Running your boat as a host

Before you start - what you'll need

Stripe's hosted onboarding takes about 5 minutes if you have everything to hand. Grab these first:

• Photo ID - passport or UK driving licence
• UK bank account - sort code and account number for payouts
• Home address and date of birth - for identity verification
• Last 4 digits of your National Insurance number - for HMRC reporting
• Phone number - Stripe sends a code for two-factor authentication
• Hosting through a company? Company name and registration number too

Answering Stripe's trickier questions

• Industry - pick Transportation → Boat rental. If you can't find it, Travel & lodging → Travel services is the closest fallback.
• Your website - if you don't have one, tap the "Don't have a website? Add product description instead" link below the field. A short sentence like "Short-stay boat hire on the UK waterways via BoatStays" is plenty.
• Business type - Individual unless you actually trade through a limited company.
• Statement descriptor - what guests see on their card statement. Something like BOATSTAYS HIRE works well.

How Stripe Connect works

We use Stripe Connect Express to pay hosts. When you click Set up payouts, we create a lightweight Stripe account in your name and send you to a hosted onboarding form. You only do this once. Once Stripe confirms your account is ready, you can publish boats and accept bookings.

When you get paid

Funds are held in escrow while a trip is in progress. We release the host payout to your Stripe balance ~24 hours after check-in. From there Stripe pays out to your bank on its normal schedule (usually 2 to 7 working days for a new UK account, faster as your account matures).

Fees & commission

BoatStays takes a flat 15% commission on the nightly rate of each confirmed stay. Cleaning fees pass through to you in full, and Stripe's card processing fees come out of our commission, not your payout.

From Silver tier upward, you earn a monthly commission rebate through our host loyalty programme, which lowers your effective commission.

Host loyalty tiers & rebates

Tiers are based on your total booking revenue on BoatStays over the last 12 months and update automatically at the end of each calendar month.

• Bronze (£0 to £2,499) - standard 15% commission, no rebate.
• Silver (£2,500 to £4,999) - 2% commission rebate, paid monthly. Requires platform exclusivity.
• Gold (£5,000 to £9,999) - 4% commission rebate, paid monthly. Requires platform exclusivity.
• Platinum (£10,000+) - 6% commission rebate, paid monthly. Requires platform exclusivity, plus a Platinum Host badge on all your listings.

The rebate is calculated on the commission we've taken (15% of the nightly rate) and credited back to you monthly. Exclusivity means your boat isn't actively listed on competing short-stay platforms; we check by looking for competing iCal feeds (Airbnb, VRBO, etc.) and your exclusivity toggle. You can see your current tier, progress to the next tier, this month's estimated rebate and lifetime rebated total on your host dashboard.

What guests pay on top

Guests pay the nightly rate plus any cleaning fee, an 8% BoatStays service fee and a 3% Rivers Trust contribution. Both of those come from the guest, not from your payout, so the Rivers Trust donation costs you nothing.

Refunds & cancellations

If a booking is cancelled before check-in, the guest's card is refunded in full and no payout is made. For partial refunds after check-in, contact support so we can adjust the payout accordingly.

Fixing a stalled onboarding

If Stripe asks for more info after the fact, your dashboard banner will reappear. Click Re-check payout status after you've finished the extra Stripe steps to refresh.

BoatStays doesn't give tax advice. The notes below are a starting point only. If your hosting income is more than pocket money, talk to an accountant.

UK self-assessment, in one paragraph

Income from short-stay boat hire is taxable in the UK. Most hosts declare it through Self Assessment as miscellaneous or self-employed income, depending on how regularly they host and whether it looks like a trade. HMRC's overview is the right first stop: gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns.

The £1,000 trading / property allowance

If your gross hosting income across the tax year is £1,000 or less, you usually don't need to report it. Above that, you can either deduct the £1,000 allowance from gross income, or deduct your actual expenses, whichever gives the lower taxable figure. Details: gov.uk/guidance/tax-free-allowances-on-property-and-trading-income.

Why Rent-a-Room usually doesn't apply

The Rent-a-Room scheme only covers letting furnished space in your only or main residence. A boat that isn't your main home doesn't qualify, and even liveaboards letting their boat while they're away rarely fit the rules. Don't assume it covers you without checking.

Keeping records

BoatStays emails you a confirmation for each accepted booking and a payout-released email when funds go to your bank. Your Payouts page shows lifetime earnings on the platform. Save these alongside any expense receipts (mooring, insurance, gas, repairs, cleaning) for your records.

BoatStays is not your tax advisor. We can't tell you how much to set aside or what to claim - an accountant who knows UK property and self-employment income can.

Draft, review, published

• Draft: saved to your dashboard, visible only to you. Edit freely.
• Credentials uploaded: add at least a Boat Safety Scheme certificate and a hire insurance policy from the boat edit page. The submit button stays disabled until these are present.
• Pending review: submitted to our team. Our AI reads each document and extracts the holder name, policy or certificate number, and expiry date, then flags anything that looks expired, mismatched, or unclear. An admin reviews the AI output alongside your listing.
• Published: live on the site and bookable. Usually within 24 hours.

Editing a published boat sends it back into review so changes are checked before going live.

Photos that book

• Lead with a wide exterior shot in good daylight
• Show the saloon, galley, every berth, and the heads
• Include the helm and any outdoor seating
• 8-15 photos works best; landscape orientation preferred

Pricing & calendar

You set your nightly rate. Bookings only appear on your calendar once you accept them, there is no instant booking yet. We recommend reviewing requests within 24 hours so guests don't go elsewhere.

Can I list if I live aboard?

Yes! Liveaboards are very welcome on BoatStays. The trick is your calendar: block out every date you'll be on board yourself, and only open the dates you're away (a long cruise, visiting family, a work trip). Guests stay when you're not there; your home stays your home the rest of the time.

What's the minimum stay I can set?

Most hosts allow stays of 2 nights or more, which suits a typical weekend break. A per-listing minimum-nights control is on our roadmap, until it ships, email support@boatstays.org with your boat name and the minimum you'd like, and we'll set it on the back end.

UK waterway authorities require a hire licence (or equivalent endorsement) before you can charge guests to stay on board. We've put together a full guide covering CRT, the Environment Agency, the Broads Authority and Scottish Canals.

Do I need a hire licence on top of my private one?

Yes, in almost every case. A standard private/pleasure licence (CRT, EA, Broads Authority, Scottish Canals) covers you when you are using the boat. The moment a paying guest stays on board, you're operating commercially and the authority needs to know. For CRT that means a Business Licence; for the EA there's a hire endorsement; the Broads has its own Hire Boat Licence. Costs vary roughly £200-£800/year on top of your private licence depending on length and authority.

Don't just take our word for it, see the breakdown by authority on /get-licensed before you list.

Open the licensing guide

Do I need special insurance to list my boat?

Most standard boat policies cover private leisure use only - so yes, you'll likely need a commercial letting endorsement to cover paying guests. The good news: this typically costs £100-200/year. A single week's rental on BoatStays covers that several times over. We're also working with specialist marine insurers to make this even simpler for owners - watch this space.

Will my insurance cover paying guests?

Probably not by default. Most UK private/pleasure boat policies explicitly exclude paying guests, short-term charter, and "hire and reward" use. Listing on BoatStays without telling your insurer can void your cover, so this is the first thing to sort before publishing.

What to ask your insurer or broker

• Do you cover hire and reward / short-term charter / fare-paying passengers?
• Is third-party liability included for guests staying on board (typically £2m minimum)?
• Are guests covered while the boat is moored as well as under way?
• Any limits on group size, duration, or experience of the hirer?

Brokers other hosts use

We don't sell insurance and we don't take a commission for recommending one. Hosts on BoatStays commonly use UK marine specialists such as Craftinsure, GJW Direct, Towergate, Haven Knox-Johnston and Navigators & General, all of whom write commercial-hire policies for narrowboats, cruisers and yachts. Get two or three quotes; premiums for hire cover vary widely.

BoatStays does not insure your boat. Cover is your responsibility as the operator.

Does BoatStays hold a security deposit?

Not today. Every guest signs up with a confirmed email and pays with a bank-authenticated card at checkout, and you as the host always have the final say on who comes aboard. A formal pre-authorised damage deposit is on our roadmap, until then, the safety net is your boat insurance (see Insurance) plus BoatStays mediation.

If something gets damaged

1. Document it immediately. Photos with timestamps, ideally before the guest leaves the boat. A short written note describing what happened.
2. Talk to the guest first. Most damage is accidental and resolved directly. Share the photos and the repair quote in your booking thread so we have a record.
3. Open a case with us. Email support@boatstays.org with your booking ID, photos, and any quotes. We'll mediate, contact the guest on your behalf, and (where appropriate) attempt to recover funds via Stripe.
4. Escalate to your insurer. For anything beyond minor damage, this is what your hire-cover policy is for. Keep all the documentation from steps 1-3.

Pre- and post-stay photos

Five minutes of phone photos at handover is the single best protection you have. We recommend a quick walk-through with the guest: hull/exterior, saloon, galley, heads, every berth, engine bay if accessible. Repeat at check-out. Sharing those photos in the message thread time-stamps them on the platform.

Listing on more than one site? Sync your calendars.

If your boat is also on Airbnb, VRBO, Holray or any other site that supports calendar links, BoatStays can keep all of them in step automatically. Dates booked on one site block out on every other site within the hour, so you'll never get two bookings for the same weekend.

How it works, in plain English

1. Share your BoatStays calendar. Copy the calendar link from your boat's edit page and paste it into Airbnb / VRBO / Holray under their "Import calendar" or "Sync calendar" setting. Those sites will then block out any dates that are booked on BoatStays.
2. Bring their calendars into BoatStays. Copy the calendar link from each site where this boat is also listed, and paste it into the Calendar sync panel on your boat. We check those links every hour and block matching dates on BoatStays.

What we share and what we don't

Only the busy dates are shared - the equivalent of "this date is taken". Guest names, prices, contact details and any messages are never sent out and never imported. The other site just sees a blocked date with no other information attached.

How quickly do bookings sync?

BoatStays re-checks every connected calendar roughly once an hour. That's normal for calendar sync across all the big sites (it's a limit of the iCal standard they all use). For boats listed on multiple sites, we recommend keeping at least a couple of days between confirmed bookings to leave room for turnaround and sync.

What if a calendar link stops working?

If we can't reach one of your connected calendars, the panel shows "Couldn't reach this calendar" against that row, and we email you so you can fix the link. We never silently drop a sync.

I only list on BoatStays - do I need any of this?

No. If BoatStays is the only place this boat is listed, your dashboard calendar is already the single source of truth and there's nothing to sync. Calendar sync is only for owners who also use Airbnb, VRBO, Holray or similar.

Switching between guest and host

One BoatStays account, two modes. Visit the host setup page to enable hosting. You can switch between guest and host views from your account menu at any time.

Profile & languages

Edit your name, avatar and the languages you speak from your profile settings. A complete profile helps hosts say yes to your requests.

Notifications & email

We send transactional emails (booking requests, confirmations, payout updates) from notify.boatstays.org. Every email has an unsubscribe link for non-essential communications. Security and payment emails are always sent, these are required for your account to function.