How owners respond to an email enquiry can be the difference between a holiday maker choosing to book with them – or not! Here are 5 best practices on how to convert email enquiries into bookings. Today’s holiday makers are a picky bunch (and rightly so). They conduct a thorough online search to find their perfect holiday rental. Then, […]
The Things That Make You Go Hmmmm
Those things that disappoint, those things that make our guests go hmmmm, those things as holiday home owners we must avoid. When I heard this catchy song on the radio last week (it takes me back!) I realised how applicable the title (The Things That Make You Go Hmmmm) is to us as holiday home owners. If […]
Where To Advertise My Holiday Home For Free
Where to advertise my holiday home for free is a question often asked. Instead ask yourself, “what can I do to advertise my holiday home for free?” This involves a move away from “where can I list”, a move away from the ‘list and they will come’ approach. It’s a move towards you as an […]
5 Best Practices To Get The Most Out Of Your Airbnb Listing
A fantastic guest blog from Snezana from Short Term Stays sharing the 5 best Airbnb practices. Every Airbnb listing is a starting point. It’s how you get the ball rolling in your pursuit to corner the market and become the ultimate Airbnb host. Having a complete listing is the sole mechanism that gives your potential guests […]
What’s Your Story?
As a holiday home owner, you need to use everything you can to stand out online. As you know, it’s a very busy market place and even within your area guests will have plenty of accommodation choice. Your job is to convince them that a holiday with you will solve their problems and give them […]
The One Thing Holiday Home Owners Overlook
It happens. Owners excitedly launch into buying the property, doing it up, listing it and getting their first bookings that they overlook this one important aspect of being a holiday home owner. They overlook their Holiday Home Owner Mindset. What is holiday home owner mindset? Holiday home owner mindset is you; more specifically your way of thinking, […]
5 Things A Big Agency Won’t Tell You
They won’t tell you to come out of the shadows, to stand out and to go get your own bookings! I imagine we all have experience of a big holiday home agency either having used them in the past or maybe still using them now? They have their uses, in particular their large marketing budget! […]
7 Things Your Holiday Home Guests Need To Hear You Say
And why it’s important! To run a successful holiday rental you, as an owner, have to: be guest focussed, see your guests as people as not as pound signs, appreciate that their holiday time with you is precious, want to make your guests feel special, This focus on looking after and nurturing your guests […]
5 Things You’re Doing Right Now That Are Losing You Money
As a holiday home owner are these 5 things losing you money? 1. Spending on advertising that’s not working Spending on print advertising, memberships of tourism organisation, accreditations. The list goes on! It can be tempting, in particular when you first start out to pay out money left, right and centre for advertising, listings and services […]
Why you need to do this with your holiday home
You need to test drive it. This is something that every new holiday cottage owner must do before taking any paying guests. But also, if you’ve been established for a while, how often do you stay in your holiday home? I don’t mean visit it to check on the changeovers or meet suppliers, but actually […]
When NOT to Turn Your Second Home into a Holiday Rental
It can be tempting, when you talk to friends or see online holiday home owners who have taken the plunge and who are earning an extra income from their holiday home, to want in immediately. But don’t do anything too hastily. To turn your second home into a holiday rental is a big step. It needs […]
SOS! My Holiday Home’s Bookings Are Down
10 things to do now if adverse weather has affected your bookings As holiday home owners, we know that the weather plays a major part in our business. From guests delaying making a booking until the weather “improves” so our booking cycle becomes shorter, to the impact it has on our guest’s actual holiday time with […]
5 Mistakes Holiday Home Owners Make
Here are 5 common mistakes holiday home owners make in their first year. Mistakes that you may not realise you’re making but that can have a negative impact on your holiday rental business. Even if you’ve been in the holiday rental business for a while, these mistakes may still resonate with you. Don’t worry if you […]
The disadvantages of big holiday home listing sites? Are there any?
Firstly let’s look at the advantages of the big listing sites. It’s pretty much guaranteed that if guests search for a holiday home in Google, the big holiday home listing sites will be ranked on page one. And this is no surprise given their huge advertising and search engine optimisation budgets. So it must be […]
Are you running your holiday home as a business or an expensive hobby?
It’s that time of year when we take stock of our lives. Look back on the past year and think about our highs and our lows. Our holiday home is no exception. It’s time to reflect on the amount of time, hard work and sometimes stress you’ve put into taking paying guests this year. Was […]
Where should I advertise my holiday home?
Once your property is ready for paying guests, the next step is to get guests to find you and the dilemma of “where should I advertise my holiday home” raises its head. As private holiday home owners, we don’t have endless advertising budgets in fact they are really tiny! So we have to choose wisely and […]
How to turn your second home into a holiday home
How hard can it be turning your second home into a holiday home? After all it’s only a word change isn’t it? Well, it’s not hard but there’s more to it than a word change! Before you can start earning from your second home, and operate it as a holiday let there are certain changes that need to be […]
How not to behave as a holiday home owner when listing your property
Recently I’ve been looking to book a family holiday for one week in July, so I turned to the listing sites where I could deal directly with the owner. Thinking this would be the easiest, quickest, and smoothest way to book. Sadly, my recent experience as a guest, is a lesson in how not to behave […]
How to increase prices and still get bookings
When setting your pricing you must always: offer value for money know your ideal guests then market your value for money property to them 1. Value for Money Take this example of two holiday apartments. Apartment 1 is a one-bed basic apartment priced at £300 a week. It’s basic, no extras; what you see is what you […]
How To Get More Bookings For Your Holiday Home In Low Season
As we move into the low season it’s natural that the booking calendar is looking leaner than it did a few months ago. Don’t panic it’s to be expected but don’t sit on your laurels either. Here’s what you can do to get more bookings for your holiday home in low season. 1. Talk it up […]
How To Style A Holiday Home – 3 Mistakes You May Be Making
How to style a holiday home! Only a few of us have the money to employ an interior designer. So, we do it ourselves and as a result styling mistakes are often made. Easy for me to say, as I’m a styling professional and it’s my job to spot these styling mistakes and to work with holiday rental […]
What did my exercise class teach me about my holiday rental business?
During a recent exercise class I found myself making an analogy with this class and the way I run my own holiday rental business. Let me explain. There are 20 ladies in this class. We’ve all given up an hour of our time and have paid the same amount of money to do the class. Yet, […]
What will my changeover costs be?
I often say that you don’t need to be a financial whizz to run a successful holiday rental business. That’s because it’s true – you don’t: But you do have to be in control and know your income and your expenses in detail. You are a business owner – so act like one! As […]
When Less is More!
When it comes to providing guests with facilities and extra touches and attention to detail, then the more the better. But there are times when the old adage “less is more” applies. Is it really necessary to stock your holiday rental with items that serve no purpose? That clutter up the place? That cause guest […]
How to achieve Holiday Rental Success – it’s all in the detail!
Holiday Rental Success to me, is providing my guests with the best possible holiday experience I can. I want that experience to be amazing. So how do you deliver an amazing holiday rental experience? You focus on the detail! A property may be in a great location, have excellent facilities and be surrounded by fabulous restaurants. But that’s not enough. It’s […]
