Matthew Ryan Property: Building a home-from-home brand on its own terms

Meet Matthew Ryan Property

Matthew Haresnape founded Matthew Ryan Property in May 2022 with a specific idea of what a holiday let should feel like: a home, not a hotel room. Operating in Whitchurch, Shropshire, the business pairs strong locations with carefully styled interiors — layered lighting, feature fireplaces, calm layouts — across holiday lets and serviced apartments.

The guests are varied: tourists, working professionals, contractors, and wedding guests, visiting for leisure, work, or a special occasion. What holds it together is a personable approach to hosting and a real eye for detail. Every space is designed to help guests settle in and feel at ease.

Matthew started shortly after the pandemic, as a way to bring in extra income for his family. The early challenges were the ones every new operator meets: learning how company lets work, staying on top of utilities and outgoings, reading local demand, and pricing competitively. Hands-on experience sharpened the offering and clarified what guests actually value — comfort, character, and a space that feels lived-in.

The breaking point

Before Guesty, Matthew ran his properties directly through Airbnb and Booking.com. Both platforms were responsive, but the economics didn’t work.

• Service fees that ate the margin — in some cases close to half of revenue
• Strict platform rules, including penalties for cancellations outside Matthew’s control
• Separate platforms to manage, which made day-to-day oversight slow and fragmented

The pattern was clear: the more the business relied on the OTAs, the less of its own income it kept, and the harder it was to run.

Choosing Guesty: one dashboard, more control

Guesty stood out for a simple reason — it brought every property and every booking platform under one central dashboard. There was some hesitation about switching systems, but the case was strong: centralized calendar management, automated guest messaging, and 24-hour support.

The support team guided Matthew through onboarding, helping him understand and get the most from the platform rather than leaving him to work it out alone.

The first real payoff was the website builder. It let Matthew start building a branded site and begin reducing his reliance on third-party platforms — a direct answer to the fee problem that drove the switch.

A stronger technology core

Bringing everything into one system changed how the business runs day to day:

• Every property and message in one place, replacing the juggle of separate platforms
• Automated guest messaging that keeps communication consistent and responses fast
• A branded booking website that opens a direct channel and lightens the OTA dependency

Together, these tightened operations and gave Matthew clearer oversight of the whole portfolio.

A smoother onboarding

Adding a new property now takes about half the time it used to. The support team’s hands-on guidance during setup is what made the platform click — Matthew rated ease of use, customer support, and overall functionality 10 out of 10 across the board.

Immediate impact

Since switching to Guesty, Matthew Ryan Property has:

1. Cut property onboarding time by roughly half. Setup that used to drag now moves quickly.
2. Centralized every property and platform. One dashboard replaced the scattered, time-consuming oversight.
3. Opened a direct booking channel. A branded website reduces reliance on high-fee OTAs and keeps more revenue in the business.
4. Sped up guest communication. Automated, consistent messaging means faster responses and fewer gaps.

Looking ahead

Matthew’s plans run well past the current three listings. The long-term goal is to own his properties outright and expand across the UK and, eventually, abroad, with moves into property flipping and commercial investment alongside.

As the business grows, he sees the Guesty relationship growing with it. Continued development of the website builder is the one thing he’d push for on the roadmap — fitting, for an operator whose whole strategy is keeping more of what he earns.

“Easy to understand. Helpful. Ahead of its competition.”

Matthew Haresnape, Founder and Director

Channel Manager · Multi-Calendar · Automation Tools · Guesty Websites