Advice on marketing platforms

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.
BenG
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Advice on marketing platforms

Post by BenG »

Hi there everyone

We're new to the holiday let business and are in the process of converting an old stable block on our property to 3 holiday let units (mostly suited to couples, or 2 + child). I've been greatly impressed by the amount of support offered by more experienced hosts on such a wide variety of topics (guests charging their EVs on the sly I would never have thought of!) and so here is my starter for ten that I hope people can respond to.

As we are new to the game we are a bit unsure about dealing with everything ourselves to begin with, so have had a preliminary chat with cottages.com who offered what seems the standard 20% commission and occupancy rate push with their 'dynamic pricing' model. While I'm not overly keen on this, they would give us that initial boost into the market while we were finding our feet. So what I was thinking was, what if we gave cottages.com one unit exclusively, did another with AirBnB, and did the third one by ourselves (own website, etc). This way we could compare the pros and cons of each option in the first year (as well as the revenue earned and occupancy rates) and decide the way forward for future years.

And so to my question ;-) : does this sound sensible or just over-complicating things?

Many thanks in advance
Ben
Not a high-flyer, more a high-faller with style
LotBoy47
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Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2019 12:40 pm
Location: SW France

Post by LotBoy47 »

Our experience with B.com and AirBnB is that dynamic pricing doesn’t take the facilities that your accommodation offers and just tries to match room prices.

We get “other hosts in your area are charging way, way less than you - use our dynamic pricing..” messages all the time which are totally ignored as they think a room in an apartment in the big local town should be the same nightly price as a fully equipped house in the countryside.

Read all the small print on the “early bird” discount schemes that offer “increased visibility” on their platforms as they can cost you a significant slice of income compared to direct bookings.
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Cymraes
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Location: North Wales

Post by Cymraes »

It's a lot easier to sign up with someone like cottages.com than it is to escape, Look very very closely at the terms to end the contract. You could find yourself tied in for much longer than it would appear at first glance.

One thing to be aware of is that all these marketing companies live off YOUR profit, financial risk and hard work. They'll make money regardless - you may not. They control everything - how the money is collected, who they let to and their policies will over-ride yours to their benefit and your detriment.

The worst mistake I made as a novice owner was to sign up with Sykes. I gave notice almost immediately but it still took 13 months to get free. They also kept advertising my property as a bait and switch to draw people to their site.

Now my primary motivation is I want control. I advertise on Independent cottages for a set fee, use facebook groups and my own website. If I have an awkward gap I use booking. com but on the basis that I collect the rental income myself rather than letting them do it.

I've ditched TripAdvisor as at one point they were holding £10K of my money. Had they failed I doubt I'd have seen a penny of it. AirBnB also delay payout until the guest checks in - horrible for your cash flow if you prove popular and people book months in advance.

It was a leap of faith deciding to be totally independent but I don't regret it for a second. I reasoned that I could always sign up later for an agent if I wasn't getting the bookings!
zebedee
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Post by zebedee »

Good advice above.

Do not sign up with any agency that does not allow unlimited owner bookings.

You will need websites for each property, or one linked site. Some people may want to book more than one of your properties if they are Holidaying with friends and family so they will need to see availability and prices for all three. This is a good advantage for you over your idea of separating out the properties.

You can start with a Promote my Place website which can be easy to set up, then add pages or go for a more complex website when you have more experience in the holiday industry and you know what your guests want.

It is much easier to manage your own bookings than you would think, you can set up template letters etc and people on this forum will share information with you to help you.

Remember, the 20% commission charged by the agency is also subject to vat so the amount they take is far more that you realise (been there, bought the T shirt).

Independent cottages is very good. Set up a Facebook page. Contact your local tourism groups. Ask yourself, if you were looking to stay in your area, where would you look for properties that you can book without paying commission?

I can’t comment on ABnB or any other big booking site as I’ve never used them, it is worth getting Visit England grading in my opinion. It works for me because it makes my property stand out against my local competitors and gives guests the assurance of independent inspections of your property and a benchmark of facilities provided. This latter suggestion will likely be disagreed with by others on the forum, but it’s there for you to consider if it could be good for you.
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

zebedee wrote: ...it is worth getting Visit England grading in my opinion. It works for me because it makes my property stand out against my local competitors and gives guests the assurance of independent inspections of your property and a benchmark of facilities provided. This latter suggestion will likely be disagreed with by others on the forum, but it’s there for you to consider if it could be good for you.
I agree that a VE (or whichever part of the UK you’re in) grading can help set you apart, and also provides a high degree of confidence that the property and owner are genuine and meeting the necessary safety standards. A VE grading won’t get you bookings directly.

As zebedee says, there is divided opinion on the value, and merit, of an official grading and that’s a topic in itself; however, when starting out, a VB inspector can be very helpful with suggestions - their job is to help - and well worth the initial outlay, at least for the first 2 or 3 years of getting to know the business.

I agree with the very good, experienced based advice above re agencies. Some (most of the big ones?) are best avoided; they operate by keeping their hands firmly in your pockets and have been known to squeeze hard enough to bring tears to your eyes.

One more thought - how will an agency, or indeed a listing site, react to the suggestion that they only manage one of the three lets on you site? Probably not very favourably.
BenG
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Advice on marketing platforms

Post by BenG »

Thanks all
TBH that's fair advice. As we are on site and have time to devote to the management side of things, we should reverse the logic of our thinking. In other words, do it ourselves for the first year and see how that works, and add more help with marketing if we need it. That way we are in complete control of everything.
And it will be a more interesting journey to be sure!
Not a high-flyer, more a high-faller with style
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

For 3 cottages, I would definitely choose a booking system with a channel manager to keep your adverts, prices and calendar on other sites like Airbnb, TripAdvisor up to date. The best ones allow you to increase your rates to cover the commission the sites levy, so that effectively if they give you a booking, it costs you nothing. They also have very good rate setters, so that you can for example have different prices dependant on what day guests arrive/depart, or the season or whatever and send all the emails automatically. Owner Reservations and Beds24 seem to be the best.
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