Quite out of the blue I had an enquiry for Christmas 2005. My normal rate is £250 per week but I iincreased the price because...well...its christmas to £325per week. Do you think it is acceptable to increase the price for Christmas. I cant imanage that the resort will be fully booked so maybe the flat rate of £250 would have been more acceptable?
I also wanted to ask about heating in the winter I have read a thread about the cost effectiveness of renting during off peak periods and am still not sure if it is worth while. Does anyone have any idea how much a normal oil filed heater would cost to run if left on all day.(I have three)
The person has come back to me and said he has had a quote for £200 per week. He did accept the apartment was not the same standard as mine but it does pose the question would it be worth renting for £200 when the heater are bound to be on 24/7?
Can´t help you much on the heating costs, but I definitely think you should be charging more for Christmas. Prices of everything go up at Christmas (except maybe for turkey feed! ), so why not holiday rentals?
I charge my on-season rate for Christmas rentals, but I don't charge any more than that. Likewise, I don't charge any more for Easter or school holidays. Other people here do use a sliding scale depending on holidays and such, though.
If I was going to lower my rate below that, I wouldn't include utilities. They can really add up!
But in all honesty, I probably wouldn't lower my price to below my on-season rate.
We're very close now to making the decision to only be peak season rentals because of this very problem.....I had some wonderful people in the house over March on an offer - but our thoughts on this have been shattered when we had one woman upset when she realised we charge for children! (We did a per person rate off season - 500 Euros for the 1st 2 then 100 Euros per person per week). My thoughts are that children also use hot water, use towels and sleep in beds...but for some reason she thought children should be free (are we a bus now?).
So - I think what I am trying to say is that set your prices for Christmas, Easter, Half Terms and peak season - if you are going to do off season then do your discounts.
I still think we should all charge more in the winter - it costs more to heat the place!!
"I still think we should all charge more in the winter - it costs more to heat the place!! "
This is true but I am also discovering how much it costs to run a pool in a rental property( of course, I did already know how much in a private home this costs as we've had our other one for years).I am paying someone to come and look after the pool in the season and what I hadn't anticipated is how many visits per week that can entail! I just assumed once a week,but apparently 2 or 3 visits are needed? This ups the costs considerably!
I am reaching the conclusion that if you have a place with not much of monetary value in it ( this needs to include furniture and kitchen stuff) and few running costs,without a pool, then maybe you can discount.The rest of us, if the prices are right in the first place, then it makes little economic sense?
We have a special contract with France electricity which gives us very cheap electricity April 1 - October 31 and all through winter except for 21 days, when the charge becomes exhorbitant. These 21 days are chosen just 12 hours before so we can't plan around them. We did take the risk of renting one property, a long time ago, for a week within this danger period (1/11-31/3) and the heating cost was the same as the rent. We no longer rent at all between 1/11-31/3.
People don't like paying on top for their heating consumption but it is the only way to go: if they are responsable for paying, they turn it off when they go out, don't run it in rooms they don't use, put on a pullover if they are cold, etc. If you include heating in the rent they will waste it: the major objection to this is not money but the environment. Don't let them!
ps Don't ask about our "special contract with France electricity": it is so advantageous to the consumer that it has not been available to new users for about 5 years!
"If you include heating in the rent they will waste it: the major objection to this is not money but the environment."
Ah- I hadn't even thought of this!!We do include electricity in the rental,your point is valid! Mmm, yet another reason to close the house up for a few months in the winter!
alexia s. wrote:the major objection to this is not money but the environment.
If only everyone thought this way, how much better the world would be! But I don't think very many do.
Sarah,
It seems to be pretty standard to charge your peak summer rate for the Christmas and New Year weeks. I like to see a slight reduction from the summer rate when I am booking a house for Christmas - it just looks to me like the owner has thought "Right, how much can I possibly charge for this week?" rather than carefully calculating a fair market rate.
If you're charging heating as extra, I think you should definitely come down from the peak rate.
Are you talking about the blue/white/red system of heating days? (At least, I think those are the colors.) I didn't know that wasn't still available; how interesting!
The biggest problem we have with the idea of charging extra for utilities is that we don't live in France, so we'd have to find someone who would be willing to check the meter every week. Ugh! Although, I do hear that EDF has some online services, so I wonder if it's possible to see daily usage online.
Thanks folks. Theres lots of views on the subject but I think we all agree our electricity bills etc will be higher in the winter! I charge £475ish in August and this goes down as the months turn colder...but at Christmas I think we should be able to add just a little extra to our rock bottom off peak rates. If I didnt do this I wouldnt rent the place out at Christmas...I would stay at the apartment myself!!
Some people want the cherry and the cake....
Thanks everyone. I enjoyed your feedback...it always helps.
Rich/Sarah, I agree! We would have been quite happy in our cosy cottage ourselves last year if no one had rented but we got a 5 night Christmas and 4 night New Years booking.
Our Christmas/New Year rate is the same as our peak summer rate too, (no extra heating cost). It goes from £225 early Dec to £395 per week Christmas/New Year - we turned a few people away so I don't think potential guests had a problem with the rate. We actually looked to staying in the village hotel/B&B's for New Years eve but prices were sky high so I guess it seems accepted practice these days. I'd stick to your price until nearer. My Christmas/NY seems to let just a few weeks before the time.
I suppose it depends on the area too, probably 75%+ of our customers bring dogs along and they like to get out onto the deserted beaches/hills in winter so sitting in racking bills up doesn't seem an issue. I'm always cold so my husband would probably say the guests would almost certainly use less power than me!
We have the system of red/blue and white. Hadnt realised it is not now available. We switch most things off during the red days - even the freezers which are on timers.
I am astounded by the English guests which we have stay with us how often they leave lights on etc. We have lots of other nationalities who stay with us, but the English guests have no idea of what energy costs, let alone the sheer unecessary waste. We have now put in light switches in the hallways which switch off after 3 mins! We also use energy-saving lights too and we have an awful lot of lights!
With regards to winter booking we take them, it is always a risk with the heating. We fortunately had no guests during the cold spell and would have undoubtedly made a severe loss. What we do provide is oil heating and guests can either buy firewood or can search for fallen wood in the grounds or we can order some which they pay for. Every guest so far has opted to find wood and chop it themselves and they have thoroughly enjoyed it - I guess it is the novelty factor. Obviously you have to have a small forest on hand to do this.
This is true but I am also discovering how much it costs to run a pool in a rental property( of course, I did already know how much in a private home this costs as we've had our other one for years).I am paying someone to come and look after the pool in the season and what I hadn't anticipated is how many visits per week that can entail! I just assumed once a week,but apparently 2 or 3 visits are needed?
Fraise, I assume it´s the people who are maintaining the pool who are telling you they need to come 2 or 3 times a week. I´d ask around if I were you. I´m not an expert on pools, but pools around here, including mine, are cleaned and balanced once a week, and are sparkling.
No, Brooke, the red/blue/white system -which is still available - is less advantageous than, and replaced, the preceding binary "peak/low" system that I referred to. It is the older, binary system that has not been available to new subscribers for some years.
), so why not holiday rentals?
