Guest communications
Enquiries, check-in details, questions mid-stay and the reviews afterwards. Answered fast, in your property's voice.
Short-let & holiday-let management · London & the Home CountiesKeep the income.
Hand over the inbox.
We look after short-let and holiday-let properties across London and the surrounding counties. Guest messages, pricing, changeovers and compliance, on whichever platforms you use, for a share of what your place earns.
- Guests usually answered within 10 minutes, 8am to 10pm UK time
- On call for lock-outs and leaks, day or night
- Rolling monthly. Cancel on 30 days' notice.
Sophie · 14:52Hi! We're outside but can't find the keys?
Hive Stewards · 14:54Welcome, Sophie! The keysafe is on the left of the porch, code 4471. Kettle's by the window and there's milk in the fridge. Shout if you need anything.
Sophie · 14:55We're in. Thank you!!
Replied in 2 minutes. You were in a meeting.
An illustrative example, not a real conversation.
What we look after
Everything between a booking and a five-star review
Pricing and occupancy
Rates that move with weekends, school holidays and whatever is on locally, so quiet weeks fill and peak dates earn properly.
Changeovers and cleaning
Cleaners booked and checked with photos, linen and consumables restocked, keysafe codes changed between guests.
Maintenance and callouts
A boiler that won't fire at 10pm is our phone that rings, not yours. Agreed tradespeople, agreed spending limit.
Listing setup and photography
New properties launched across the platforms that suit them, with copy, photos and a digital house guide that answers itself.
Safety and compliance
Certificates tracked before they lapse, fire risk assessment in place, and your paperwork ready for the national register.
A changeover day, handled
Saturday, while you're somewhere else
Guests check out
Checkout confirmed. A friendly review request is queued for tomorrow.
Cleaner in, linen swapped
We book the clean and get photos of every room before they leave.
Restock and reset
Loo roll, coffee, dishwasher tabs. The keysafe code is changed.
Check-in guide sent
New guests get directions, the code and the wifi in one message.
"We're in!"
Any question, from the oven to the best pub, comes to us, not you.
Inbox quiet
Tomorrow's price nudged up for the bank holiday. You didn't touch your phone.
Why a local steward
Ten minutes away, one phone number
Someone can actually turn up
A national management company raises a ticket. We bring a spare key.
Ready for the new register
England is bringing in a national register for short-term lets. We'll get your gas, electrical and fire safety paperwork in order now, so your property isn't caught out when the portal opens.
Your listings stay yours
We work inside your own accounts. Stop any month and everything, reviews included, stays with you.
Rules that change at the boundary
Greater London caps entire-home lets at 90 nights a year. Cross into Hertfordshire or Surrey and that cap disappears, but an Article 4 direction might not. We work both sides of it.
Areas covered
London and an hour around it
Somewhere not on this list? Ask anyway. If we can get to your property inside an hour, we can usually take it on.
- Greater LondonAll 32 boroughs and the City of London, from Zone 1 to the M25
- HertfordshireWatford, St Albans, Hemel Hempstead, Borehamwood, Rickmansworth
- EssexBrentwood, Epping, Loughton, Chelmsford, Basildon, Southend
- KentDartford, Gravesend, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, the Medway towns
- SurreyEpsom, Esher, Weybridge, Woking, Staines, Guildford
- Berks & BucksSlough, Windsor, Maidenhead, Amersham, Beaconsfield, High Wycombe
Free hosting readiness review
Five details, twelve checks, one honest score. A thirteenth, London-only planning check appears when it applies.
The same checks we run before taking on a property: what the law and your lease expect, what your place should be earning, and what quietly costs you bookings. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you choose to send it.
Part 1 Your property
Part 2 The checks
0 of 13 checks answered
0out of 100
What we'd fix first
A guide to the usual duties for short-term lets in England, and a rough estimate from your own figures. Not legal, tax or financial advice.
What it costs
A share of bookings, not a fee for existing
Percentages are taken from booking income after platform fees. A quiet month costs you nothing. No VAT is added to our fees at present.
Inbox & pricing
15% of booking income
- All guest messages, 8am to 10pm UK time
- Booking requests and calendar
- Nightly prices adjusted for demand
- Review replies and guest vetting
For owners who already have a cleaner they trust.
Fully managed
20% of booking income
- Everything in Inbox & pricing
- Cleaner scheduling and photo checks
- Linen, restocks and supply runs
- Maintenance callouts and lock-outs
- Monthly earnings summary
Cleaning is billed at cost, with no markup.
Listing launch
from £250 one-off
- Listing copy, photos and pricing set up
- Digital house guide for guests
- Keysafe or smart lock advice
- Safety paperwork checklist, ready for registration
Waived if you go on to Fully managed.
One-page agreement, rolling monthly, 30 days' notice either way.
About us
A small team and a short list of properties
We're a London team working across the capital and the Home Counties. We like a tidy spreadsheet and a five-star review, and we're the ones who answer the "how does the oven work?" message at 9pm so you don't have to.
We started Hive Stewards because we kept seeing good properties with tired listings, and owners who had stopped enjoying them. Our job is to make your place earn more and bother you less. We take on a limited number of properties at a time, so nobody ends up as a number on a dashboard.
Questions owners ask
The practical bits
What happens after I do the readiness review?
Send us your score and we'll come back within two working days with the specifics for your property: which certificate to get first, roughly what it costs, and who locally can do it. No charge, and no obligation to hire us.
Which booking platforms do you work with?
All the main booking platforms, plus direct bookings through your own site if you'd rather not pay platform commission on repeat guests. Calendars are synced so a date is never sold twice.
How do you get paid?
Either through the platform's own co-host payout split, where that's available, or by monthly invoice against a statement showing every booking. Either way you can see the full picture in your own account.
Is there a contract?
A one-page agreement that rolls monthly. Give us 30 days' notice and we part on good terms, with all your reviews and listings exactly where they were.
What happens if a pipe bursts at 2am?
Emergencies come straight to us, day or night, and we get to them as fast as we can. We agree a list of tradespeople and a spending limit up front, so we can send someone out without waking you.
Can you work with my existing cleaner?
Yes, if they're good. We'll put them on the changeover schedule and check every clean with photos. If you don't have one, we have people we trust.
Do I need to register my property?
England is introducing a national registration scheme for short-term lets, expected to go live during 2026. Once it's mandatory, listings will need a registration number. We'll prepare the safety paperwork and register your property when the portal opens.
How does the London 90-night cap work?
In Greater London, using an entire home for short stays counts toward a limit of 90 nights per property per calendar year; beyond that, planning permission is needed. The exemption also requires that someone providing the accommodation is liable for council tax at the property. A 30-night stay still counts toward the limit: only occupation by the same guest for 90 consecutive nights or more falls outside these rules, and that is effectively a tenancy with legal implications of its own. We track your nights, warn you well before the limit, and pause short stays rather than breach it. Letting a room in your own home is not caught by the cap at all.
Does the 90-night cap apply outside London?
No. It comes from the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973 as amended by the Deregulation Act 2015, and it only covers Greater London. In Hertfordshire, Essex, Kent, Surrey, Berkshire or Buckinghamshire there's no statutory night cap. What can still apply is ordinary planning law, if letting becomes the property's main use, and any Article 4 direction your council has made. We check that before taking a property on.
Get in touch
Tell us about your property. We'll tell you what it should be earning.
Within two working days you'll get a short, honest note: what's holding it back, what we'd change first, and what we'd charge. No obligation.
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