In short
- First clarify ownership and who is allowed to make decisions about the cottage.
- Walk through the house as a guest and do a trial night; count beds by the places people can really sleep.
- Budget for the full running costs, including cleaning and empty dates, and check the local rules.
In this article
An inheritance can bring a beautiful place, but also a house you mostly know from family visits. Before you offer the cottage for weekends or holidays, get clear on who can make decisions about it, what needs repairing and how much time running it will take. Don’t rush the first booking. The best start is when you know what you are promising guests and who will deliver everything you promise.
1. Clarify who can make decisions
Check the outcome of the inheritance proceedings, the land register entry and any co-ownership. If the cottage belongs to several heirs, agree in advance who decides on the price, repairs, dates reserved for the family and who deals with guests. Write a short agreement on the practical matters too: who can hire a tradesperson, where the income is kept and how larger expenses are approved. This prevents a guest from receiving a confirmed booking for dates that someone in the family has meanwhile blocked for themselves.
2. Walk through the house as a guest, not as an owner
Visit the cottage in normal use, ideally in bad weather as well. Check the water, heating, electricity, hot water, internet signal, kitchen equipment and the access road. Try every lock, unfold the sofa bed and find the fuse box. List the faults by urgency: safety and functionality come before decoration. Set the number of beds by the sleeping places that are actually usable, not by the maximum number of people you could squeeze into the house.
Then do a trial stay: arrive as a guest, cook, take a shower, try arriving in the evening and find out what is missing. Add a check of fire extinguishers, smoke detectors where they make sense, stair lighting and clear instructions for the heating. If any appliance needs special handling, write a simple guide and consider whether guests really have to use it.
3. Budget for running costs, not just the nightly rate
In a simple budget, include cleaning, laundry, energy, internet, consumables, routine repairs, insurance, remote management and the periods when the cottage stays empty. Separate one-off preparation costs from the costs that come back with every stay. Consider how many hours a week you can spend on communication and key handovers. If you live far away, arrange a reliable person for cleaning and emergencies before you accept your first guests.
4. Check the rules where the cottage actually is
Rules differ by country, municipality and type of letting. Ask your municipality whether a tourist or visitor tax applies, whether short-term letting has to be registered or reported, and what guest records are required. Tax authorities usually look at the circumstances when deciding whether income counts as rental income or as an accommodation business, for example the length and purpose of stays, how regularly you offer the property and whether you provide extra services; a short stay or the use of a booking platform alone is not the full test. Read the official guidance in your country and discuss the result with an accountant or tax adviser. If your letting counts as a business, find out how to register it. Do not conclude from this that every occasional letting of the house automatically falls under the same regime. Hosting foreign guests often comes with its own reporting rules. In the EU, the official Your Europe portal explains that rules for short-term accommodation are set nationally, regionally or locally and links to information for each country. Don’t take this paragraph as legal advice. Start with the local authority and the official information of the country where the cottage is located.
5. Prepare an offer you can deliver
Pick the main reason someone would come here in particular: hiking, peace and quiet, skiing, a garden, a sauna or space for the whole family. Photograph every room in daylight and also show the bathroom, kitchen, parking and the path to the entrance. State the limitations as clearly as the advantages: stairs, a weak signal, well water or the distance to the nearest shop. Decide on the minimum stay, arrival and departure times, cancellation terms and what is included in the price. The article How to get your first bookings goes into more detail. If your holiday home is abroad, continue with the checklist for an apartment abroad.
Quick checklist
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If you want to show guests available dates, the price and a booking form on your own website, you can compare your needs with the features of BKNGWEB. The right tool, however, does not replace checking that the house is ready or that you follow the local rules.