Holiday let
management on Anglesey.
We run coastal holiday lets on Ynys Môn — the cleaning, the guests, the maintenance, the bookings, the lot. 17.5% of payout, no VAT added. Six-month minimum term.
The 182-night problem.
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To keep business rates status in Wales, a self-catering property has to be available for 252 nights and actually let for 182.
Miss it and you drop onto council tax, plus Anglesey's second-home premium — one of the highest in Wales.
For most owners on this coast, that swing is worth more than a year of management fees.
And it isn't decided in August. August books itself.
It's decided across April to June and September to October, when the calendar goes quiet and most self-managed properties sit there at the same nightly rate they charged in high season.
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From 1 October 2026, registration with the Welsh Revenue Authority becomes compulsory for anyone charging for overnight stays in Wales — including occasional and seasonal lets.
There are penalties for not registering.
If that's news to you, you're not alone; most owners we speak to here haven't heard about it yet.
One property.
One summer.
Real figures.
We manage a four-bedroom sea-view house in Moelfre.
Here are its actual numbers, published with the owner's permission — not a projection, and not a case study assembled backwards from one good month.
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| Month | Owner's net income | Avg nightly rate |
|---|---|---|
| June 2026 | £2,989 | £345 |
| July 2026 | £9,028 | £465 |
| August 2026 | £8,276 | £503 |
Nightly rate excludes the cleaning fee. August reflects bookings taken and is not yet fully reconciled; June and July are final.
Figures explained.
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After platform fees, cleaning, our fee and expenses.
Four things worth drawing out.
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It's a shoulder month and it earned a third of what July did.
Any agent who shows you only their August column isn't being straight with you — and the gap between June and July is the single most important thing on this page, because that's where the 182-night question gets decided.
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The Welsh threshold is 182 across a full year.
One good summer doesn't get you there on its own.
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£7,011 of bookings — a fifth of the quarter — that would have cost 18.5% through Airbnb cost 1.5% booked direct.
That's more than two months of management fees, back in the owner's pocket.
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That's the 17.5%-of-payout figure measured against real turnover, not a rounded estimate.
Same house, same summer.
£7,834 more
for the owner.
See the comparison between previous manager and us:
| Previous managerJun–Aug 2025 | ZEN StaysJun–Aug 2026 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nights let | 66 | 66 | — |
| Bookings | 23 | 16 | −30% |
| Average nightly rate | £365 | £453 | +24% |
| Guest turnover | £28,169 | £33,281 | +18% |
| Management feeboth charged on payout | £6,23727.0% | £4,95017.5% | −21% |
| Owner's net income | £12,460 | £20,294 | +63% |
Figures from the owner's monthly statements. Both managers charged their fee on payout, so the rates compare directly. Different years aren't a controlled experiment — but it's the same house, the same three months, and the same number of let nights.
Comparison explained.
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Not more availability, not more of the owner's own weeks given up.
The same 66 nights.
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The difference came from proper pricing, longer bookings, no markups on running costs, lower management fees and direct channel.
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£453 a night against £365 the previous summer — a 24% lift on an identical house, because rates moved with real demand instead of sitting flat.
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Sixteen stays instead of twenty-three, averaging just over four nights each.
That's seven fewer changeovers across the summer — lower cost, less wear on the house, and a better rhythm for guests.
We charged a bit more per changeover; it was still cheaper overall as we simply needed fewer of them.
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Coffee, toiletries, cleaning supplies, breakables — billed at what they cost us, with nothing added.
Some managers apply a flat per-changeover charge instead; ours is whatever the receipts say.
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Our fee is 17.5% of payout.
The previous arrangement was 27% of the same payout.
On this summer alone that's £2,688 that stayed with the owner.
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A fifth of the summer's bookings came direct rather than through the platforms, saving another £1,192 in commission.
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Wall-mounted dispensers with quality refillable toiletries instead of half-used miniatures — better for guests, better for the house, cheaper to run and a lot less plastic in the bins every changeover.
Everything checked, replaced and brought up to a standard we'd be happy to hand over on day one.
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With five out of five for cleanliness on every single one.
The property now sits at 4.97 / 5.
Six things Anglesey
owners tell us
are broken:
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The complaint we hear most on this island, by a distance.
Changeover teams who cancel in July, standards that drift once the summer rush starts, linen that comes back grey.
We employ our cleaners rather than subcontracting, so we can train them, pay them properly and hold them to a standard.
Our linen comes from an Oxford supplier who now delivers to Anglesey.
Every changeover is logged with a photo and video walkthrough — you can see the state of your property after every single guest, from wherever you are.
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Guests message at 11pm on a Saturday and expect an answer.
Our team covers comms 7 days a week across three shifts, so you're not answering your phone on your own holiday.
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We write your listing copy and shoot your photography in-house, at cost — and both belong to you, permanently.
If you leave us, they leave with you.
We will never charge you to keep pictures of your own house.
Worth asking any agency you talk to, including us.
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Six-month minimum term, three months' notice.
We'd rather you stayed because it's working than because you can't leave.
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Most self-managed listings on this coast are priced the same in February as in August, have never been rewritten since launch, and sit on one platform.
We price by night against real demand, list across Airbnb and Booking.com, and build you a direct booking channel so you're not paying platform commission on guests who come back.
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We heard complaints about operators not allowing owners to stay in their own house.
Block whatever dates you want, whenever you want them. No blackout periods, no charge for using your own house, no minimum number of let nights we hold you to. You bought a place on this coast to use it.
One honest caveat, because it's the trade-off nobody tells owners about: every night you keep is a night that doesn't count toward 182. A fortnight in August costs you far more than a fortnight in June — not just in nightly rate, but because August is the part of the year that fills itself, and June is the part you have to work for.
So we'll show you the number. Before you block a week, we'll tell you what it's likely to be worth and what it does to your 182-night position. Then you decide. Some owners take the shoulder weeks and let us trade the peak. Some take August and accept the property won't clear the threshold. Both are fine — we'd just rather you chose it deliberately than found out in April.
We are a small family business,
not a franchise.
Anglesey footprintThe Moelfre property above is ours to run.
The ferry traffic and the shoulder-season lull aren't theoretical to us.
Where we workAnywhere on Ynys Môn. The whole island. Wherever your property sits, it gets the same team and the same standards.
Moelfre · Benllech · Red Wharf Bay · Pentraeth · Marianglas · Lligwy · Dulas · Amlwch · Cemaes · Rhosneigr · Trearddur Bay · Beaumaris · Menai Bridge · Holyhead
Our backgroundWe are experienced holiday let owners and operators but also come from construction.
Redecoration, a restage, a new kitchen, back to brick — we can scope it, price it and manage it.
Who we areZEN Stays is Mac and Maggie Deryng. Close to 3,000 stays hosted, Airbnb Superhosts, Booking.com award winners.
We launch one property at a time — slower, deliberate, and why launches don't go wrong.
Frequently Asked
Questions.
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If you charge for overnight stays in Wales of 31 nights or less, yes.
Registration opens 1 October 2026 and applies whether you let year-round, seasonally or occasionally. We handle it as part of onboarding.
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It loses business rates status and moves to council tax, where Anglesey's second-home premium applies.
Getting to 182 is a shoulder-season problem, and it's the first thing we look at.
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They're one property over one part-season, published because they're real — not because they're representative.
Your property will do something different depending on size, location, condition and how many weeks you keep for yourself.
We'd rather show you one honest set of figures than an average we can't evidence.
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Yes, at the visit. Every owner gets a monthly statement reconciled against the bank, booking by booking, with platform fees and our fee shown separately.
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Yes — block whatever dates you want, with no blackout periods and no charge.
The only thing we'll do is show you the cost before you decide: a week in August is worth several times a week in June, and every night you keep is a night that doesn't count toward 182.
We'll give you the number and leave the choice to you.
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You do, permanently, whether you stay with us or not.
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Six months minimum, three months' notice.
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17.5% of payout, no VAT added — roughly 15% of what your guests pay. On the Moelfre property above it worked out at 14.9% of turnover across the summer.
That covers guest messaging and screening, dynamic nightly pricing, listings across Airbnb and Booking.com, your direct booking channel, maintenance and trades coordination, waste collection, damage and deposit handling, and your monthly statements.
Changeovers, laundry, photography, consumables and getting the property guest-ready are charged at cost with no margin added. No setup fee, no listing fee, no exit fee.
If we ever become VAT registered, the all-in rate is capped at 21% of payout.
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No. Cleaning is charged at cost — we take nothing from it.
The management fee is the only money we make from your property.
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Different base.
Most charge on turnover — the gross guests pay before platforms take their cut.
We charge on payout - what guests pay minus platform fees.
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