By the Unity Stays directors, Marcus Chong & Gadir Al-Khatib · Last updated 12 August 2026
In short: Handle emergencies by preparing before they happen: a named out-of-hours contact, trades who have agreed to take call-outs, an off-site spare key and a relocation option. When one strikes, put guest safety first, then the property, then the money; communicate within minutes and keep everything in the platform's message thread, because that thread is the evidence for any later claim.
What actually counts as an emergency
Useful to decide in advance, because a guest's definition and yours will differ and the argument wastes the time you need.
Genuinely urgent, same day: no heating or hot water in cold weather · no water · no power · a gas smell · a leak causing damage · a security failure such as a lock or window that will not close · a fire or CO alarm sounding · being unable to get in.
Important but next working day: an appliance failure that is not the boiler · slow drainage · a broken item that does not stop the property functioning · wifi issues, which feel urgent to the guest and often are for a working guest.
Say which is which in the guest information, and give a route for both.
What to have in place before it happens
None of this can be arranged at nine on a Sunday. All of it can be arranged now.
- A named out-of-hours contact the guest actually has, not a general inbox
- A plumber, an electrician and a gas engineer who have agreed in advance to take call-outs, plus backups — one contact is not a plan
- A spare key held off-site, and a way to reach the property
- Knowing where the stopcock, consumer unit and gas valve are, and telling the guest in the property information
- A relocation option — another property, or a relationship with an operator nearby who has one
Handling it in the right order
Guest safety first, then the property, then the money — in that order, without exception. A gas smell means the guest leaves the property and the emergency number is called before anything else is considered.
Then communicate. A guest who has heard from you within minutes and knows what happens next will usually be reasonable, even about something serious. A guest who cannot reach anyone for two hours will not be, and the review will be about the silence rather than the fault.
Keep it in writing through the platform's message thread. That thread is the evidence for any claim, refund or platform dispute afterwards, and reconstructing it from memory is not the same thing.
When the property cannot be used
Sometimes the fault cannot be fixed in time and the honest answer is that the guest cannot stay. Deciding that quickly is better than a guest spending a cold night hoping.
Under our agreements we can relocate guests where they are reasonably dissatisfied and apportion revenue accordingly, and that is exactly what the clause is for. A relocation handled well often ends better than the original stay would have.
Expect to bear cost. A refund, the difference in price on alternative accommodation, or both. That is what loss-of-income cover exists for, and it is one of the things a short-let policy should include — see our insurance guide.
Why this is the hardest part to self-manage
Not because it happens often. Because it happens rarely, at bad times, and requires contacts you only maintain if you are doing this at scale.
One property generates perhaps a handful of genuine emergencies a year. That is not enough to keep a plumber's goodwill, and it is exactly enough to ruin a weekend.
It is also the specific thing that distinguishes full management from a listing service. Ask any company you are considering what happens at 9pm on a Sunday, and listen for whether the answer contains a name.