This is a blog for anyone with an interest in self-catering property. We have set up categories for landlords – property owners and managers, and for visitors who are interested in letting self-catering accommodation.
Self-catering-online is currently providing a service to self catering landlords and visitors in Edinburgh and London – so we have categories for these cities.
Browse, enjoy and feel free to comment. We look forward to reading your comments.
About the Author
Lenore Kennedy and Janet Unsworth run Self-catering-online.com, an internet holiday letting site. Self-catering-online.com is an internet advertising service for self-catering properties/short term/holiday let properties. People interested in properties to let for anything from a few days up to a 5 months can search for properties that are available for the dates they want, see the prices, converse with owners and book on-line. The web-site first went live for properties in Edinburgh in December 2007. We added on-line booking in June 2008 and in 2010 launched our service for London properties.
The benefit or otherwise of this tax is of course dependent on your own tax situation and whether you own the property in your own right, or whether you are operating your holiday letting business within a company structure. For individuals considering purchasing property to run a holiday let it is important to consider the various types of tax which could apply on purchase, management and disposal of property. Stamp duty, VAT, capital gains tax and inheritance tax are all forms of tax which can apply to property at various stages in addition to the tax on trading activity referred to here. So short term ‘good news’ might be irrelevant if owners have taken advice on the longer term issues of property management and have set up company structures for the purposes of managing a holiday letting company.
Many property owners end up in the short-term property letting business by default – perhaps when a property has failed to sell, or when they are in-between longer lets, and it is important to consider the bigger picture before embarking on the short-term letting business.
Hi Susan,
You are absolutely right, everyone does have to take account of their own circumstances.
This sort of last minute change makes it difficult to plan ahead and shows how much we all need to keep an eye out for what’s happening and be flexible and prepared to adapt if necassary when the fiscal environment changes.
Janet
You are absolutely right – we have found excellent self-catering in Nice, Paris, Kracow, Barcelona and Budapest no problem at all.
But we have really struggled with London, although we have stayed in three self-catering outfits successfully. But it was a real battle finding them. London is just not organised as other European capitals, which is surprising.
Answer: ‘it depends’. Try our hardest to meet all guests as we strive to provide a personal service. It can be frustrating when guests call (after you’re already waiting for them in the property) to say that they’ll be late. No need for this really when they have mobile phones and just need to be a bit more considerate. However, if we know in advance that we can’t meet them then we will post keys out.
In a (non-Edinburgh) property, the keys are held by a local hotel and guests have to show a letter to the hotel owner to get keys released.
Not keen on the key-box idea as feel it draws attention to a rental property, and may be an issue for listed buildings. However, am warming to the idea when Edinburgh arrivals are taking so long.
The biggest downside would be not meeting all the lovely people who book with us and hearing their stories, greeting them like ‘old friends’. Sometimes with the vagaries of the tram works in Edinburgh it’s necessary to ‘talk them in’ as they find that the SatNav they’d planned to use to find us is no use with diversions and road closures. :0)
I just meet everybody, no matter how late. I am though getting a bit fed up with people who think they should be able to arrive as late as midnight/1 am and that it is the apartment owner’s responsibility to let them in at that time. I think that as we are not charging for hotel type service, guests should not expect such a service (ie. midnight check-in) so I am now going to start charging for late night arrival. In my experience only about one in ten guests arrive when they say they will. Guests expecting entry at 11/12 o’clock in the morning is just as big a problem as late arrival.
Probably even worse is the constant demand from guests who have decided to depart Edinburgh later in the day/evening and somehow think that we should look after their bags even though the next guest will want in before they want to leave.
I try to meet guest when possible and I use a safety box any other time.
I do not charge anything for late arrivals as they will use safety box to collect keys
We like to meet and greet our guests but sometimes this is not possible. If we can’t meet them, we tell them in advance and leave the key with a shop close to the apartments. We put the key in an envelope with their name, date of arrival and estimated time of arrival on it, so the shop keeper knows who to expect and we ask the guests to quote this information. We have been told by guests that the shop keepers sometimes even take them upstairs and show them exactly which flat to go to! We are very happy with this arrangement as it has never caused a problem. The shopkeeper is happy too as it usually results in our guests coming back to buy.
We don’t charge a late arrival fee (yet), but have been thinking about this as I do remember very well when a family was due to arrive at 11 pm (which is alright, as it was a weekend and we live next door to the apartment). However, they phoned us at 8 to say they had made a mistake, the flight was not to Edinburgh but to Glasgow so they would be an hour later. Alarm bells started ringing on my side and I asked them if that was Glasgow or Prestwick. Of course it was Prestwick, and they arrived at 1.30 a.m.
Also, the number of times we have been waiting and call the guests half an hour after their scheduled arrival time to check if they are okay only to find out they decided to go to the pub first!
So we now tell them in their confirmation letter they have to phone us 24 hours before arrival to confirm their arrival time (48 hours for far far away guests who might have a long travel time) because we don’t live at the apartment and need to go there especially to meet them, and we don’t tell them we live next door. And also that they need to tell us as soon as they can if their arrival time changes. Since then we have had a lot less incidents of guests disappearing into pubs/town etc or us not having a clue when to expect them. But we are considering introducing a late arrival fee.
I would like to hear what others do and if you have a penalty clause for people not arriving at the scheduled time.
Annette
Your shops must stay open late!! Not really practical on the Royal Mile or city centre; good though if you know the shopkeeper and can rely on them.
I generally meet all my guests and by emailing them before asking them time of arrival and then telling them to phone me either when they arrive at the airport or if coming by train or car to phone when on the outskirts or Edinburgh seems to work quite well. I put a bit in the email that if they are running more than 60 minutes late that they must contact me.
For the very late arrivals (after 11.00pm) which are very few, I would just post them the keys.
I think for the Visitscotland rating you need to meet and greet from 3 star onwards or is it 4 stars onwards ?
Like Gordon I do find the dropping of baggage early or wanting to leave it later a bit of a problem as this occurs quite often.
We charge £20.00 for arrivals after 20:00 and £40.00 for arrivals after 00:00 – this helps us pay meeters to meet at these late hours.
Most guests also want a ‘left luggage’ facility, which works if you don’t have a same day changeover. I do tell the guests if it is an absolute necessity, they need to book the flat for that day.
On reading everyone else’s comments, I am very relieved to have a 24/7 concierge desk to handle the key handover on my behalf – this facility was one of the reasons that encouraged me to go ahead with a holiday let in a Canary Wharf skycraper (with sweeping views!) which is nowhere near to where I live – but the downside is that I lose the personal touch to the guests as I don’t tend to meet and greet. But if it’s any consolation, then you will find it amusing to know that even at a concierge desk they manage to “lose” the envelope with the key (usually amongst the other envelopes for the other holiday lets in the building) – I’ve now started to put large stickers/logos on there for recognition’s sake…. otherwise I have a feeling I’ll end up with guests going into the wrong apartment as with envelopes mixed up…
As we don’t live locally we have a key box outside our flat. It is hidden behind a plant pot so it is only visible if you know you are looking for it. Once our guests have paid the balance we send them arival instructions which includes directions etc but also the code for the key box.
We have found this works really well. A couple of times we have had guests struggle to find the entrance and it would have been handy if we had been there, but I have always been able to talk them through getting in over the phone and they were happy enough with this. I think our guests appreciate the fact the box gives them complete flexibility about when they arrive without having to call us if they are held up etc. Although I can see it is nice to be able to greet people directly, this is just not practical for us and this solution has worked really well.
While I would always prefer to meet guests, there are times when it is just not possible. I have been considering a key box for sometime now – but am still undecided. Seeing a key box tells anyone walking by that there are keys sometimes in there and it could be worthwhile coming back with tools if they are that way inclined!
In practice I say will meet until 9pm, but then if late it could be anytime. I have “hidden” keys several times and recently the keys which were posted did arrive in the second post yet the guests did not tell me, nor did they look for the keys which I had hidden for them,. Those keys were “out there” for eleven days! I think that any insurance company would take a dim view on this obvious lack of security. Asking around about key boxes I’ve had a mixed response someone even said no late entries at all – they cannot get in so need to make other arrangements eg Travellodge for that night! He has been in business for many years too.
I have had folks come from the airport by taxi to my own house very early and very late to collect the keys. This will only work however if it is not too much of a detour.
I like folks to phone when they are 40 minutes away or at the airport. This also reaffirms to them that there is no reception or anyone on call and you are going out especially for them. Getting their flight details is also a good idea so that you can track the flight online.
Check out times we try and accommodate as far as possible too – unless folks are wanting to leave late and others come in early on the same day! I have a store room and garage so can give guests keys to these to leave luggage. I do not check guests out personally but do take a damage deposit which seems to work well.
Doubt if there is one answer to suit everyone. I have had guests leave by 11am, only to keep a set of keys and come back around 3pm to use the apartment again!
Bookings for Craigwell Cottage are completed by means of on-line payment. A damage deposit is taken 6 weeks before the let starts, or on booking for last minute deals. Deposits are returned by means of a refund to the card on which payment has been made, within 7 days of departure. Definitely no cash deposits, and rarely deposits by cheque these days either.
In 10 years of letting in Edinburgh, we’ve had two people who have decided not to book because of the deposit requirement, but our view is that if they don’t meet our conditions for let, then it’s best not to do business with them.
Returning the deposit is mainly a reason to be in touch with the guests after their stay and to ask for a
review, and encourage them to return again.
Every year thousands of people enjoy getting away from it all with a self catering holiday that is preferably cheap and well within their tight budgets. Self catering holidays can come in many forms be it a 3 or 7 night stay in a caravan at popular holiday parks such as Haven or Butlins, a fortnights holiday stay in a private holiday home, cottage or apartment in Wales, even a short break aboard a boat on the Norfolk broads can be classed as a self catering holiday. These are of cause just a few examples of self catering holidays available all with varying degrees of expense and finding the cheapest prices use to be quite a chore, but since the creation of the Internet and various holiday companies and even private individuals with holiday properties to rent gaining access to website space to advertise their availability, never has it been easier to effectively search and compare prices from a whole range of self catering properties making sure people can truly get their self catering cheap.
I Have 2 flats centrally located near the grassmarket i have an arrangement with a local shop that provides leys up till 6pm mon to Saturday, after 6pm i have an arrangement with a restraunt that is open till midnight and they hand over the keys they produce an e mail from me in order to confirm who they are.
My other flat is on the other side of the city and by luck i have a mate who stays just round the corner and he is quite happy to let guests in.
I Have a 4th flat just coming on line near to which i have not as yet made any arrangements but i have found that local businesses get to know you i do the changeovers myself so being at the flats regurarly people get to know you and i have found them to be very helpful.
As for midnight check ins or any time out of normal hours i charge a fee which no one has complained about as yet.
We have recently stayed in one of the apartments, found through this website, and would like to offer a customers perspective-
firstly, the land lady did not provide us with any receipt for the damage deposit- which if you consider yourself to be running a business, this should be a given. When asked for a receipt, she became very defensive.
Secondly, if you are taking a damage deposit, one would expect to be signing some sort of agreement and have an inventory checked off by the land loard and the tenant/customer- this also never happened.
Lastly, when a bedside lamp was accidentally knocked over and broken, we readily informed the land lady, and offered to replace the broken bedside lamp. She did not reply to us until 2 days later (the morning of our departure). She informed us that she had a spare replacement lamp, and for us not to worry about buying a new one. It was only when she returned the damages deposit 2 weeks later via paypal, that she informed us of the deduction from for the cost of replacing not 1, but 2 lamps, plus light bulbs. She maintained that the secomd bedside lamp had also been cracked and therefore needed to be replaced. I happened to have taken a photo of that lamp when we were trying to buy a new one to replace the broken lamp, and have proof that the second lamp was never damaged during our stay.
Dissapointingly the landlady has been very unprofessional throughout this process. This experience has made us re-question ever using a website like this one again.
Don’t always assume that the customers are the ones out to do the wrong thing, landlords are equally responsible
We do appreciate getting a customer’s perspective, but would like to point out that the landlady of this property has had many bookings from us, and this is the first ever concern that has been bought to our attention.
Thanks for the tips! It was helpful, and the Census only took a few minutes to complete.
I always take a £200.00 security deposit and have never had any complaints from guests. I do return within 7 days of departure. This is
also written into my Terms & Conditons which I send out once I have a confirmed booking