You can earn up to 30% more with our unique pricing strategy. Developed from managing over 350,000 bookings, it runs entirely within local regulations and has already earned our hosts over £112 Million.
We're helping homeowners make more of their property. Unlock your potential by opening your doors to guests - host more, earn more, do more. With many services and solutions it's easy to get overwhelmed while managing your property for short-lets. Here we answer all questions in one place so you can rest easy.
We provide guests with the check-in details via the platform, email and SMS leading up to the check-in. In the unlikely event that the guest has trouble getting into the home, we have guest services available 24/7 to help talk them through it.
We always require guests to provide their check-in time prior to arrival as part of the booking process so that we can ensure they are able to access the property. We ask all guests to keep us updated on their check-in time if any unforeseen circumstances should arise such as a delayed flight.
Most properties have a self-check-in access (usually a lockbox) because they’re a flexible, secure way to let guests check in 24/7.
Lockboxes might not be suitable for all properties. As such, we are partnered with Keynest, a reliable access solution which allows guests to collect keys from nearby locations such as convenience stores.
In the event that the nearest Keynest location is not 24-hours, we will find a solution for guests who have a late check-in such as moving the keys to another 24-hour Keynest location, setting up a temporary lockbox or arranging a Welcome Wizard. If a Welcome Wizard is required, guests may be required to pay a late check-in fee, however this is always noted clearly in the listing so guests are aware prior to booking.
As a general rule, we aim to respond to guests within 1 hour during business hours. This can be slightly delayed in the morning as we deal with enquiries received during the previous night. We also have on-call team members to help with any urgent guest matters outside of normal hours.
We’ve got this covered! The Houst team will handle all guest reviews.
When guests call, we tell them our name and say we are helping you, the host, with urgent requests. We don’t specifically say we are a management company, but we also won’t pretend to be you.
All messages to guests are signed off with ‘Support Team’ so guests know they are speaking with a management service from the time of requesting a booking.
In order to ensure we provide consistent information to your guests, we ask that all communication goes through Houst. Your listing is hosted on Houst’s Airbnb account and our 24/7 guest experience team is available to respond to any and all guest queries via message or phone call. If you ever want to relay a specific message to one of your guests, please let us know and we’ll get in touch with them on your behalf.
Before your first guest arrives, we’ll make sure your home is ready by setting up a full cleaning and delivery of your bed and bath linens.
Please keep in mind that although guests pay for all stay-related cleaning and laundry, hosts pay for this first clean to prepare for the first guests. All future cleaning and linen fees are paid for by the guests unless you book a one-off clean after using the property.
The guest does pay all cleaning and laundry fees. Because the guest pays these fees in one lump sum when they pay for their Airbnb reservation, you will not see a separate payout into your bank account (just one Airbnb payout), but rest assured the cleaning fees have been included.
The money being paid out of your account to the cleaning and laundry providers is simply a transfer of the funds already paid by the guests. We take care of all of the admin for you!
In case you have any questions about a particular clean or laundry fee, we always provide you with a summary of the income and fees related to each guest stay in the billing section of your Host Dashboard and via email.
We have an exceptionally high standard of cleaning. We only use professional cleaning companies or approved cleaners who other hosts have recommended.
We ask guests to rate the cleanliness of the property after they arrive. This instant feedback means that we can stay on top of quality and also reward our cleaners for their hard work. Whilst the clean is taking place laundry is delivered. The cleaners make the beds, leave fresh towels and remove old laundry.
We work with 3rd party laundry companies to provide hotel quality fresh linens.
During the clean, our cleaners may need to purchase replenishments such as toilet paper, bin liners, and/or other essential cleaning products. They will pay for this directly and share the receipt with Houst to chargeback. You can always request to see a receipt if you’re unsure what the charges relate to.
15% (plus VAT/GST) of your total income goes to Airbnb. We charge our management fee (plus VAT/GST) on your gross platform earnings. This includes the booked nights and the cleaning fee.
Our team will provide you with a property essentials checklist during the onboarding process which includes an initial stock of cleaning supplies and essentials for guests such as toilet paper, bin liners and toiletries. Our cleaning team will replenish these essentials as needed and items will be charged back at cost.
The guest covers the cost of the cleaning fee (which includes laundry) when making a reservation at your property. The cleaning fee is passed through to our suppliers (cleaners and laundry companies).
This is industry standard in line with the way Airbnb other booking platforms charge commission fees. As this is an automated process it is not possible to calculate after all the various possible deductions. Having this automated ensures hosts are paid in the most timely manner.
To ensure suppliers are paid promptly, services such as cleaning and laundry are charged on an individual basis via your registered credit or debit card. This means you can expect to see the following transactions in your bank account:
1. Credits for each Airbnb reservation (inclusive of cleaning and laundry fees which have been paid for by the guest)
2. Debited charges for individual payments to cleaning and laundry providers.
Please note: even though you see a withdrawal from your account, you are not paying the cleaning or laundry fees - this money has already been paid to you by the guest as part of your payment deposit.
1. Month-end direct debit for payment of Houst management fees.
We send you summary emails of all reservation-related transactions and month-end Houst management fee charges. You can also view additional details anytime in the "Billing section of your host dashboard.
The guest does pay all cleaning and laundry fees. Because the guest pays these fees in one lump sum when they pay for their Airbnb reservation, you will not see a separate payout into your bank account (just one Airbnb payout), but rest assured the cleaning fees have been included.
The money being paid out of your account to the cleaning and laundry providers is simply a transfer of the funds already paid by the guests. We take care of all of the admin for you!
In case you have any questions about a particular clean or laundry fee, we always provide you with a summary of the income and fees related to each guest stay in your Host Dashboard and via email.
The “Billing” section of your Host Dashboard has all invoices related to individual guest stays, cleans, linen delivery, Houst fees, and services such as maintenance.
Your debit or credit card will be charged for cleaning and laundry services two days after each transaction to ensure the providers are paid on time.
All Houst's management fees are billed on a booking-by-booking basis the Wednesday following check-in, via direct debit.
To avoid any potential confusion during check-in, we ask that you do not update your lockbox code. If for some reason you feel that the code needs to be changed, please reach out to the support team so that they can assist. It is imperative that we have the correct access code to ensure a smooth check-in experience for your guests and high ratings.
As a general rule, we do not offer early check-in or late check-out when there are other guests checking in or out in the same day. This is because the cleaning and linen delivery happen during this window.
If a guest requests an early check-in and there are no other guests staying that day, we are happy to accommodate such requests, but would not do so without checking first.
We aim to have an average monthly occupancy of 70% - 80% of nights booked. However, this can vary depending on the time of year, other bookings, your desired pricing, etc.
This can vary based on a variety of factors one of which is your properties location and time of year as some locations have a high variants depending on seasonality. On average, we find listings are approximately 40%-60% booked up one month in advance, with the remaining nights booked within the same month. Don’t worry though -- even if some nights aren't booked, we can often secure same-day or short-notice booking requests.
Keep in mind that if you’re new to Airbnb, it will take some time to build up guest reviews. When travellers search for a place to stay on Airbnb, they use hosts’ ratings to help make their booking decisions. The more positive reviews you get, the more you can expect your home to get booked!
Nightly rates are affected by things like seasonality, special events near your home, etc. Weekends and weeknights are often priced differently based on demand. Prices can also vary based on the proximity of the stay (e.g. next week, or in 2 months’ time).
Additionally, if there are small time frames of unbooked nights (e.g., 2 consecutive weeknights), we may lower the price to encourage occupancy given that those bookings are typically much harder to get. If you choose to set a minimum price, we will not go below this without your approval.
If you haven’t had any previous guest stays on Airbnb, we’ll initially need to price your home lower until we build up guest stays and reviews. After some positive reviews, we’ll gradually increase to an optimal price.
Pricing is also affected by factors such as your home’s location, number of rooms, seasonality, special events near your home, etc.
Additionally, if there are small timeframes of unbooked nights (e.g., 2 consecutive weeknights), we may lower the price to encourage occupancy given that those bookings are typically much harder to get.
If you choose to set a minimum price, we will not go below this without your approval.
Our team of commercial analysts aim to keep both the daily rental rate and the occupancy rate as high as possible using our dynamic pricing strategy, and therefore we recommend you don’t manually alter the pricing.
However, if you feel you would like to change your price or set a minimum threshold, please reach out to your dedicated support team and they will change this for you.Please keep in mind, choosing to alter your listing’s price can impact other factors such as occupancy rate.
Our team of commercial analysts aim to keep both the daily rental rate and the occupancy rate as high as possible. To achieve this we plug in our purpose-built algorithm to Airbnb, use a dynamic pricing strategy, and regularly monitor the results. This means regularly adjusting daily rates across a week/month/season to meet market demand and maximise returns. We will price a property by setting an initial base rate with a minimum where requested.
Thankfully, the safety net that is Airbnb’s Host Guarantee, is rarely required but we’re aware that it’s very reassuring for Hosts and that’s why we’ve made the decision to invest in this area.
Our mission is to make it easy to share your home securely and safely and we’re proud of our impeccable guest disturbance record. We will continue to hold the same high standards of guest vetting as we partner with leading travel sites such as HomeAway and Booking.com, and to make sure you're covered should the worst happen, Houst have partnered with Guardhog to provide insurance for bookings outside Airbnb.
All stays happening on all platforms apart from Airbnb are covered.
Please read the policy documents and understand the terms and conditions of how to make a claim.
To make a claim please call GUARDHOG on +44 (0) 207 199 6610. They will then take you through the next steps of either making a claim on your existing cover and/or on Houst’s Host Cover.
Houst are providing Host Cover as a free membership benefit for all Hosts.
Should you have any questions regarding the policy, please direct your questions to GUARDHOG by calling them on +44 (0) 207 199 6610 or emailing info@guardhog.com
Houst's Host Cover is market-leading insurance underwritten by GUARDHOG (Hiscox) and it’s specifically designed to provide comprehensive buildings, contents, and public liability insurance when you’re sharing your home with paying guests.
This policy not only covers you for all the new risks created by having guests in your home (malicious damage, accidental damage, theft by the guest, unforced entry, public liability, etc) but also makes sure that if you’re existing insurance doesn't pay out because of the guests then they will. As well as this, it covers your whole building (if you’re in an apartment) including communal areas.
Yes, theft or attempted theft is included providing this has been reported to the police. However, valuable items such as jewellery, watches and money are not, unless kept in a locked safe in a locked room.
Unfortunately not. They all stand by the use of Security Deposits and will not mediate between guests and hosts. This is why we’ve taken the step of putting this insurance in place for the benefit of all our hosts as a free membership benefit.
Yes. You must have existing home insurance in place that would cover you when your home is not being let to paying guests.
If you need help putting cover in place GUARDHOG can help. Please email info@guardhog.com or call them on +44 (0) 207 199 6610 for details.
It is important to understand whether or not you are eligible for this cover. Please read the provided documentation to make sure you are eligible (Summary of Host Cover and Eligibility)
If not, please contact Guardhog, they will do their best to ensure this policy can be applied to you.
Houst's policy is designed to cover worst-case scenarios for claims exceeding £1,000+. For minor guest issues below this amount, we will be withholding a Security Deposit paid by the guest to cover minor claims.
Ensure your home is in good working order (plumbing, heating, Air Conditioning, etc.) and notify us if anything changes. We also regularly monitor your ratings to ensure we’re doing everything we can to get you great reviews. Your account manager will get in touch with any constructive guest feedback.
