The Ultimate Guest Checklist: Before, During, and After Your Short-Let Stay
Booking well is only step one. Here's what actually matters once you've paid, while you're staying, and on your way out the door.
The Ultimate Guest Checklist: Before, During, and After Your Short-Let Stay
A good short-let stay isn’t just about picking the right apartment. It’s about knowing what to do at each stage, from the moment you book to the moment you hand back the keys. Most of the guest complaints that show up in disputes aren’t about bad apartments. They’re about things nobody checked, confirmed, or documented along the way.
This is the full lifecycle checklist: what to lock down before you book, what to handle once you’re actually staying, and what to do on your way out so everything wraps up cleanly.
Before you book
The short version: confirm the total price (rent, service fee, and caution fee together, not just the nightly rate), read the specific cancellation policy on that listing rather than assuming a general one applies, and check that the property is actually verified before you pay. These three alone prevent most of the pre-booking regret guests run into.
If you want the full breakdown of what to ask before you commit, including location accuracy, maintenance responsiveness, and house rules, we covered that in detail in The Short-Let Checklist: 7 Things to Confirm Before Booking a Stay in Lagos or Abuja. This guide picks up from where that one leaves off, once you’ve actually checked in.
While you’re there
Do a walkthrough before you unpack
The first ten minutes in the apartment matter more than people realise. Before you settle in, walk through the space and take a few photos or a short video, especially of anything that looks worn, damaged, or different from the listing photos. This isn’t about being suspicious of your host. It’s about protecting yourself if a damage dispute ever comes up later, since it’s much easier to point to a pre-arrival photo than to argue about what was already broken.
Save your host’s contact, and know what to do if they go quiet
You should have a direct way to reach your host from the moment you check in, not just the booking confirmation. Save their number or in-app contact somewhere you can find it quickly, because the time you actually need it is rarely a convenient one. If a host becomes unresponsive during an active issue, most platforms have a support escalation path for exactly this situation. Know it exists before you need it, not after.
Understand the power and water setup
Don’t wait for the lights to go out to find out how backup power works. On check-in day, ask directly: is there a generator or inverter, is fuel included or something you’ll need to handle, and is there a schedule or does it kick in automatically. The same goes for water, borehole, tank, or mains. Five minutes of questions on day one saves a frustrating conversation on day three.
Confirm the house rules directly, don’t assume
Even if you read the listing carefully before booking, it’s worth confirming the specifics again once you’re actually there, particularly around visitors, quiet hours, and how many people are allowed on the property. Rules that felt minor when you read them can matter a lot more once real plans are involved, like a friend stopping by or extended family joining for a night. A quick confirmation avoids a rule violation nobody meant to commit.
Report problems immediately, not at checkout
If something’s wrong, whether it’s a maintenance issue, a cleanliness problem, or the property not matching what was listed, report it as soon as you notice it. Waiting until checkout to mention that the air conditioning never worked, or that the water was out for two days, makes the issue much harder to resolve fairly. Most reporting windows are short by design, sometimes just a few hours for urgent issues, precisely because early reporting gives everyone a real chance to fix things.
When you check out
Know the checkout time and process
Standard checkout is typically midday, but confirm the exact time and process for your specific listing, especially if you have an early flight or a late morning ahead of you. Some hosts require a specific key drop-off or lock code reset, and missing that step can create an avoidable mess for the next guest and for you.
Leave the space the way you found it
You don’t need to deep clean before you go, but basic tidiness matters. Take out obvious trash, don’t leave dishes piled up, and put things roughly back where they were. This isn’t just courtesy, it directly affects whether your caution fee comes back without a deduction for excessive cleaning.
Know the caution fee refund timeline
Once you’ve checked out, the caution fee is typically reviewed and released within a set window if no damage or rule violation is reported. If you haven’t seen it refunded after a reasonable period, follow up rather than assuming it’s lost. Refund delays are usually a processing gap, not a denial, but it’s worth confirming either way.
Leave a review
This is the step guests skip most often, and it’s the one that keeps the whole system honest. A specific, honest review, mentioning what actually worked and what didn’t, helps the next guest make a better decision and gives good hosts credit for doing things right. It takes two minutes and it’s the single most useful thing you can do for the guest coming after you.
The short version
Confirm the total price and policy before you book. Document the apartment before you unpack. Keep your host’s contact handy and report issues as they happen, not after. Leave the place as you found it, and leave a review on your way out. Do these things consistently, and short-let stays stop being a gamble and start being something you can actually rely on.
