Lay My Hat

There seems to be an increasing trend in 'what’s your best offer' and 'we only have a budget of x' enquiries.

This approach is encouraged by moneysaving expert in their Cheap Holiday Rentals guide;
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel ... ay-rentals

Some quotes;

So the more folks you cram in, the better. If guests kip in the living room (check ahead if there are sofa beds), the savings can rocket.

Haggle for discounts
Once you've found a specific property, try calling or emailing the owner to ask if they can drop the price.
You could also try calling or emailing owners of similar properties nearby to see if they can beat the price.

Though remember aggressive haggling's usually a mistake, as it annoys them.

It definitely annoys.

There are some good points in the guide though, especially with regards to protecting payments.

Thanks for posting that, Phil, it was very interesting.
Another piece of good advice - to take out insurance. They also recommended only paying by credit cards and not via Paypal because it doesn't offer protection for intangible goods/services.

What if they don't accept credit cards?

While a credit card's safest, the trouble is many owners don't have credit card payment facilities. Rental site VRBO* has logos next to those that accept credit cards.

If they don't, think carefully about going ahead. Pay by bank transfer and, frankly, you've zero protection. It's also highly unlikely your travel insurance would cover this type of fraud.

Thanks Philip,

just had a quick look.....

have you seen the post where a forum member proudly mentions how he's cooked boil in the bag curry in the hotel room kettle!?!

Anyone noticed their kettles smelling rather strongly?

Maybe someone who edited the guide should have spent some time on here first

What if they don't accept credit cards?
If they don't, think carefully about going ahead.

Not many owners do due to the charges. Speak to owners, research and read reviews if you have concerns.

I thought the part about credit card protection (right at the end) was very interesting and I didn't know about the various protections. Happily we will soon have a credit card facility hopefully. It's been a very long time coming though.

Good grief, amongst the useful tips there are some pretty joyless sounding holidays in the forum posts!
But each to their own I guess. I love cooking and food, and it's a big part of the fun of travel for me, but not everyone sees it as a pleasure.

Even so.

"Take...any particular relishes or sauces you always use - beg urine specimine screw-tops from the chemist."

I know it's just a container. But I think that's where I draw the line.

Well I'm screwed! I don't take credit cards (too expensive) and I ask people to do a bank transfer to the UK but I live in Spain.

Mouse
x

Mouse wrote:Well I'm screwed! I don't take credit cards (too expensive)

You are not alone.

But, wait, lets think this through. Lets say you get, on average, 12 sets of guests per year. Divide the total costs of running a credit card by 12 and then simply add that amount onto each booking. Follow the general advice and build this into your charges, not show it as a £25 extra per booking.

When a guest wants to book, they can see you are the one to book with as you take credit cards.

But, then the guest must follow the advice from MSE and check with your neighbour down the road to see if they can get a cheaper price. You neighbour does not take CC, so they will be cheaper.

So who should the guest book with ?

According to MSE - Neither.

The guest should continue to look and then book with the owner who takes CC, offers the cheapest price, and will give a discount.

That is the same owner who spends 4 Euros per year on maintenance and cleaning.

Enjoy your holidays!
You'll get what you deserve.


p.s. Its a pity, cos there actually was some useful stuff in that article, but the emphasis was poor.

Another piece of good advice - to take out insurance.

And the problem with insurance is that if you have to claim the brokers either up the premiums or decline cover next year.

Actually to be fair we had two major claims due to serious accidents from InsureandGo in 18 months and my annual travel insurance premium stayed the same to within £5 over 2 years.

We also had a claim with our boat and that premium didn't change much either.

It was my rental property insurance where I had the problem with an insurance company declining further cover after a claim. That will teach me to recommend them to fellow owners eh Phil?

Mouse wrote:Well I'm screwed! I don't take credit cards (too expensive) and I ask people to do a bank transfer to the UK but I live in Spain.

Mouse
x

Me too! I ask for a bank transfer here (Italy) since I live here but if the guest is not too happy about it (only once) I have in the past accepted a bank transfer into my UK account.

I don’t understand this...Some help is needed here please.
You ask your customers to pay a bank transfer fee. It is a cost which will be obvious to your customer.
However some of you have not considered Richard’s suggestion to up prices (a little) to cover CC payment. Spreading these over all your rentals your customer will not see the difference.
With CC you receive the payment instantly rather than waiting a few days.
When a customer sees this extra cost, it must be a small but significant negative.

So why are you so reluctant to accept cards?

We have accepted CC for years as it smooths the way for our customers. It is a service for our customers. Plus we accept bank transfers if the customer does not have a CC.

I am not reluctant to accept credit cards but it isn't necessarily that simple to do. It has taken my over 8 months so far. My bank is a small local rural one (with absolutely excellent customer service) but internet banking facilities for clients are relatively new to them. Not banking online, but actually being able to accept credit card payments online.

I did not have a SIRET number for ages (thanks to a completely incompetent accountant) and therefore couldn't get a business account. Then I had to negotiate a deal for per payment costs, business account costs due to relatively low usage and total amounts with the bank. Then there is a couple of special contracts, plus the contract with PayBoxMail, etc etc.

Anyway, we are not yet there, but making progress despite August.

So, unless you have a fair amount of time available and/or you bank with the big boys, depending on the country and its bureaucracy, it can take up to a year to get the whole thing sorted. Not necessarily an incentive to do it, unless you have a significant income from letting!

I advertise as taking Credit Cards and do - via PayPal. When advising on payment methods I offer this as one of my variety of payment choices choice if the guest wants "the added reassurance" and I like it as it gets the booking confirmed and secured quickly and the money in to my account. It suits me particularly when taking US/ Canadian dollar payments as the time taken for a cheque to arrive from North America and then for me to send it back to my U.S. bank can be considerable.

PayPal commission does put some owners off but, to my mind, it saves the cost and hassle of setting up a CC process with a bank for a relatively small number of transactions.
I have the cost built in to my prices as I personally like to offer a 'transparent price' rather than pass the cost on to the guest after agreement is made.

No answer to my question?

And then there is this on going thread about using CC to pay for French tolls....because it is convenient.
viewtopic.php?t=17817

petemcveigh wrote:I advertise as taking Credit Cards and do - via PayPal. When advising on payment methods I offer this as one of my variety of payment choices choice if the guest wants "the added reassurance" and I like it as it gets the booking confirmed and secured quickly and the money in to my account. It suits me particularly when taking US/ Canadian dollar payments as the time taken for a cheque to arrive from North America and then for me to send it back to my U.S. bank can be considerable.

PayPal commission does put some owners off but, to my mind, it saves the cost and hassle of setting up a CC process with a bank for a relatively small number of transactions.
.

If you read the link to the website, you will see that moneysavers are discouraged to use Paypal because it offers no insurance against non tangible goods like holiday rentals.
So not only is it expensive for owners, it isn't great for customers either with regard to payment protection.