The Truth, Properly Cured
What "Reestit" means for your holiday
Every property listing has a story, though much of it hides behind a polished layer of marketing. In Shetland, reestit is the name for meat cured in brine and slowly dried in the smoke of a peat fire - a patient process that draws out what matters most and leaves behind a deeper, truer flavour.
We take the same approach to your travels. From the thousands of honest accounts left by those who went before, we gently distil what it is really like to be there - the feel of the rooms, the welcome at the door, the rhythm of the neighbourhood. By setting aside the noise and the exaggeration, we reveal what truly awaits you, so you can choose with confidence and arrive already at ease.
The Founder's Hearth
Reestit wasn’t born in a boardroom. It began out of frustration: nights spent cross-referencing reviews, checking maps, and hunting for similar properties just to avoid a holiday disaster. Our founder realised travellers don’t need perfection - they need honesty. Inspired by how Shetlander crofters prepare Reestit Mutton, he set out to do the same with holiday rentals: curing the raw, messy reality of thousands of reviews down to what really matters.
Reestit automates that patient, meticulous work. It doesn't just summarise; it distils. It uncovers the subtext, the quirks, and the hidden gems - the host who leaves fresh eggs, the stairs that need care, the kitchen you’ll actually enjoy. No gloss, no fluff, just the true essence of a place, ready for curious travellers before they even unpack.
Zero Questions, Maximum Convenience
Most travel tools want to know your life story before they help you. We think that's a waste of your time. When you paste a URL into Reestit, you don't need to tell us how many guests are coming or what your budget is.
Our "Nearby Stock" feature logic is simple but effective:
- Contextual Intelligence: We extract the property's coordinates and its exact capacity (guests, bedrooms, beds) directly from the listing.
- Automated Signposting: We use that data to pre-populate search links for other major platforms.
- Single-Click Pivot: If the property you're looking at has "soggy" reviews, you can jump straight to a similar-sized alternative just streets away with one click.
Transparency & Support: To keep the fire burning and the analysis free, Reestit uses affiliate links. When you find a property through our signposts, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This keeps us independent and focused on the truth.
Visualising the Vibe
A single "4.8 stars" rating can be deceptive. We provide a 90-day rolling sentiment chart overlaid with a 12-month scatterplot of every individual review. Here is what that helps you smoke out:
- Recency of Rot: Did that plumbing issue happen three years ago, or was the last guest complaining about it yesterday? The scatterplot dots tell you exactly when the heat was on.
- Seasonal Shifts: Some properties "smoke" differently in the winter. You might see a cluster of lower scores in December that suggests the heating isn't up to a North Sea gale.
- The 'Polarising' Pulse: Is everyone moderately happy (small spread), or is the property a "love it or hate it" gamble (dots scattered between 1 and 5 stars)?
- Forensic Focus: See a suspiciously low dot? Click it. Our new Review Spotlight feature pulls the full text of that specific review front and center, so you can diagnose issues without hunting through the listing.
- Suspicious Spikes: A sudden burst of generic 5-star reviews after a string of bad ones often stands out like a flare in the dark.
The Analytical Cure
Just like Shetland mutton is cured in brine and smoked over peat, we "cure" the reviews through our analytical lens. We don't just aggregate scores; we look for the subtext in the feedback to find the hidden gems and flag the recurring quirks that marketing photos tend to miss.
Whether you choose the balanced Peat Fire, the bright Birch Wisp, or the forensic Sea-Salt Drift, you're getting a filtered reality that helps you arrive informed and leave happy.