Holiday letting is the short-term rental of a property to people spending their holidays in that location. Properties are always fully furnished and ready for immediate occupation. Short term can mean anything from a few days to a few weeks. A holiday home is usually available for rent all year round.

Holiday accommodation has become a popular alternative to hotels and there are more and more booking websites to help you find customers.

Advantages of holiday letting

There are many benefits to holiday letting. If you let your property on a regular basis, you are likely to make a better return than if you let it permanently. There are several websites on the internet that can help you with all aspects of letting your property. They will sometimes advertise your property and even handle the booking and accounting. The higher rental income is one of the main advantages of holiday letting. Unlike permanent rentals, holiday rentals allow you to adjust prices according to the season.

You can also set a minimum length of stay. This has the advantage for you as a landlord that you have less turnover and therefore less work with changing bookings. If you do not specify a minimum rental period, new guests can arrive every day. A major advantage is that the risk of non-payment is very low as payment is made in advance. Also, the guest is often required to pay a deposit on arrival, so you are covered in the event of any damage to the property. Last but not least, the possibility of a personal holiday is another advantage. All you have to do is block off the period in question so that no one else can book at the same time and you can enjoy your stay in your own holiday home.

Disadvantages of holiday letting

Unfortunately, there are also disadvantages to holiday rentals. Especially in the beginning, you have to find customers and build up your clientele. Managing the property, not only during the summer months, means a lot of work. Acceptances, handovers, hiring tradesmen, accepting repairs and collecting any debts from tenants can be very time-consuming and take up a lot of your time. This is why there are special companies that take care of all the administration.

Property maintenance is an important factor in keeping your customers coming back in 10 or 15 years’ time. This includes not only repainting, but also keeping up with changing technology. In addition, there is no guaranteed income from letting holiday accommodation. While one summer may be fully booked, another year there may be few or no rentals. If you buy a holiday home in a popular area, the big disadvantage is that you will have a lot of competition as other holiday home providers set up in these areas. You will need to develop a strategy to stand out from the competition and make your property stand out.

Ideas for attracting tenants

When you have finally decided to offer your property as a holiday rental, there are a number of questions that arise. One of these questions is How do I get people to come and spend their holidays in my property?

We will give you some valuable tips on how to build your customer base. The presentation of the property is very important. Take nice, attractive photos. You can then use these photos to advertise your holiday rental on various internet sites or in the newspaper. Another option is to set up your own website for the holiday home. Here you can present all the important information clearly. One of the most important steps is to build up a regular clientele who will spend their holidays in your property on a regular basis. These are the cheapest and easiest guests for you to manage. Offer something to your guests and motivate them to become regulars. Special offers can always be very tempting. What about an early bird offer or a long term holiday offer?

These are just a few ideas to attract new guests, of course there are others.

Conclusion

A holiday rental is an ideal addition if you are buying a property for private use. This way you can avoid the property being empty when you are away and earn some extra money. However, you should not rely on this income as you cannot be sure that you will receive it regularly.

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