Keys and Meeting Times

By
Lenore & Janet
Published: May 30, 2010Posted in: Advice for LandlordsTags: , , ,

How do you get keys to guests when they are arriving at difficult time – very early, very late or just when you have somewhere else you need to be?

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?

Tax Turnaround – Great News for Holiday Let owners

By
Lenore & Janet
Published: April 12, 2010Posted in: Advice for Landlords, Self Catering Flats onlineTags: , ,

The Sunday Times is reporting that the expected changes to the tax rules governing holiday lets are not happening.  The significant tax benefits that arose because holiday letting was treated as a trading activity were scheduled to be removed on 6 April.  It had been announced in previous budgets that holiday letting was to be treated as other residential letting from 6 April 2010.    In a last minute deal to get approval for the budget these changes have been dropped, so that as of now the tax treament of holiday lettings is as it was last year.

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.

Advertising Self Catering Properties

By
Lenore & Janet
Published: March 31, 2010Posted in: Self Catering Flats onlineTags: , , ,
Orange sofa and PC displayed in Self Catering Lounge photo by Jimmy Roq from flickr

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 manage Guest

By
Lenore & Janet
Published: March 27, 2010Posted in: Advice for Landlords, Self Catering Flats onlineTags: , , , ,

While many landlords are very familiar with advertising for long term tenants; Self Catering and holiday apartments attract a different set of requirements. The Self Catering Landlord need not worry about Deposit Tenancy Schemes or landlord licensing; however they do need to become familiar with advertising and marketing your accommodation; and how to allow entry and exit.  Guest can require accommodation from anything from a few days to a few months – all situations need to be catered for.

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.

Typical redstone self catering hoiday apartment in London

  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.

Self catering: less risk than long-term letting

By
Lenore & Janet
Published: March 12, 2010Posted in: Self Catering Flats onlineTags: , , ,

Janet recently ran a presentation in the Landlord Zone conference discussing the practicalities of using a flat for Self Catering vs Long-term letting, which was titled: Less Risk with Self Catering.
The conference was targeted to existing long-term let landlords or potential long-term let landlords, with the audience mostly disenchanted long-term let landlords looking for alternative ideas on generating income for their investment.  Most of the participants had never considered the option of using a property as a ‘holiday let‘.

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.

London landlords – short-term lets a great opportunity

By
Lenore & Janet
Published: March 11, 2010Posted in: Advice for Landlords, Advice for London LandlordsTags: , , , ,

It is clear that there is a great opportunity for landlords in London to generate good income by providing short term lets in London. At the exhibition for Buy to Let Landlords in London we met property owners who had been doing this successfully for years, and others who were very interested in the opportunity.

We had an excellent day at the event; the presentation was well attended and generated lots of very interesting questions. Individuals were especially interested in having the flexibility of no six month commitment on their property and having full access themselves.

London holiday lets seminar

On Tuesday evening Janet will be giving an abridged version of the short-term lets presentation at a property seminar run by David Lawrenson, the well-known property expert and author.  Have a look and we hope to see you there!

Finding Self catering Property in London

By
Lenore & Janet
Published: March 11, 2010Posted in: Advice for Landlords, Advice for London LandlordsTags: , , , , ,

We are going to London today to attend and present at a Landlord’s exhibition at Olympia.

Having successfully established our web-site in Edinburgh, we now have facilities to advertise London self-catering property.  We’ve done lots of research and discovered that it is very difficult to find self-catering accommodation in London.   Several guests in Edinburgh had mentioned how difficult it was in London, compared to Edinburgh, Paris Rome and other major cities – which we were quite surprised about.

I took my daughter and some friends to London last year and wanted a holiday let apartment.  I discovered exactly what people meant.  There were no dedicated web-sites.  The only advertising sites were global sites – which are really geared up to provide information about Villas for beach type holidays on the Mediterranean or Caribbean.  I had to send out lots of messages – most of which resulted in no reply.  I just couldn’t search on availability, see details and prices and book with any confidence.

This was actually an even worse service than visitors to Edinburgh had before we set up.  Hence us making London our latest destination.

Renting as a Holiday Let: Properties that Work

By
Lenore & Janet
Published: March 11, 2010Posted in: Advice for Edinburgh Landlords, Advice for Landlords, Advice for London Landlords, Self Catering Flats onlineTags: , , ,

Many properties can be let successfully as self-catering or holiday let properties.

Ideal properties are existing holiday homes, 2nd homes or “pied a terres”.  Properties in city centres, near tourist attractions, conference venues, universities all have a market for people wanting to stay in self-catering accommodation for short (up to a few months) periods.

Properties let as student accommodation from October to June, can be let as holiday lets in the summer.  Existing properties let as 6 month shorthold assured tenancies can be good holiday lets if they are in a suitable location.

Letting their properties as self-catering properties can be very useful for “accidental landlords” to enable them to generate income from their property whilst retaining control and having access to the property themselves.  For example Joe has a nice flat in central London that he bought about 18 months ago.  He’s furnished it well and doesn’t want to sell it just now, even though he’s just been offered a great new job in Manchester.  Whilst he thought letting the flat in London for 6 months, he was worried about the state it would be in after the let completed and  he wants somewhere to stay when he comes down to London to visit family and friends.  He’s decided to let the flat as a holiday let, so it’s only let for a week or so at a time.  It’s cleaned and checked after every visit, and when he wants to coem to London, he simply books it out for himself.

Self-Catering Blog: Hello Landlords and Guests!

By
Lenore & Janet
Published: March 11, 2010Posted in: Advice for Landlords, Edinburgh Accommodation, Information for Visitors, London Acccommodation, Self Catering Flats onlineTags:

Welcome to the blog for self-catering-online.com.   We plan to use the blog as a discussion forum for both owners/managers of self-catering/holiday let properties and for people who come to stay in them.   Posts will be about topics that we feel are of interest to these communities, and about any that are raised with us – so do feel free to let us know what you would be interested in blogging about and sharing.

To start, I’ll introduce ourselves.

Lenore Kennedy and Janet Unsworth own self-catering-online.com.  We live in Edinburgh where we started our business as Edinburgh-Flats Partnership in 2007.

We are both landlords and between us have 30+ years experience of letting properties as what come to eb know as “Buy-to-let” type letting – 6 month assured leases.   In 2007, we started letting some properties in Edinburgh as Holiday Lets.  We were getting good income, but felt better services were needed for both owners of holiday let properties and guests staying in these properties – that’s when the business started.

Now, in early 2010, we have almost 200 properties live on our Edinburgh web-site and have just made available the web-site for properties in London.

Tomorrow I’ll talk do a post about the type of properties that work as self-catering/holiday lets.

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