price a night.
No password, no card.
Postcode, beds, what it has, linen. Four short steps.
The buying list, the linen you need, and the safety checks England asks for, in the order to do them.
Aniko AI · on Host Pro
It answers from my own playbooks, the ones I use to run my properties, not from the internet. So you get my answer, not a generic one.
It won’t make up stories or figures. If the playbooks don’t cover something, it says so instead of guessing. We look at every question like that and improve the playbooks as we grow.
It’s for you, not your guests.
15,000+ guest messages and 1,000+ reviews behind the playbooks it answers from.
Six things that happen to almost every new host. Crossed out is how it goes without the playbook. Underneath is how it goes with it.
No bookings yet.
Panicked and dropped the price 20%. Then again.
Waited. New listings take a week or two to pick up, so the price stayed put.
A guest asks for the gas safety certificate.
Didn’t have it to hand.
Uploaded in week one. Sent in thirty seconds.
The cleaner cancels on Friday.
No cover. Cancelled Saturday’s guests.
Rang the cover number. Clean done.
Wine glasses are going missing.
Bought 12. Four gone already.
Bought 16, twice what it sleeps. Twelve still there.
A leak, with guests in.
Rang three plumbers. Nobody answered.
Stopcock off, guests messaged, job logged with the plumber.
The council tax bill arrives.
Paid it. Never looked at business rates.
143 nights let. Business rates applied for.
Four of those weeks, costed. Example for the house in the calculator at £220 a night.
| Dropped the price 20% in the first three weeks | 6 nights × £44 | £264 |
| Cleaner with no cover, one weekend cancelled | 2 nights × £220 | £440 |
| One-night gaps sold at 20% off instead of full price | 8 gaps × £44 | £352 |
| A month of council tax paid after it qualified for business rates | 1 month × £150 | £150 |
Example figures. Business rates relief depends on the property’s rateable value.
It covers England’s rules for now, because the safety rules in Scotland and Wales are different.
“I’ve already done a course.”
Most only talk about the deal. Then you get the keys and have no idea what to put in the kitchen, how much linen you need, or how to run the week. That’s the part this covers.
“I’ve only got one property.”
Brilliant, you’ve already started. That’s exactly who it’s for. The first one is the hardest because nothing’s written down yet.
“I already use Hostaway or a channel manager.”
Keep it. HostPlaybook isn’t a channel manager and doesn’t replace one. It’s everything you do around it, starting with what to do first.
“AI gets things wrong.”
Aniko AI only answers from my playbooks, won’t make up figures, and tells you when it can’t answer. It’s on Pro, and it talks to you, never your guests.
“It sounds like a lot to set up.”
Four numbers for the deal, four short steps for the property, about ten minutes. Everything else is worked out for you.
“What if it’s not for me?”
Pay monthly and cancel whenever. You keep everything until the end of the month you’ve paid for, then you move to the free plan. Free doesn’t ask for a card at all.
Or pay yearly and get two months free. Every locked screen shows you what’s behind it before you pay.
Free
Know if it makes money before you sign.
Check as many deals as you like. See the start of the buying list and every safety check you’ll need. Up to two properties.
Start free →Host
Set it up right, then run every week from one list.
The full buying list, your safety certificates with reminders, and everything in Operate. As many properties as you want.
Choose Host →Host Pro · once you’re live
Once you’re live: charge more, keep the rating up, and ask me anything.
Everything in Host, plus pricing, reviews, direct bookings, business rates and Aniko AI.
Choose Pro →Or hand it over
When you’re ready, Let of Luxury can take the cleaning and guest messages off you. Worcester and Tewkesbury for now.
Book a call →Want the full picture on one property? We’ll do a 20-page analysis in two working days: ten local comparisons, pricing and occupancy, what it’ll make, and how to set it up. £269, on any plan.
Order the analysis →Who’s behind it
I’m Aniko. On day one I ran everything myself, with no help. Now I run holiday lets and serviced accommodation in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, with my own cleaning team, maintenance team and VAs who answer guests seven days a week.
Before property I spent more than 14 years in laundry and dry cleaning, and before that I worked in hospitality and face-to-face customer service. I was part of the team that won the laundry contract for the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Everything in HostPlaybook is how we do it on our properties, written down.
Your number from above, a month. Just your email, no card.