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 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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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 […]
What ONE spend will propel your holiday rental business forward?
An investment in some professional photographs for your holiday rental that’s what! Images sell a holiday home more than words on a page ever can. They make a holiday rental stand out from the competition, they grab the eye and the attention of future guests and they can attract more bookings. Spending (or I’d rather say investing) now, […]
The Should Ask Questions that all holiday rental owners should answer YES to
Talking Mindset These are the questions as a holiday rental owner you should ask yourself (the Should Ask Questions); to find out if your mindset is in the right place. The right place to move your business forward and to earn more! After all, that’s what we all want. How many of the following do you answer […]
5 Easy ways to market your holiday home to appeal to families
Are you family-icious? Get your holiday rental family-ready. As we all know, self-catering holidays are a popular choice for families. Whether it’s parents with pre-school children taking holidays out of peak season or families with school age children booking your property during the school holidays, it’s a big market. To ignore the family market is to […]
10 Essential, Non-Essential Items to put in a holiday home’s kitchen
These essential, non-essential items to put in a holiday home’s kitchen are items that guests will use regularly at home. But items they wouldn’t expect to find in a holiday rental. Non-Essential as guests can still cook and prepare food without them. Essential as they add value to your guests holiday experience. Exceeding guests’ expectations is always […]
Essential Cleaning Advice For Holiday Home Owners
High standards of cleaning and cleanliness are ESSENTIAL No matter where your property is, how much you charge, who your target market is – cleanliness is key. So here’s my essential cleaning advice for holiday home owners: Equipment Invest in good quality equipment; from vacuum cleaners to cloths to detergents. They do the job more effectively […]
5 Simple Tips to Style your Holiday Home on a Budget
Here are 5 simple tips how to style your holiday home on a budget and they are all things you as a holiday rental owner can implement. My styling advice is always to work with what you’ve got. It’s not about ripping everything out and starting again. And I know that a stylish holiday home can […]
What To Include In A Holiday Home Welcome Folder
You know your holiday rental properly well, but imagine what it’s like for your guest arriving there for the first time. They don’t know what the wifi code is, how the dishwasher works, where you keep the hairdryer, how to unlock the patio doors. So by leaving out a detailed welcome folder explaining such things […]
My Top 5 Mantras as a Holiday Home Owner
Think of a mantra as “a guiding principle which inspires you to do whatever special things you do” (Roger von Oech). As holiday rental owners we too should have guiding principles. They should be at the heart of what we do and will make what we do rather special. I’d say I have many guiding principles, […]
