Advertising

Although we have already looked at advertising briefly in this chapter, it is important to remember that advertising is probably the single most important aspect of running a holiday let business. Without a decent advertising strategy you will have no means of reaching potential customers and will therefore you decide to market your property yourself or place it in the hands of an agent, advertising will play a huge part in whether or not your property is successful as a holiday let.

If you decide to employ an agent, the advertising side of things will be largely out of your hands. However, before selecting which agent to use it is paramount that you familiarise yourself with the agent’s marketing strategy and that you are happy with this. As well as using a holiday let agency, you may also like to advertise the property yourself, with your own contact details, in order to maximise the number of bookings. However, if you choose to do this, make sure there are no restrictions in the contract you have with your agent and, most importantly, that you do not double book your property. In addition to national and local newspapers, you may also like to consider the following ways to advertise your holiday property:

• Tourist Information Centres Enquire at your local centres about the possibility of placing a few leaflets with them. Often Tourist Information Centres are potential holidaymakers’ first ports of call and you may well generate business this way.
• Tourist Boards You may need to register as a member and pay an annual fee, but for this you will get your property entered in their brochure and on their official website. Finding a holiday property through Tourist Boards is still a very popular method with a lot of holidaymakers and the relatively low cost involved makes this a marketing strategy well worth considering.
• Specialist magazines For example, if your accommodation is in the Yorkshire Dales, try placing an advert in the Dalesman. Likewise, a property in Cumbria could be placed in the Cumbria and Lake District Magazine. A property that offers excellent fishing, golf or water sports may benefit from an advert placed in a publication aimed at these particular interests.
• Local shops and Post Office windows Try advertising both where the property is situated and in your own local shops. It may be worth sending one or two leaflets to surrounding areas or to similar places that are perhaps already heavily populated or expensive. For example, a property in a quiet area in the shop window of a nearby bustling town or village such as Coniston or Windermere. Describe the property and its closeness to the town you have selected to place the advert in, and make sure you do your homework and advertise your property cheaper than those found in the areas you are competing with. You Will be surprised how many people are happy to drive for 20 minutes to their ideal destination during the day if they can save money on their holiday accommodation.
• The internet If you are serious about marketing your property yourself, you really must consider advertising your property on the internet. Placing an advert on the web will enable you to reach a huge number of potential customers. There are two ways of going about advertising on the internet. You can either:

• Pay a professional website designer to produce a webpage for you, though this can prove expensive as you will incorporate the following costs:

• 1.The initial cost of the website.
• 2.Further costs if you wish to update or alter your site, which you will probably need to do annually if you put your rental rates on.
• 3.Registration fees payable every two years.
• 4.Host fees usually paid every year.

Or you could:

Look into the possibility of placing an advert with other holiday property owners and share the costs. Remember though that by doing this you may be competing with several other people and the advantages of saving on internet set-up costs may be outweighed by this competition.

If you do decide to place your property on the internet, it is important to make sure you include the following information:

• 1.Good-quality digital photographs. Show at least one good photograph of the outside of the property and its surrounding area. You may like to put other photographs on your webpage showing the inside of the property. If you have a luxury master bedroom with a four-poster bed, then this would be a good feature to advertise.
• 2.The location of your property. Make sure you do not put the exact address on your webpage as there is the possibility that may attract unsavoury character looking for a property which may well be empty.
• 3.A brief description of the property. For example, a beachside haven situated yards from a glorious sandy beach, or a seventeenth-century thatched cottage in the heart of a picturesque village.
• 4.The number of bedrooms the property has and how many guests it can accommodate. Briefly list the bedroom set-up, i.e. two double bedrooms, one twin, and one cot.
• 5.A brief description of the rooms available and the facilities provided. Include any luxuries your property features, such as a whirlpool bath, dishwasher, games console, snooker table or swimming pool. Also mention any outside area the property has, and if this is suitable for entertaining and barbecues.
• 6.The availability of the property.
• 7.A price list showing low, mid and high season.
• 8.The changeover details, whether the property is let Saturday to Saturday or Sunday to Sunday.
• 9.Whether or not you accept weekend or midweek short breaks
• 10.Your contact details. If you are out during the day, add available times for customers to contact you next to your telephone number.

• Word of mouth This is always a good marketing strategy, not least because it is free. Tell friends and family and offer an incentive to them if they help you to secure a booking by telling their friends about your property. You will be surprised how many people you can reach this way. Take a few minutes to write down how many friends you can name, add to these how many members of your family there are and then multiply this number by, say ten for the people they may tell and already you have got a large number of potential customers to aim at.

If the area where your property is situated has an annual carnival or celebration day, consider increasing your advertising strategy during this period as it is likely to generate more interest and additional visitors.

Another advertising strategy you may like to consider is offering a week’s holiday at your property as a prize. Try your local school’s summer or Christmas fair. This could well be a good way of selling raffle tickets to help the school, as well as another way of reaching potential customers. Never forget that every person who knows about your property has the potential of telling dozens of others. World of mouth is an advertising strategy which should never be underestimated.

Deciding how much to charge

If you employ the services of an agency, deciding how much to charge for your holiday accommodation may well be out of your hands. However, a decent agency should ask you what kind of income you are hoping to achieve and work with you to decide on the best rental fees. Always take notice of what your agent has to say and heed their advice. They will have years of experience and will have seen dozens of properties and will therefore be in a good position to know the market and have an idea of which kinds of property can command certain amounts of rent.

If you have decided to market your property yourself, you must think long and hard before setting your rental fees. There will be several factors you will need to take into account:

• 1.Your mortgage If you have a mortgage on the property, you may well want your rental to be high enough to cover mortgage payments.
• 2.Caretaking If you are employing the services of a cleaner and/or gardener, you should take into account the wages you will have to pay for these services when calculating your rental.
• 3.Gas/electricity/water If you have decided to charge an ‘all inclusive’ rental, you must incorporate the cost of these services in your rent.
• 4.Special facilities If your property offers any special facilities such as a swimming pool, which will incorporate additional charges for heating and cleaning, make sure you add a proportion of these fees to your rental.
• 5.Pets Are you going to allow guests to bring dogs into your property? If so, it is standard practice to charge extra for this as you will probably incur more cleaning expenses. An average cost for accommodating dogs is approximately £15–£20 per pet per week.
• 6.Laundry Are you intending to charge extra for towels and bedding or will this price be reflected in the weekly rental?
• 7.Competition How many other similar properties are there in your area offering holiday accommodation? Enquire about their rental fees and bear these in mind when setting your own.

All of the above must be taken into consideration when setting your fees. In addition to covering some of the basic overheads listed above, remember also that you will have other costs such as insurance, decorating, carpet cleaning and general house repairs to think about, and a percentage of all of these should be included in the rent so that the property is in effect ‘paying for itself’. It is of little use running a property are far higher than the income you are receiving. In addition to ensuring that the property pays for itself, you should also be aiming to make a profit from your business. You may be happy for all of your overheads to be covered, particularly if you have a mortgage on the property and are not looking for a reasonable cash profit besides. You will probably be expecting your property to go up in value and therefore increase your investment over the long term. If, however, you only have a small mortgage or no mortgage at all on the property, you should be looking to reap some financial benefit from your letting business, if only to cover the time and expense you have put into marketing your venture. The amount of money you make will, of course, not only be dependent on the rent you can charge but also on the number of bookings you are able to secure.

Even if you decide against using the services of an agent, you would be best advised to request several of their brochures in order to get an idea of the rentals they charge. Sift through the brochures for properties that accommodate the same number of guests as your property, in similar areas, and familiarise yourself with the amount of rent each company is commanding for each month of the year. Remember that agents take a cut from the prices shown in the brochures and these can sometimes be as much as a third or even half of the costs quoted. You should be able to use the rental fees quoted in agency brochures as a guideline to the amount of rent you can reasonably expect to achieve. Bear in mind that people are often willing to pay more for a holiday through an agency, as they feel happier and more secure knowing that they have booked through a reputable company. If, however, you can prove that you are a serious property owner offering a professional service at a lower price, you may well attract customers.

Try to work on a strategy similar to the one below.

Property A three-bedroom property sleeping five people near the beach could well command the following rental through an agency:

A property owner advertising their house through the agency at these rents may only see the following income, after the agency has deducted their fees:

The agency in this case has taken a cut of between £67.00 and £123.00 per week for their services. If you chose to market your property yourself, you could afford to reduce the rental charged to the customer by between £40 and £80 per week, depending on the season, making your property a more attractive proposition while still ensuring a larger weekly profit than you would through an agency.

Remember, these figures are only an estimate and you must bear in mind that the type and location of the property will ultimately be the deciding factor as to how much you can reasonably expect to charge. A chocolate-box detached cottage with a thatched roof in the heart of the Cotswolds could well command in excess of £700 per week, depending on the number of people it accommodates and the time of year it is being rented out.

Although it may seem like ‘easy money’ to cut the agent and make more profit yourself, this will only work if you have a good customer database or an excellent means of marketing your property.

Charging for extras

Most people who are planning to book a holiday have a budget in mind. The weekly rental that you are asking for your property should, wherever possible, include as many extras as is reasonable. Once a customer has booked their holiday, they are usually unwilling to fork out extra money for gas, electricity, bedding, towels, etc. so aim to offer your property at ‘all-inclusive’ prices. If you choose to promote your property through an agency, they may well have restrictions on the number of extras you are allowed to charge for, as experience has taught them that customers do not like paying additional costs.

It is therefore vital that you incorporate any extra costs you may incur by letting your property into the rental fees that you charge. Take into account:

• 1.The amount of gas and electricity that may be used. Obviously this will be higher in the winter months when guests are more likely to need to heat the property.
• 2.Your housekeeper’s wages, if you choose to employ the services of a cleaner.
• 3.A gardener’s wages, if you choose to employ one.
• 4.Laundry costs for washing and drying bedding and towels.
• 5.Window cleaner.

It is widely acceptable to charge an extra amount of rental if the guests wish to bring along their pets. This is because there is usually more cleaning involved after they have left, for example, pet hairs to eradicate. Most agencies accept this and also charge extra for pets. Whether you are marketing the property yourself or through an agent, I would not recommend that you charge more than, say, £20.00 per pet, and less if possible. Most agencies will set the amount payable for pets, but if you are marketing the property yourself, be aware that some guests may want to bring more than one dog and the ‘extras’ can easily add up and put them off booking. Although you may incur extra costs for cleaning, it is probably true to say that £20.00 will more than cover the cost of the extra vacuuming.

Decide how many pets you are going to allow guests to bring and state this in the holiday let information, either with your agency or in your own brochure. Some people prefer to allow only one small, well-behaved pet while others will allow several. Think about the size and space your property has to offer before deciding on the number of pets you will allow.

It is also with bearing in mind that some dogs leave behind a strong odour, and it is vital that your air your property well after guests with dogs have left and before the new guests arrive.

How long is the holiday season?

This is not an easy question to answer, as it simply depends on the location of the property While some properties can only expect bookings throughout the summer months and are best taken off the market and closed up for the winter, others may well command bookings 52 weeks of the year. In addition to the location of the property, another factor that will affect the number of weeks bookings will be the price and what this includes, for example, gas electric, linen and towels. It is probably true to say that even if you offered the accommodation free of charge in November and February, some properties would still remain empty due to their location. Very remote country properties, though tranquil in summer, are often completely inaccessible in the winter months!

On average, agencies would tell you that experience has taught them that the average property cab expect between 25 and 35 bookings per annum with the most prestigious properties reaching between 40 and 50 bookings. This will of course depend on the agent you choose and their methods of advertising. Some agencies offer properties at a reduced rate for late bookings in order to achieve maximum occupancy. I would advise you to steer clear of any agency that cannot fill your property during the most popular summer months of June, July and August. Any agency with a good marketing strategy should have no trouble generating bookings during this time of the year.

If your property is not popular during the winter months do not despair, as often the rental achieved during the summer is sufficient to cover the property’s annual costs. If you are marketing the property yourself do not appear too desperate to secure winter bookings by undercharging, as you may well end up out of pocket. Although it is true to say that the rent you charge inthe winter will be less than the summer, make sure that the money you do receive covers the cost of the additional heating in the colder months, as well as any cleaning involved. If you employ a housekeeper, the fees you pay for this service will be the same regardless of how much you receive in rental.

There is little point in letting your property for a week and charging £100 in rent if the housekeeper and fuel charges amount to more than the figure you have charged. Making a loss is not an option. However, making less profit in the winter is seriously worth considering, If only because your house is not left empty for many months. The Property will be aired and, from a security point of view, would be better rented as much as possible throughout the year.