Your First Shortlet Booking: A Host Checklist

Your first shortlet booking goes well when you do each job at the right time. This checklist takes you from switching on bookings to settling the caution deposit, in order, with the Cabans screen for each step.

Work through it once before your first guest, then keep it open on the day. By your third or fourth booking, it will feel normal. If you are still setting up, start with how to take shortlet bookings online.

Before you switch on bookings

Get these right first, and arrival day is much calmer. You need a business profile, and you work from the seller dashboard.

1. List the home as a Short Let. In “Property Details”, answer “Do you want to Rent it or Sell it?” with “Short Let”.
2. Set the price. Fill in “Rent Price (₦)” and the “Payment Frequency”: “Per Night”, “Per Day” or “Per Week”. A weekly price is shared over its 7 nights.
3. Set your times and deposit. Choose the “Check-in time” and “Check-out time”, and a “Caution deposit (₦, fixed amount)”. Enter 0 for no deposit.
4. Choose your free-cancellation time. Guests can cancel for a full refund until the cut-off you pick, from 24 hours to 30 days before check-in. If you choose nothing, it is 48 hours.
5. Add offers if you want them. “Longer-stay discounts” and a “Free nights offer” are optional. A guest gets the better of the two, never both.
6. Save and wait for approval. Changes to the listing, such as the price, times, deposit and offers, are checked by the Cabans team before guests see them.

Next, open the section “Availability, prices and booking rules” on the listing’s edit page. This part is saved on its own and goes live at once, with no approval.

7. Check that “Take bookings online” is ticked. Without it, guests cannot book.
8. Decide on “Instant book”. On: paid bookings are confirmed straight away. Off: you accept or decline each paid request.
9. Set the rules. “Minimum stay (nights)”, “Longest stay (nights)”, “Maximum guests (optional)”, how far ahead “Guests can book up to”, your “Time to accept a request” and any “Cleaning fee (₦) (optional)”.
10. Check the calendar. Close nights you cannot host with “Block Dates”, and set prices for busy dates. Then press “Review and save calendar”, then “Save and publish calendar”. The listing’s own Save button does not save the calendar.

Finally, get the home and your team ready:

11. Fill in “Stay information”. Write your “House rules”, “Arrival and check-in instructions” and “Check-out checklist”. Add the Wi-Fi name and password and the door code. They are never emailed. Tick “Guests must upload an ID” if you want to see ID.
12. Add stay extras (optional). In “Stay Extras”, you can sell things like bottled water or breakfast to checked-in guests.
13. Add your team. A cleaner or manager can have their own login under “Roles & Permissions”. Booking emails go to your store’s email, the owner and up to 10 team members who can process orders.
14. Know how you are paid. Cabans charges hosts a 5% commission. You are paid within 7 days after the guest’s stay, or sooner if the guest taps “Approve payment” after their trip.

Make your short let bookable shows each of these screens. For the big picture, start the Host Academy with how a booking works. Need house rules? Copy our shortlet house rules template and the check-in instructions template.

When the first request arrives

You get an email called “New booking request for” your property. With instant book on, it says “New confirmed booking for” your property instead, and there is nothing to accept.

1. Open “Bookings” in the seller menu. An amber badge shows how many requests are waiting. Go to the “Requests” tab.
2. Read the request. The panel “New booking request” shows the dates, nights, guests, total and the guest’s name. The guest has already paid.
3. Check the deadline. You see a line like “Answer within 23 hours”. If you do not answer in time, the request is declined for you and the guest is refunded.
4. Answer. Press “Accept booking” to confirm the stay. Or press “Decline”, add an optional reason for the guest, and press “Decline request”. A declined guest is refunded in full and the nights open again.
5. Say hello. Once confirmed, the guest can see the address and your stay guide. Send a short, friendly message so they know you are there.

Something came up and you cannot host? You can cancel before the guest arrives. You must give a reason, and the guest gets a full refund. Do this only when you have to: guests lose plans, and you lose trust. How to answer booking requests covers each button.

The day before arrival

The “Arriving” tab lists guests due between yesterday and tomorrow. Use the day before to get everything ready.

• Clean and check the home. Beds made, bathroom stocked, kitchen clean, bins empty. Our shortlet cleaning checklist goes room by room.
• Test power and water. Buy diesel or meter units, charge the inverter, fill the tank.
• Take check-in photos. On the booking, use “Add check-in photos” to record how the home looks. You will want these if anything is damaged later.
• Check your stay information. Is the door code right? Has the Wi-Fi password changed? Guests only see the codes after you approve their check-in.
• Agree an arrival time. Message the guest. Ask when they expect to arrive and how they are travelling.
• Brief your gate or estate security with the guest’s name, so they are let in without fuss.

Guests can tell you they are there from the day before check-in, using “I have arrived”. So keep your phone close from then on.

Arrival day

When the guest taps “I have arrived”, you get an email saying they have arrived at your property. Open the booking. The panel “Check-in and check-out” shows each step.

1. Hand over the keys. Press “Hand over keys”. The guest is now partly checked in. They can read the house rules and arrival notes, send requests and upload their ID. They cannot see the door code or Wi-Fi password yet.
2. Check ID if you asked for it. Open “ID and condition photos”, then “Guest ID”. Each file opens through a link that works for 15 minutes. You can open a guest’s ID until 30 days after check-out. ID documents are kept securely for up to 6 years, as data laws require, and then deleted.
3. Count the guests. Make sure the number arriving matches the booking.
4. Approve the check-in. Press “Approve check-in”. The guest is now fully checked in. Their door code and Wi-Fi password appear on their stay page, and they get an email to say so. The codes are never emailed.

Not meeting the guest in person? You can approve the check-in straight from “Arrived”, and the keys step shows as skipped. How to welcome your guest walks through arrival day.

During the stay

Some stays bring no requests at all. When a guest does ask, answer quickly. Here is what can happen:

• Requests. Guests can ask for room service, a cleaner, help, or report a problem. You get an email for each one. In the “Guest requests” panel, press “Start”, then “Mark as done”.
• Extras. If the guest used extras, add them with “Bill the guest”. They pay from their stay page. A bill must come to at least ₦1,000, the smallest amount a card can be charged.
• A longer stay. A checked-in guest can ask to extend. You see “The guest wants to stay longer”. Press “Approve extension” or “Decline”. The extra nights must be free. They cost your night prices, with no discount, cleaning fee or caution deposit, and the guest pays for them online through Paystack.
• Leaving early. If a guest leaves early, the unused nights are not refunded unless you approve a refund. The booking shows “The guest left early”, with a “Refund unused nights” button. If you use it, the unused nights are refunded to the guest, and the nights from that day onwards go back on sale.

Keep your replies polite and in writing. If there is a real problem, such as a party you did not agree to, talk to the guest first and then to your estate security.

After check-out

When the guest taps “I am leaving”, you get an email saying they are leaving. Then:

1. Visit the home. Check every room against your check-in photos.
2. Confirm the check-out. Press “Confirm check-out”. You can add up to 10 “Condition photos” of how the home was left. The guest’s codes stop showing, and the booking is completed.
3. Settle the caution deposit. If all is well, press “Approve full refund”, then “Release deposit”. If something is damaged or missing, press “Raise a dispute” instead.
4. Get the home ready for the next guest. Clean, restock and change the door code if your lock allows it.

Do not leave the deposit waiting. From 14 days after check-out, the guest can ask the Cabans team to release it, and the team may do so unless you have raised a dispute. And if nobody confirms the check-out, the stay is completed automatically 2 days after the check-out date.

Had damage? Read guest damaged your shortlet? What to do next. You are paid within 7 days after the stay, or sooner if the guest taps “Approve payment”.

The whole checklist on one page

1. Listing set as a Short Let, with price, times and deposit approved.
2. “Take bookings online” ticked, and booking rules set.
3. Calendar checked, then saved with “Save and publish calendar”.
4. “Stay information” filled in, with codes and house rules.
5. Request answered before the deadline.
6. Home cleaned, power and water tested, check-in photos taken.
7. Arrival time agreed, gate briefed.
8. Keys handed over, ID checked, check-in approved.
9. Requests answered and extras billed during the stay.
10. Check-out confirmed with photos.
11. Caution deposit released, or a dispute raised with evidence.
12. Home reset for the next guest.

Want to see how other hosts present their homes? Browse shortlets across Nigeria or shortlets in Lekki. Ready for your first guest? Take bookings online, or list your short let if it is not on Cabans yet.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

Instant book or request to book? · Which cancellation cut-off to pick · House rules template · Cleaning checklist · 12 mistakes new hosts make · When a guest damages your shortlet