preparing for business from 2021

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.
Tealight
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon May 28, 2018 11:13 am
Location: Southern England

preparing for business from 2021

Post by Tealight »

Hi all, I've been following the forum for a while and, with some trepidation, am making preparations to let a (non-coastal) cottage in the south of England from the start of next year, having had friends and family use it for the past couple of years (and many happy stays there myself) since I inherited and renovated it.

I looked into using AirBNB for bookings but wanted something a bit more substantial/personal and more secure.

I had a meeting with a rep from the local Sykes agency a year ago and was set to get going with them this year, but the recent bad press over Covid cancellations etc has somewhat put me off.

Being outside of the catchment area of management agencies, I would always have had to manage/maintain it myself with the (paid) help of a neighbour who does cleaning and another neighbour who is a gardener. I have a local plumber, heating engineer and electrician all nearby so thought this would be workable.

However, I had not considered handling bookings myself, chasing deposits and so on, but am now considering this as well, to cut out the middle man if there are problems.

How time consuming is the bookings side of things? How much energy does it sap, and are people generally okay or awful and unreliable?

What is the best way to advertise if I do it this way - there seem to be several options and sites with different methods of charging. Are there any to stay well away from? I would be happy to have my own website/facebook page set up and running in tandem.

Also, I would intend, for the first year at least, to only do lettings in weekly blocks, for ease of management and cleaning. Is that sensible for a beginner?

Many thanks in advance for any advice/tips!
zebedee
Posts: 1270
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2014 2:57 pm
Location: yorkshire dales

Post by zebedee »

Once you get set up your template letters, terms and conditions etc the booking side of things is quite manageable. The website you can add to over time.

You don’t often need to chase up payments if you state clearly on your correspondence the date the payment is due. I don’t send reminders and make this clear. I usually only get 1 or 2 people a year who forget to pay on time.
I put a reminder in my iPhone about when payments are due. People who have more than one property use management systems but for 1 cottage you can do it yourself and save the money.
The most important thing is have your balance payment no closer to the holiday than 8 weeks before and take a decent sized deposit. That way you do have time to make contact and get your payment or if they are cancelling, you have time to re let the property.

If it’s last minute booking, don’t change your availability until the money is paid. Tell the guests this so there is no misunderstanding.

Where do people look when they want to stay near you? Do a google search, look for local tourist groups and your nearest tourist information office to find low cost advertising without commission.

Ask for help on this forum- you will get lots. Oh, and do t go near any company owned by Sykes, they may go out of business if you believe what is on the Facebook groups of unhappy owners and guests.
Sunbeam
Posts: 198
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2015 5:24 pm
Location: Spain

Post by Sunbeam »

If you are a fairly methodical person you should have no problem managing bookings yourself and this will save you a lot of money and give you complete control. I think it's been a shock to a lot of us that middle-people are making decisions about how to handle the current covid-19 crisis.

You will definitely need a website - doesn't have to be overly complicated - but professional quality photos a must. There are some online options for website design for non-techies or get one done for you.

Sawdays have been good for us as - and they don't handle the payments - you do - but depends on your cottage/market. The annual fee can be high but with enough bookings more than covers what other middle-people would charge.

Good luck!
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Cymraes
Posts: 519
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2015 3:31 pm
Location: North Wales

Post by Cymraes »

If you go with Promote My Place you get a website and basic booking software thrown in for around £69 a year in hosting fees. (pm me if you want an introductory code).

Once you have template letters set up you can get reminders that money is due etc sent to you which makes it really easy to keep a track of bookings, what's paid and what's due, If you want to get fancy you can also set it up to take credit cards and even instant n line bookings.

For the price it's amazing value for money and the tech support team are excellent and responsive if you have any issues. The website is template based so you don't need any IT skill yourself and it's really easy to make changes as and when
costa-brava
Posts: 689
Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2010 11:57 am
Location: costa brava spain
Contact:

Post by costa-brava »

Although we're on the Costa Brava in Spain we also had a house in Scotland which we let out in summer. We had a lady cleaning and preparing who was a gem. Her husband died and the next person was not so dependable but always got good reviews in the cleaning department.
The guests were a mixed bag but on the whole it went OK. We had a couple of sticky moments when the guests decided to stay a couple more days while the new guests were about to arrive. Across the board it paid for the costs of having a bolt-hole back home but it never made a fortune.
With things as they are I'd say hold off to see how things go. Don't get involved in a website unless you enjoy doing that sort of thing. Bookings come from the big boys whether you like it or not so your own site is just a bit of an ego trip. I know that many LM-hatters will disagree but they have nice sites.
On the other hand you could just sell it and enjoy the extra bucks.
Tealight
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon May 28, 2018 11:13 am
Location: Southern England

Post by Tealight »

Thanks Cymraes, I've had a look at Promote My Place and it does look simple enough that even I could work with it. I'm minded to give it a try myself and then if it's too much work, hand it to an agency.

costa-brava Cleaning will definitely be a concern. I guess we're all going to need to make sure it is done that much more thoroughly now, and enough time between changeovers to make sure it does get done. Assuming of course the whole industry doesn't go into a black hole and we are locked in our own homes into next year...
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