Free calculator
Holiday Let Calculator
Test income, costs, finance, setup spend, occupancy and operating assumptions before you commit survey, legal or furnishing costs.
Holiday Let Investor provides educational tools and decision-support resources. It does not provide regulated investment, mortgage, tax, legal, planning, valuation or accounting advice. Outputs depend on user assumptions and should support, not replace, your own checks and professional advice.
The problem with most holiday-let calculators
A holiday let is not just a nightly rate.
A simple holiday let ROI calculator or Airbnb investment calculator can be useful for a first screen, but viability depends on the interaction between finance, occupancy, seasonality, management fees, furnishing, compliance, repairs, tax changes and operational workload.
Headline income can mislead
A nightly rate is not a profit forecast. Revenue can fall apart after occupancy, platform fees, cleaning, utilities, repairs and finance costs.
Management route matters
A property may only look attractive if self-managed, but self-management has a time cost and can become a second job.
Furnishing costs arrive early
Guest-ready interiors, photography, launch stock, safety items and replacement reserves need modelling before they surprise you.
After purchase still matters
The investment case should be compared with actual bookings, costs, occupancy, KPI movement and monthly P&L after launch.
Buyer-intent checks
Use the calculator to test the assumptions that usually change the answer.
This calculator helps you test whether a holiday-let investment works after realistic income, running costs, mortgage costs, setup spend and occupancy assumptions.
Before trusting agent income forecasts
Replace headline income with cautious high, mid and low-season booked-week assumptions and close comparable evidence.
Why gross income is not profit
Deduct platform fees, cleaning, utilities, insurance, maintenance, management fees, finance and other annual costs before judging the result.
Break-even occupancy
Check how many booked nights or how much revenue the property needs before it covers operating and finance costs.
Mortgage sensitivity
Compare interest-only and repayment assumptions, interest rate pressure and the annual cost of borrowing.
Management fee sensitivity
Test self-management against agency management so workload savings are visible in the cashflow.
Setup cost impact
Include furniture, launch stock, safety items, photography, hot tub or add-on costs, contingency and replacement reserves before offer stage.
If the result is marginal
Do not force the numbers to work.
Change one assumption at a time, collect better evidence, compare management routes and decide whether the property needs a lower offer, more checks or rejection.
Calculator walkthroughs
Watch calculator walkthroughs before editing assumptions.
Use the video guides to see how income, costs, break-even occupancy and finance assumptions are challenged before you run your own calculator screen.
Calculator video guide
Calculator assumptions
Use the calculator to challenge the full investment case, not just revenue.
The platform is designed to make these factors visible early, while the buyer can still walk away, renegotiate or collect better evidence.
Higher borrowing costs
Interest rate, term, repayment type and deposit assumptions can change the deal more than the nightly rate.
Changing tax rules
Tax treatment needs checking with a qualified adviser; the tools help organise records and assumptions.
Occupancy uncertainty
Seasonality, local demand, competition and guest-fit assumptions need stress-testing before you rely on them.
Furnishing and interior design
Guest-ready presentation, layout, furniture, photography and replacement costs affect both launch spend and appeal.
Cleaning and laundry
Cleaning charged to guests, cleaning paid by the owner and turnover standards can materially affect net profit.
Utilities and maintenance
Heating, power, repairs, reserve costs and supplier availability should be modelled before they become surprises.
Management options
Self-management may improve economics, but it creates admin. Agency fees reduce workload but change cashflow.
Guest expectations
Parking, dog-friendly setup, outside space, Wi-Fi, check-in, reviews and local positioning affect performance.
Compliance and insurance
Planning, lease, licensing, fire safety, mortgage terms and specialist insurance all need independent checking.
Platform fees and marketing
OTA commissions, direct booking work, pricing tools, photography and marketing effort should be visible in the model.
Cashflow and ROI
Gross booking income is not profit. Look at net cashflow, break-even occupancy and cash invested.
Exit strategy
Consider resale, local restrictions, demand durability and whether the property still works if assumptions soften.
Location research
Use the location guide before setting area assumptions.
The calculator is strongest when area demand, seasonality, purchase price and management assumptions are tested together instead of treated as one headline revenue figure.
Location checks to carry into the numbers.
Purchase price pressure versus likely net cashflow
Seasonality and break-even occupancy risk
Planning, licensing, lease, mortgage and insurance constraints
Cleaning, management and maintenance availability
Property assumptions
Defaults are illustrative UK holiday-let assumptions, not market data.
UK defaults are loaded first. Select another destination to update currency labels and simple operating assumptions, then check local professional advice before relying on the result.
Income assumptions
Seasonal rates multiplied by booked weeks plus annual extras.
Costs and setup
Operating costs are deducted before mortgage. Percentages are annual assumptions.
From estimate to tracking
When the numbers still look promising, Pro keeps them live.
A calculator result is a snapshot. Pro turns the assumptions into a working control centre so setup spend, bookings, occupancy, costs and monthly performance can be reviewed against the original case.
£29/month or £249/year
What Pro adds
Save the baseline forecast
Track setup spend against budget
Add actual income, expenses and occupancy
Review actual vs forecast variance
Educational tracking and workflow support only. No income, occupancy, tax, finance or investment outcome is promised.
Useful next checks
Move naturally from article research into the right tool.
These links connect the buyer-intent guides with the calculator, Deal Checker, workbook, Pro Tracker and AI workflow pages.
Calculator guide
How to use the holiday let calculator before you view.
Use this page as an early screening model, not a final valuation. The useful output is not one attractive profit figure; it is whether the deal still looks sensible when income, costs and finance are made visible.
Start with cautious revenue
Enter separate high, mid and low-season weekly rates rather than using one annual average. UK holiday lets are seasonal, so a cottage in Cornwall, a lodge in North Wales and a serviced apartment in a city can all behave differently. If the agent provides a gross income figure, test it against your own booked-week assumptions before relying on it.
Make running costs visible
The calculator separates platform fees, management fees, cleaning, utilities, insurance, maintenance reserve, council tax or business rates, hot tub maintenance and other annual costs. This helps avoid the common mistake of treating gross booking income as profit.
Model finance properly
Deposit, mortgage amount, interest rate, term and mortgage type all affect the output. Interest-only borrowing can show a very different annual cost from repayment borrowing, so compare both where relevant and use the break-even occupancy as a risk check.
What the calculator tells you.
This UK holiday let calculator helps you review gross booking revenue, cleaning revenue, total gross income, operating costs, mortgage cost, net operating income before mortgage and net cashflow after mortgage. It also shows gross yield, net yield before mortgage, cash-on-cash return and break-even occupancy.
Break-even occupancy is especially useful because it turns several assumptions into one plain question: how hard does this property need to work before it covers its costs? A deal that breaks even at a modest occupancy level usually has more room for weaker months, repairs or cost increases than a deal that needs strong bookings all year.
For deeper analysis, run a property through the holiday let deal checker and then use the report and spreadsheet if the deal still deserves more detailed scenario testing.
Calculator outputs are only as useful as the assumptions entered. Use evidence from close comparable properties, local cleaners, managing agents, mortgage brokers, insurers and any available historic booking information before making decisions.
FAQs
Common questions
What does the holiday let calculator estimate?
It estimates gross booking revenue, cleaning revenue, total gross income, operating costs, mortgage annual cost, net cashflow, yields, cash-on-cash return, break-even occupancy and simple best, base and worst-case scenarios.
Why are basic holiday-let calculators not enough?
Basic calculators often focus on revenue and a few headline costs. Holiday-let viability depends on how finance, occupancy, seasonality, management fees, furnishing, compliance, repairs, tax changes and owner workload interact.
Can I use it for Airbnb, lodges and cottages?
Yes. The calculator is designed for UK holiday lets, Airbnb-style short lets, lodges, cottages and serviced accommodation, provided you adapt the assumptions to the property and operating model.
Does the calculator use live market data?
No. It uses the assumptions you enter. Treat the output as an illustrative scenario and check local comparables, booking evidence and professional advice before relying on the result.
Why is break-even occupancy important?
Break-even occupancy estimates the percentage of the year the property may need to be booked to cover operating costs and mortgage cost under the entered assumptions. It is useful for comparing risk between properties.