20 Aug 2026
Ailsa Terrace Portrush
Everything we'll cover at sign-up — certification, compliance, rates, and what your property should earn.
Ailsa Terrace
Three bedrooms.
Sleeps five.
Steps from the sand.
- Bedroom 1 — King bed with private ensuite shower room
- Bedroom 2 — Twin room, two single beds
- Bedroom 3 — Single room
- Family bathroom — Bath with overhead shower and screen
- Top-floor living — Open-plan lounge, dining and kitchen
- Three seating areas, feature fireplace, wall-mounted TV
- Fitted kitchen — oven, hob, fridge/freezer, washing machine, dishwasher
- Oak flooring, plantation blinds, gas central heating
- Sleeps 5 in three real bedrooms — captures families and two-couple groups, not just couples
- Ensuite master — the single biggest driver of nightly rate uplift in this bracket
- Top-floor living with light — photographs exceptionally well, which is most of the click-through battle
- Walk to West Strand and town — no car needed once guests arrive
- Royal Portrush on the doorstep — golf pays a premium and books midweek, filling the gaps leisure guests leave
- Turnkey condition — furnished, finished, ready. No capital works needed
Honest read on the layout. The single room caps you at five guests, which sits you just below the six-sleeper comps that dominate Portrush search results. If that room can take a small double or a bunk, it moves you to sleeping six and lifts achievable nightly rate by roughly £20–£35 in peak. Worth a conversation — it is the cheapest revenue gain available on this property.
Where you sit
Live pricing, scraped for this pack. Not estimates.
We pulled every three-bedroom-plus entire-property listing across Portrush and the surrounding Causeway Coast for four separate weekends spanning a full year, then filtered to genuine like-for-like comparables — sleeping five to seven, rated 4.8 or above, with at least ten reviews.
Median nightly rate
by season
Whole-region set: Portrush, Portstewart, Portballintrae, Bushmills, Castlerock, Ballintoy, Ballycastle and inland Causeway Coast. Bars scaled against a £450 ceiling. Nightly rate excludes cleaning and platform service fees.
Look closely. The medians barely move. This market prices February like July.
That is not a market being clever. It is a market of owners and small agents setting one rate and leaving it. It costs them twice — they undercharge badly in July when demand is scarce, and overcharge in January so the property sits empty.
This is the single biggest opportunity on your property. Dynamic, event-aware pricing is the core of what we do, and on a flat market it is close to free money.
Portrush town only —
the picture sharpens
Filter to Portrush, Portstewart and Portballintrae — properties genuinely walkable to a beach and a town, like yours — and a real seasonal curve appears.
Peak comparable count drops to eight. That is not a data gap — it is scarcity. Central Portrush is largely sold out for July weekends eleven months ahead, and the search results fill up with Ballintoy, Armoy and Dunseverick instead. Scarcity is exactly the condition where correct pricing pays.
Your direct competition
Live Portrush-area comparables for the peak July weekend, as listed on Airbnb.
| Property | Location | Sleeps | Rating | Reviews | £ / night |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea Breeze Portrush | Portrush | 7 | 4.95 | 19 | £373 |
| Little Haven! | Portrush | 6 | 4.95 | 532 | £365 |
| The Surfer's House | Portrush | 6 | 4.92 | 120 | £296 |
| Portrush's Coastal Cove | Portrush | 5 | 4.99 | 171 | £295 |
| Luxury Apt 1 | Causeway Coast | 6 | 4.97 | 116 | £280 |
| Modern 3-Storey House | Portstewart | 6 | 4.97 | 214 | £215 |
| Portstewart holiday home | Portstewart | 6 | 4.94 | 140 | £183 |
| The Round House | Portballintrae | 5 | 5.00 | 41 | £178 |
Look at Portrush's Coastal Cove. Sleeps five, exactly like you, achieving £295 a night in peak. That is your benchmark — and it is achievable on this property with the right listing, photography and pricing.
Our positioning recommendation: launch Ailsa Terrace in the upper-middle of the Portrush town set — above the tired stock, below the sea-view trophy properties — and move you up as reviews accumulate. Target blended annual rate: £185–£200 a night.
Rate card
Indicative opening bands. Repriced daily against live demand.
- North West 200 — May. Portrush's single biggest rate weekend. Priced correctly it is worth more than the whole of February.
- Golf championship weeks — Royal Portrush drives extraordinary rates, and strong midweek demand year-round.
- Halloween — the north coast pulls heavily off Derry's celebrations.
- New Year — reliably the strongest winter week.
- Repriced daily, not seasonally
- Live competitor availability tracking across Portrush
- Booking-pace monitoring — we act early, not in the last fortnight
- Orphan-night rules so a two-night gap still sells
- Length-of-stay discounts tuned to what converts here
- Event calendar loaded 12 months ahead
- Cleaning — set once our cleaning team has viewed the property. Paid by the guest, passed to the cleaners. Cost-neutral to you.
- Linen & consumables — included within the cleaning fee
- Damage protection — platform cover plus our deposit policy on direct bookings
- No booking fees to you — platform commission comes off gross before ours
What it earns
Month by month, built from the rate card.
Three scenarios,
net to you
| Gross revenue | £34,500 |
| Management fee 15% | −£5,175 |
| VAT | None |
| Net to owner | £29,325 |
Softer occupancy and a cautious rate strategy.
| Gross revenue | £40,100 |
| Management fee 15% | −£6,015 |
| VAT | None |
| Net to owner | £34,085 |
A settled listing with a full review history behind it.
| Gross revenue | £45,000 |
| Management fee 15% | −£6,750 |
| VAT | None |
| Net to owner | £38,250 |
Strong first season, a sixth sleeping space, a major golf year.
Year one will be lower, and we will say so plainly. A brand-new listing with no reviews takes three to four months to build ranking and social proof. Budget around £28,500 net for the first twelve months, then the figures above from year two onward. Any agent telling you a new listing hits mature numbers in month one is selling you something.
Live model
Drag the sliders. Every figure recalculates against our flat 15% fee in real time.
Management fee 15% of gross accommodation revenue. Nestled is not VAT registered, so there is no VAT to add. Guest-paid cleaning is excluded from both gross revenue and the fee calculation. Illustrative only — not a guarantee of income.
No set-up fee. No listing fee. No photography fee. No monthly retainer. No exit penalty. And no VAT — we are not VAT registered, so 15% is the whole number.
If the property does not book, we do not get paid. Your incentive and ours point in exactly the same direction — that is the entire point of a percentage model.
On a £40,100 gross year, the gap between our fee and a 25% national brand is roughly £4,010 a year back in your pocket — before you account for the revenue difference proper pricing makes.
And that compares headline rates only. Ours is a flat 15% with nothing added; where an agency adds VAT to its fee, the real gap is wider again. Worth asking anyone you compare us against whether their number includes it.
- Professional photography and full listing build
- Listing copywriting, optimisation and ongoing SEO
- Distribution across Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and our direct site
- Channel management and calendar sync — no double bookings
- Dynamic daily pricing and revenue management
- All guest communication, seven days a week
- Enquiry screening and booking management
- Check-in and check-out coordination
- Cleaning and changeover scheduling
- Linen and consumables management
- Maintenance triage and contractor coordination
- Review management and response
- Monthly owner statement and annual accountant summary
- Visitors' register captured automatically for every booking
- Cleaning — charged to the guest, not to you. Rate confirmed after our cleaners view the property
- Consumables restock — typically £15–£25 a month
- Maintenance and repairs — at contractor cost, no mark-up. Under £150 we authorise; above that comes to you first
- Tourism NI certification — £40 to Tourism NI every four years. Optional: we handle the whole application for a one-off £150
- Safety certificates — gas, electrical, PAT, fire risk and legionella are arranged and paid for by you (see section 08)
- Utilities, rates, insurance, broadband — remain owner costs
- Replacement furnishings — at cost, always agreed with you first
No hidden margins. We do not mark up cleaning, we do not mark up contractors, and we do not take platform kickbacks. Everything appears on the monthly statement at cost.
Tourism NIcertification
Not optional. And Northern Ireland is different from the rest of the UK.
Every piece of tourist accommodation in Northern Ireland must hold a valid Tourism NI certificate before it can legally be let to visitors. This is a statutory requirement under the Tourism (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 — not a voluntary quality scheme, not a badge you can skip. Operating an uncertified unit is a criminal offence.
England, Scotland and Wales have nothing equivalent. It catches a lot of new owners out, which is why it is the first thing we raise on any new property — it needs to be underway from day one.
Order 1992
Typical timescale from application to certificate: 4–8 weeks, depending on inspector availability. Start it on day one — it sits on the critical path to going live.
You can absolutely do this yourself. It is a form, a £40 fee and an inspection appointment, and plenty of owners handle it without any help. If you would rather not, we will take the whole thing off your hands for a one-off £150 — application filed, fee paid, inspector met at the property, pre-inspection walkthrough so nothing fails, and the certificate mounted with your tariff when it arrives.
That is a fee for our time, not a recharge. The £40 Tourism NI fee is included within it. Entirely your call, and it changes nothing else in the agreement.
The conditions the inspector assesses. From the photographs, Ailsa Terrace already meets every one.
- Structurally safe and in good repair throughout
- Good decorative order; access paths and grounds maintained
- Kitchen with cooker, ventilation, refrigeration and washing machine
- Bath or shower, WC and wash basin
- Beds matching the stated guest capacity
- Heating capable of reaching 18.5°C throughout
- Adequate light fittings in all areas
- Blackout curtains or blinds to all bedroom windows
- Certificate displayed with tariff of charges
- Visitors' register — name, address, arrival and departure dates, nationality
Visitors' register. A legal obligation and a common failure point at re-inspection. Our property management system captures every required field automatically for every booking and produces the register on demand. You will never have to think about it.
Offences worth knowing about
| Offence | Maximum penalty |
|---|---|
| Operating tourist accommodation without a valid certificate | £2,500 and/or 6 months |
| Failure to display the certificate at or near the entrance | £2,500 |
| Falsely claiming a grading the property does not hold | £2,500 |
| Displaying signage or grading not approved by Tourism NI | £200 |
| Failure to maintain a compliant visitors' register | £200 |
| Failure to notify Tourism NI of a change of ownership | Immediate notice required |
Source: Tourism NI and gov.uk guidance on tourist accommodation certification in Northern Ireland, current at August 2026. Fees and penalties are set by Tourism NI and subject to change.
Everything else
Certification is the headline requirement, not the whole picture. Tourism NI is explicit that inspection does not cover every aspect of the accommodation — the duty of care for guest safety sits with you as the owner, and it cannot be delegated to us.
We want to be straight with you about this. Some agencies imply they take on your safety compliance. We do not, and legally we could not. Arranging and paying for these certificates is your responsibility. What we will do is hand you the complete checklist at onboarding so nothing is a surprise.
| Requirement | What's needed | Frequency | Handled by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tourism NI certificate | Statutory certification and inspection. £40 to Tourism NI | Every 4 yrs | Owner £150 option |
| Fire risk assessment | Written assessment. Interlinked smoke alarms, kitchen heat alarm, CO alarm, fire blanket, extinguisher, clear escape route, fire action notice | Annual | Owner |
| Gas safety certificate | CP12 by a Gas Safe registered engineer — boiler, hob, any gas fire | Annual | Owner |
| Electrical report | EICR by a qualified electrician | Every 5 yrs | Owner |
| PAT testing | Portable appliance testing on all supplied electricals | Annual | Owner |
| Legionella assessment | Water system risk assessment. Straightforward on a mains-fed property, but required | Every 2 yrs | Owner |
| Public liability insurance | Minimum £2m, ideally £5m. Must specifically cover short-term holiday letting | Annual | Owner |
| Buildings & contents | Standard residential cover is void the moment you let short-term. Must be a holiday-let policy | Annual | Owner |
| EPC | Energy Performance Certificate | Every 10 yrs | Owner |
| Mortgage consent | Written lender consent to let short-term, if mortgaged | Once | Owner |
| Freeholder consent | Where a lease or estate covenant restricts letting | Once | Owner |
| Rates classification | May move from domestic to non-domestic rates once let commercially. Worth a conversation with LPS | Once | Owner |
| HMRC declaration | Rental income is taxable. Furnished Holiday Lettings rules changed from April 2025 — your accountant should review | Annual | Owner |
The insurance one catches nearly everybody. A standard residential buildings and contents policy is invalidated the moment paying guests stay. If a guest is injured, or there is a fire, or water damage during a let, an insurer on a residential policy will decline the claim outright. This needs to be a specific holiday-let policy with public liability attached. We can point you at brokers who do this properly for north coast properties.
Good news on planning. Northern Ireland has no short-term-let licensing scheme of the kind now operating in Scotland, and Causeway Coast and Glens does not currently require planning permission for letting an existing residential property as self-catering accommodation. Tourism NI certification is the requirement. We monitor this — the Department for the Economy has consulted on reforming statutory regulation of tourist accommodation, and if anything changes we handle it.
What we do
Fully managed means fully managed.
- Professional photography — interiors, details, drone exterior where it warrants it
- Listing copy built for search, not for us to admire
- Complete listing build across every channel
- Amenity and inventory audit against guest expectation in this bracket
- Welcome book and house guide, written and printed
- Smart lock and self check-in setup
- Tourism NI application handled for you, if you want it — one-off £150
- Every guest message answered, seven days a week
- Enquiry screening — we decline the bookings that damage properties
- Check-in and check-out coordination
- Changeover cleaning scheduled and quality-checked
- Linen supply and laundry management
- Consumables kept stocked
- Maintenance triage — small things fixed before they become reviews
- Out-of-hours guest support
- Daily dynamic pricing against live market data
- Weekly competitor benchmarking across the north coast
- Minimum-stay and gap-night optimisation
- Direct booking site to cut platform commission where we can
- Review management — issues resolved before they are written
- Monthly owner statement, itemised
- Annual summary formatted for your accountant
- Owner portal — your calendar and bookings, any time
You keep your own use of the property. Block any dates through the owner portal, at any time, no charge and no restriction. Our only ask is reasonable notice on peak weeks so we are not cancelling confirmed guests — which costs you money and costs the listing its ranking.
Three weeks
From signature to first booking. The property is already furnished and finished, so this moves quickly — the long pole is the Tourism NI inspection, which is why we start it on day one.
From you
- Proof of ownership — title deeds, Land Registry folio or completion statement
- Photo ID and proof of address
- Bank details for owner payouts
- Existing insurance schedule, so we can check it covers short-term letting
- EPC, if one exists
- Any existing gas safety certificate, EICR, PAT or fire risk assessment
- Mortgage lender consent to let, if mortgaged
- Freeholder or management company consent, if the title requires it
- Warranty or manual pack for boiler and appliances
- Pets — yes or no. Dogs lift north coast bookings noticeably in shoulder and low season
- Stag and hen groups — our default is no, and we recommend keeping it that way in Portrush
- Your own use — which weeks to block for the next twelve months
- The single room — whether we convert it to sleep two
- Parking — what is available, allocated or on-street. It materially affects the listing
- Wi-Fi — is broadband installed, and what speed
- Keys — how many sets, and confirmation we can fit a smart lock
- Bin day — collection day and where the bins live
Terms at a glance
A summary. The full management agreement follows and takes precedence.
| Management fee | 15% of gross accommodation revenue. Nestled is not currently VAT registered, so no VAT is charged on the fee |
| Set-up fee | None. Photography, listing build and certification handling all included |
| Initial term | 12 months from the date the listing goes live |
| Notice period | 90 days written notice by either party after the initial term |
| Exit fee | None. Confirmed forward bookings are honoured and settled normally |
| Owner payouts | Monthly by the 15th of the following month, with an itemised statement covering every booking, deduction and recharged cost |
| Owner use | Unlimited and free. Blocked through the owner portal. Reasonable notice requested on peak dates |
| Maintenance authority | We authorise repairs up to £150 without prior approval to protect guest experience. Above that comes to you first |
| Damage | Covered by platform host protection and our security deposit policy on direct bookings. We pursue every claim on your behalf |
| Insurance | Owner maintains buildings, contents and public liability appropriate to short-term letting. Nestled carries its own public liability and professional indemnity cover |
| Compliance | Safety compliance — gas, electrical, PAT, fire risk and legionella — is arranged and paid for by the owner. Tourism NI certification is the owner's responsibility; Nestled will handle the application for a one-off £150 if requested |
Your property. Managed properly.
- Agree the fee and confirm the decisions list — pets, groups, the single room, your own use dates
- Sign the management agreement — today, or take it away and read it properly first
- Send the document pack — ownership, ID, insurance, bank details. Everything else we chase ourselves
- We file Tourism NI and book the shoot — both inside the first week. You are live inside three