13/08/2026
Why We Keep a Night Free Between Guests at Easterhoull Chalets
When you book a holiday, the last thing you want is to arrive at your destination and spend half the day waiting to get into your accommodation.
That’s why at Easterhoull Chalets, Scalloway, we do something a little different.
We deliberately keep a night free between bookings
Yes — that means we turn down a full night’s accommodation income between guests.
We could book one guest out in the morning, turn the chalet around as quickly as possible, and tell the next guests they can’t check in until 3pm or 4pm. That’s standard practice in much of the accommodation industry.
But we’ve chosen not to operate that way.
By blocking the night between bookings, your chalet is already empty the day before you arrive. It gives us plenty of time to clean and prepare everything properly, without a frantic same-day turnaround — and it means you can get into your chalet much earlier.
Just off the overnight ferry?
This is where it can make a huge difference.
The overnight ferry arrives into Lerwick at around 7am. After a long crossing — and perhaps a rough night at sea with very little sleep — who wants to spend most of the day hanging around waiting for a 3pm or 4pm check-in?
You’ve arrived in Shetland. You’re tired. You have your luggage with you. You may simply want a shower, a cup of tea and somewhere comfortable to sit down for a while.
We completely understand that.
Instead of trying to fill several hours until your accommodation becomes available, you can make your way to Easterhoull, get settled into your chalet and relax.
Then, once you’ve recovered from the journey, you have the whole day ahead of you to enjoy Shetland.
Yes, it costs us a night’s income
Keeping that night empty means turning away a potential full night’s booking for every changeover.
With nine chalets, those nights certainly add up over the course of a season.
But it’s a conscious choice.
We would rather sacrifice that extra night’s income than squeeze every possible booking into the calendar and leave our arriving guests waiting around for hours.
It also gives us the time to clean and prepare the chalets ourselves, properly and without rushing.
Your holiday shouldn’t start at 4pm
For us, hospitality isn’t simply about handing over a key and providing somewhere to sleep.
It’s about thinking about the whole experience — including how you feel when you first arrive in Shetland.
So that empty night you might notice on our booking calendar isn’t an accident or a night we couldn’t sell.
We’ve deliberately kept it free.
It gives us time to prepare your chalet, gives you the flexibility of early entry and, particularly after that overnight ferry journey, means you don’t have to spend your first day in Shetland watching the clock and waiting for check-in.
Your holiday starts when you arrive — not at 3pm.
