Visit Scotland Quality Assurance Scheme

[Jemima Copping]

This is really a question for people who have holiday lets in Scotland.
I have just finished my first year of trading, which resulted in our Cottage being rented from mid-March through to the end of October with only 2 weeks un-booked, plus Christmas and New Year of 2014. Also several weeks booked for next year.
I have my own website which is attached to CG, Isle of Skye.com and Walk Highlands. I have also advertised on Airbnb which I am going to come off. I have had one complaint about potholes on our shared access road and about the radio not working, otherwise everyone who has stayed have left either great reviews online or similar comments in the visitors book.
I now have a free listing on Visit Scotland, but am considering applying for their Quality Assurance scheme. My question is, do you think it will be worth my while to try for the certification or a waste of money?

[edinburgh]

I don't have their scheme, and I don't know anyone who does (of people I know in the Edinburgh/Fife areas).

My gut feeling is that if you're booked without these, then don't bother. The days of the tourist board are passed, and most people care about visitor reviews rather than AA/Visit Whatever/similar ratings these days.

[charles cawley]

Sadly, in general, I tend to agree with Edinburgh about such schemes.

Feedback is now as important as decent pictures, if not more so. We have found that for new cottages a system of ratcheting up rents as feedback comes in is practical and sensible; that is how much things have changed and how important Feedback has become.

In addition where, 15 years back, a picture or two was about all you might get, we are now at the stage where, if a room does not feature, people suspect it is substandard.

Tourist boards are behind the times, clinging to a system designed for a pre-Internet age.

[sallyandalan]

Hi,

We used to be in the Visit Scotland QA scheme, and used it for the first few years. It was useful to start with, I think, when we didn't have any reputation or reviews, and they also gave us some good advice when starting from scratch. We then left, and I didn't notice any effect on bookings or any other downside.

However, at that time you couldn't get a listing on VisitScotland without it, I'll have to take another look at that to see how to get a free listing.

[newtimber]

Sadly, in general, I tend to agree with Edinburgh about such schemes.

Feedback is now as important as decent pictures, if not more so. We have found that for new cottages a system of ratcheting up rents as feedback comes in is practical and sensible; that is how much things have changed and how important Feedback has become.

The trouble is that guests are becoming more reluctant to provide feedback when you have to create accounts and then get loads of spam sent in return - and of course whenever you change advertiser, you have to start getting reviews all over again.

If only reviews were portable between sites...

Of course, some sites won't accept advertisers who aren't inspected so it depends on where you want to advertise.

[nuneatonmark]

I have to disagree as both a consumer and a holiday rental owner. Reviews and quality marks are fundamentally different things. As a consumer I would look at both reviews and quality marks. Reviews are very subjective and often difficult to get enough credible reviews to form a complete view. Independent quality marks such as visit England give me confidence as a consumer that minimum standards would be met. it would take a lot of positive reviews for me to take a 3 star over a 4 star property with far fewer reviews. It's risk mitigation for me. As a holiday rental owner it has been increasingly difficult to get Tripadvisor reviews since they tightened things up a few years ago and no matter how much we 'push' it doesn't result in many more Tripadvisor reviews. I am aware there are other review websites but have no experience of them in relation to our property.

[charles cawley]

Reviews are quite reliable if you find, say, five or more recent ones saying much the same thing. This is the way goodwill and reputation are built and businesses often put a substantial financial value on goodwill when they are sold. Goodwill = money and money, surely, is a large part of what this is all about.

The terms of reference for a star rating are often quite strange. One small thing can stop a place from being four star instead of three star, despite other overwhelming positive factors. The lack of a wingbacked armchair is one example. Or, too little space to one side of one bed in a sleep 8 holiday let and so on.

People consider quality in a different way with different priorities, depending on whether the let is 'standard', 'formula' or 'special': the star system is out of its depth in this respect. For instance, if a place is 'special' guest attitudes towards wing backed chairs, space beside beds or even en suites will be different to formula or standard lets. A let in a castle might be an example of a 'special'...

The star system is still useful for hotels and bed and breakfasts particularly for passing spot trade. But for those planning weeks or months in advance a plethora of pictures combined with feedback has reduced its use and value radically.

[greenbarn]

The lack of a wingbacked armchair is one example.

?????? We've been VE assessed since we started 7 years ago and a wingbacked chair has never been mentioned. Maybe it was a requirement when Noah was wondering whether there was a business opportunity in renting the Ark as a holiday let when the floods subsided, but that's pretty much where a wingback chair belongs!

Standards move on, and the current one for self catering can be downloaded from here It's worth a scan through, or detailed reading if you have trouble sleeping........

I still feel that the small quantity of reviews an individual privately marketed rental is likely to receive renders them fairly meaningless (along with lots of other reasons) and wide open to abuse, and I suspect people are getting wised up to the real value of reviews. What exactly is to be construed from a five star review of a property that would only achieve a two star official rating compared with a five star rating of a five star property or a five star rating of a two-berth caravan? The rating of reviews is complete nonsense; rating according to a defined common standard is justifiable nonsense.

But it's horses for courses, and the more horses you back the better your chances of winning!

The whole question of measurable standards has been bouncing around my head for some time; one day I'll actually get around to starting a thread dedicated to the topic.
Meanwhile I'm off for another look through Charles' thoughts around "standard", "formula" and "special" - thanks for having your finger on the pulse and sharing your knowledge and experience, I really appreciate it and I know others do.

[Essar]

I agree with GB on this - I have been VE assessed ever since I started eons ago. Bournemouth is a very competative market with over 260 properties listed with HL, this does include Poole (Sandbanks) and Christchurch. There are many very desirable properties to rent with the prices to match, however, there are very few (count on the fingers of one hand) that are VE rated. It has helped to establish my properties; I actually add £50 to the rental a week just for this rating, and make them stand out a little more. For the amount involved for the assessment and the time needed to ensure compliance it is worth it for me.
I never ever get any enquiries from the VE or QIT sites, but that's not the reason to be in the scheme. It helped me to get on to BC quicker as the verification processes had already been done by QIT, similarly, for iKnow & HT.
I have had many guests identify with the rating and confirm they booked mine rather than another without it.

[charles cawley]

The Wingback chair requirement was reported to me by an LMH contributor and one of our cottage owners who had a holiday let in Knighton in 2011. At that time, the Visit Wales was the regional body concerned.

Even if it were not so, some of the requirements, such as the space to the side of beds can have a disproportionate impact. There appears to be little flexibility; you have to tick the boxes.

In an area where local competition offers similar offerings, stars may well offer an edge but the fact that many rivals do not have stars may say something. Indeed, the general use of stars has not increased but, certainly in our area, has reduced. Those who book will have already bought into the stars in many cases, what this does not tell is how many booked elsewhere on the strength of pictures and reviews and took no notice of stars.

Whether reviews are subjective or not, they have made a massive impact. People know that if a review waxes lyrical about a great view and, on arrival, there is no view, this is a simple case of misrepresentation and is, now, a legal offence. Reviews have become as significant, if not more so, than good pictures, so much so that when new holiday lets start we use a rate ratchet system. This feels the way to optimum rentals free of band imprisonment, but also because rental levels rise the more good feedback appears.

This is the way things appear to be changing. Reviews have a major impact on business. One starred holiday let in a crowd of no star lets could well cash in on that part of the market still star struck but that could be diminishing cohort.

[nuneatonmark]

We'll have to agree to agree to disagree on this one Charles and this comes from someone who reviews everything on Tripadvisor and is in the top 10 reviewers in my area! There are large numbers of self-catering properties for which there has been no reviews or not enough to be credible. This may change over time, but for all it's faults the star system works for a lot of us. We know plenty of our renters have specifically mentioned the star rating as a reason for booking. Fewer have mentioned our tripadvisor reviews are all 5 star too! Reviews have many disadvantages as well as many advantages, they are different and complimentary in our opinion.

[edinburgh]

I strongly suspect location, demand, and guest profile have a lot to do with this.

It would not surprise me to learn that middle-class older guests trusted tourist board ratings, whereas under 45 year old guests perhaps trust social media more.

But that's just my gut feeling - and I'm certainly not bothering getting a rating here.

[charles cawley]

" We know plenty of our renters have specifically mentioned the star rating as a reason for booking."

But you do not know of the others who did not book because they were not star struck. The stars are not dead, by any means, but the days when photos hardly existed and feedback was unknown have gone. Too many have been to 5 star places to regret they did not return to a pleasant 4 or even 3 star place they stayed at last time.

Feedback is so important that we ratchet up rents as it grows. It makes places more attractive to book just like the stars used to do, big time, in the old days... and may still do in certain circumstances and most likely across the bnb and hotel markets.

Sometimes, I have conversations with owners about things like brown furniture or an excess of chintz. They report that guests like it and say so. If they have booked they have already bought into the show so, as a cynic may say, they would say that, wouldn't they? The brochure market is still highly influenced by stars because its guests are, by and large, not Internet orientated. The same thing applies to people in cars looking for an hotel or bnb; but, even here, hand held devices are making inroads. But a self-catering cottage posting a star sign on its gate will not get much business, if any, compared to Internet advertising with photos and feedback.

The impossible test would be to ask all those who saw the cottage advertisement and ask those who did not book what they thought. Interestingly that was exactly the approach Honda used in the late 1950s selling motorcycles. The opinions of those who did not buy were vastly more useful than those who did.

[nuneatonmark]

The current concerns over the number of false and 'paid for' reviews may caution people about relying on just reviews to choose their holiday home or anything else for that matter. When looking at reviews, I have a good look at the people who are reviewing them. Amazing or very bad reviews posted by people who have only posted once or twice or seemingly randomly should be discounted. The language used can be a clue too.

[charles cawley]

There are laws about false reviews and any, in our case, agency that is caught out falsifying them would pay very dearly.

However much people say reviews are not hugely important does not change the situation that we can put up rates as good reviews come in. That is how the rate ratchet system works.

We keep careful records of all review messages in case anyone suggests any falsification. Reviews and their key significance are here to stay.