How the tools work

Every tool on this site is meant to be usable in one sitting, without a manual. This is the manual anyway: what each one does, the exact steps to set it up, a worked example, and an honest list of what it will not do, so you can find that out here rather than halfway through.

Step by step

1. Create the manual by naming the property

   On the Home Manuals page, find the box labelled "Property name" and type the property's name into it. It takes up to 80 characters — "The Lake House", for example. Press the button and the manual is created straight away, already filled with 11 sections. The list runs Welcome!, Wi-Fi, Arrival & access, House rules and Kitchen & coffee. It goes on with Heating & cooling, TV & streaming, Trash & recycling and Our local favorites. It ends with If something goes wrong and Checkout. You land in the editor, where the hint under the box confirms two things. You can rename the manual later, and the guest link will not change.

   On screen: Create the manual

2. Fill in the top of the guest page

   The first panel in the editor is "Property details". It holds "Property name", "Tagline", "Photo across the top", "Host name(s)" and "Host phone". The tagline is one optional line under the title, taking up to 120 characters. "Host name(s)" takes up to 60 characters, and "Host phone" takes up to 30. Fill in the phone and the guest page gains two tappable buttons near the top. One reads "Text" followed by your host name, or "your host" if you left the name blank, and the other reads "Call". Your name and number also appear at the foot of the guide, but only if you filled in the host name. A phone number on its own does not print there. Press the button when you are done, and a small "Saved" note appears beside it.

   On screen: Save details

3. Add the header photo by pasting a link

   The field "Photo across the top" takes a web address, so the photo must already be published somewhere else. The hint tells you what to do on most listing sites: right-click the photo and choose "Copy image address". There is no file upload, and a photo on your phone or computer will not work until it is online somewhere. Paste the address and click out of the box, and a preview appears just below it. If the address is not really an image, you get a message. It reads "That link didn't load as an image. Check it points straight at a photo file." Leave the box empty for a plain header with no photo.

   On screen: Photo across the top

4. Replace the bracketed placeholders, one section at a time

   Below the details panel, each section is its own card. The heading sits in a box at the top, the text underneath. Everything written in SQUARE BRACKETS is a blank you still owe: [NETWORK NAME], [TIME], [BIN LOCATION] and the nearest urgent care. Type over them with your own details. Each card has its own button, and nothing is saved automatically. Press that button on every card you touch, before you move on or leave the page. A small "Saved" note appears on the card when it goes through.

   On screen: Save section

5. Use the writing shortcuts the editor lists

   The panel headed "How your typing renders for guests" spells out five things. A line that starts with a dash and a space becomes a bullet. Words wrapped in two asterisks, like **this**, come out bold. Text in [SQUARE BRACKETS] comes out highlighted, a visible reminder of a gap. A completely blank line starts a new paragraph, and a line like "Password: 1234" inside a Wi-Fi section becomes a tap-to-copy row. Two lines of typing with no blank line between them stay as two lines. Those are the only shortcuts, so web addresses you type stay as plain text and are not clickable. There is no italic, no heading and no picture inside a section.

   On screen: How your typing renders for guests

6. Give each section an icon. Wi-Fi is special

   At the bottom of every section card is a dropdown marked "Icon:", and the icon shows next to the heading. It is also the little chip guests tap in the row of shortcuts across the top of the guide. Choosing "wifi" changes behaviour, not just looks, because the Wi-Fi icon pulls certain lines out of that section. A line like "Network: TheLakeHouse" or "Password: trout2019" gets its own row on the guest page. Each row has a "Copy" button, so nobody has to type the password. "Wi-Fi:", "WiFi:", "SSID:" and "Pass:" work the same way, and capital letters do not matter. The rest of that section's text prints normally underneath. The trigger is the icon, not the heading, so swap the icon away from wifi and the copy buttons disappear.

   On screen: Icon:

7. Add, reorder and delete sections

   At the bottom of the list is a button that adds a new card. It always lands at the very bottom. The new card is headed "New section" and carries the plain info icon. The page scrolls to it with the heading already selected, so your typing replaces that heading. To move a card, use the small up and down arrow buttons in its top-right corner. Hover them and the tooltips read "Move up" and "Move down". Each click moves it one place, the arrow is greyed out on the first and last card, and there is no dragging. The × button beside them deletes the card, and you get a box asking "Delete this section?". Once you confirm, the text is gone for good. Delete any of the 11 starter sections that do not apply to your home.

   On screen: + Add a section

8. Check it the way a guest will see it

   The panel on the right is headed "Share with guests", and its first small button opens the guide in a new tab. Until you publish, a strip across the top reads "Draft preview — only you can see this." The strip carries a "Back to editor" link. This preview works only because you are signed in as the owner. Send that same address to someone else and they cannot read it. They land on a page reading "This guide isn't available", which tells them to double-check the link with their host. Your Home Manuals list works the same way: the button there reads "View (preview)" until you publish, and plain "View" afterwards.

   On screen: Preview

9. Publish when it reads the way you would hand it over

   The main button in the same right-hand panel makes the guide live, and the page then confirms "Manual is live! Anyone with the link or QR can read it." The button now reads "Unpublish"; press it and the guide is hidden from guests again. The page confirms "Manual unpublished — the guest link now shows only to you." Publishing does not change the address, so the link in your saved check-in message keeps working. Any sign already on the fridge keeps working too. The manual is marked "Draft" or "Live" on your Home Manuals list. The same mark shows at the top of the editor.

   On screen: Publish manual

10. Hand the link to guests

    A read-only box under "Share with guests" holds the guest address. The QR code sits just underneath it. The small button beside the box copies the address to your clipboard and then changes to read "Copied!". Paste the address into your check-in message, and guests open it in whatever browser their phone already has. There is no app to install, no account to create, and they log into nothing. The guide is also marked so search engines do not list it.

    On screen: Copy

11. Print the QR sign for the entry table

    The small print button in the right-hand panel opens a ready-made card in a new tab. The card shows the word "Welcome!" and your property name. The line reads "Scan for the house guide — Wi-Fi, how everything works, checkout steps & our local favorites." Then comes a large QR code, with the web address written out underneath it. Your Wi-Fi section's network name and password print on the sign too. That happens only when they are filled in with real details, not still in brackets. The button at the bottom reads "Print this sign" and opens your browser's normal print dialogue. The button itself does not appear on the printed page. You can also reach the same QR sign from your Home Manuals list, where each card has a "QR sign" button.

    On screen: Print QR sign

12. Export the PDF for your own records

    The last button in the right-hand panel downloads the whole manual as a PDF. The file is named after the property, so "The Lake House" becomes the-lake-house-home-manual.pdf. The PDF holds the title and the tagline. If you left the tagline empty, it prints the line "Guest guide & home manual" instead. It holds every section heading and its text, keeping bullets and stripping out bold marks. If you filled in your host name or phone, they sit in a box at the end. It is a words-only document, with no header photo, no icons and no copy buttons. It works whether the manual is a draft or live, and anything still in square brackets prints exactly as you typed it. The same export sits behind the "PDF" button on your Home Manuals list.

    On screen: Export PDF

In the Wi-Fi card she types over the starter text, which now reads:

Network: LakeHouse_5G
Password: trout2019!
The router lives in the hall closet, on the shelf above the coats. If it acts up: unplug it for 30 seconds, plug back in, give it 2 minutes.

Then she presses Save section, and in the Property details panel above she fills in three fields. Tagline gets "Your guide to the cabin & the lake", and Host name(s) gets "Sarah & Marcus". Host phone gets "+1 604 555 0100", and then she presses Save details.

Worth knowing before you start

• Nothing saves by itself: each section card has its own Save section button, and the details panel its own Save details button. Edit three sections and you must press Save three times. Leave the page with unsaved typing and you lose it.
• Anything still in square brackets is shown to your guests, highlighted rather than hidden. Publish with [DOOR CODE] still in the arrival section and guests read the words "DOOR CODE" in brackets. Read the guide through in Preview before you publish, and the same brackets also print in the PDF export.
• The bracket highlighting only works with certain characters: the first one inside the brackets must be a capital letter or a number. Typing [door code] in lower case leaves it as ordinary text. That makes it easy to miss later, so keep placeholders in CAPITALS.
• The Wi-Fi copy buttons come from the section's icon, so its heading and its position do not matter. A section headed "Wi-Fi" with the wrong icon gets no copy buttons. Any section you give the wifi icon to gets them.
• The Wi-Fi lines only become copy rows when the line starts the right way. It must open with Network:, Wi-Fi:, WiFi:, SSID:, Password: or Pass:, then the value. "The wifi password is trout2019" is treated as ordinary text.
• The Network and Password lines are pulled to the very top of that section on the guest page. They sit above the rest of the text, whichever order you wrote them in.
• The printed QR sign shows your Wi-Fi network and password under the QR code. They print in large plain text whenever those lines hold real details. That is deliberate, but still think about where the sign is displayed. A sign in a window or a shared entry hall shows your password to anyone walking past.
• Before you publish, the guest link, the QR code and the printed sign only work for you, signed into your own account. Print the sign and set it out before publishing, and guests cannot read the guide. They land on a page reading "This guide isn't available", which tells them to check the link with their host.
• Deleting a section is immediate: you get one confirmation box reading "Delete this section?", and after that the text is gone. There is no undo and no bin.
• New sections always appear at the very bottom, with the heading "New section" and the plain info icon. You then rename it and pick its icon. Click Move up repeatedly to walk it into position, one place per click.
• The header photo field only takes a web address of a photo already published online, and there is no upload. Paste something that is not a proper http or https address and it is emptied when you save. The preview clears rather than pretending it worked.
• The icon dropdown lists short internal names rather than friendly ones: spark, wifi, key, check, utensils, therm, tv, trash and map. The rest are alert, door, info, star, house, phone, camera, cal and broom. "therm" is the thermostat, "spark" the welcome sparkle, "cal" a calendar and "broom" cleaning. Pick one and check how it looks in Preview.
• Renaming the property never changes the guest address or the QR code, nor does editing sections, publishing or unpublishing. A sign already on the fridge keeps working, because the address is fixed the moment the manual is created.
• Unpublishing hides the guide, but it does not disable any sign already printed. Scanning that sign shows guests the "isn't available" message rather than an explanation.
• Anyone holding the link can read a published guide, and there is no password and no expiry. You cannot see who opened it, so treat door codes and alarm codes with that in mind.

What it does not do

Better to know now than to find out halfway through. If one of these is a dealbreaker, tell me. That is how the list gets shorter.

• There is no way to delete a manual, and nothing in the tool removes one once you create it. That matters most on the free plan, where your single allowance goes to the first property you name. The limit-reached message on the paid plan even suggests deleting one you no longer host, but no delete button exists anywhere.
• No photo upload: the header photo can only be a link to an image already published elsewhere. You cannot choose a file from your phone or computer. There is no photo inside the sections either, only in the header.
• No autosave and no draft recovery: you save every panel by hand, and unsaved typing is lost if the page closes.
• No drag-and-drop reordering: sections move one position at a time with the up and down arrows. Moving a section from the bottom of the standard 11 to the top takes ten clicks.
• No clickable links in section text. Type a restaurant's web address or a map link into your local favourites and it appears as plain text. A guest has to copy it out by hand. There is also no italic, no coloured text and no sub-headings within a section, and no embedded map or video.
• No way to copy or duplicate a manual to a second property, and no template library beyond the 11 starter sections. A second property starts from the same standard set.
• No visitor counts or statistics: you cannot see whether guests have opened the guide, when, or which sections they read.
• You cannot choose or customise the guest web address, which is a fixed random code. There is no custom domain and no shorter vanity link.
• No privacy controls on a published guide: no password, no PIN, no expiry date and no per-booking link. Published means anyone with the address can read it, for good.
• The tool will not send the link for you, and there is no email or text message feature. It does not link into your booking platform's messaging, so you copy the address and paste it into your own check-in message.
• The QR sign cannot be edited: its wording, colours, size and layout are fixed. It prints through your browser's ordinary print dialogue, and there is no downloadable image of the QR code on its own. The tool offers no choice of paper size.
• No second language: there is no way to keep a translated version of the same guide.
• No per-section hiding or scheduling: a section is either in the guide or deleted, and it appears the same to every guest.

Step by step

1. Log in, then open the tracker

   The tool is free, but it does need an account, because your properties, turnovers and photos are saved against it. If you are logged out, the tracker sends you to the log-in page first, then brings you back where you were headed. A small status panel sits at the top of the tracker. It shows how many properties you are tracking, out of your limit. It also shows whether you are on a free account or the All-Access Pass. It counts the turnovers coming in the next 21 days, the same-day turns among them, and the open flags waiting on you.

   On screen: Open Turnover Tracker

2. Add your first property

   With no properties yet, you get a card headed "Add your first property". Type a name into the "Property name" box, something like "The Lake House", and press the button. The name can run up to 80 characters. The tracker builds that property its own 29-point cleaning checklist right away, covering nine sections. They are First pass, Kitchen, Bathrooms, Bedrooms, Living areas, Laundry, Entry & outdoor, Final pass, and Photos. You land straight on the property's setup page. Once you have a property, the same form sits in a card headed "Add another property". You can rename the property later, and the cleaner's link will not change.

   On screen: Add property

3. Fill in what the cleaning link will carry

   On the setup page, the top form is headed "What the cleaning link carries". Fill in "Cleaner name" and "Cleaner phone", since the phone number powers the one-tap text button later. Set "Checkout time" and "Next check-in time", then write "Access notes for the cleaner". Put in the door code, where the supplies closet is, and where to park. That note is limited to 600 characters. It appears at the top of every cleaning link for this property, so you only write it once. The "Property name" box is here too, and this is also where you rename a property. Press the button when you are done.

   On screen: Save

4. Paste your booking calendar link (optional but recommended)

   Stay on the setup page, where the last box in that same form is "Booking calendar (iCal URL)". This is the web address your listing site gives you, and it carries your booking dates. The hint under the box tells you where to find it. On Airbnb it is Calendar, then Availability, then Connect to another website; on Vrbo it is Calendar, then Import/Export. Paste the address and press Save. A "Calendar sync" panel sits alongside the form, showing the feed as "Not connected" before you paste a link. After you save, it shows "Connected" and when it last synced. It also says it pulls the next 90 days, and gives you a sync button.

   On screen: Booking calendar (iCal URL)

5. Adjust the checklist for this property (optional)

   Below the first form sits "What gets cleaned, every turnover", which lists all 29 items grouped by section. It also shows a count of how many items this property has. To remove one, press the small x button beside it; to add one, use the row at the bottom. Type a section name in the "Section (e.g. Hot tub)" box. Type the task in the "New checklist item" box, then press the button. Type the name of a section that already exists and the new task joins it. A new section name creates a new section at the end. Leave the section box empty and the task is filed under "Custom". This list is a template, and every new turnover takes a copy of it. So a turnover you cleaned last month keeps the exact list it was cleaned against, even after you change the template.

   On screen: Add item

6. Create the turnovers

   There are two ways to create turnovers. If you connected a calendar, go to the property setup page and press "Sync now" in the "Calendar sync" panel. It reads every checkout in the next 90 days, then confirms how many are new and how many were already tracked. Owner blocks are skipped for you: any calendar entry whose title mentions "not available", "unavailable", "blocked" or "closed" is ignored. If another guest arrives the same day, that turnover is marked as a same-day turn. For a direct booking, or if you have no calendar, go back to the tracker. Use the panel headed "Schedule a turnover by hand". Choose the "Property" and pick a "Checkout date", and you can also type something in "Label (optional)", such as "Direct booking". Press "Schedule it" and you land straight on the new turnover, ready to send the link.

   On screen: Sync now

7. Send your cleaner the link

   On the tracker, each turnover in the "Upcoming" list has an "open" link. Open one and look at the "Cleaner link" panel alongside it, because every turnover has its own separate web address. Press "Copy" next to the address to put it on your clipboard. If you saved a cleaner phone number, press the button below it instead. On a phone or tablet, that opens your own messaging app. The message and link are already typed out for you. Your cleaner needs no app, no account and no password, and the link opens in their phone's browser.

   On screen: Text it to

8. What your cleaner sees and does

   Their page opens with the property name and the checkout date and time, and it shows when the next guest arrives. On a same-day turn that reads "TODAY". There is a progress bar too, and underneath sits your "Access & notes" block. Then comes every checklist section, with big tap-to-tick boxes. Ticking the first box flips the turnover from Scheduled to "Cleaning now" and records the start time. Each tick records its own time. A "Verification photos" section lets them choose photos straight from the camera, several at once if they like. They can add a caption such as "Primary bedroom", then press "Upload photos", though the caption is optional. A "Flag a problem" section comes next, where they pick "Damage found", "Supplies low / restock" or "Something needs fixing". They describe what they found in the "What did you find, and where?" box. They can attach a photo, then press "Send flag to host". When they finish, they can leave a "Note for the host (optional)" and then press the big final button. If any items are still unticked, their phone asks them to confirm first.

   On screen: Mark turnover complete

9. Deal with anything the cleaner flagged

   Open flags appear in two places. At the top of the tracker is a "Needs your attention" band, listing every unresolved flag across all your properties. Each one shows its type, the property and the cleaner's note. Each also carries two links: "view" opens that turnover and "resolve" marks it handled. Open the turnover itself and you get more. A highlighted "Flags from the cleaner" panel shows the note, and adds a "photo" link if they attached one. It also gives you the choice of "resolve" or "create ticket". "create ticket" carries the flag over to the Maintenance board, with the "Job" title and "Details" already written for you. The right property is already chosen, and a note tells you the cleaner's flag photo attaches automatically. You then press "Create ticket" there, which sets up a link for your handyman.

   On screen: create ticket

10. Download the report

    On any turnover, the side panel has a "Download turnover report (PDF)" button. The document starts with a summary table covering the property, the checkout and the next check-in. It also covers the cleaner, the status, and the start and finish times. It shows how many checklist items were completed and how many photos are on file, with the booking reference in there too. Next comes a table of everything the cleaner flagged, with the time each flag was logged and whether it is still open. Then comes the full checklist, showing exactly which items were ticked and at what time. The cleaner's closing note follows, and last come the photos, laid out two per row, each with its caption and upload time. The file downloads named after the property and the checkout date. Completed turnovers also get a "report" link next to them, in the "Recently completed" list on the tracker.

    On screen: Download turnover report (PDF)

Priya opens the Turnover Tracker, types "The Lake House" into "Property name" and presses "Add property". The setup page opens, and she enters cleaner name "Maria" and phone "+1 604 555 0123". She sets checkout time 11:00 AM and next check-in time 4:00 PM. Into "Access notes for the cleaner" she writes: "Door code 4482#. Supplies in the hall closet. Park behind the garage." She copied her calendar address from Airbnb, under Calendar, Availability, Connect to another website. She pastes it into "Booking calendar (iCal URL)" and presses "Save", then presses "Sync now" in the Calendar sync panel.

Worth knowing before you start

• Your only sync control is the "Sync now" button on the property setup page. Your account has no setting to schedule an automatic refresh. Press it yourself whenever bookings are made or moved, and do not assume the calendar has caught up on its own.
• Syncing only adjusts turnovers still marked "Scheduled". After your cleaner ticks the first item or finishes the job, a date change in your booking calendar will not move it.
• Delete a turnover that came from your calendar and the next sync will create it again. To stop a cleaning happening, cancel the booking in your calendar; do not delete the turnover.
• Turnovers you schedule by hand carry no next-guest information, so they never show the red "Same-day turn" chip. Your cleaner's page will not show a next check-in either, and the date box will not accept a date earlier than today.
• A turnover nobody marked complete stays in the "Upcoming" list even after its date has passed, because nothing expires it. You cannot tick it off from your side. Get your cleaner to open the link and complete it, or press "Delete" on the turnover.
• There is no password on the cleaner link, so anyone holding it can tick items, upload photos and file flags. If it reaches the wrong person, open the turnover and press "New link", which asks you to confirm. The old address stops working immediately, and you then have to send the new one.
• Nothing is sent automatically: "Text it to..." just opens your own messaging app with the text pre-filled. It only works on a phone or tablet, and the site sends nothing itself. You are not emailed or texted when your cleaner flags damage or finishes a job. You find out by looking at the tracker.
• The text button only appears if you saved a cleaner phone number on the property setup page. Without one, you get a note pointing you back there. You then have to copy and paste the link yourself.
• Ticking items needs a live connection, and if it drops, the tick springs back. Your cleaner sees "Could not save — check your connection and try again." Warn a cleaner who works somewhere with poor signal.
• Photos are limited to 12 MB each, and they are re-saved as JPGs shrunk to 1600 pixels on the long edge. They are fine for evidence, but not print-quality. One caption applies to every photo uploaded in the same batch. A photo attached to a flag is captioned for you, and it also shows in the verification photo gallery.
• Uploaded photos and sent flags cannot be deleted or edited afterwards, by you or by your cleaner. The only thing you can do to a flag is mark it "resolve"d. Creating a maintenance ticket from a flag does not close it, so click "resolve" separately once it is genuinely handled.
• Changes to a property's checklist only affect turnovers created afterwards, so existing turnovers keep the list they were built with. That is deliberate: a past report shows what was actually cleaned against.
• Marking a turnover complete does not lock it, and your cleaner's page tells them they can still add photos or flags. You can press "Reopen" to put it back into progress, though that button only appears once a turnover is done. You can download the report PDF at any stage, even before anyone starts.
• Only you can download the report, and you must be logged in as the property's owner. Your cleaner cannot get at it from their link.

What it does not do

Better to know now than to find out halfway through. If one of these is a dealbreaker, tell me. That is how the list gets shorter.

• There is no way to delete a property once you have added it; you can rename it, but nothing anywhere removes it. On a free account you only get one, so the first property you add is effectively your only slot. Add the right one.
• Nothing notifies you when a cleaner flags damage, uploads photos or marks a turnover complete. No email, no text and no alert. You have to open the tracker and look. Your cleaner is never notified by the site that a new turnover exists, so you must send them each link yourself.
• Your account has no setting to make the calendar sync on a schedule. "Sync now" on the property setup page is the only sync control available to you.
• You cannot change a turnover's date once it exists, and you cannot move it to a different property. The buttons on a turnover are New link and Delete, with Reopen joining them only once the turnover is finished. To correct a date, delete it and schedule a new one.
• You cannot assign a different cleaner to an individual turnover. There is one cleaner name and one phone number per property, and you set them on the property setup page. Every turnover for that property uses them.
• Checklist template items cannot be edited or reordered, and there is no edit pencil and no drag handle. To fix a typo, remove the item and add it again. A new item always lands at the end of its section, and you cannot choose the spot.
• You cannot mark specific photos as required, and you cannot check that your cleaner actually photographed every room. The "Upload photos below: every bed, every bathroom, kitchen, living room" line is a normal checklist item. Your cleaner ticks it like any other. A turnover can be marked complete with no photos at all.
• You cannot tick checklist items yourself from your own screen, because your view of the checklist is read-only. Only someone using the cleaner link can mark items done.
• There is no record of who did what, because the cleaner link needs no account. The checkmarks, photos and flags carry timestamps, but no name attached to them.
• There is no cleaner payment, invoicing, rate or hours feature of any kind. The tool deliberately stays out of paying your cleaner.
• Nothing is written back to your booking calendar, and you cannot export your turnovers as a calendar feed or a spreadsheet. The PDF report is the only export, one turnover at a time.
• There is no combined report across several turnovers or a date range, and no printable schedule of upcoming cleanings.

Step by step

1. Log in first (a free account is enough)

   The whole tool sits behind a login, and everything you enter stays private to your own account. If you don't have one yet, use the "Create one" link at the bottom of the login page. After logging in, you go straight back to the page you were trying to open.

   On screen: Create one

2. Add the first thing you lend out

   Scroll to the "Add an item" box, under the heading "Your inventory". Type a name in the "Item" field, which is required and holds up to 80 characters. Put the number you own in "How many", which starts at 1, and anything from 0 to 9,999 is allowed. You can also add a short "Note", a free-text reminder to yourself, like where the paddles live. Then press "Add item" and repeat for everything you want to track. You cannot book anything until you have at least one item. Until then you don't see the booking form, just the line "Add an item above and you can start booking things out."

   On screen: Add item

3. Read the free / owned line for each item

   Each item now shows a small coloured tag reading something like "3 free" in capitals, then "of 4 owned". When something is promised, you also see "· 1 committed". The "free" number covers today plus the next 14 days as one block, going by the busiest single day in that stretch. So "free" means free on every one of those days, not just today. Green means spare stock, amber means nothing free, and red means you have promised more than you own.

   On screen: 3 free

4. Book items out to a guest or a unit

   Go to the "Loans" section and open the "Book items out" box. "Who" and "Where" are optional free-text labels, and "Who" takes a guest name, or something like "Unit 4". "Where" takes a property or cabin name, while "Out" and "Back" are both required dates. "Out" starts on today and "Back" three days from now, and the back date must fall on or after the out date. Under "How many of each", every item has its own number box starting at 0, its current free count beneath the name. Put a number above zero in at least one box, or you get "Pick at least one item." Add an optional "Note", then press "Book it out".

   On screen: Book it out

5. Let the date check do its job

   Before anything is saved, the tool checks every day between your out and back dates. For each day it adds up what is already promised, counting all loans not yet marked back. It then compares the worst day against what you own. If you have asked for too much, nothing is saved and you get a red message. It names the item, how many you own, how many are already out over those dates, and how many are truly free. Change the number or the dates, then press "Book it out" again. When it fits, you'll see "Loan booked — the stock is held for those dates."

   On screen: Loan booked — the stock is held for those dates.

6. Mark it delivered when the items go out

   A new loan gets a plain, uncoloured "Booked" tag, meaning promised but not yet handed over. When you actually drop the items off, press "Mark delivered" on that row, and the tag turns into an amber "Out". This step is optional bookkeeping and does not change what is available, since the dates already hold the stock either way. The button only shows while a loan is neither delivered nor returned. There is one exception, and it is a loan whose back date has passed and is still not marked returned. That row shows a red "Overdue" tag instead of "Booked" or "Out".

   On screen: Mark delivered

7. Mark it returned when the items come back

   Press "Mark returned" on the loan row, and the tag turns into a green "Back" as the loan stops holding any stock. Your free counts go up right away, and you'll see "Marked returned — the stock is free again." A loan holds stock for one reason only: you have not marked it returned. So this is the one step you must not skip.

   On screen: Mark returned

8. Watch the top of the page for late returns

   The summary box at the top shows three counts: "Items tracked" (against your plan limit), "Out right now" and "Overdue back". A red panel appears above everything if a loan is late, meaning past its back date and still not marked returned. The panel is headed "1 loan past the return date", or "3 loans past the return date" with more. It lists each late loan by name, its due-back date and the place. One line might read "Guest — Chen — due back Aug 26 from Lakeside Cabin."

   On screen: Overdue back

9. Adjust a count or retire something you no longer lend

   On any item row, change the small "own" number and press "Save". Use this when you buy two more kayaks or lose one, and you'll see "Item updated." To take an item out of circulation press "Retire", and a pop-up asks "Retire Kayak? Past loans keep showing it." Confirm it, and the item leaves your list and the booking form. Its name still shows correctly on every past loan, and retiring frees up a slot against your item limit. To remove an old loan, press "Delete" on the loan row, which asks "Delete this loan?" first.

   On screen: Retire

In "Book items out", set Who = "Guest — Alvarez" and Where = "Lakeside Cabin". Set Out = 26 August and Back = 29 August. Type 3 in the number box next to Kayak, then press "Book it out".

Worth knowing before you start

• Two free counts cover only today plus the next 14 days. One is the "free" number on your item list, the other the small free count beside each item in the booking form. Both report the busiest single day in that stretch. An item can show "0 free" and still be fine to book a week further out. The real check happens when you press "Book it out", so try it rather than trusting the tag.
• A loan holds stock only for the days between its out and back dates, inclusive. The day after the back date it stops counting, even if it was never marked returned. So kayaks that are truly still missing show as free again, and you can promise them to someone else. Your only warning is the red overdue panel at the top, plus the red "Overdue" tag on the loan row. Chase it, and either get the items back or re-book them.
• You cannot undo a return from the page. Once a loan is marked back, both "Mark returned" and "Mark delivered" vanish from that row. The only way to reverse a mis-click is "Delete", which erases the loan and its record completely.
• You cannot change a loan after it is saved. If the dates move, or the guest wants a fourth chair, you have to delete the loan and book it again.
• On an existing item, you can only change the "own" number. Pressing "Save" keeps the name and note exactly as they were, so a typo in an item name is permanent. Check your spelling before you press "Add item".
• "Retire" is one-way, and there is no button to bring an item back. Retire something by mistake and you must add it again as a new item. Its past loans stay attached to the retired one.
• You can lower the "own" number below what is already promised, and the tag then turns red and shows "0 free". Existing loans are not cancelled, and you get no warning either, so sort it out yourself by deleting or re-booking loans.
• The booking form's number boxes let you type up to the quantity you own, not the quantity free. Typing more than is free is not blocked as you type, but it is refused when you submit.
• "Out right now" counts loans, not items, so one loan of four kayaks counts as 1. It counts every loan that is not marked returned, once its out date has arrived. That holds even if you never pressed "Mark delivered", and overdue loans stay in that count too.
• Every box is optional apart from the item name and the two loan dates. But a loan still needs at least one quantity above zero. A loan with no "Who" filled in is listed as "Loan #" followed by a number, which gets confusing quickly. So always put something in "Who".
• Loans are never archived, and they stay on the page forever, newest out-date first. There is no search and no filter, so a busy season builds a long list.

What it does not do

Better to know now than to find out halfway through. If one of these is a dealbreaker, tell me. That is how the list gets shorter.

• Editing a loan after it is booked. There is no edit button anywhere on a loan row, and delete and re-book is the only route.
• Renaming an item, or changing its note after it is created. Only the quantity can be changed.
• Un-retiring an item, and there is no undo for "Mark returned" or "Mark delivered" either.
• Partial returns: a loan comes back all at once. If a guest returns two of the three kayaks, there is no way to record that.
• Checking availability for a future date range without trying a booking. The free counts only ever cover today through the next 14 days, and there is no calendar or month view.
• Any reminder, email or notification about overdue items. You only see the red panel when you happen to open the page.
• Connecting a loan to a property or a booking. "Where" is just typed text, with no link to your Home Manual or Turnover Tracker properties and no dropdown of properties.
• Recording the condition, damage, photos, purchase price or replacement value of an item.
• A per-item history: you cannot click a kayak and see everywhere it has been, and the loan list is the only record.
• Printing, exporting or downloading your inventory or loan list.
• Sharing the list with a cleaner, co-host or guest, or letting anyone else mark items back. Everything is tied to your own login only.
• Barcodes, QR codes or scanning to check items in and out.
• Deposits, fees or charging for a loan. There is no money field anywhere in the tool.
• Low-stock alerts or reorder prompts.

Setting it up

1. Open Book Direct from the dashboard and create a page with your business name and the property name. Together they make the address: vrabc.com/book/your-business/your-property/. A business name belongs to the first host who uses it, and each property name is unique within your business.
2. Fill in the rate, the cleaning fee, the minimum stay, and the currency. Add a description and a photo link if you have one.
3. Paste the iCal export link from Airbnb or Vrbo. It is the same link the Turnover Tracker uses. Nights booked there show as taken on your page.
4. Paste your payment link. A Stripe Payment Link, a Square or PayPal link, or any https page where a guest can pay you.
5. Write the cancellation and payment policy in a sentence or two, then publish.

What a guest sees

The name, the photo, the rate, and a date picker. As they pick dates the page works out the nights and the total. If a night is already taken it says so. They send a request with their name, email, and a note. If you set a payment link, the thank-you screen shows it with your button label.

Requests

Every request lands in the page's Requests list and in your email. Mark it confirmed or declined, then tell the guest yourself by email. The page tells guests that dates are held once they hear from you, so nobody assumes a booking you have not agreed to.

Things to know

• The calendar is read from the export link and cached for 15 minutes. A booking made on Airbnb a minute ago may take that long to show.
• The page cannot block dates on Airbnb or Vrbo for you. After you confirm a direct booking, block those dates on each platform yourself.
• Free accounts include one page. The All-Access Pass raises the limit to 500.
• Renaming the business or the property changes the address. A printed QR code stops working, so rename before you print.
• Unpublishing keeps the page and its requests. Deleting removes both, and the address stops working.

Step by step

1. Take the free files first: no account needed

   Open Library from the top menu and click the "Free" filter pill. 9 of the 35 files are free. Click any card to open its page, then click the big blue button under the "Free" price. You land on a short thank-you screen and the file starts downloading on its own. If it does not, that screen has a "click here to get it" link. You give no name, no email address and no card at any point.

   On screen: Download now

2. Create the free account

   Click "Log in" at the top right, then "Create one" at the bottom of the login form. Fill in three boxes: "Your name", "Email" and "Password" (8 characters or more). Press the button and you land straight on your account page, logged in. Nothing is charged and no card is asked for. If you came to the login or signup page from somewhere else, such as checkout, you land back there instead.

   On screen: Create account

3. Check your password as you type

   Every password box on the site has a small eye button on its right-hand edge. Click it once to see what you typed, and again to hide it. Hovering over it says "Show password" or "Hide password", and it hides your password again the moment you submit the form. The eye only appears if your browser has JavaScript switched on. Without it, the box is an ordinary hidden password field, and everything still works.

   On screen: Show password

4. See what the free account gives you

   Your account page has a plan block headed "Free account", reading "Plan — Free library" with a "Pro locked" marker. It also shows the date under "Account opened" and the pass price as "$69 CAD once". Below that sits a heading, "The tools running on this account". Three cards there show what you can use, each with a counter. They read "Manuals in use 0 / 1", "Properties in use 0 / 1" and "Items tracked 0 / 10". So a free account gets one Home Manual, one tracked property and ten inventory items. The 22 Pro toolkits stay locked.

   On screen: Free account

5. Buy the All-Access Pass

   Click "Get All-Access" at the top right of any page to open the Pricing page. A second "Get All-Access" button there takes you to checkout. There is a quicker route if you are already logged in. The plan block on your own account page has an "Upgrade to All-Access" button that goes straight to checkout. Either way you must be logged in, and if you are not, checkout sends you to the Log in page. A note there reads "Create a free account first — your pass needs somewhere to live". Log in and you land straight back on checkout. The checkout page lists every toolkit you are unlocking, with its listed value and the one-time total. It also shows a line saying "Buying as" with your email on it. That is one payment of $69 CAD. The page also says "Charged again later — Never, this is not a subscription."

   On screen: Get All-Access

6. Read the buy button, then press it

   If real card payments are switched on, the button reads "Pay $69 CAD by card" and sends you to Stripe's own checkout page. You never type card details on the VRABC site. When card payments are not switched on, a "Test mode" notice sits above the button and it reads "Complete purchase (test mode)". Clicking it unlocks the pass without charging anything, so read the button before you click it. Either way you land back on your account with the pass on it. Nothing has to arrive by email before you can start downloading.

   On screen: Pay $69 CAD by card

7. Download a Pro toolkit

   Go to the Library and open any toolkit's page. Once you hold the pass, the panel on the right reads "Included in your All-Access Pass". A download button sits where the price used to be. Before you hold the pass, that same panel shows "$69 CAD one payment" and a "Get the All-Access Pass — $69 CAD" button. A line underneath reads "Already bought it? Log in and this card turns into a download button." You may open a saved or bookmarked download link for a paid file while logged out. The site sends you to the Log in page with a note naming the file. The download then starts by itself as soon as you log in. If you are logged in without the pass, that link sends you to the pricing page instead.

   On screen: Download now

8. Find and re-download anything you have taken

   Open your account page and scroll to "Everything you've pulled" at the bottom. Each row shows the file type as a small tag, then the toolkit's name, which links to its page. Next comes the month and day you last took a copy, and last a small "again" link that downloads it right away. If you have taken a file more than once, the number of times shows next to the date. The list holds your 20 most recent titles, newest first. You always get the current version. If a file has been updated since you bought it, the update is what downloads, at no extra cost.

   On screen: again

9. Find your receipt

   Your purchases sit on the same account page, just under the plan block. They are listed under the heading "Receipts", one line each. The left of the line shows what you bought and the payment reference, and the right shows the date and the amount. This is the only place receipts live: nothing is emailed and there is no invoice to print.

   On screen: Receipts

10. Reset a forgotten password

    On the Log in page, click the "Forgot your password?" link under the button. That opens a page headed "Can't get in?". Type the email address you signed up with and send it. The page always comes back with "Check your email", whether or not the address has an account. That is on purpose, and it stops anyone using the page to find out who is registered. Open the link in your email within the hour: it works once and runs out after 60 minutes.

    On screen: Send the reset link

11. Choose the new password

    The reset link opens a page showing which email address it belongs to, with two boxes: "New password" and "Type it again". Your password must be at least 8 characters and the two must match. Saving it logs you straight in and drops you on your account page. The eye button works on both boxes.

    On screen: Save and log in

12. Log out when you are done

    A small "Log out" link sits at the bottom of the plan section on your account page. It drops you back on the home page, where a note confirms you are logged out. Staying logged in is fine: the site remembers you for 30 days from your last visit. That clock restarts every time you come back.

    On screen: Log out

She clicks "Log in" at the top right, then "Create one", and fills in three boxes. She types Dana Ruiz into "Your name" and uses her usual address for "Email". For "Password" she picks a phrase of at least 8 characters, clicking the eye to check it before she submits. Then she presses "Create account", and no card is asked for. Next she clicks "Get All-Access" in the top right, then "Get All-Access" again on the pricing page to reach checkout. Then she presses the buy button. There is nothing more to type there, unless the site sends her to Stripe for card details.

Worth knowing before you start

• There is no "Sign up" link in the top menu. The only route to the signup form is the "Create one" link at the bottom of the Log in page. Trying to check out works too, because it pushes you to the Log in page first.
• Free files you download while logged out are not recorded in your account. The download history only lists files you took while logged in. So an old free download will look missing until you take it again.
• Your download list shows only your 20 most recent titles, with no full history and no way to search it.
• The Library never links straight to a download for a paid file, so every card opens the toolkit's own page first. The panel on that page turns into a download button once you hold the pass.
• A password reset link is good for one hour and works once. Asking for a second link kills the first one right away, so always use the newest email.
• You can only ask for 5 reset links per hour for one account. Past that the page still says "Check your email", but no further email goes out. Wait an hour or use the contact form.
• The reset page says a link is on its way even if that address has no account. Getting that message is not proof the account exists.
• Email sending may not be fully switched on, in which case a note saying so appears on the "Check your email" screen. If nothing arrives, check spam first, then use the contact link on that same screen. A person will sort it out by hand.
• The checkout page may show a "Test mode" notice with a button reading "Complete purchase (test mode)". Then no money changes hands and the pass is unlocked for free. It may instead show a "Stripe sandbox" notice, where the card form is real but an ordinary card will be declined. Only test cards work.
• You might leave the login or signup page sitting open for a long time. Submitting it then may give a message saying the page had been open a while. Nothing is lost and what you typed is still there, so retype your password and submit again.
• The forgot-password and reset-password forms are less forgiving about being left open. If one of those goes stale, you get a page headed "That page had gone stale". It has a button back to the login page, and you start that step again.
• There is no way to buy one toolkit on its own. The prices shown against individual Pro files are what each is worth inside the pass, and you cannot pay those prices. The $69 CAD pass is the only paid option.
• The eye button on password boxes needs JavaScript, and with it switched off the fields still work, staying hidden instead.

What it does not do

Better to know now than to find out halfway through. If one of these is a dealbreaker, tell me. That is how the list gets shorter.

• There is no way to change your password while you are logged in. You have to log out and go through "Forgot your password?", even if you know your current password.
• You cannot change the name or email address on your account anywhere on the site.
• There is no way to close or delete your account yourself.
• Nothing is emailed to you except a password-reset link. There is no welcome message when you register, and no receipt or order confirmation after you pay. Your receipt exists only as a line on your account page.
• There is no printable or downloadable invoice, and no VAT/tax receipt either.
• There is no "Download all" or zip file, so toolkits come one at a time.
• There is no "Remember me" checkbox on the login form. You stay logged in for 30 days from your last visit either way, and there is no way to shorten that.
• There is no list of your active logins or devices, and no way to sign out everywhere at once.
• There is no order-status or refund button, so to ask for a refund you write in through the contact form.
• A second, higher "Cabin & Lakefront Complete" pass exists in the site's plumbing, but no files need it right now. No link to it appears anywhere on the site, so do not go looking for it. The $69 CAD All-Access Pass already includes the cabin, lakefront and mountain packs, and checkout says so plainly.