Advice please for marketing a cottage in England

[Normandy Cow]

A friend of mine has a lovely oast house in her garden (doesn't everybody?! ). When they bought their property (a large farm) 4 years ago the oast had previously been let as a holiday cottage through English Country Cottages, but for various reasons they didn't carry on letting it out.

They are now thinking of letting it. It is gorgeous, really picturesque with lovely views. It has two/three bedrooms and two luxury bathrooms, one of which is in the circular oast tower. I think it would let out really easily.

We were talking about my experiences of letting, and I was telling her that she would probably get much better returns if she was to do it herself rather than through an agency. But then, I don't really know the market for rental properties in the UK - is this a correct assumption for a house in East Sussex?

Anyway, as the conversation wore on, it became apparent that she doesn't really have the time or inclination to spend the time marketing the property and dealing with the ongong paperwork in the same way that I would, so an agency would probably be better for her...

...then I got to thinking. If an agency charges 25% or more (or do they?), then why don't I offer to market her house and handle the bookings for her, for just 10%? I could market the property through Holiday Rentals or similar.

But, as I said earlier, I don't know the UK market. Can anyone give me any advice about whether I could get good bookings just by using holiday-rentals? I know I can in France. Also, I am sure that her property, which is pretty up-market, would appeal to visitors from the US. Am I right in thinking that VRBO would be a good bet for a picture-postcard oasthouse cottage in East Sussex? Joanna - I think you may be able to advise me here!

Anyway, any advice gratefully accepted! (Particularly if anyone has any experience of the "English Country Cottages" agency).

[vrooje]

I'm really not sure about the answer to your question of H-R being enough...

...but. Our rental in France actually belongs to my parents. I don't own even one bathroom tile, but I manage it for them because I love it and I want them to love it so that it will be in our family for generations. At their request, I charge them 10%.

But, if they weren't family and if I didn't have an emotional stake in the house, I would never do it for 10%. It takes up a lot of my time!

Just my own experience...

[Normandy Cow]

Thanks for the advice Brooke. To be honest, at the moment I don't know whether it will be me or her handling the bookings, but I do want to help her get started. She has had some short-term tenants in for a month and they are moving out tomorrow, then she has let it out for a month in September to some other friends.

But I would like to help her get some bookings for August...

I'm definitely going to get her to use Holiday-Rentals, but need one other at least. Don't know the market for English rentals, am considering one of these:

• internet-cottages.com
  cottageguide.co.uk
  holidaylettings.co.uk
  holidaylets.net

So, HELP please, anyone with experience of marketing a property in England????!!!

(Also, still thinking about VRBO. It looks such a naff site, and there don't seem to be any properties in Sussex - is it true that it is much used by visitors from the US????)

[Sue Dyer]

HI Catherine
I use both internet cottages and the cottage guide, probably have more enquiries from the latter but both work for me. I guess it is down to the property too as I tend to book out for the whole season but 2 other properties on the street don't do half as well. Mind, with a picturesque oast house you should be okay!

I just use the 2 listing site but find my own website invaluable for covering all of the extra info and putting plenty of photos on. After our winter renovations I've tried to go for the luxury end of the market and it seems to be working. I've done the kitchen with lots of that Typhoon enamel kitchenware and the log fire is quite a draw, even for the summer as it is a great focal point.

Play up the luxury end. I get a lot of return bookings as I supply loo rolls, kitchen roll, tissues in the lounge and by the bed, tea bags, coffee, condiments, foam bath. I try to make it the kind of place I'd love to spend a week on holiday.

Dave and I do everything ourselves. I do the website and email enquiries. He does the spreadsheet and sends out keys. I'm the washer and ironer and we do the change over together. I'm not sure what % would be suitable. Please p.m me if I can offer any further advice. Sue

[dmjarvis]

I run a successful Adwords campaign for my cottage, and also for other clients. I would recommend this for anyone who is in a similar position, and would be more than happy to discuss running a campaign for this property (perhaps taking a percentage of bookings made rather than an up front cost, if preferred). It can be cost-effective, highly targetted, and can be switched off (or modified) if it is not performing.
This does, of course, mean they need to have at least 1 web page to which visitors can be directed.

[Normandy Cow]

Thanks for the advice. I've never used Adwords although I have seen them discussed on this forum on a number of occasions.

My only worry, is that when I am using google to search for stuff myself, I very rarely ever notice the sites listed on the right of the screen (the Adwords?), so wonder whether other people do?

Can you tell when people have clicked on an adword to reach your listing site, and thereby gauge the success of the campaign?

[dmjarvis]

My only worry, is that when I am using google to search for stuff myself, I very rarely ever notice the sites listed on the right of the screen (the Adwords?), so wonder whether other people do?

Yes, other people do see, and click on, these adverts. Some people I speak to say that they never click on these ads, and others say that they see them as more credible than the organic results and so treat them as more important. Anyway, you only pay when someone clicks through anyway. As an indication, I run a campaign for a client who advertises many (hundreds) of properties for sale and rent, and he gets 6,000+ clicks per month from people who see his ads. Obviously his budget is somewhat higher than someone with just 1 or 2 properties, but it maybe answers the question about whether people actually click on the links.

Can you tell when people have clicked on an adword to reach your listing site, and thereby gauge the success of the campaign?

Yes. You can check your Google account (or the person managing your campaign can do it for you), which will show a breakdown by Keyword and Advert, so you can see what's working and what's not. I run a q&a blog on the subject of adwords at http://dmjadwords.blogspot.com for anyone who is interested.

[Normandy Cow]

Thanks for the advice Martin, I will have a good read through your blog tonight. Food for thought...

Back to my original dilemma, I am now in a bit of a quandary! I had it in my head that I was going to definitely recommend holiday-rentals plus one other. But now I'm not so sure, as the two cottage-specific websites (www.internet-cottages.com and www.cottageguide.co.uk) also look good! I think the latter seems to be a better site, but the former has a section "cottages with horse-riding", and as my friend has a number of empty stables she is able to offer stabling as an extra USP...

So, should I forget H-R and go with the other two? Is H-R any good for UK rentals???


Help!!!

[Sue Dyer]

Hi Catherine. As I mentioned I get all of my bookings from internet cottages and the cottage guide. I run my own website so my only advertising costs are those 2 sites - I think they are around £75 each, £150 per year isn't a bad deal!!

A lot of folk seem to hit my webpage using the phrase "dog friendly" so try that and some horsey phrase in your keywords. Good luck!

[Hells Bells]

Despite being a French ski property, my apartment is on Internet cottages, as they added my site for free-I use the same online booking system, and it was a special offer for Holiday bookings customers. I get lots of hits from it, but it is actually hard to judge how many bookings as they click straight through to my calendar. The booking system is a useful admin tool though.