4.8 out of 5 based on 183 reviews
A simple plan to increase profit
WOW!! after this almost audit on my business, they found so many little things which didn’t sound a lot alone. Add them all up, we are now saving ££££ making us more bottom line profit.
Being able to pay myself a wage has been amazing, I know it sounds simple, but we need the help.
You’re working hard, the calendar is full… but the numbers don’t feel right.
It usually looks like this:
You’re not failing. You’re running a holiday let without a clear profit system.
Working towards the end goal, higher profits.
By the end of the 30 days, you’ll have:
This isn’t a course. It’s a proven system, implemented with you and built around your business numbers.
Let your businessWe only take on 10 clients per month to ensure hands-on implementation, not just advice.
Sound like you? Let’s get you Profit Clarity in the next 30 days.
Let your businessThe Profit Clarity Framework is what your accountant can’t show you and your coach won’t tell you, as most have never actually done it themselves.
No courses. No gurus.
Real implementation. Real results.
Let your business
We find exactly where your holiday let is losing profit. Nightly rates, seasonal pricing, platform commissions, changeover and cleaning costs, occupancy gaps, cash flow. We go through everything.
We don't hand you a report and disappear. We fix it. Practical changes, implemented fast, with you.
Once the foundations are solid and profit is flowing correctly, we build on it. Sustainable growth, not guesswork.
This isn’t a discovery call where we try to sell you something. It’s 30 days of focused work on your holiday let business. Application only. Limited engagements each month.
This is a 30-day implementation plan designed to increase profit fast and build control in the business. You’re not paying for BS advice and gurus. You’re paying for profit clarity + implementation + a plan that’s proven.
Our proven Profit Clarity Framework to increase profit works in 3 simple steps. Diagnose > Fix > Grow
See increased profits in just 90 days
“From the first call, Steve at Carlton Scott understood our goals and delivered clear, practical support that made a real difference to our business."
No courses. No gurus. Implementation to get results in 30 days.
Let your businessFrom stuck to profitability. In 30 days
Most small business owners aren't failing, they're stuck. Stuck in the day-to-day, stuck in the same margins, stuck wondering why a busy business isn't paying them what it should.
We remove the BS and focus on what is going to drive results: implementing real changes. You’re 30 days away from becoming profitable.
Price them as events and open the calendar early. Kelso's National Hunt meetings run between autumn and spring, Civic Week fills July and the Border Union Show brings the farming county to town, and each brings guests who book months ahead and pay for a good bed near the Square. Set a two-night minimum on those dates, price at the top of your range, and offer a returning-guest rate before they leave.
Around 41%: Savills' May 2026 research puts average self-catering occupancy in Scotland at 41% for 2025, down slightly from 41.6% in 2024. That is the average, so a property at 41% is doing nothing special, and one at 60% with a low nightly rate can earn less than one at 45% priced properly. Track occupancy and average nightly rate together, month by month, because the pair decides the year and either one alone misleads.
Not yet. Scottish Borders Council launched a fact-finding exercise on a visitor levy in December 2025 and said that no decision on implementing one in the Borders has been taken; in 2019 its councillors voted unanimously against a tourist tax, and Highland Council paused its own levy. Watch the council's consultations, and build the pricing so a 5% levy could be added on top of the room rate rather than out of your margin.
Less than the gross suggests. Sykes Holiday Cottages' 2026 Holiday Letting Outlook puts the average owner's gross income at £25,600 for 2025, and its own cost lines (bills £2,140, changeovers £1,190, maintenance £1,580, tax and licensing £1,450, marketing £1,000) take around £7,400 before any mortgage. What's left is decided by nightly rate, shoulder-month occupancy and what the platforms keep. Know all three for your own property before believing any average.
The property has to be available to let for 140 nights or more to be rated as self-catering rather than pay council tax, on mygov.scot's March 2026 guidance, and the assessor will ask for evidence of actual lettings. Business rates are usually the better side, because the Small Business Bonus can take the bill to nil where the rateable value is up to £12,000, but only with a valid short-term let licence from April 2026.
A flat 15.5% of every booking for UK hosts, on Travelnest's April 2026 guide, which also puts Booking.com at 10% to 25% with around 15% typical. On a £600 week that is £93 to Airbnb before cleaning, so the platform is a marketing cost and should be judged as one. Use it to find guests, then make the second stay direct: your own booking page, a discount for repeat guests and a card at the property.
In the schemes set up so far the levy is 5% of the accommodation charge, applied to a maximum of five nights, and the Scottish Government's guidance for councils lets providers keep 2% of what they collect to cover the admin. You collect it from the guest, show it on the invoice and pay it over to the council. It is the guest's cost, so price it as a separate line rather than absorbing it.
Between £500 and £3,500 a month plus VAT for one-to-one coaching, depending on the coach's experience, according to Alan Wick's May 2026 guide to UK coaching fees, and the bill runs for as long as the coaching does. The Profit Clarity Framework doesn't work that way: a fixed £1,495 + VAT for 30 days of work on your Kelso holiday let's real numbers, and nothing after that.
£1,495 + VAT, fixed, whatever the size of the property. That covers the full 30-day diagnose-and-fix process on your Kelso holiday let: nightly pricing by season, platform costs against direct bookings, changeover costs, rates and cash flow, with the changes implemented rather than left in a report, and leaves you with a more profitable business. Most clients who commit to the framework and follow our recommendations see a full return on the fee within 90 days.
Yes. The busy weeks are exactly the ones we want to see working, so you keep the guests and we work around the calendar. The onboarding call takes about an hour, gathering your paperwork takes another, and after that most of the effort is ours. A few hours a week from you, mostly at the start, and the fixes are made with you during the 30 days rather than left in a report.
Turned a busy business into a profitable one. Should have done this years ago.
Steve at Carlton Scott doesn't tell you what you want to hear. He tells you what you need to hear.
Let your business