Design that Books. Styling that Sells!

Short-Term Rental Interior Design for European Operators

Who this is for01

Property let by the night
is a different brief

We work with operators, property managers and portfolio owners furnishing homes that will be listed on Airbnb, Booking.com and the rest. The design problem is not the same as a private home, because the room has to survive strangers, reset in a few hours, and photograph well enough to be chosen from a grid of thumbnails before anyone reads a word.

You manage units on behalf of owners	We design to a standard you can put in front of an owner, and to a budget you have already agreed with them. The specification is yours to reuse across the portfolio.
You are furnishing your first listing	One property, designed properly, with a shopping list you buy from yourself. Most first listings are over-furnished and under-lit, and both are cheaper to fix on paper.
You are scaling from three units to thirty	A scheme designed once and varied across unit types, so a new property can be furnished from an existing specification rather than designed from scratch each time.
You are repositioning an underperforming listing	We look at the layout, the lighting and the photographs before anything is bought, because in a surprising number of cases the furniture is fine and the room is being shown badly.

What actually changes02

Four constraints a private
home never has

It resets in hours

Changeover time is a running cost. Storage for linen, an obvious place for everything, and nothing that needs rearranging to look right again.

Everything is replaceable

Pieces are chosen so a damaged one can be reordered rather than rethought. Discontinued lines are a problem you meet in year two, not year one.

It is chosen from a thumbnail

The first photograph does most of the work. Rooms are composed for how they read at that size, not only for how they feel from the doorway.

Guests are not you

Where people put a suitcase, where they charge a phone, whether two of them can get past each other. Unglamorous, and the source of most complaints.

An honest limit03

We will not quote you
a percentage uplift

Design is one input into how a listing performs, alongside pricing, seasonality, location, review history and how the calendar is managed. Any studio quoting you a fixed improvement in bookings or nightly rate is isolating a variable that cannot be isolated, and if you run a portfolio you already know that.

What design does control is narrower and more useful to talk about: whether the space photographs well, whether it works for the people staying in it, how quickly it resets between guests, and how much of it you have to replace in the first two years. Those are the things we will discuss on a call, and the things we will be held to.

One documented case04

Two units, side by side,
one of them ours

A host based in Boston asked us to design several properties remotely, among them two adjacent units in the White Mountains. Only one of the pair was designed by Studio Akiva. Across the period both were let, the designed unit was booked more often, achieved a higher nightly rate and reviewed better. When the two were put up for sale, the designed unit sold first, and for around $100,000 more than its neighbour.

We report it because it is about as close to a controlled comparison as this industry produces: same location, same period, same owner, one variable deliberately changed. It is still a single case, in the American market, and it is not a forecast for your property. Everything in the section above it still stands.

How we work05

Consultancy hours,
scoped after a call

Short-term rental work is sold in design hours rather than fixed room packages, because the scope varies too much for a package to be honest. One studio being refreshed is not the same job as eight units built to a repeatable specification. After a free discovery call we propose a number of hours for the property or the portfolio, and you approve that before anything starts.

Everything is delivered remotely as standard, which is what makes it workable across countries. Where a site visit genuinely helps, tell us where the property is and we will confirm whether a designer can travel to it and what that adds, before it is agreed.

What you receive06

Deliverables, within
the hours agreed

Layout and space planning, worked around changeover and guest circulation
Mood boards setting the visual direction for the unit or the portfolio
Shopping list with every item photographed, priced and linked
Specification notes on what to buy in duplicate and what to avoid
Guidance on preparing the property for photography
A written scheme you can reuse on the next unit of the same type

Worth knowing07

The listing photograph is
a design constraint

A guest scrolling a results page gives each thumbnail a fraction of a second, at a size where texture and detail disappear entirely. What survives is the shape of the room, the contrast between light and dark, and whether there is one thing to look at. A beautifully layered scheme of similar mid-tones can be excellent in person and invisible at that size.

It is why we treat the hero shot as something to design towards rather than something the photographer sorts out afterwards. One strong focal point, a clear line of sight through the space, and enough tonal separation that the furniture does not merge into the floor.

Beyond the design08

Buying it and fitting it out

The design can be handed to your own team to execute, and for portfolio operators that is usually the point. Where you would rather not run it, three services carry on from there, each quoted separately.

Procurement

Ordering, tracking and chasing across suppliers, with our trade discounts coming off the bill rather than staying with us.

Complete Furniture Concierge

Fit-out support

Coordinating trades, checking deliveries and solving what comes up during the works, on site or by video call.

Post-Design Support

Styling before launch

Placing everything once it has arrived, in the changeover window, so the property can be photographed and listed.

Interior Styling

Common questions09

What operators ask first

Can you design several units at once?

Yes, and it is the more economical way to do it. Units of the same type share a specification, with variation where the layout or the light demands it, so the second and third of a type cost considerably less in design time than the first.

How is it priced?

By the hour, scoped after a discovery call. We tell you how many hours the property or portfolio is likely to need and you approve that before work starts. For multi-unit work we scope the first unit and the repeat units separately, so you can see where the saving sits.

Do you buy the furniture as well?

Only if you want us to. The shopping list is yours to order from directly, which many operators prefer because they already have accounts. If you would rather hand it over, our procurement service handles ordering, tracking and delivery, and our trade discounts pass through to you.

Can you work to a fixed budget per unit?

Yes, and it is the most useful thing you can bring to the first call. A budget per unit changes the specification more than any stylistic preference does, and knowing it upfront avoids designing a scheme that has to be unpicked afterwards.

Do you advise on short-let licensing and local regulations?

No. Rules on short-term letting vary by city and change often, and getting them wrong is expensive, so that is a question for a local lawyer or your property manager rather than your designer. We design within whatever constraints you confirm apply.

Do you handle structural work?

No. We design interiors, not structure. Where a project touches structural elements we work alongside your structural engineer, or introduce one we trust, and design around what they confirm is possible.

Which countries do you work in?

Anywhere in Europe. The work is delivered remotely and in English, and our designers are based across Germany, Spain, Portugal, France and Belgium. The practical limits are supplier shipping into the country and, where you want one, a site visit.

How quickly can you turn a unit around?

It depends on the scope agreed, and we will give you a date at the point we scope the hours rather than a general promise here. Tell us the changeover window or the launch date you are working to and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable.

Is this different from your commercial hospitality work?

Yes. This is residential property let by the night. Hotels, aparthotels and workspace sit with our commercial team, where the regulatory and specification requirements are different.

Tell us about the property Book a discovery call