Advice on renting a property out as a holiday cottage- anyone an experience of letting agencies etc?

[totalfandango]

Can anyone recommend holiday rental agencies who are really good at marketing your property and getting your rental income in?

Can I also ask if you have done this kind of rental what did you do regarding changeovers (cleaning and housekeeping etc) if you were unable to do it yourself?

Any advce very much appreicated, thank you.

Try looking at this forum www.laymyhat.com/forum/

Loads of owners who are really helpful and if you read through the old threads you should find alot of your questions answered.

I use an agent that is a specialist in the region my property is in. They are also part of cottage line which is a national co-op for marketing. I have a local housekeeper who has a team of trades people who can do work and keeps the property top notch. We are rated by visit Britain (4star) and this helps with our bookings.
We have hotel quality linens and do not impose our personality on the property. We have high booking rates and good levels of repeat business.

We use English Country Cottages/Hoseasons at the moment and I absolutely would NOT recommend them - which is unfortunate as they have a massive market presence. We will be doing our own marketing/bookings next year. At the moment I have a housekeeper, supported by a cleaner and a handyman. Our property is 300 miles from where we live which is a complete nightmare - for family reasons we didn't have a choice of location.

FrenchFancy - thanks for the link

If you are in the Westcountry I have heard good things about Helpful Holidays.