Good Local Agency for North Devon

Up, down, could be better? How to get more bookings is our number one obsession. Talk shop here.
Rich44
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2016 11:12 am

Good Local Agency for North Devon

Post by Rich44 »

Hi all

I am a pre-newbie, in as much as I wont be buying a cottage to rent out until April/May 2017 but having dreamed about a holiday rental for a few years now, I will soon be able to actually do it.

This forum has been invaluable and I having spent many hours reading literally hundreds of posts, I have learned an awful lot and had a lot of guesswork taken away, However the one thing I cant make up my mind about is which agency to go with.

I intend to move to North Devon and buy a house to live in and a 2-3 bedroom house in the same village to rent out as a holiday let. Not many properties in the village, so bedroom numbers will depend on what is available when the time comes. We will be handling the change overs ourselves.

I initially thought going with Sykes would be a good idea due to their presence online and apparently high occupancy rates but have since seen the wisdom of suggestions of higher rates and lower occupancy equaling better profits with lower overheads and wear and tear, though I do like their flexibility on taking my own bookings if I wanted to.

In year one (at least, probably longer if it is a good experience) I want to use an agent as moving to North Devon, whilst buying 2 properties and running my own business as well, I think trying to set up a website and deal with taking bookings and processing payments etc may be a bit too much to cope with until I have found my feet and I like the idea of the security/support of working alongside an agency.

So, that is a very long winded way of asking if anyone knows of a good, local, ideally independent or smallish agency for the North Devon Area please?

I have seen lots of negatives about Sykes on the forum and I am guessing that there are plenty of people with positive experiences of them as well, so if you are very pro Sykes, feel free to tell me. Interestingly Ladyagas loathing of them doesnt appear to have stopped her from still being signed up to them almost 2 years after asking how to leave the contract with them, so am guessing there must be a reason and dont want to rule them out without good reason but Charles Cawley has been so impressive with his contributions and, like me, runs an independent agency (mine is not in property) so I know the merits of using smaller businesses - if they are good smaller businesses.

I want to have as much planned in advance as possible so that when I actually buy the cottage, I already know what I am going to do.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, I look forward to hearing from you.

Rich
Looking to move to Devon in early 2017 and doing some homework on the holiday letting market for when I buy one.
Joanna
Posts: 1091
Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:12 pm
Location: Chester, North West England & Sidmouth, East Devon
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Post by Joanna »

Welcome to Lay My Hat 😀
Sorry I can't help you with a recommendation (our Devon cottage is on the South Coast). I can only suggest Googling 'North Devon Holiday Cottage' and see who comes up. Add in a few specific place names and after a while you'll start to see which agencies are most popular. Look through the kind of properties they list and the prices and you'll start to get a feel for which ones might be a good fit for you. I'd be inclined to favour a local agency over a national one but only if there is a good one (which there might not be).
Jo

Joint owner of Baker's Cottage in Chester & Chandler's Cottage in Sidmouth
Rich44
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2016 11:12 am

Thanks Joanna

Post by Rich44 »

I had already looked on google and only found one, which didnt look (from the website at least) very promising. There are several for Cornwall and southern Devon, so will try the key words you suggest. Most of the results seemed to be National agencies with others on page 2, which makes me wonder if people will scroll down to page 2 if there are lots of others that can fulfill their needs on page one.
Looking to move to Devon in early 2017 and doing some homework on the holiday letting market for when I buy one.
Annew
Posts: 925
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2009 10:02 am
Location: Devon

Post by Annew »

There's not much in the way of agencies specialising in North Devon. I have a pal who uses Sykes in the South Molton area, but they are really not delivering much this year.

You could contact Rick Bond (who dips in here from time to time) and his company My Holiday Marketing, who are based in North Devon and might be able to give you some advice and might be able to help market your cottage too.

I have a business in mid-devon but interests in north devon too, so PM me if you'd like to chat at all.
If you want to find me, Google The Barton Poughill!
Rich44
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2016 11:12 am

Post by Rich44 »

Thanks AnneW - have PM you.
Looking to move to Devon in early 2017 and doing some homework on the holiday letting market for when I buy one.
Gettingthere
Posts: 236
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:33 am
Location: Devon
Contact:

Post by Gettingthere »

The big hitters are Helpful Holidays and Classic Cottages, but they charge a hefty fee. For us the issue was also that they restrict the amount of peak time you are "allowed" to use your own property. But as this would be your second property in the area I guess not such a problem.

If you are going to be living locally anyway, I would seriously consider not using the agencies. They really only help with the bookings while all the other management is still down to you - cleaning, laundry, gardening, maintenance, greeting guests etc. I also like to speak to the potential guest myself wherever possible.

I suggest using OwnersDirect or TripAdvisor and field your own enquiries. Meanwhile find some local people who you can employ for cleaning, bed-changing, laundry etc. It takes a little while, but they are out there.
Rich44
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2016 11:12 am

Post by Rich44 »

Thanks Newtoit.
I will look into those 2 agencies as well. I think I will eventually go down the managing it myself route but initially prefer the support I think I would get from an agency and also the extra exposure and SEO help, as I will be running my own stand alone business as well, so my time is also a factor, certainly initially until I can gauge how much actual work is involved and can get to know local clearners etc.
Looking to move to Devon in early 2017 and doing some homework on the holiday letting market for when I buy one.
ClareyD
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Aug 09, 2014 6:10 am
Location: Widemouth, Bude

Post by ClareyD »

Hi Rich

We're North Cornwall and, after a somewhat tempestuous year with a local agent, we have now signed up with Holiday Cottages. They're possibly a bigger company than you were looking to use, but they are based in Bideford so are local to the South West coast. So far we've been happy with how things have progressed, but it is early days. Our neighbour uses Helpful Holidays in Chagford. She's happy with them, but their commission seems pretty high in comparison.

Hope that helps!
davelee
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed May 27, 2015 11:15 am
Location: Bude, Cornwall
Contact:

Post by davelee »

ClareyD wrote:Hi Rich

We're North Cornwall and, after a somewhat tempestuous year with a local agent, we have now signed up with Holiday Cottages. !
Hi Clarey, we spoke previously about the local agent in North Cornwall - I'm guessing you have ditched them? Their website still looks poor, which is a shame as they seem to be nice people!
Holiday Cottages certainly come across in a very professional way, but agent fees are significant. Did you manage to do a deal at all?
ClareyD
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Aug 09, 2014 6:10 am
Location: Widemouth, Bude

Post by ClareyD »

Hi Dave

Yes we did. We parted on amicable terms because, as you say, they're lovely people, but they just seemed overwhelmed in what is now a highly competitive market. They never got to grips with their website (and clearly still haven't!), and they were having horrendous problems with the people they were using for changeovers. We just felt we needed a more heavyweight agency.

Holiday Cottages offer a reduced commission for the first year of bookings. They're also getting a higher rent for us (by over £100 in the peak summer months) and seem to be getting more bookings, so in a way it's swings and roundabouts. Plus I can always get hold of someone there when I need to (which I couldn't with the other agency as they were so small), and their website is excellent. Obviously it's early days so we haven't experienced what they're like if guests have a problem or anything like that, but so far so good!

Are their fees much higher than other agencies? I thought they seemed about the same as for Sykes, etc. And they were certainly cheaper than Helpful Holidays.

C
Sandra J
Posts: 66
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 3:54 pm
Location: North Yorkshire

Post by Sandra J »

We are in Yorkshire. Holiday Cottages didn't work well for us and are scheduled to leave them in this summer. Luckily we had an open contract with unlimited owner bookings and our property has performed well on the booking we have got ourselves. My advice is to do the best deal you can with them and get as many owner weeks you can. Having just left Cottages4you before I joined them I would not sign up to another agency who called all the shots. Staff are friendly but if you have problems with guests they don't want to know. We made the decision to leave after a third year of poor booking levels and a new area manager who couldn't be bothered. One visit in three years is poor, especially when they advertise that all properties are inspected annually. We didn't take any bookings from them Nov-Mar as low season prices were very low. Devon is their core area so may perform well in that region. Definitely worth negotiating on terms and not just take what they offer. Being a smaller company that is privately owned they are able to do deals.
nuneatonmark
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2012 3:25 pm
Location: newquay

Post by nuneatonmark »

We use www.selfcatercornwall.co.uk for our place in Newquay. Fees are ok and they have done ok for us. Large enough to turn up on search engines nice and high up but still approachable people with a personal touch
Nuneaton Mark
PeteW
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2016 10:25 am
Location: South Devon

Post by PeteW »

Hi Rich
We are on the South Devon coast twixt Salcombe & Dartmouth.
After over 20 years booking out our place (www.tanpitscottage.uk) with Helpful Holidays we have this year decided to go our own way. We put a website together with Promote my Place, have a business facebook page & have discovered dog friendly accommodation! Our bookings have more than doubled this year & we have 11 weeks booked in 2017 already. In 2014 Helpful Holidays managed to get us 15 weeks! Trouble is they have over 700 properties & take 25% of the rental.
If you have the time & energy, go your own way, it's so much more rewarding & satisfying. There is a place for agencies, but I would never go back to using one....personally I think their business model is outdated now!
If you live in the past or future, you wont have time for the present!
Rich44
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2016 11:12 am

Thanks again

Post by Rich44 »

Sorry for slow replies, I thought the wesbite emailed me when someone had posted on the topic but it seems not.

Thanks ClareyD - I will look into Holiday cottages further when the time comes as I like their website, however, as per PeteW's comments, I now find myself seriously considering the possibility of doing it myself, though am concerned about the first years booking levels if I am starting a website from scratch, as I believe it takes a while to get the website recognised by the search engines, which has given me an idea to put a post on about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
PS - PeteW - I love your website, the layout and content. Well done.
Looking to move to Devon in early 2017 and doing some homework on the holiday letting market for when I buy one.
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J&J
Posts: 922
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:54 pm
Location: Bretagne, France

Post by J&J »

As holiday guests, we often use Helpful Holidays because they have a good selection of properties and their website is easy and pleasant to navigate, especially the way they show the pictures of the houses. The downside is the £100 security deposit, and as we are holidaying for 3 consecutive weeks in 3 different places this year that's a lot of money.
If anyone is in East Devon we find Sweetcombe Cottages excellent. Their standards are very high, no silly security deposit and so helpful when we ask questions.
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Judith & James
Apartment in Dinard, Brittany.
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