Hi
Please bear with me as I am new to this (and infact any) forum. We are in the early stages of our project; expecting planning permission to convert an Old Coach House in Snowdonia (well just outside) into 3 units any day now. I would like to ask everyones advice regarding using agencies to market the cottages- I have just spoken to one who want 26% plus vat comission on sole agency and to hold the master booking chart (though they do not restrict the number of owners weeks). They suggest occupancy levels of 22- 26 weeks (though surely many of these will be in peak season when it should be relatively easy to let by ourselves?). I wonder whether I could achieve 18 weeks going alone with a website and some careful chosen listing sites- this would net me the same income with less work.
Many thanks in advance
Cath
Advice re using agencies please?
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Mountain Goat
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Hello Cath
We are based on Conwy Marina and 'acquired' the bookings from North Wales Holiday Cottages from the previous owners. However when we went on www.holidaylets.net we were inundated and were getting more booking than they were so now just market and manage it ourselves. The commission of 23% agencies charge is just for marketing the property no management is involved except for relaying any problems for you to sort out.
My advice would be to go it alone, you will not regret it.
We are based on Conwy Marina and 'acquired' the bookings from North Wales Holiday Cottages from the previous owners. However when we went on www.holidaylets.net we were inundated and were getting more booking than they were so now just market and manage it ourselves. The commission of 23% agencies charge is just for marketing the property no management is involved except for relaying any problems for you to sort out.
My advice would be to go it alone, you will not regret it.
It is better to remain quiet and have one think you are stupid, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt....
The biggest mistake we make in life is thinking we have time.
The biggest mistake we make in life is thinking we have time.
Not everybody has Apexblue's success. We started letting in Wales last autumn, with some experience from a previous short period of letting. Since New Year, we have achieved 10 weeks (the last booking at the moment in in October) over 17 bookings, so a lot of short lettings. At the moment, we still have most of August vacant. We are not unhappy with the outturn so far, as we are only looking to cover our running costs and have it available for our own use when we want it. We would not consider using an agency. We are in an area which is not well known as a tourist destination.
We are just two years renting our apartment in France. I think most of us here on LMH enjoy the challange of marketing our properties and responding to inquires. It takes alot of time and sometimes I wonder if we put a value on it, an agency may be cheaper! However the satisfaction of doing it yourself generally outweighs the hassle most of the time. So if you can put in the time and enjoy it, do it yourself. If you don't like spending hours checking emails, reading LMH, etc give it to an agency.
Best of luck
Declan
Best of luck
Declan
Hi Cath
We did something similar in converting a large barn - good luck with that, and be aware that everything you see on the property type programs on telly is true; it really does take twice as long, and cost twice as much etc etc!
Agencies - hmmm. We've gone it alone, and found so far that Holidaylets.net, as mentioned by apexblue, and Independent Cottages have been pretty good.
We reckoned there were pro's and con's with both the agency and go it alone approach. Starting from scratch, we reckoned agencies might get us more bookings than we'd initially manage ourselves, but a good hard think about how people search for accommodation suggested this might not make that much of a difference - they're just as likely to hit eg Independent Cottages as an agency, depending, of course, on what search terms they use, and assuming they use the internet. Having hit the rental site and found your listing, you then want them onto your own website where you can give a bucketful more information.
I suspect that it might take longer than you first imagine to hit your desired occupancy levels, as a lot of business - more than we anticipated - is repeat and word of mouth. You don't get that from day one, although we did have a number of guests returning within our first year, which gave us a real extra buzz!
Very much against the agency approach, as far as we were concerned, was not being in full control. We live on site, and we wanted direct contact with potential guests, rather than an anonymous booking. This is our business, and we're hands on. It is time consuming, more so than we'd guessed, but it is rewarding. If it's not your (main) business, and your preference is to let it get on with itself, agencies may well be right for you, although you'll still end up managing the changeovers. (We reckon 5-6 man hours per unit for changeover.)
Right now we're learning, with the help of hatters, that flexibility is key. We may be able to accommodate something other than our normal changeover day for instance, or an odd number of days, if people ask (and they do). Will an agency do that for you? Would you even want them to?
The other key point you've mentioned anyway - what are you getting in return for a quarter of your income?
Finally - you've definitely found the right place for help, and at the right time in your development process! I wish I'd found LMH 18 months ago!
We did something similar in converting a large barn - good luck with that, and be aware that everything you see on the property type programs on telly is true; it really does take twice as long, and cost twice as much etc etc!
Agencies - hmmm. We've gone it alone, and found so far that Holidaylets.net, as mentioned by apexblue, and Independent Cottages have been pretty good.
We reckoned there were pro's and con's with both the agency and go it alone approach. Starting from scratch, we reckoned agencies might get us more bookings than we'd initially manage ourselves, but a good hard think about how people search for accommodation suggested this might not make that much of a difference - they're just as likely to hit eg Independent Cottages as an agency, depending, of course, on what search terms they use, and assuming they use the internet. Having hit the rental site and found your listing, you then want them onto your own website where you can give a bucketful more information.
I suspect that it might take longer than you first imagine to hit your desired occupancy levels, as a lot of business - more than we anticipated - is repeat and word of mouth. You don't get that from day one, although we did have a number of guests returning within our first year, which gave us a real extra buzz!
Very much against the agency approach, as far as we were concerned, was not being in full control. We live on site, and we wanted direct contact with potential guests, rather than an anonymous booking. This is our business, and we're hands on. It is time consuming, more so than we'd guessed, but it is rewarding. If it's not your (main) business, and your preference is to let it get on with itself, agencies may well be right for you, although you'll still end up managing the changeovers. (We reckon 5-6 man hours per unit for changeover.)
Right now we're learning, with the help of hatters, that flexibility is key. We may be able to accommodate something other than our normal changeover day for instance, or an odd number of days, if people ask (and they do). Will an agency do that for you? Would you even want them to?
The other key point you've mentioned anyway - what are you getting in return for a quarter of your income?
Finally - you've definitely found the right place for help, and at the right time in your development process! I wish I'd found LMH 18 months ago!