Why We're Building Staymaker
The story behind Staymaker, and how helping manage my mom's rentals led to a lighter tool for small operators.
Staymaker is a lightweight operations tool for vacation rental hosts with 1 to 20 properties, built after years helping run a family portfolio out of spreadsheets and WhatsApp. It does the operational basics well: turnover scheduling with iCal sync, cleaning coordination for a small team, and maintenance tracking. Not a channel manager, not a booking engine, just the daily operations, done simply.
Key takeaways
- Built for hosts with 1 to 20 properties, the gap between spreadsheets and heavy channel managers.
- Turnover scheduling that syncs with Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo calendars over iCal.
- Cleaning coordination with role-based team management for a small crew.
- Maintenance tracking with recurring tasks, in one unified calendar.
- Focused on operations only: no booking engine, no revenue management, no pricing algorithms.
The problem with existing tools
Working on the management side of my mom’s vacation rentals, mostly in digital marketing, I quickly saw that the available tools were either too simple or far too complex. Spreadsheets worked at first, but they do not scale. Even with three or four apartments, coordinating turnovers, cleaning schedules, and maintenance tasks becomes a full-time job.
The big channel managers are powerful, no doubt. But they are built for operators with 10 to 50 or more units. The pricing, the complexity, and the features you will never use add up to a tool that does not respect your time or your budget.
What I wished existed
I wanted something in between. A tool that:
- Schedules cleaning automatically between guest stays
- Coordinates a small team of cleaners and maintenance workers
- Syncs with booking calendars from Airbnb, Booking.com, and VRBO
- Does not cost a fortune or require a training manual
That is it. No booking engine. No revenue management. No pricing algorithms. Just the operational basics, done really well.
We were spending more time coordinating cleaners over WhatsApp than improving the guest experience. Something had to change.
So I started building
Staymaker started as a personal project: an iOS app to support my mom’s properties and the daily management around them. As I shared the idea with other hosts, the response was immediate. Everyone described the same frustration.
Now it is becoming something bigger. A tool built specifically for hosts with 1 to 20 properties. Lightweight, affordable, and focused on what actually matters: keeping daily operations running smoothly.
What is next
Right now I am shaping the first version around the core features small hosts actually need:
- Turnover scheduling with iCal sync
- Cleaning coordination with role-based team management
- Maintenance tracking with recurring task support
- A unified calendar that shows everything at a glance
If this sounds like something you need, you can join the waitlist from the homepage. I would love to have you along for the ride.
And if you have ideas for features you would want to see, reach out. This is being built with hosts, not just for them.
Keep reading
Shoulder Season Prep Starts Now, Not in October
Peak summer is when your fall bookings actually get decided. How to find out who is really staying with you, fix the comfort issues they already mentioned, and borrow language that is already trending, before the shoulder season catches you off guard.
Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO: Managing Listings Across Platforms
How to list your vacation rental on multiple platforms without double bookings, inconsistent pricing, or operational chaos.
How to Build and Keep a Reliable Cleaning Team
Finding good cleaners is hard. Keeping them is harder. Here's how successful vacation rental hosts build teams that last.