Occupancy Rates

[fibi]

Thought some of you maybe interested in the latest Scottish tourism occupancy rates

The TNS report for 2006 came in recently. It shows the following overall occupancies for the year:

Not graded - 55%
1 Star - 49%
2 Star - 46%
3 Star - 56%
4 Star - 57%
5 Star - 70%

I'm feeling very pleased with my 97% occupancy for 4 star properties how you the rest of you guys compare?

[Christine Kenyon]

We're not graded (!) and so far we've achieved at least 80% occupancy rates in both of our properties for 2006/2007 .

That probably sounds very smug. It's not meant to. I just think that customer service counts for a lot more than any grading scheme. We bought a holiday cottage which had been graded as a 4 star cottage. Yes, it ticked all the boxes - microwave, dishwasher, private parking, garden, etc - but the beds weren't fit to sleep in and it needed a good lick of paint. None of the grading schemes seem to allow for customer care and the general "ambience" of a holiday cottage. (And I accept that not everyone's taste is home decor is the same .... but!).

I suspect that the Tourist Boards don't have much contact with holiday cottage owners who aren't graded as this generally means that they are not members of the Tourist Board.

[fibi]

I probably DID sound smug - didn't mean to - sorry!- its just that I still get excited about every booking - I know its sad but I have confessed now! 3 for 2008 and I'm super excited about those!

Anyway for the UK the whole grading - not to be graded issue is huge...
we do because we want to give the money grabbing tourist board £300 - yeah right! - and because....well it gives my hubbie a deadline for painting, and tidying things up a tad,and I have quoted the "tourist board won't like ...x, y and z" to various builders, plumbers, husbands(well only one husband) to good effect.

As for customers well, I think I can say for 60% it does not matter one jot...but the other 40%-well maybe the rating does give them more confidence to book online which if we think about it is a huge leap of faith with one or two very precious and very important weeks of your life - HOLIDAYS!!

[fibi]

Oh forgot to say (and not that I am plugging grading at all) that Tourist Board assessors now do test beds and bedding and pillows and pillow protectors and matress protectors and duvets and sheets and decor and pots and pans and cultery and walls(simply painted walls no longer suffice) and parking spaces....etc etc It is really very tough now to get a 4 star rating and as for 5 stars forget it.

In their defence cleaniness is now at top of the list, I had one mate changed from 4 star to 2 star because there was a cobweb when the inspector came to call - the spider had moved out because it wasn't 4 star any more!

[Christine Kenyon]

Hi Fibi. I didn't mean that you sounded smug. I meant that I did! Must be clearer in my responses in future!

Well done on your star ratings. I do appreciate that it takes a lot of work to achieve it. It's just not a road that we've gone down (although I must admit to having a sneaky look at the criteria for various star ratings!) and we've found that we haven't needed to. In six years, one person has asked about our grading .... and he worked for one of the English Tourist Boards.

Hope you have an excellent season.

[Tuzi]

So on the whole, would you say it's probably not going to be worth it for us to go for grading??

To be honest, we were just gonna try and give it a go without first and maybe look into it later. I'm all excited now about the prospect of not having to bother!

[debk]

I'm always curious. How does one define these occupancy rates? For instance:

5 Star - 70%

I would define 70% occupancy as 256 nights booked annually. (70% of 365 days in a year = 255.5)

Would anyone disagree or compute differently? If so, how? Thanks,
debk

[Christine Kenyon]

Hello Tuzi. "To grade or not to grade" is a personal decision and one factor will be your local market and whether or not everyone else is graded. We haven't felt the need to get grading; we just aim to provide good quality accommodation which is a home from home with the bits and bobs we would look for at a reasonable price. The best bit of help we get is from our guests who give us a feedback - which we look at seriously and act on accordingly.

Hello Debk .... I reckon I was in the same maths class as you. Only mine was in the days before the calculator!

[Sue Dyer]

When we set out we thought we'd give it a go and get Tourist Board rating if we needed too. Luckily, so far, we've not needed to.

What do you mean by simply painted walls aren't okay?

I've only had 1 person in over 5 years ask if we were TIC rated and when I explained we felt we didn't need to and our repeat bookings, advance bookings spoke for themselves they booked anyway.

[fibi]

Sue, walls simply painted white are not OK - there has to be some "high quality pictures" or wallpaper or stencils. My hand painted and framed Scottish pictures were not deemed to be of good enough quality and I was asked to replace them to retain my 4 stars.
Debk- your maths is spot on- this is exactly how it is worked out.

I think going for the "stars" is a personal decision, if you think you can get the guests and occupancy without them then why bother ? To be honest from what I have seen of LMHs properties there is not much the Tourist Boards could teach them - all websites that I have seen have been wonderful

For me having an outsider say my properties meet a very high standard is worth it - makes me feel better about charging people money!

[gh]

.........For me having an outsider say my properties meet a very high standard is worth it - makes me feel better about charging people money!

Good for you fibi, you have a property in one of the most beautiful and central touristic areas of Scotland.....no wonder you have such a high occupancy rate.

We're kindred folk and always book early, log cabin, to be sure of our booking where the secenery is so beautiful in the winter.

Helen

[Guest3]

My hand painted and framed Scottish pictures were not deemed to be of good enough quality and I was asked to replace them to retain my 4 stars

Seems a bit "nit picky" if they are going to comment on the quality and taste of framed pictures just so that you could retain your 4 stars! Framed pictures/paintings are nice and make a house 'a home'....but I really doubt if our guests even look at the framed pictures on our walls!

[debk]

Debk- your maths is spot on- this is exactly how it is worked out.

i was afraid of that.



do you really mean you only have 11 nights a year without guests????? (97% occupancy)

not to be too personal... and i hope you don't mind... but if i'm understanding correctly (i.e., guests 354 nights a year) then this begs the question: WHY?

seriously, i really would like to know: have you considered raising your rates... thereby reducing your occupancy and wear-and-tear... while increasing your net income at the same time? (that's what we did when we hit 60+% occupancy. worked a dream. lower expenses, higher profits.)

occupany is a fine measurement, though it often seems over-used in this industry. (just my opinion, of course, don't wish to offend anyone, as i know tracking occupancy is a hot topic around here!)

but what we manage to is profitability. and profitability does not have a one-to-one correlation to occupancy.

anyone else have thoughts on this? anyone else tracking profitability rather than occupancy?

debk, who is utterly and totally exhausted just thinking about that 97%

[Tuzi]

Hi Debk,
I'd love to be able to mainly track the profitability side but with just one property, occupancy is paramount. For the property to pay for itself is all we're striving for at the mo.

That's basically what we're thinking Christine, a home from home, is what we're offering. Hopefully a good clean homely home with lots of little touches will hopefully keep them coming back and telling their friends too. There are many activities available in the area and I think not too many rental options so we're definately gonna go without the Tourist Board to begin with and see how it goes. Besides...I don't fancy re decorating just to keep Mr Touristy Board happy! - can't believe the painted wall business?!

[Guest3]

Deb said

anyone else have thoughts on this? anyone else tracking profitability rather than occupancy?

debk, who is utterly and totally exhausted just thinking about that 97%

Don't ask me Deb my brain is exhausted trying to work out the math equation in the star rated system (never was good at it at school! ). All I know is we're not 5 stars..but then again we've not done too badly either!