1.
Where it started
ERTE began in Reading, managing a small number of properties in the ordinary way: keys, cleaning, calendars. The houses were fine. What stayed with us were the people checking in, because the same three kept arriving over and over.
The electrician working Monday to Thursday on a Thames Valley site, paying hotel prices for a room where he couldn’t cook, couldn’t wash his kit, and couldn’t park the van. The couple who’d sold their house before finding the next one, told their only options were a hotel by the night or a twelve month lease. And the daughter trying to get three generations near a wedding venue, coordinating five different bookings and hoping none of them fell through.
2.
The wall they all hit
None of them wanted anything unreasonable. Somewhere decent to sleep. A kitchen. Parking that just works. A price that doesn’t punish you for staying longer than a weekend. And a listing that tells the truth.
What the market offered instead was a coin toss. Hotels priced by the night for stays measured in weeks. Rentals demanding UK credit history from people who’d just landed. Listings with wide angle lenses and “parking nearby” that meant a permit zone three streets away. One guest told us she’d pulled back the sheets in a cheap let and found it hadn’t been cleaned at all. Another said the host stopped answering the day the money cleared.
3.
The realisation
The industry kept selling “stunning” and “luxury”. Our guests weren’t asking for either. They were asking for certainty. Will the van be safe. Will the photos match. Will someone answer if the boiler goes. Can we stay a ninth week if the house purchase slips.
That was the turn. We stopped trying to sound like a hotel brochure and started building for the way people actually stay: whole homes, honest listings, one all-in price, and a human who replies.
4.
What we changed
Every home got the boring things done properly. Driveways measured so we can say “fits two vans”, not “parking available”. Kitchens stocked so you can cook on night one. Washing machines and proper desks in every property. Zip-link beds that become doubles or twins, so one house works for a crew on Tuesday and a family on Saturday.
Then we wrote the promises down and made them policy. Every photo taken at the property, no wide angle tricks. Professionally cleaned before every stay. Weekly and monthly rates from 28 nights that beat a run of hotel nights, bills included and no deposit. HMRC ready invoices for companies. And replies usually within the hour, because we learned that speed is how guests judge whether you’ll be there when it matters.
The promises, as policy
- Splitting a zip-link room into two singles: £15.75 a room, fresh linen for both beds included
- Self check-in by lockbox from 4pm, checkout by 10am
- Every photo shot at the property, no wide angle tricks
Fair terms, written down
- Full refund up to 30 days before check-in, non-refundable after that
- 28+ nights: weekly and monthly rates, all bills included, no deposit
- HMRC ready invoices for company and crew stays
Safe for you, quiet for the street
- One exterior camera at the front door. No cameras inside, ever
- Minut noise monitor reads levels only, no audio
- No smoking, no parties. Crew stays and family gatherings are fine. Quiet after 10pm
“People don’t dream about marble worktops. They dream about cooking dinner while the kids watch television, because life finally feels normal again.”
THE IDEA EVERY ERTE HOME IS BUILT ON
5.
Where we are now
Today ERTE lets 13 homes and apartments across Reading, Caversham, Oxford and London, sleeping from 2 to 15 guests each. Contractor crews use them Monday to Thursday. Families take them over at weekends for birthdays and reunions. Relocating households treat them as the bridge between one front door and the next. Wedding parties fill them for the getting-ready morning and the breakfast after.
We’re still small, still local, and still selective about growth. Each new home only joins the list when we’d happily put our own family in it. That was the test on day one. It hasn’t changed.
13
homes and apartments, Reading to London
2 to 15
guests per property
3,000+
guests hosted since we started
Under 1 hour
average reply, 7 days a week
Five rules we don’t bend.
Honesty before beauty
An accurate listing beats a flattering one. If a house has a quirk, it goes in the description, not in the reviews afterwards.
The week is the unit
Real stays are measured in weeks and months, not nights. Our pricing, housekeeping and flexibility are built around that.
Speed is respect
A fast, straight answer tells you who we’ll be mid-stay. We aim to reply within the hour, and “I don’t know yet, but by 5pm I will” counts.
Homes, not units
Nobody remembers a unit. People remember the table everyone fitted around and the drive where the van was safe. We manage houses; guests make them homes.
Neighbours matter
Quiet streets stay quiet. No parties, sensible hours, exterior-only security. It’s why our homes are welcome where they stand, year after year.