Holiday lets tips and advise

How much

Member
Location
North East
when I have looked at letting a house I own in admittedly marginal tourist area , the agent told me it would be booked 50% of the year and that the rate would be so many pounds , they neglected to mention off season discounts etc initially
I thought from a cold start , I would be lucky to get 40% occupancy and that 30 to 35% would be a safe place to calculate from I planned on using an agent initially working toward running our own letting over a period of 3 years , I worked my cost backward taking off all cost insurance, enresgy , rates , fees etc . The make of break was the cleaning cost , I didn't want to spend the changeover days cleaning and washing but that cost made if marginal at best.
As has been said you have to have good fixtures and fitting , hand me down mis-matched furniture wont cut it these days and that furnishing cost knocked it on the head for me , i could not justify spending £4K on the furniture to try it , compared to just letting the property on an assured short term tenancy un furnished
For me that worked out much better , the headline weekly cost of holiday lets looks good but taking off all the cost and some empty weeks soon eats into it.
It will depend where you are as to what the viability is, planning for holiday lets is probably much easier to get , but these days the planners seem much more lax then they did , and to change from holiday lets to assured short term tenancy either through official or un-official channels would not seem overly difficult to do .
Again as has been mentioned , the customer is king , they expect to be looked after and problems fixed , the nearer you are to them potentially the more demanding they can be but for the right "People person" this can work in you favour with great reviews and more booking , if you do just simple things like recommend a dog walk , or a running route for insistence.
 

Rowland

Member
Could not give a fudge. Used to make plenty of money in the weeks prior, the staff needed the time off.
It's a business not a hobby I work around xmas and new year- my change over company boss takes plenty of time off over the year they know the craic with the business there in same as others who have to work over the holidays.
 

Still Farming

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
South Wales UK
Just basic idea so op.knows basic costs for advert/website as their starting out.
I was quoted around £300 plus years ago for basic web page so most prob. gone up like all else ?
I know wix etc.out there also so plenty of options for them ?
 

Alex-w

Member
I will do cheap websites for people that just want web design but I am an SEO as well so I design websites and content that make websites rank in Google and bring in revenue so that costs more but brings in a constant stream of leads and sales, so it pays back.
 

Alex-w

Member
I will do cheap websites for people that just want web design but I am an SEO as well so I design websites and content that make websites rank in Google and bring in revenue so that costs more but brings in a constant stream of leads and sales, so it pays back.

I am flexible about spreading the work and cost over time and would endeavour to come to an arrangement to suit anyone's budget and goals.
 

Alex-w

Member
Money ,Planning ,time, costs, labour ,high spec. ,Advertise ,customer base , HSE , agency fees, commissions , awkward customers , damages , complaints , good and bad , returning customers ,upkeep , non holiday people etc.etc. The lists go on .
What's your area or location as may help others to reply also .
@suffolksmallholder @ollie989898 @Rowland @Stillfarming

Great tips! I'm looking for people to tell their story about diversifying into holiday accommodation.

If you would like to help others with their farm diversification research please answer our questions link below feel free to discuss what you feel is most relevant and add on any information you like.

Agrismart will feature your story on our website and place a small ad for your holiday accommodation for free.
http://agrismart.co.uk/holiday-accommodation-diversification-share-experience/
 

Alex-w

Member
Oh good, people with your experience can offer a lot of insight to people considering diversification, can't wait and happy to do a nice feature of your accommodation. What kind of holiday lets do you have?
 

Puff

Member
I acquired an existing holiday let business when I purchased my place in Wales. Rated 5* with Welsh Tourist Authority and with an established business, seemed silly to shut it down. The previous couple had done it to a high standard so in my first year of ownership I did virtually no advertising, bar one publication that was already paid for and just generally felt my feet as it were. I'm in the fortunate position of not needing the rental income to make ends meet, so anything I do get is a bonus.

I purchased November and had 3 bookings for the next year. It was all pretty quiet up until March when a few more started to trickle in and whilst its fair to say I wasn't booked up well in advance, I did end up having a successful season. The only changes I really made were to upgrade a few items (new TV, better WiFi, LED lighting etc) and replace the manual key lock with a code lock. I also advertised for a cleaner/maintenance person and ended up with a lovely couple who come and look after everything on changeover days.

I have now been able to set it up to manage everything remotely. Each guest gets a code, valid for their stay, to let them in. I can manage heating, lighting, appliances etc so that if they do leave something on, I can turn it off again or have the house warm for when they first arrive. Bookings via the web or on the phone - I use square.com for web and credit card or BACs if possible to save fees.

Over the year I added Google Analytics to my website to track where all the visitors came from and more importantly I can use it to check any referral sites are doing their job. I'm on Trip Advisor and I encourage my guests to leave a review, plus I ensure that I respond to any booking queries on TA with alacrity. I've also plotted my place on Google Business, read up on it and followed all the recommendations. From starting about 47th for a search, I'm currently 5th result and that's without google ad-words.

This coming year I have expanded my advertising slightly but focused it on some key areas where I see demand coming from and playing to my USPs, I will shortly be replacing some of the furniture/fittings with new and giving the whole place a lick of paint ready for the new season - based on feedback from Visit Wales inspector. My summer is already looking strong.

I have seen two of the larger Holiday Lettings companies. To me, they came in, enthused, then when they left provided proposals/projections that would see income over a year similar to current/modest increase but with my paying fees from 18-25% of booking +VAT. There wasn't enough benefit for me to take either of them up. However, what they both did say is "Hot Tub" and how that would provide an increase in both letting fee and amount of bookings, so will look into that.

Currently applying for PP to convert part of my other barn into a new let.
 

Puff

Member
Carmarthenshire :)

I think having a 5* rating from Visit Wales is worth the fee, yes. The chap that came round was knowledgeable, friendly and offered some good and sensible advice. If it gets me one additional booking over someone that doesn't have a rating, then brilliant and that one booking would more than cover the fee.

As a juxtaposition, my parents ran self-catering cottages in Irish Republic for many years. They were rated at 2* and were a bit surprised they didn't get the same number of bookings as people with more stars, but wouldn't invest to get the additional rating.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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    Votes: 79 42.0%
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    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
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    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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