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 it worthwhile?
If not, then that’s perhaps because you’ve been running your holiday home as an expensive hobby instead of a business and the profit’s just not there?
Time to find out in my little end of year quiz.
With tips to run your holiday home as a business thrown in!
1) For 2016 have you set/will you be setting yourself income targets?
Take a long hard look at what income you have achieved this year and importantly where you want to be this time next year. We all know that setting up and running a holiday home isn’t cheap (or easy). Once you’ve taken your expenses into account, was your 2015 income enough? And what more can you achieve in 2016? Having a realistic yet challenging income target for the year is running your holiday home as a business.
2) Are your prices aligned/will they be aligned to your income target?
Set an income target then work out how many bookings per month/per year you need to meet this target. If it’s 5 weekly bookings a month, then clearly this isn’t possible; you either change your income target or change your prices. Don’t feel that once prices are set, you have to stick with them. Feel free to increase your prices if your gut feel is that it’s the right thing to do. As long as you’re offering value to your guests, as a result of increased prices. Having a clear pricing structure that earns you the income you need and offers guests value for money is running your holiday home as a business.
3) Do you know who are your marketing to?
Are you marketing to anyone? Anyone who will book with you? This strategy isn’t a smart business move. You need to work out exactly who you are targeting eg families with pre-school children, retired couples, young couples. Your targeting will be based on the area you’re in and the local attractions. Plus it’s based on what a stay in your holiday cottage can offer your targeted guests. Once you define this, you can ensure your website and your marketing messages are talking directly to these guests. Identifying and marketing to your ideal guest, is running your holiday home as a business.
4) Do you see yourself as a business owner (as opposed to someone who owns a holiday cottage)?
There’s a big difference. A business owner is more objective, less subjective, and makes decisions that are right for the business even though they sometimes can be unpopular and mis-aligned with personal decisions (for example letting friends stay for a significantly reduced rate, because you felt too awkward turning them down). A business owner always has an eye on the profit and each day-to-day decision is made on the basis of is it right for the business.
5) Do you embrace new technology and aren’t frightened of learning new stuff?
Everyday a new social media platform seems to be launched. But you don’t have to learn each new fad. Be selective and chose one or two social media platforms and get to know them well. Doing e-newsletters and offering free downloads to capture email address involves learning new technology too. But if this is what your business needs then this is what you must embrace. Learning new technology, if relevant to your business growth, is running your holiday home as a business.
6) Are you prepared to shout about your holiday home?
Whispering about it isn’t enough. You need to shout about your holiday home online but also offline, in your day to day life. You have to be a living, breathing advert for your holiday home. It’s not a “ram it down their throat” approach but it is handing out business cards or flyers when appropriate and certainly always having them to hand. It’s about letting your passion for your holiday home and its area shine through. Don’t be shy about sharing this passion. Sharing it as widely and as often as possible is running your holiday home as a business.
7) Do you have systems for logging, tracking, recording and analysing your data?
You’re making it much harder for yourself if you don’t have systems in place. This isn’t just for tracking your income and expenses but also for managing guest enquiries, bookings, occupancy rates, special offers. How many enquires turned into bookings? Also, for example where are your guests coming from, how many miles/hours do they travel to stay with you? Useful information for future marketing. The more data you have the easier it is for you to manage your business day to day, to improve on your stats, as you know your starting point and make business decisions based on this data.
8) Do you have your own website and one that you’re proud of?
If you don’t have your own website, you need one. Your website is at the centre of your marketing hub. It needs to work for you and you need to be so proud of it, you just can wait to drive potential holiday makers there to take a look. If it’s outdated, hard for visitors to navigate with small photographs and no online booking system, then it’s time for a change. You’re wasting your time getting visitors to go there in the first place. All holiday rental businesses need a modern, efficient, easy to update website and it doesn’t need cost a lot (eg a WordPress website).
9) Are you a people-person?
Being a holiday home business owner is about working with people and building relationships with them online, over the phone, by email and in person. These people are your guests, future guests, suppliers and sometimes staff (eg cleaners). You have to enjoy this interaction (even with the more demanding and trickier guests). It’s a key part of running your holiday rental as a business, encouraging guests and those enquiring to ask you questions and to engage with you.
10) Are you determined to earn more from your holiday rental business next year?
Even if 2015 hasn’t been as successful or as profitable as you’d hoped, have you still got that determination to make decent money from your holiday home? You want to make this fantastic asset of yours work for you financially and still be able to holiday their yourselves? Well, keep going and make 2016 your year!
If you’ve answered “yes” to all or most of these questions, then congratulations to you for running your holiday home as a business. If you’ve answered “no” then look back at each question and know what to change in 2016. Because it’s time this expensive hobby of yours started earning you some money!
Running your holiday home as a business is not just about dedicating more hours in the day but about working smarter. It’s about having the correct back-office systems to drive your business forward. It’s about having the right focus and working towards your own targets. It’s about embracing and learning new technology and techniques. It’s about turning your passion into a money-making machine and earning you more.
With this business mindset, imagine how great your holiday rental business could be in 2016!
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If you need a kick-start to make the changes you know you need to make, then my new online program is for you.
Learn, in easy to follow steps, how you could make 2016 your year of results.
Can you imagine how fantastic it would be to have confidence in your marketing skills and know exactly what you need to focus on to get more bookings? How fantastic it would feel to have a holiday home that stands out from the competition and gets found online. Imagine that dream of yours, of covering your costs, earning a decent income and still being able to holiday there yourself whenever you wish, becoming a reality. Imagine if you and your holiday rental business were buzzing in 2016, how good would that feel?
Click here for more information about how this program can help you: “How To Get Your Holiday Rental Business Buzzing for 2016”
Any questions, please email me
Wishing you holiday rental success in 2016!
Karen
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