House Manuals

Staymo, formerly SmartHost, is a short-term rental management company overseeing 2,000+ properties across London and Dubai.

I was approached to design a digital property guide system that could scale with the company’s growing portfolio. The platform gives each rental property its own mobile-first guide, bringing key stay information into one clear, accessible experience for guests and internal teams.

The project covered UX, UI and front-end development, alongside the design of a scalable WordPress content system. It combined a clearer guest experience with a practical publishing workflow, allowing the Staymo team to create, update and manage guides across the portfolio without technical support.

By early 2025, only a small number of Staymo properties had house manuals. Those that did relied on PDFs and simple digital pages, which varied in structure and detail, were often incomplete, and were difficult to keep up to date.

This created friction at the moments guests needed clear information most: finding the property, checking in, using an appliance or preparing to check out. When the available guidance did not answer a question, the support team had to fill in the gaps—creating more tickets and longer resolution times for otherwise simple issues.

The challenge was to create a single, scalable system that could give every property a clear and consistent guide, while remaining flexible enough to reflect each stay’s specific details.

Rather than simply replacing PDFs, the work began by defining what a useful house manual needed to do at each point in the guest journey. Alongside mapping key moments—from arrival and check-in to appliance use and departure—I conducted internal research with the Staymo support specialists who handled guests’ most frequent questions firsthand.

Their insights helped identify the information gaps generating the most avoidable support requests. During ideation, I shared proposed solutions with the team, gathered feedback, and iterated on the content structure and experience to ensure the manual addressed real guest needs while remaining practical for the team to maintain.

The project took 6 weeks in total, with phases overlapping to maintain momentum from research through to delivery: 3 weeks of UX research, 2 weeks of ideation, 2 weeks of wireframing, 2 weeks of UI design, and 3 weeks of development

The outcome was a shared digital house-manual system built on WordPress.

For the internal team, the system provides a repeatable structure for every guide, delivered through a responsive, Staymo-branded interface that still allows each property to feel distinct. Reusable components make the guides straightforward to create, adapt, and maintain without technical support.

For guests, each guide brings the practical details of their stay into one clear place: arrival instructions, maps, parking, access information, Wi-Fi, heating, appliances, and waste guidance. Before check-in, every guest receives a secure link to the guide for their specific property, making essential information available before arrival and throughout their stay.

Starter templates for London and Dubai established the initial format, combining core property information with local travel tips and useful app recommendations.

Each manual opens with a clear overview of the property, giving guests a useful point of reference they can return to whenever they need a quick reminder.

The location section then brings together everything needed to find and reach the property: the address with a copy function, a Google Map, parking details, nearby transport, local essentials, and recommendations for getting around London.

Next, the check-in section breaks arrival into simple, property-specific steps—whether access is through a lockbox, smart lock, or concierge—with a section for supporting visuals where helpful.

Once inside, guests can find practical information organised by topic, including temperature control, Wi-Fi, and kitchen appliances. Photos and short videos help explain details that are difficult to communicate through text alone.

Finally, the check-out section provides a short, clear list of instructions for leaving the property.

The design uses Staymo purple as the main accent colour, carrying the brand through buttons, icons, selected states, and small interface details. Lighter purple tones are used for supporting elements, while dark text keeps information easy to read.

White makes up most of the interface. It keeps the manual feeling simple and uncluttered, gives instructions plenty of space, and lets property images and practical information take priority.

Inter was chosen for its clean, readable letterforms. Rounded cards, clear icons, and simple accordions help break longer content into smaller, easier-to-scan sections.

Because the system needed to work across multiple properties, stay easy to update, and reduce reliance on technical support for everyday changes, it was built around a reusable component library and a base manual template. This made it possible to create property-specific guides efficiently while keeping the core structure and experience consistent.

WordPress was used as the CMS at the centre of the system, giving the internal team one place to manage content across every guide. Bricks Builder provided the flexibility to build and maintain the visual style, page layouts, and reusable components.

To protect the system over time, content and design were separated across different permission levels. The content team can update copy, images, and property details confidently, without accidentally changing the underlying design system.

The digital house-manual matrix replaced scattered, inconsistent PDFs with one clear and maintainable experience for both guests and the Staymo team.

Guests now receive the right information at the right time, from arrival and access through to day-to-day practicalities and check-out. Behind the scenes, the reusable template, component library, and permission structure give the internal team a reliable way to keep every guide accurate as the portfolio grows.