By The KTech team · Published 29 October 2026
Running a holiday let means looking after more information than most owners realise. There are bookings and calendars, guest names and contact details, key-safe codes, cleaning rotas, invoices, photographs, and the logins for every listing site you use. Lose it all on a busy Saturday changeover and you will feel it quickly.
A good backup plan does not need to be complicated. It needs to be automatic, kept in more than one place, and tested occasionally. Here is how to build one that suits a South Hams holiday-let business.
What is worth backing up
- Booking records and calendars, including exports from any channel manager or booking site.
- Guest details, enquiry emails and any messages you may need to refer back to.
- Accounts, invoices, receipts and tax records.
- Photographs, floor plans, house manuals and welcome guides.
- Contracts and agreements with cleaners, agents and suppliers.
- Passwords and recovery information, kept in a proper password manager rather than a notebook by the computer.
- Settings for smart locks, thermostats and WiFi equipment, so you can restore them if a device fails.
The 3-2-1 idea in plain English
The most widely used rule of thumb is called 3-2-1. Keep three copies of anything that matters: the original and two backups. Keep them on two different kinds of storage, for example your computer and an external drive. And keep one copy somewhere else entirely, such as in the cloud or at a relative's house.
The point is that no single event, a theft, a fire, a flood, a failed drive or a ransomware attack, can take out every copy at once. A backup drive sitting next to the laptop is better than nothing, but it will not help in a burglary or a kitchen fire.
Cloud or drive? Usually both
A cloud backup runs automatically over the internet and keeps your files away from the property. It suits holiday-let owners because it does not rely on you remembering. The downside is that the first backup can take a while on a slow rural connection, and you need to keep the subscription going.
An external drive is quick, you own it, and it is excellent for a full copy of a computer. The downside is that someone has to plug it in. If it stays connected all the time, ransomware can scramble it along with everything else, so ideally it is disconnected when it is not in use.
For most owners we suggest a combination: automatic cloud backup for documents, bookings and photos, plus an occasional full copy to a drive that is kept elsewhere. Our data recovery and backup service can set this up and explain it plainly.
Remember, too, that services like email, calendars and booking platforms keep your data on someone else's servers. That is not the same as having a backup. Export important records from time to time.
Test your restores
A backup you have never tried to restore is an assumption, not a plan. Once or twice a year, choose a few files and try to get them back from each backup. Check that photos open, that spreadsheets are the right version, and that you know where to look.
It is also worth writing a one-page note about where everything lives and how to get at it. If you are ill or away, someone else may need to find a booking list or reset a lock code.
Guest data and the GDPR basics
Because you keep guests' names, addresses and contact details, you are handling personal data. The general principles are straightforward: keep only what you need, keep it secure, do not hold it for longer than necessary, and be able to say what you do with it.
In practice that means passwords on the devices that hold guest data, encryption on laptops and phones that leave the property, multi-factor authentication on email and booking accounts, and a sensible clear-out of old records. Backups count as well: they contain the same personal data, so they need protecting in the same way.
The Information Commissioner's Office has plain guidance for small organisations on its website. If you are unsure whether something applies to you, check there or ask a professional.
Keeping the rest of the property safe
If you are managing a cottage near the harbour, an apartment in town or a cluster of cabins on a farm, the same simple plan applies. Many of our holiday-let customers are around the estuary, and we regularly help with IT support in Salcombe for owners who need things set up once and then left to work.
A simple routine you can keep up
The best backup plan is the one that actually happens. Pick a regular moment, such as the first Monday of each month, and spend ten minutes checking that backups ran, that the external drive is where it should be, and that nothing new has been added that is not covered, like a new booking platform or a second laptop.
At the end of each season, do a slightly bigger check: confirm you can still sign in to the cloud backup, update the list of what is stored where, and clear out guest data you no longer need. A tidy system is easier to protect, and far easier to explain to anyone who has to step in for you.
Finally, think about what you would do on the worst day. If the laptop was stolen tonight, how would you get next week's arrivals and their contact details? Having a quick answer to that question is the real test of whether your backups are doing their job.