A further complication, which is a major issue in Edinburgh particularly, is differential pricing by date.  What are the times when you can charge higher prices – commonly in Edinburgh the festival, Hogmanay, the Marathon weekend and some rugby weekends – and when do you need lower prices because there are fewer visitors?  You need to decide how much extra you can charge in the high season and how much you are prepared to charge in lower seasons.

Our advice is that you need to have your pricing worked out for at least a year ahead.  Now in August 2010 we are getting enquiries from people who want to book August 2011.  After any event we find people who want to book for the next year.   They have either loved their accommodation and want to secure it for next year, or hated it and want some thing better next year!

The proposal is to retain special tax rules for furnished holiday lettings, but the rules proposed are more stringent than the existing rules.   Specifically it is proposed that:

• properties should be available for holiday letting for 210 days (as opposed to the current 140 days) per year
• properties should be actually let as a holiday let for 105 days (as opposed to the current 70 days) per year
• losses can only be offset against other furnished holiday lets rather than any trading activity.

Longer lets of more than 31 days for 155 days per year appear to be accepted for properties designated as furnished holiday lets.

So if you are letting your properties as short term or holiday lets full-time, as many of us do, these rules will be less of a change than for people who let short term for some of the year and have longer lets for the rest of the year.

As usual we’d love to hear your views.

We regard problem guests as those that upset neighbours, leave the property damaged or very dirty, or are just unreasonable.   There are guests who will hold noisy parties, be offensive to owners or neighbours and we suspect some have operated as prostitutes out of holiday let properties.

Sometimes we can spot a  problem, because a landlord has said they have had a problem with a given guest and if we see them trying to book again, we will tell the landlord who is at risk.  It’s not always easy as the same people will try  and book under different names.  At other times, people can be unreasonable during the enquiry process – in which case we get worried, and will warn potential landlords.

After a complaint from a neighbour, we became suspicious of single ladies who were being booked under other names.  They were invariably bookings with an arrival in the next day or few days, for a week often with a possibility of an extension of an extra week.  We suspect these people were running some form of business, which contravenes the terms and conditions of our properties.  Now, we simply don’t take these bookings.

What do you regard as a problem guest?  Have you any hints and tips for us or other landlords in spotting them?  How do you deal with people who cause difficulties?

Self Catering is a very ‘hands on business’. As noted, you have to organise to meet the guest (in some form or fashion) at the apartment – which can be done in a variety of ways. The damages deposit is probably a similarly tricky task. Although it is very common practise to ask for a damages deposit before a guest arrives; there appear to be a minority of guests that are quite hesitant about this process. How do we make this part of the process less painless?

The most popular method of taking the damages deposit is to ask it to be paid in cash on arrival. Of course the first question from the guest is: ‘How do I get it back?’ Many of the guests expect the refund to happen just as they are leaving the flat. Is this practical? Not only does it involve the landlord returning on each guests’ departure, but it also means that if a guest were to ‘hide’ a problem, it is unlikely that it would be spotted on a quick inspection of the property. Making this procedure time consuming and not even cost effective. I had one guest move a picture on the wall. When I noticed that it had been moved, I returned it to its original spot, only to find a large hole in the wall. I would have never spotted this on an inspection with the guests on the day of their departure. So guests that book through me, are told (in advance) that a damages deposit is refunded within 14 days of departure. Although most guests are fine with this condition; there are a small minority that complain, and a handful that will not book. I feel it is worth it, as it has limited my exposure to a financial loss. I was wondering what does everyone else do?

Are there landlords that accept some form of credit card waifer, as is commonly done when you book a hotel room? Are there any other suggestions with regards to damages deposit. Although it seems like a very small part of the whole self catering experience; to me it appears to be one of the more time consuming and controversial issues I have with my guests.

Look forward to hear how everyone else handles this matter.

It’s no problem if you post keys out, or have a key box. We’d be interested to hear from people who use these, so please do share your experiences in the comments.

It is more difficult if you normally meet your guests. We do know that some landlords leave keys with local businesses like restaurants or pubs. Does anyone leave the keys under the mat or plant pot? I’d worry about that approach!

Do you make a late meeting charge? We have done this for meeting times of after 8pm. If you do it, how much do you charge and when do you apply the charge? We’ve not had any problems in collecting this charge which is usually collected on arrival. Has anyone had any problems collecting such charges?

See http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article7093593.ece.

Frustrating for people who have made decisions based on the scheduled change, but overall it should be beneficial for owners of holiday let properties.  We just don’t know how long this will last.

photo by Jimmy Roq from flickr

In my last blog I discussed the 10 steps to guest management.  I  noted that many of these steps require more information than is practical for one blog.

In this Advertising Self Catering blog, I will identify the factors that you need to consider when advertising your self catering flat, and how/where to advertise your self catering/holiday let property.  This blog on advertising is not intended for landlords that are not actively marketing their self catering property, it is intended for the individuals who own and market their self catering propety, and are looking for a few tips for more exposure.

Of course the most important part of owning a self catering property is to earn income.  Hopefully the income will far outweigh your expenses, and confirm your decsion for using your investment property as a ‘holiday let’ rather than a long term let.  There is no question that the workload and expenses far outweigh those involved with long term letting, but of course the rewards can be much greater too!

The first step in earning income for your property is deciding how/ when / where to advertise. Of course half the battle is driving visitors to your advertisement, but once in your advert they will make a key decision in a few seconds as to whether or not they are interested.  Which basically sums up the fact that there are 2 factors in advertising your flat:

1. Getting the guests to find your advertisement
2. Once in your advertisement, you need to sell your property.

Firstly finding places to advertise your flat. Advertising is a key factor as it guides your guests to your property.  The more places that you advertise, the more chance you have of higher occupancy in your flat.  So you need to do your research.

Where to find Advertising ?

The vast majority of potential guests choose to find self catering accommodation via the internet.  Although they might see some interesting sites in a flyer or local magazine or newspaper, the reality is that people don’t remember web site names.  Once they have made the decision to look for self catering accommodation, they will go to their computer and run a search or ‘google’ some familiar terms.  There is a whole art in deciding what terms potential guests use, but let’s not go into that arena at this point.  The most popular search terms that potential guest use are similar to:  ‘London Self Catering’; ‘London Holiday Apartments’.  So when finding a website to advertise on, you should consider using these types of search terms and see what websites appear on your favourite search engine.  Today, the most popular search engine is google, where approximately 70% of internet users choose google.  Yahoo is fairly popular, and there are others that are trying to catch-up.  But for today, using google for your research tool is not a bad start.

Analyse  Self Catering Websites

Ask yourself.  Are the apartments on the website similar in  style to mine?  Is the site well presented, easy to use, useful information, and displaying at a reasonable speed.  Remember that guests that are looking at sites will easily move onto the next one if the site is not working properly, difficult to understand or not showing them the information that they require.  And once you lose a guest to a website, they will not return.  So basically pretend that you are a guest trying to book a holiday apartment – would you use this site.  I recently asked a guest how they found us and their response was ‘google’ – I don’t think they even remembered which site they had booked on.  There is a lot of competition – so advertising on 1 website will limit your exposure.  I believe that if a guest sees your apartment on several websites, it appeals to them, and while they may have ignored the property on the first website that they used, after time on the internet, they will look at your property.  So choose more than 1 website.

Advertising Pricing

When choosing a website (and bearing in my mind I am suggesting choose more than one), cost is a factor.  You want to limit costs while raising exposure.  There are various models on how websites work out pricing.  But of course if the website is not generating income, it will not be able to afford to advetise.  The main reason for you to choose using  a website to advertise your self catering property is because a bigger site can afford to spend money on advertising.  If you own just a few properties, it would not be practical for you to spend money on google adwords or other effective advertisng campaigns.  Howerver, a larger website that is generating income, will spend money on advertising campaigns, which in the end benefits those on the site.  So choose a site that is committed to advertising and marketing its brand.

You will find a variety of self catering advertising sites.  There are global sites which advertise for cities and resorts around the world, and  there are specialist sites that will choose to target just one city, or possibly a few cities.  Some sites will charge you an annual fee, while others will not charge an annual fee, but will charge on bookings.  It is difficult to decide which is better, but it would probably be best if you advertised on different types of advertising sites, and over time you can judge which ones work for you.  The websites that charge at booking, generally charge a fixed percentage rate when a guest books.  These websites offer low risk in terms of you only pay when you get a booking.  The websites that charge an annual charge present a higher risk, as you have no idea how many bookings you may get from that site.  So, if possible, try and contact other owners on the site and ask about the level of enquiries they are getting from a certain site. There is no perfect answer – so if you are just starting out, I would suggest try a variety (annual fee; and ones that charge at point of booking)

Getting the Booking

Again, I can’t emphasise enough of trying to pretend that you are a guest looking for a Holiday Let property for your break.  What do you look at.  Guests will look at the photos, price, and possibly a few highlighted items.  Many internet users to not read the full description (at first).  They will firstly judge a flat on the ‘curb appeal’ – the photos.  If the photos do not tempt you, it is unlikely that they will wish to stay.  I always suggest that it is a worthwhile investment to hire a photographer if you do not have a camera that can take a decent photo.  This photographer can well be worth your investment. Once you have passed the first hurdle of the photos, they will start to note the ‘flat features’; and possibly read the entire description.  You still need to sell the flat.  Describe the bedrooms (and set-up); kitchen facilities; lounge and any extras.  Most guests today expect Wifi (or broadband); and I believe that you will lose custom if you do not provide this facility in your flat.  It is also very important to describe the nearby area.  Most guests like to be near shops, restaurants, and cafes.  While they like the idea of cooking while away from home, most guests keep it simple – and enjoy having amenities near – so mention them.  Also note access to Tube Stations/ Buses/ Train Station, and if you have private parking – note that down too.  Remember you are selling your flat, and you need to highlight what is important to visitors.

Self Catering – 10 steps to guest management

Here is a set of steps that a self catering landlord should follow to help ease the workload involved.

1. Advertise (this will be a blog in its own right; and important for the success of your investment
2. Pricing the self catering accommodation
3. Guests Book Accommodation
4. Organise to meet Guest for their arrival
5. Guest Arrives – Meet & Greet
6. Take Damages Deposit
7. Guest sign Ts & Cs
8. Guest Departs
9. Prepare apartment for next set of guests
10. Refund Damages Deposit

As I noted I will discuss forms advertising in a blog on its own, however, suffice to say that you may have the most wonderful self catering apartment, but if no one can find it you won’t get any bookings.  As a self catering landlord it is important to ensure that your property is advertised and its photos help make the final sale.

Pricing your accommodation is a very important task.  Firstly you should compare the market, find other similar holiday/self catering apartments in your area.  See how they are priced, and see how well they are booked.  If you have an apartment in London you should be aiming for 70% capacity.   For self catering letting, the overheads for running the apartment and changing over between guests is high – so you will need to consider this cost when setting prices.  Most landlords have a minimum stay period – as a changeover is expensive, so there is no point in letting a property for 1 night – as you would probably not take home any profit from a 1 night stay.  Most self catering properties have a min. of a 3-4 nights stay, while it is not uncommon to ask for a 1 week stay.  Again, I will discuss pricing in another blog, as there are several more points to consider.

Once a guest decides to book your property, you will need to have a process in hand to document this booking.  You will need to take a deposit (non-refundable); and schedule in the arrival and departure.  As it gets busy, you need to ensure that you don’t miss meeting a guest on their arrival, and also to ensure that you don’t do any ‘double bookings’  If you only have one property, you should easily be able to manage this with a simple spreadsheet.  But if you own more than a few, it may get a bit more complicated, and you may want something a little more sophisticated.

Meeting and greeting guests is a nice personal touch – which is not always necessary.  You do need to consider how the guests are going to receive the key for the property.  If you are going to meet and greet the guest at the property – don’t forget to advertise this as one of your features. Damages Deposit (again a subject for another blog); but don’t forget to take one.  In essence, the guests tend to take more care in your property when they know you are holding a damages deposit for them.

Terms and Conditions are a necessary component of Guest Registration in self catering.  You may refer to a version or our terms and conditions which will give you some guidance as to what the guest is agreeing to.  I would suggest that you modify them as per your requirements. The final 3 steps all involve letting the guest leave the self catering apartment, getting the apartment ready for the next set of guests, and the refund of the damages deposit.

To summarise, this is a brief set of guidelines on how to manage your guests.  Please feel free to contact either Lenore or Janet at self-catering-online.com where we would be more than happy to help with any further advice you may need on these matters.

Benefits of short-term self-catering

Janet identified many of the pros regarding short-term letting.  But perhaps the most popular points were down to two items:

• No Assurred tenancy – tenant does not have rights to the property
• Potential for earning more income

As many of the landlords at this presentation appeared to have been letting for quite some time, it was inevitable that many of the landlords had been through very difficult experiences with tenants.  While looking at their pride and joy of an investment they would get frustrated watching it deteriorate, possibly with a tenant who refuses to pay their rent.  Unfortunately, though this situation can be rare, it is difficult to rectify in a short period of time, leaving the landlord with no income on their investment and running the property at a loss.

Janet noted that with ‘holiday letting’ the guest is not granted the same rights as a tenant.  As long as y9ou have provided the guest with a correct set of terms and conditions (and they have accepted them) the guest does no have any rights to the property.  Also, with self catering letting the guest has paid in advance before arriving at the property.  This eliminates the possiblity of not getting paid.

Coming next

In the next blog I will discuss the cycle guest management.