Published 13/11/2026. Figures are from the AyNik analyser on 13/11/2026 and will change as rents and costs are refreshed.
Serviced accommodation looks better than a standard let on almost every landlord's first calculation. A 2-bed that lets for £800 a month earns £9,600 a year. The same flat at £122 a night, booked just over half the nights, takes about two and a half times that. Then the costs arrive, and the gap narrows.
This article walks through the sums the AyNik analyser runs, line by line, using a 2-bed in Durham city. It shows when serviced accommodation wins, when it loses, and which numbers decide it.
The starting figures
All figures are illustrative. They are AyNik's own starting assumptions, set out in the analyser, and you can change every one.
| Figure | Value | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Nightly rate | £122 | AyNik assumption, typical for Durham |
| Nights booked | 54% (197 nights) | AyNik assumption, typical for Durham |
| Average stay | 4.5 nights | AyNik assumption |
| Standard let rent | £800 a month | AyNik assumption: the average of Durham city asking rents (£1,018, PropertyData, 69 listings, 04/11/2026) and the ONS County Durham average (£582, September 2026) |
| Council tax, Band B | £2,039 a year | SOURCED: Durham County Council 2026/27 via housecheckup.co.uk, 09/11/2026 |
"Typical" means a figure set at or below published market data for the area. A well-run, well-reviewed property can do better; the analyser shows that case too.
Step 1: what guests pay
197 nights at £122 is £24,046. Guests also pay a cleaning fee on each stay. At 4.5 nights a stay that is about 44 stays a year, and at £60 a stay that adds £2,628.
Total paid by guests: £26,674 a year.
Step 2: the costs a standard let does not have
| Cost | A year | How it is worked out |
|---|---|---|
| Booking-site fees | £4,135 | 15.5% of everything guests pay |
| Cleaning and linen | £2,628 | £60 a changeover, 44 changeovers |
| Consumables | £986 | £5 a night booked |
| Maintenance | £721 | 3% of the nightly income |
| Utilities, broadband, TV licence | £3,200 | The owner pays these, not a tenant |
| Council tax | £2,039 | Band B, as above |
| Insurance, software, safety checks | £950 | £400 + £150 + £400 |
Booking-site fees are 15.5% because Airbnb moved many hosts to a host-only fee of that size from October 2025, and it is charged on the cleaning fee too.
Taken off the £26,674, that leaves £12,016 a year for an owner who runs the property themselves.
Step 3: the standard let
The same flat let at £800 a month, with 10% allowed for voids, repairs and safety certificates, leaves £8,640 a year.
So a self-run serviced flat in this example earns about £3,400 a year more. That is a real margin, but it is before the furnishing.
Step 4: furnishing and set-up
What it costs to get ready depends on where you start.
- Already let furnished: linen, kitchen kit, a smart lock and some finishing touches. The analyser starts at £2,500 for a 2-bed. Paid off over two years, that is £1,250 a year, and the self-run figure for years 1 and 2 is £10,766.
- Empty: furniture, beds, linen and a few hundred small items. The analyser starts at £6,000. Paid off over two years, the self-run figure for years 1 and 2 is £9,016, still just above the standard let.
From year 3 the set-up is paid for, and the full £12,016 applies.
Step 5: if someone else runs it
Most landlords do not want to answer guest messages at midnight. North East management companies publish fees of about 12% to 20%, often plus VAT. AyNik's managed service is 15% of what is left after booking-site fees.
| Serviced accommodation | Standard let | |
|---|---|---|
| Run yourself | £12,016 | £8,640 |
| Managed | £8,635 (AyNik, 15%) | £7,488 (letting agent fee and costs, 22% of rent) |
Managed, the typical Durham flat earns about £1,150 a year more than a managed standard let once the set-up is paid. In years 1 and 2, with £2,500 of set-up, the managed standard let is about £100 a year ahead. At the well-run figures, £130 a night and 64% of nights, it earns £12,666 against £7,488.
The question is never "is serviced accommodation profitable?" It is "will this property reach the nightly rate and occupancy it needs, after every cost, every year?"
Extras that lift the nightly rate
A well-presented property with something guests search for can charge more a night: a hot tub, a games room, a garden with a barbecue, parking, or a proper desk for contractors.
In this example, each extra £10 a night at 54% occupancy adds about £1,600 a year if you run it yourself, or about £1,350 managed, before the cost of the extras. Extras cost money to buy and to run: a hot tub, for instance, adds electricity, chemicals and cleaning time. Weigh what they cost against what they add. The analyser works out the £10 figure for your own numbers.
The numbers that decide it
- Occupancy. In this example, a self-run flat needs about 44% of nights booked to match the standard let; managed, about 50%. Typical for the area is 54%. A few points either way changes the answer.
- The rent you are comparing with. A higher standard let rent raises the bar. Use what your property would really let for, not an area average. Ours is the average of local asking rents and the official ONS figure, because asking rents run above what landlords get and council-wide figures can sit below a city centre.
- Nightly rate. Presentation, reviews and extras move it. Every £10 counts, as shown above.
- Length of stay. Longer stays mean fewer cleans. Contractor and hospital lets often run for a week or more.
- Council tax or business rates. A short let available for 140 nights and let for 70 can be rated for business rates instead. Small Business Rate Relief can take that to nil, but usually only for an owner with one business property. Most landlords with several properties pay council tax or full rates.
When serviced accommodation loses
It loses when the property is somewhere guests do not want to stay, when the nightly rate is pushed down by competition, or when the standard let rent is already strong. In our figures, a typical 2-bed in Byker and Walker, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Darlington or Newton Aycliffe earns less as serviced accommodation than as a standard let. A typical flat in Gateshead or Durham earns more.
That is why the analyser shows both cases, and both ways of running it, side by side.
Before you switch
Check your mortgage (most lenders need written consent), your lease (many ban short lets), your insurance and your local planning position. England's short-let registration scheme is expected but not yet in force.
Illustrative only. Not a quotation, a forecast or a promise of income. AyNik does not yet manage any serviced accommodation, so these figures are not results from our own properties.
Run your own property through the SA analyser. It takes about three minutes, and you can ask for a reviewed report.