Your property. Managed properly.
Full short-stay management for Portrush, Portstewart and the Causeway Coast. Commission only. No VAT. Nothing hidden.
No set-up fee. No listing fee. No photography fee. No monthly retainer. We work on commission only: a share of gross accommodation revenue, agreed with you on a call and confirmed in writing before anything is signed. And no VAT on top. We are not VAT registered, so the rate we agree is the whole number.
If your property does not book, we do not get paid. Your incentive and ours point in the same direction. That is the entire point of a percentage model, and it is why we have never charged a retainer.
A headline percentage only tells you part of the story. Add VAT, set-up charges and mark-ups back in and two quotes that look alike can be far apart. Ask for every figure in writing before you compare.
What you get
Fully managed means fully managed.
- Professional photography and full listing build
- Listing copywriting, optimisation and ongoing SEO
- Distribution across Airbnb, Booking.com 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 laundering and rotation managed each changeover
- Maintenance triage and contractor coordination
- Review management and response
- Monthly owner statement and annual accountant summary
- Booking data exported on request for your visitors' register
- Cleaning — charged to the guest, not to you. The rate is set once our cleaning team has seen the property
- Linen and towels — a decision, not an assumption. We supply and manage it at an agreed cost, or you supply your own. If you supply, we need three full changeover sets so there is always one on the bed, one in the wash and one on the shelf
- Your welcome book — you write it. You know the house and the good places to eat better than we do, and it reads better for it. We give you the list of what guests actually ask
- Safety certificates — gas, electrical, PAT, fire risk and legionella are arranged and paid for by you. More on that below
- Tourism NI certification — a statutory requirement, applied for and paid by the owner. £40 to Tourism NI, once every four years
- Consumables restock — typically £15–£25 a month, at cost
- Maintenance and repairs — at contractor cost, no mark-up
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 your monthly statement at cost.
How we price
Most north coast properties are priced once a year. That is where the money goes.
Every week we scrape live Airbnb and Booking.com pricing across the north coast, filter it to genuine like-for-like comparables — properties rated 4.8 and above, with a real review history, sleeping what yours sleeps — and reprice against it. Here is what that data keeps showing us.
Demand moves.
Most pricing doesn't.
Here is the pattern our data keeps showing. On the left, what guest demand actually does across a north coast year. On the right, what most properties charge through the same twelve months.
Indicative shape, drawn from our weekly scrape of comparable north coast listings. Deliberately shown as a pattern rather than pound figures — what any individual property should charge depends entirely on that property, and we would not presume to put a number on yours without seeing it.
Most owners set a rate in January and never touch it again.
It costs them twice over. They undercharge badly in July, when demand is scarce and guests would happily pay more. And they overcharge in January, so the property sits empty for a month rather than taking the booking at a sensible rate.
On a flat market, correct pricing is close to free money. It is the single biggest thing we do for the properties we manage, and it is the reason we would rather be paid a percentage than a fee.
- Rates repriced daily, not seasonally
- Live competitor availability tracked across your town
- 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
- Events calendar loaded twelve months ahead
- North West 200 — May. The single biggest rate week in Portrush, and the one most often sold at an ordinary price
- Golf championship weeks — Royal Portrush drives extraordinary rates and fills midweek
- Easter — moves year to year, and carries April when priced for
- Halloween — the coast pulls heavily off Derry
- New Year — reliably the strongest winter week
Both work, and it is your call — plenty of owners want their own house back in winter.
- Year-round — more nights, lower blended rate. Winter nights drag the average down but they are still income
- Season only — fewer nights, higher blended rate, because you never take a cheap January booking. April to September is the usual shape
- We will model both against your property before you decide, and you can change your mind after a season on real data
What could yours earn?
A back-of-envelope range, not a quote. Pick your size, set the sliders where you think your property sits, and see roughly what a year could bring in. Then talk to us and we will do it properly against live data for your street.
Starting rates are typical north coast figures for each size — our live market data puts a well-presented three-bedroom around £180 a night. Move the sliders to match your own property. Figures are gross, before our commission, which we agree with you and confirm in writing before you sign. Cleaning is paid by the guest and excluded throughout. Output is a range because that is the honest shape of it. Read the basis of these figures before you rely on any of it.
The basis of these figures
This is an illustration. It is not a forecast, not a valuation, and not a guarantee of income. It is arithmetic applied to numbers you chose. It knows nothing about your actual property.
The starting rates come from live comparable pricing across the north coast and represent our reasonable opinion of a typical figure at the time of writing. They are opinion, not fact. Real performance depends on things no calculator can see — the condition and presentation of the property, its exact location and outlook, competing supply on your street, general economic and travel conditions, weather, booking-platform ranking and policy changes, changes to law, regulation or taxation, dates you block for your own use, and cancellations.
Actual income will differ, and may differ materially. No representation, warranty or guarantee is given that any level of bookings, occupancy, nightly rate or income will be achieved. Nothing on this page forms part of any contract. If a number here matters to a decision you are about to make — buying a property, giving up a long-term tenancy, taking on borrowing — take independent financial advice first. We would far rather you did.
Market figures reflect data gathered in August 2026 and are refreshed periodically. Nothing on this page is a personal recommendation.
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.
This one is yours to do, and it is not difficult. A form, a £40 fee and an inspection appointment. We will tell you exactly what the inspector looks for and walk the property against that list with you before you apply — a failed inspection means waiting for another slot, and in spring that can cost you weeks of the season.
Get the application in early. It is the longest lead time of anything on the setup list.
The conditions the inspector assesses. Worth checking your property against these before you apply.
- 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
The visitors' register. A legal obligation for the certificate holder, and a common failure point at re-inspection. It needs each guest's name, home address, nationality and dates, kept for a year. Our system holds names, contact details and stay dates, and we will export those for you as a spreadsheet whenever you ask. Home address and nationality are not captured by the booking platforms, so those need to be collected by you.
| Offence | Maximum penalty |
|---|---|
| Letting without a valid certificate | £2,500 and/or 6 months |
| Failure to display the certificate | £2,500 |
| Falsely claiming a grading | £2,500 |
| Unapproved signage | £200 |
| Non-compliant visitors' register | £200 |
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. This is general information, not legal advice.
Who does what
Certification is the headline requirement, not the whole picture. Tourism NI is explicit that its 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 a managing agent.
We want to be straight about this, because some agencies are not. You will see managing agents imply they take on your safety compliance. We do not, and legally we could not. Arranging and paying for these certificates is the owner's responsibility. What we do is hand you the complete checklist at onboarding so nothing is a surprise six months in.
| Requirement | What's needed | Frequency | Handled by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tourism NI certificate | Statutory certification and inspection. £40 to Tourism NI | Every 4 yrs | Owner |
| Visitors' register | Name, home address, nationality and dates for every guest, kept for one year. We export the booking data we hold on request | Ongoing | Owner |
| 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 |
| 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. It 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 the statutory regulation of tourist accommodation, and if anything changes we will tell the owners we manage.
Three weeks
From signature to first booking, on a property that is already furnished and ready. The long pole is the Tourism NI inspection, which is why it goes first.
One thing worth knowing about timing. Summer bookings are made in January, February and March. A listing that goes live in April has already missed the window that fills it. If you are aiming at next season, the conversation needs to happen before Christmas.
Who this suits
We would rather turn a property away than take one we cannot do well by.
- Second homes on the north coast sitting empty most of the year
- Owners who want the income without the phone calls — the 11pm "the boiler's making a noise" call is ours, not yours
- Properties already furnished to a decent standard, or owners willing to get them there
- Anyone self-managing who has realised the pricing and the messaging are a second job
- Owners switching from an agency that adds set-up fees, VAT or mark-ups on top
- People converting from a long-term tenancy who want the numbers modelled honestly first
- Properties needing significant work — we are managers, not developers. Get it finished, then talk to us
- Owners wanting a guaranteed rent — we do not offer one, and we are wary of anyone who does. A guarantee is priced in your money
- Anyone expecting stag and hen bookings — our default is no, and in Portrush we recommend keeping it that way
- Properties outside the Causeway Coast, Belfast, Banbridge or Co. Down — we know these areas street by street, which is the whole point. We would be guessing anywhere else
- Owners who want to approve every booking — the calendar has to move faster than that to rank
Terms, published
Most managing agents will not show you these until you ask twice. Here they are. The signed management agreement is the document that governs the relationship and takes precedence over this page.
| Management fee | Commission on gross accommodation revenue, agreed with you and set out in the management agreement before you sign. Nestled is not currently VAT registered, so no VAT is charged on the fee |
| Set-up fee | None. Photography and listing build are included |
| Initial term | 12 months from the date the listing goes live, or one full season for a seasonal property |
| Owner payouts | Monthly by the 15th of the following month, with an itemised statement covering every booking, deduction and recharged cost |
| Your own 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 the guest experience. Above that comes to you first |
| Damage | We do not take a security deposit. Damage is covered by the booking platform's host protection scheme and we pursue those claims for you. Cover is set by the platform, not by us, and is not unlimited — your holiday-let insurance remains the backstop |
| Compliance | Tourism NI certification and all safety compliance are arranged and paid for by the owner. We provide the full checklist at onboarding |
| Income figures | Any projection we give you is an illustrative estimate prepared in good faith on stated assumptions. It is not warranted and forms no part of the agreement |
Straight answers
Do I really need a Tourism NI certificate?
Yes. It is a statutory requirement under the Tourism (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 for all visitor accommodation in Northern Ireland, and letting without one is a criminal offence carrying a fine of up to £2,500 and/or six months' imprisonment. There is no equivalent in England, Scotland or Wales, which is why so many owners are unaware of it.
Can I still use the property myself?
As much as you like, free of charge, in season and out. You block dates through the owner portal. The only thing we ask is reasonable notice on peak weeks — cancelling a confirmed guest costs you money and costs the listing its ranking.
What happens if a guest damages something?
We do not take a security deposit. Damage is covered by the booking platform's own host protection scheme, and we submit and pursue those claims on your behalf. That cover is set by the platform, not by us, and it is not unlimited — which is why a proper holiday-let insurance policy matters as the backstop.
Do you handle my gas and electrical certificates?
No, and we would be misleading you if we said otherwise. Safety compliance is the owner's legal duty of care and it cannot be delegated to a managing agent. We give you the full checklist at onboarding so you know exactly what is needed and when.
Will my normal house insurance cover this?
Almost certainly not. A standard residential buildings and contents policy is invalidated the moment paying guests stay in the property. You need a specific holiday-let policy with public liability attached. It is the single most common gap we find on new properties.
How much can I earn?
It depends on the property, the town, the standard of finish and how many nights you want to let. The estimator above will give you a rough range. For a real answer we look at live comparable pricing for your specific street and model it properly — that costs you nothing and there is no obligation attached to it.
Do you guarantee an income?
No. Nobody honest does. A guaranteed rent is priced so the guarantor wins, which means it is priced out of your income. We would rather share the upside and be paid only when your property books.
Where do you operate?
The Causeway Coast, Belfast, Banbridge & Co. Down. On the coast we know Portrush, Portstewart, Portballintrae, Bushmills, Castlerock and Ballycastle street by street, and that local knowledge is most of the value. Outside these areas, we would be guessing — and we would rather tell you that than take on a property we cannot manage properly.
I am already on Airbnb myself. Is it worth switching?
Often, yes — but we will tell you honestly if not. The two things that usually move most are pricing (most self-managed properties run one rate all year) and response time. Send us your listing and we will give you a straight read on what we would change.
Let's talk about your property.
A conversation, not a pitch. Tell us where the property is and what you are hoping for, and we will come back with a proper view — live comparable pricing for your street, a rate card, and an honest projection with its assumptions on the page. No cost, no obligation, and no hard sell if it is not a fit.
- Tell us the town and the size — that is enough to start
- We model it against live market data, usually within a few days
- You get the numbers and the assumptions, whether you sign or not