The library

35 files, filed under the 7 jobs of running a rental. 9 of them are free.

Turnovers, guest experience, messaging, money and taxes, marketing and operations. Then the cabin, lakefront and mountain packs most host kits leave out. Pick whichever one is costing you time or money this week and open that file. Already written means Word documents with [BRACKETED] blanks you overwrite once, Excel workbooks that calculate as you type, and PDFs built to print, laminate, or hand to a cleaner. The Quick-Start Signs Pack is sized for standard frames. Nothing in here is an outline you still have to write.

Written by Eric. He founded EMR Vacation Rentals in 2004 and sold his shares in 2012. For close to a decade he took a crew into Whistler each November to deep clean more than 40 rentals that had already been cleaned all year.

How it is filed

The categories are not topics. They are the 7 jobs that make up running a rental.

Nobody browses a template library for fun. You come here because one part of the operation is leaking time or money. So pick that part. 6 of the 7 jobs have a free file sitting in them, which means you can usually start without paying anything.

Cleaning & Turnovers

The clean is the review. A room-by-room checklist your cleaner actually works from, the 10-photo verification log they send after every turnover, a maintenance calendar so the water heater dies on your schedule instead of mid-stay, and the hiring kit for the day a same-day turnover gets cancelled on you.

4 files · 3 free

Guest Experience

Guests do not open binders. They read what is in front of them. A welcome book with every section pre-written, covering arrival, Wi-Fi, appliances, checkout and emergencies. Nine printable in-home signs: Wi-Fi card, checkout steps, thermostat, trash day, parking, coffee maker, TV, hot tub, quiet hours.

2 files · Pro only

Guest Messaging

Twelve copy-paste messages cover an ordinary stay. The Master Pack covers the ones you cannot wing: the refund demand over rain, the suspected party at 11pm, damage found after checkout. Plus 25 review responses, including the reply to a review that is factually wrong.

3 files · 1 free

Money, Pricing & Taxes

An expense ledger with 22 categories mapped to Schedule E line items and a mileage log. A rate card you build from your own costs and comps instead of a black box. A deal analyzer that returns break-even occupancy before you make an offer. A monthly owner statement for the place you co-host.

7 files · 1 free

Marketing & Listing

A 40-shot photo list with the staging pass that happens before the camera comes out. A listing audit for Airbnb and Vrbo: your title, the order of your photos, and the amenity boxes you never ticked. Those boxes are search filters. A guest filtering for one never sees a listing that left it blank. And a direct-booking sequence that starts with guests you already hosted, not with a website.

3 files · 1 free

Operations & Setup

The write-it-once documents. An operations binder holding vendor numbers, door codes, the turnover routine, and what to do when the water heater quits. Someone competent could run the property for a week without calling you. Permits and layered lodging tax with renewal countdowns. Guest screening that stays inside fair-housing rules. A furnishing list with quantities. And the damage file built to what claims teams actually ask for: the incident report, the timestamped photo log, and the three guest letters, in order.

9 files · 2 free

Cabin, Lakefront & Mountain

What generic host kits skip. Septic: 5 guest signs plus a pump-out schedule and service log. Hot tubs: 4 signs plus a water-chemistry log. Bear country: 6 signs plus the ordinance and fine reference. Wood stoves, private wells, and mountain winters. If your road gets snow, the winter pack covers the R1, R2 and R3 chain-control levels. A guest reads it before they leave, not at the sign.

7 files · 1 free

Browse

Filter by the job, or by the 9 that cost nothing.

Every card shows its format and what is inside it. The free ones say Free forever and they mean it. No account, no email address. The file downloads when you click.

Money, Pricing & Taxes 6

EXCEL Pro

STR Financial Command Center

One workbook logs bookings, expenses and mileage, sorts 22 categories onto the lines of Schedule E (the US tax form rental income goes on), and totals what you cleared each month.

Money, Pricing & Taxes · In the All-Access PassView
EXCEL Pro

Pricing & Seasonality Worksheet

Build a nightly rate out of your real costs and five comparable listings nearby, then raise it for busy seasons, weekends and local events. It also sets your own last-minute discount rules, with no subscription tool.

Money, Pricing & Taxes · In the All-Access PassView
EXCEL Pro

Rental Property Deal Analyzer

Enter the price, the loan and what comparable rentals nearby earn. It returns three revenue scenarios, the real monthly costs, your yearly return on cash, and how full you must stay to break even.

Money, Pricing & Taxes · In the All-Access PassView
EXCEL Pro

Co-Host Owner Statement Template

Hand a monthly statement to the owner whose place you run. It shows every booking, every expense with its receipt, how your fee was worked out, and what's left for them. It takes about ten minutes.

Money, Pricing & Taxes · In the All-Access PassView
EXCEL Pro

Income & Expense Tracker, Canada Edition (T776)

The tracker rebuilt for Canadian hosts: expense categories named as the T776 names them, GST/HST collected and paid on the side, and a rolling four-quarter test that says when registration stops being optional.

Money, Pricing & Taxes · In the All-Access PassView
PDF Pro

Revenue Management Playbook

How to build a nightly rate from your own costs and comp set, put four multipliers on the calendar, fix orphan nights, run a discount ladder that never goes under the floor, and review it all in fifteen minutes a week.

Money, Pricing & Taxes · In the All-Access PassView

Operations & Setup 7

WORD Pro

Operations Manual Template (SOP Binder)

Write the whole operation down once: vendor numbers, access codes, the turnover steps, and what to do about a lockout or no hot water. Then someone else can run the place for a week.

Operations & Setup · In the All-Access PassView
WORD Pro

Guest Screening Kit

Screen a booking request before you accept it: the questions to ask, 14 warning signs scored, and decline wording that keeps you inside platform rules and anti-discrimination law.

Operations & Setup · In the All-Access PassView
EXCEL Pro

Permit, License & Lodging Tax Tracker

Tracks permits, renewals and inspections in one workbook, then maps the state, county and city lodging taxes charged on every night you sell. You know what Airbnb collects and what you still file yourself.

Operations & Setup · In the All-Access PassView
PDF Pro

Room-by-Room Furnishing & Inventory Guide

Lists what to buy, room by room, with quantities scaled to your guest count. It also sets the par levels your cleaner restocks to after every stay: how many towels, and how many rolls of paper.

Operations & Setup · In the All-Access PassView
WORD Pro

Damage & Incident Documentation Kit

Builds the damage claim in order: an incident form your cleaner fills in, the photos claims teams expect, a replacement-cost worksheet, and three letters to the guest.

Operations & Setup · In the All-Access PassView
EXCEL Pro

Registry, Permit & Tax Tracker, Canada Edition

Every number a Canadian host has to hold, renew and print on the listing, with the taxes that stack on each night in BC, Ontario and Quebec, a filing calendar, and the questions to ask the municipality first.

Operations & Setup · In the All-Access PassView
PDF Pro

Vacation Rental Startup Checklist, Canada Edition

The five-phase startup checklist with the Canadian rules put where they bite: registries, the principal-residence question, the expense-denial rule, GST/HST, and a hard gate before the listing goes live.

Operations & Setup · In the All-Access PassView

Cabin, Lakefront & Mountain 6

WORD Pro

Septic-Safe Bathroom Pack

Five guest signs stop the wipes and grease that clog a septic system, and the host pump-out schedule, service log, and clog playbook keep your $12,000 drain field alive.

Cabin, Lakefront & Mountain · In the All-Access PassView
WORD Pro

Hot Tub Rules & Safety Pack

Post the liability-worded rules and health warnings, keep the daily water-chemistry log that heads off rashes and Legionnaires' disease, and winterize the tub before a freeze cracks the whole equipment pack.

Cabin, Lakefront & Mountain · In the All-Access PassView
WORD Pro

Bear Country & Wildlife Pack

Six printed signs show guests what a bear counts as food: coolers, toiletries, pet bowls, a candy wrapper left in the car. The host playbook locks the trash down.

Cabin, Lakefront & Mountain · In the All-Access PassView
WORD Pro

Wood Stove & Fireplace Operation Guide

Four guest signs cover lighting the stove, the right firewood, hot-ash disposal, and the smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms. The host chimney-sweep schedule and log keep creosote, the tar that starts chimney fires, from building up.

Cabin, Lakefront & Mountain · In the All-Access PassView
WORD Pro

Well Water & Water-Safety Pack

Six signs tell guests which taps are safe to drink and how hard they can push the well; the host half covers testing, freeze protection, disinfecting the well with chlorine, and the late-night "no water" call.

Cabin, Lakefront & Mountain · In the All-Access PassView
WORD Pro

Winter Access & Driving Pack

Seven guest signs cover what R1, R2 and R3 chain control means for their car, how to check conditions and drive in snow, where to park for the plow, and power outages. The freeze settings that stop a burst pipe are in there too.

Cabin, Lakefront & Mountain · In the All-Access PassView
Free and paid

9 of the 35 files cost nothing, and they are not samples.

Two tiers, no middle one. Here is exactly what sits in each, including the part most sites would rather you did not ask about.

01

The free files

9 of 35 · no gate
  • No signup wall, no email box, no card. You click, the file downloads. That is the entire transaction.
  • Whole files, not extracts. The full turnover checklist with its photo log. All 12 guest messages. The 5-phase startup sequence, permits through guest #1.
  • Spread across 6 of the 7 jobs, so most operations find at least one that applies today.
  • Whatever version is current is the version that downloads. Nothing expires and nothing renews.
  • If the free ones cover the thing you are stuck on, stop there. That counts as a win here. I would rather you fixed the problem than paid me for something you did not need.

Browse the 9 free files

02

The All-Access Pass

$49 USD · once
  • Opens the other 26 toolkits, which is every Pro file in the grid above, including the 6 cabin, lakefront and mountain packs.
  • One payment. Nothing renews, and there is no per-property fee: one cabin or a whole portfolio pays the same $49 USD.
  • All 26 Pro files hold 168 written parts between them.
  • There is no way to buy one file on its own here. The pass is the only way to get a Pro file, so there is no separate price on any of them and no discount to calculate.
  • Files added to the library later are included, at no upgrade fee. Re-download any time.
  • Does not earn its keep? Tell me and I fix the file, walk you through it, or refund the pass. No stopwatch, no "all sales final" wall.

See everything in the pass, $49 USD

When not to buy: if the free 9 cover the job you came here for, take them and go run your property. And if what you actually want is somebody to fill these in for you, this is not that. These are files, not a service. Coaching is a separate, single conversation, by inquiry.

The straightforward part

Free means free: no account, no email address, the file downloads. The pass is one payment of $49 USD. Nothing renews. If you buy it and do not find real value in it, tell me and I will make it right: a fix, a walkthrough, or a refund when that is the fair answer. No stopwatch and no "all sales final" wall. The license covers your own rental business, one cabin or a whole portfolio. Edit the files, print them, use them at every property you run. What it does not cover is reselling them, reposting them, or handing them on to other hosts and businesses. The guarantee and license, in plain English.

Where to start

Twelve host problems, each mapped to the file that fixes it.

Finding a cleaner, answering the same questions every stay, setting a nightly price, the permit that lapses quietly. The Host's Playbook takes each one, gives the number behind it from four named industry surveys, and points at the download.

Read the Playbook