About YourSTR
The truth about your STR business.
YourSTR is a diagnostic for UK short-term-rental operators. It scores six areas of the business, shows the biggest constraint, and gives three prioritised actions to work on next. It exists because most operators already have enough information — what they lack is a clear read on which part of the business to fix first.
Built by an operator, not a commentator
David Thomas — founder, YourSTR
YourSTR is run by David Thomas. I help run a nine-property short-term-rental portfolio in North Somerset alongside my family, covering pricing, marketing, systems, direct bookings and commercial relationships.
We operate a mixture of countryside cottages and seaside apartments. Everything on this site comes from decisions made in that business, not theory.
That operating experience matters because the scorecard is built on the decisions that actually moved our numbers — pricing routines, direct booking capture, systems that removed us from the day-to-day — not on theory about what should work.
Who it helps
Operators already letting
You have one or more properties live and want to know which part of the business is holding the numbers back.
Operators reducing OTA reliance
You want more of your demand coming direct, without guessing where the leak is.
Operators scaling carefully
You want systems and pricing tightened before adding another property.
The experience behind it
£346k
Revenue generated from our own STR portfolio
3% → 25%
Bookings taken direct rather than through OTAs
Nine
Active short-term rentals
North Somerset
Where we operate
Educational decision support only. Nothing here promises a particular income, and this is not financial, tax, legal or investment advice.
What I believe about running STRs
A short-term rental is a hospitality business, not a passive-income product. Everything here follows from that.
01
Profit before vanity
A full calendar is not automatically a profitable one.
02
Systems before scale
Adding properties to manual processes only creates more manual work.
03
Direct relationships matter
OTAs are a valuable source of demand, but they should not own every guest relationship.
04
Hospitality still needs people
Automate the repetition. Keep judgement and problem-solving human.
Software companies and industry brands can reach me via the contact page.