Need advise on D.I.Y or big holiday cottage companies

If you are planning to buy a rental home, or you're thinking about what to do with one you have just acquired, this is the place for any questions about starting out in the rentals business.
tiffanyfernharries@gmail.
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Need advise on D.I.Y or big holiday cottage companies

Post by tiffanyfernharries@gmail. »

Hi,

I'm just about to exchange and complete on a Grade 2 listed house in Devon and I am completely new to Holiday rental although I've been staying in them for years. So I have time on my hands but no experience of running my own business. I have some costs involved with the house but not huge ones as I don't have a mortgage. But need some advise whether it is best to go with a holiday cottage company initially or do it myself? My feeling is to avoid any major mistakes as I start out to go with a company which hopefully will get me guests for at least some of the first year. Then the question is which companies are best or which to avoid.

Tiffany
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PW in Polemi
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Location: A village in Paphos, Cyprus

Post by PW in Polemi »

I think a quick search on here will find that some of the LMH members have had less than good results with Sykes. This particular company appears to charge a low rental in order to fill the accommodation. A full booking chart sounds good, but only if you are not only covering costs, but also making enough profit to cover future maintenance/improvements/whatever. If I recall correctly, both Bessie and LadyAga have posted about their problems.

The general consensus of opinion on here, regardless of how the booking was achieved (i.e. direct to own website, via a letting agent or via an advertising/liting site) is that those guests who feel they are getting pretty much something for nothing, are the ones most likely to cause problems - some of them costly.

However you search for bookings, be careful not to underprice your property - compare with others nearby.

I suspect an agent specific to your area may well be of more use to you than a large generic one - if you're in the right area, LMHer Charles Cawley may well be able to help you.

Whatever you choose, good luck!
Dogs have masters. Cats have slaves!
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Ben McNevis
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Post by Ben McNevis »

Hello Tiffany and welcome to LMH.

Nobody can say "Do this... and it will work". It depends so much on the type and size of house, where it is, the kind of guests it will attract and luck!

Having said that, there are things you can do to get a high probability of success.

Do look at the competition, and see how they operate and where they advertise. Even try talking to some of them and you might be surprised how helpful they are.

If you are using an agent, I would suggest an agent who is happy with you finding your own guests too. I would also suggest a local agent where you deal with the main man and not a call centre.

Sometimes, it's good to start with an agent and then drift away if and when you decide that you can get enough bookings of your own.

Whether you like to have an agent handle everything or prefer to deal with enquiries and guests yourself is very much a personal thing. If you're the entrepreneurial type, then you'll probably want to do it yourself. Even so, an agent is really good initially as they can bring in bookings from Day 1, whereas you will almost certainly struggle in the early months to get the calendar filled.

Listing sites are the devils own choice. The traditional effective ones have all been bought up by 2 monstrous companies, and then there's AirBnB which is a bit different but also effective for many. There's also a lot of independent but generally less effective sites which don't have the financial muscle to get attention.

There used to be a clear choice between commission listing and subscription listing. Now that's more difficult as the two monstrous companies have cajoled and pushed their owners towards commission. If you advertise on a commission basis, expect to get around 85% of what the guests pay. The main advantage for you is that you can advertise on commission on as many sites as you have time to cope with. The cost to you is the same.

You might prefer subscription advertising because then the enquiry comes direct to and you don't have to communicate through a "platform" where any web address, email address or phone number gets blanked out (and you get treated like a maggot)! If you can get all your bookings through one or two subscription sites, you're laughing because you will end up with an advertising cost that is around the 3 to 5 percent mark. However, if they don't perform well, you'll be tempted to go for commission too, and then if your calendar is largely filled by commission bookings, your subscription advertising will start to become a waste of money.

Finally, there's your own website. It's really important. No, it's really really important. Combine your website, your facebook page for your property, your Google MyBusiness entry: you've got virtually free advertising. Any bookings you get through that route will be not only the most cost-effective but probably the best guests too. Nobody will find your website on its own merit, but if a Google MyBusiness entry points to it, it will get traffic just from Google Maps users.

Give your property a unique name.

Having the property name prominent on the commission advertising sites will lead some intelligent folks to google that name and then they find your own web page and book direct. That's a win-win - no commission and you get intelligent guests.

Enough!
Cheers, Ben
www . scotland-cottage.com www . scottish-cottage.com


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tiffanyfernharries@gmail.
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Joined: Wed May 17, 2017 12:14 pm
Location: Great Torrington

Post by tiffanyfernharries@gmail. »

Thanks Ben for all the good advice.

Tiffany
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charles cawley
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Post by charles cawley »

A belated 'thank you' to PW in Polemi

We have made mistakes on pricing, for sure. It took two years for us to get the summer rates right for one holiday let- they were too low in July and August.

The problem is that rates can be quite volatile, particularly in high demand periods. Getting it right can resemble a game of 'chicken': if you get too close to the ideal top rate, you're open to the danger of choking off demand if the market moves only a small way downwards. Some call this the precipice effect.

Getting rates right is as much an art as it is a science.
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