Whitehaven's short-let demand is almost entirely industrial, driven by the Sellafield site a few miles down the coast, and it behaves nothing like the Lake District market twenty miles inland.
Correct as of 12 August 2026. Full details on the rate card.
Who books, and why they keep booking.
Sellafield is the largest employer in West Cumbria and runs a decommissioning programme measured in decades, which brings a continuous flow of contractors, engineers and specialist consultants needing weeks or months of accommodation rather than nights.
The engineering and nuclear services firms working around Sellafield draw specialists from across the country, and West Cumbria's distance from any major city means almost none of them commute daily.
Whitehaven's preserved Georgian harbour is the western start of the Coast to Coast walk, which brings a steady walking-season trade that is genuinely separate from the industrial demand.
West Cumbria has comparatively little hotel capacity for the size of its contractor market, which is why self-contained properties with kitchens and laundry let so consistently here.
Busiest: Steady year-round on contractor demand, with outage and shutdown periods at Sellafield producing the sharpest spikes, and the walking season adding pressure from spring to early autumn.
Quietest: Whitehaven is quietest around Christmas and in deep winter, when walking demand disappears and site work slows.
We would rather show you the quiet months than hide them. A projection that only shows peak season is not a projection. It is the fastest way to end up disappointed.
Assuming your Whitehaven property is furnished and compliant, this is the realistic timeline.
You get the interiors ready and kit the property out against the checklist we provide.
Contract read and signed, onboarding fee paid, and the onboarding documents completed.
We build the listings, set up the back end, write the guest guide, install the devices and plan the pricing.
Professional photography, plus the final staging — making the beds and adding the decor that makes a listing work.
Edited images go onto the listings and we hit launch. First guests usually arrive within a few days of going live.
As a general rule onboarding completes within 5 to 7 days of us collecting the keys. It can vary with photographer availability and how many properties are going through onboarding at the time. If the property still needs furnishing or certificates, add that time at the front — we will tell you what is outstanding before you commit.
Any security devices we install remain the property of UnityStays.
Both are real costs. We would rather you saw them here than found them later.
Both are sold as "Airbnb management". Only one of them takes the work off you. Ask any agency in Whitehaven which of these columns they are quoting for.
Cheaper on paper. The work has not gone anywhere — it has stayed with you.
One management fee, from 14% to 22%, plus a one-off setup fee (from £570) and £15 a month for pricing software. Cleaning, linen and platform commission are paid by us and recharged at cost, itemised on your monthly statement.
The rules for Whitehaven — the part that decides whether a short let is possible at all.
We check the position for your specific address before anything is listed, because it varies council by council.
A plain summary of the position as we understand it as of 12 August 2026, not legal advice, and rules change. We confirm the requirements for your specific Whitehaven address with the local authority before anything is listed.
The Furnished Holiday Lettings tax regime was abolished from April 2025. If you have read older guidance about short lets being more tax-efficient than a standard tenancy, that guidance is out of date. In outline, what changed:
This does not mean short letting stopped working. It means the case now rests on gross income and occupancy rather than on a tax break. That is what the projection we prepare for your Whitehaven property sets out.
This is a plain summary of a public tax change, not tax advice. Your position depends on your circumstances — speak to your accountant before making a decision on that basis.
Commit for longer or place more homes and the fee comes down. Alongside it: a one-off setup fee from £570 per property, £15 a month for pricing software, and the cost of cleaning, linen and platform commission, which we pay and recharge at cost. All of it is itemised on one monthly statement, and you are paid by the 10th of the following month.
Your property goes live on 15 booking platforms — Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Google Vacation Rentals, Plum Guide and a dozen more — plus direct bookings taken through our own channels.
Rates move daily with Whitehaven demand rather than sitting at a fixed nightly figure all year.
We do — vetting, ID and deposits, and round-the-clock messaging so problems never reach you.
Vetted local cleaners, fresh linen and consumables between every stay, arranged by us.
Before working out what a short let might earn, it is worth knowing what the alternative pays. These are official figures, not our estimates.
| Property size | Median monthly rent |
|---|---|
| All properties | £670 |
| One bedroom | £499 |
| Two bedrooms | £632 |
| Three bedrooms | £772 |
| Four or more | £1,076 |
Median private rent in Cumberland, the local authority covering Whitehaven, June 2026. Source: ONS Price Index of Private Rents, used under the Open Government Licence. Note: this is the median for the whole local authority, which covers more than Whitehaven itself — treat it as the area's benchmark rather than as your street's.
Comparing this against a short let honestly means comparing net against net. The figure above is a headline rent, not what a landlord keeps — take off void periods, letting or management fees and maintenance before using it.
Then do the same on the short-let side: gross booking revenue less platform commission, cleaning per changeover, linen, utilities, council tax or business rates, broadband, software, management and a replacement provision. The income calculator does that arithmetic on your own figures and will tell you when the long let wins.
The management fee buys the management. Your Whitehaven property still has running costs, and we would rather you saw them here than found them on a first statement.
All of it is itemised on one monthly statement showing gross booking revenue and every deduction, and the balance reaches your account by the 10th of the following month.
Some costs never come to us at all. Utilities, council tax or business rates, the TV licence and broadband stay with you, as do contractor invoices for repairs, which you settle directly. You will also need buildings and contents cover suitable for short letting, with £1m public liability.
Cleaning is charged per changeover rather than per week, so it moves with how many bookings there were rather than how many nights. On a property doing short stays that is the largest single line after the management fee, which is why the income calculator asks you for it rather than leaving it out.
The questions that come up most often, answered properly rather than in a sentence.
We will prepare a projection for your address — including the quieter months — before you commit to anything.