Short-Let Host Tracker
This short-let host tracker works out what each booking really made after platform commission, the cost of the turnover and the nights that stayed empty.
A payout screen shows what a platform sent you, not what the stay was worth. Every booking costs one turnover however short it is, which is why a calendar full of three-night stays can earn less than half as many week-long ones. Occupancy is not the same as profit.
What is in it
- Seven linked tabs: Start Here, Settings, Properties, Bookings, Expenses, Monthly and Overview.
- Bookings — 500 rows. You type property, guest, platform, check-in, nights and the gross you collected; check-out, commission, turnover cost, net and net per night all calculate themselves.
- Settings — six platform slots you name yourself, each with its own commission rate. Direct bookings sit in the same table at zero commission, so the comparison stays honest.
- Properties — 30 rows, with nights, gross and net per property and every expense tagged to the property that caused it.
- Expenses — 14 categories, each tagged to a property and each with a receipt reference, because short-let costs arrive as a towel here and a kettle there.
- Monthly — nights sold, gross, commission, cleaning and net for every month of the year, measured against the occupancy you were aiming at.
Who it is for
Short-let and holiday-let hosts, with one property or with several. It is most useful from the second property onwards, when it stops being obvious which one is carrying the other, but it works with a single row on the Properties tab and the per-property columns simply stop being interesting. It reports on bookings you have already taken; it does not take them.
The worked example
The file arrives with a full worked year in it: two properties, 86 stays and 409 nights sold. $41,353 was collected gross, $28,159 went out in commission, turnover and running costs, and $13,194 was actually kept — a net margin of 31.9%, or $32.26 a night. Occupancy came to 56.0% against the 70.0% being aimed at.
The per-property split is the part worth reading twice. Old Mill Cottage collected $23,406 and kept $4,477; Harbour View collected $17,948 and kept $8,717 — $22.27 a night against $41.91 a night. The busier property is the one losing the argument. On the platform side, a 15% commission took $1,667 off a smaller book of business than the 3% one took at $385: direct bookings netted $91.74 a night against $81.73 on the 15% platform. Cleaning alone came to 9.4% of gross across the year.
How it works
Compatible with Microsoft Excel 2016 or newer on Windows or Mac, Google Sheets, and LibreOffice. No macros, no add-ons, no account to create, nothing to install.
The download has two workbooks: one with the example above already filled in, so you can see what every column expects, and the same file completely blank for your own figures. A plain-English guide comes as a PDF. Buy it on Etsy — $9
Sold through my Etsy shop, ThePlainLedger, so the download, the payment and the buyer protection are all handled by Etsy.
A look inside the file
Questions people actually ask
What does a booking actually make after platform fees and cleaning?
Type the gross you collected and the file takes off that platform's commission and one turnover cost, leaving net and net per night on the same row. In the worked year, $41,353 gross across 86 stays became $13,194 kept — a 31.9% net margin, or $32.26 a night. Charging the turnover to every stay is what makes a three-night booking and a ten-night booking comparable.
Is it worth it if I only have one property?
Yes — fill in one row on the Properties tab and everything else behaves exactly the same; the per-property comparison columns just stop being interesting. The bookings, occupancy, turnover and expense arithmetic is identical whether you run one flat or thirty. The file holds 30 property rows and 500 bookings either way.
My platform charges a different commission to the example.
Then change the rate — the six platform slots on the Settings tab are yours to name and yours to set, and every stay recalculates from them. The example rates are only an example. Direct bookings go in the same table at zero commission, which is how the file shows that direct netted $91.74 a night against $81.73 on the 15% platform.
Does it open in Google Sheets?
Yes — it is built as .xlsx and opens in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Apple Numbers as well as Excel 2016 or newer on Windows and Mac. For Google Sheets use File, then Import, then Upload, and choose Replace spreadsheet; every formula carries over. No macros, no add-ons and no subscription.
Is this a channel manager or a booking calendar?
No — it does not take bookings, block dates, set prices or message guests, and it connects to no booking site, bank or channel manager. You type in the bookings you have already taken and it tells you what they were worth, offline, on your own computer. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by any listing platform, and it is not tax, licensing or legal advice.
Need it built around your business?
This file assumes you host the properties yourself, collect the gross from the platform and pay the turnover and the running costs. If your setup is different — a managing agent taking a percentage before anything reaches you, properties owned with a partner and split by share, rent-to-rent where a fixed rent comes off before profit, or several owners’ properties managed under one roof — I can rebuild the same arithmetic around the way your lettings are actually organised.
All other templates are listed on the Excel & Google Sheets Templates page.