Holiday let owners

[origamiwarrior]

Setting up a thread for holiday let owners (UK and abroad) to share hints/tips, advice etc. Also if anyone is thinking of going into this business, you're welcome to ask questions of those who have done it.

I have a Grade 2 listed two-up, two down cottage in Sussex, owned outright and let out on an AST for a couple of years but launched this spring as a holiday cottage. Visit England 4-star, quirky/period/vintage style. Letting it though a local agency, and I do the changeovers myself. Had a great start, pretty much fully booked until October.

Advice needed - how to speed up changeovers!! I'm taking the full 5 hours, and it's only a tiny 2-bedroom place! I find the kitchen so time-consuming to clean/check. I think it's going to get harder in winter when I can't chuck things outside as I go. I seem to be constantly moving things around as it is. If you have cleaners, how long does it take them to changeover?

Look forward to hearing from other owners about your properties/experiences!

We left Sykes very fast. Far too much damage and petty theft from their bookings. Our worst ones broke a leg off a new dining chair but just propped it back up. Luckily it was me that was the first to sit down on it... the cost of that repair was more than my "profit" on the week after Sykes had made there money.

I really dont know why you are getting such a hard time bird but it always amazes me what firm conclusions can be pulled from the ether based on a half read post and a few photos!

Bird you got a very hard time on the thread. I think some people don't like the idea that we make a 'profit' from them, and then get snippy.

But I think the responses are a cross section of what people are thinking in holiday lets, and there were some people who think you 'deserve' damage because they perceive the furniture to be poor quality (even though its not) Also the 'you have insurance' brigade who probably think this on holiday.

Some of the comments were just nasty for no reason.

I wish there was a definitive answer on the deposit thing. I want to take one really, as our 2nd let is our new home. But I do worry about putting people off. It wouldn't cover the big stuff anyway.

Just wanted to say bird, not everyone is a dick on mn. Couldn’t believe some of the comments. Some people are really jealous.

Hope you have better luck with your next guests.

We are currently in our holiday home near Estepona, boy is it hot. We don’t rent it out, and going on the comments on the other thread I am glad.

Also we can not claim on our insurance due to the access. Damage claims cost highly in premiums so really not worth it.
If someone came to stay overnight in their home and jumped on a bed and broke it I'm sure they wouldnt be able to claim on their contents insurance.
The guests asked for their deposit back to the agent at check out.
She was in disbelief.
I'm sure I will hear from him.

Regarding deposits, what do people here think of the "Good Housekeeping Waiver" described below (and used by lots of other agencies in the same 'group'). Surely that just encourages people to live like slobs and not to be careful with the furnishings?!

www.coquetcottages.co.uk/your-stay/property-care/

Although maybe the agency takes the risk, I.e. the cottage owner claims the £150 back from the agency if there is damage, otherwise the agency pockets the waiver, so it's a type of insurance? Still think guests would be less inclined to empty the fridge before they left though, knowing they had £150 worth of cleaning/damage available to spend!

Have a two bedroom flat on the South Coast near the beach. A combination of holiday lets in the summer, mainly families with young children, and student lets in the winter gives us almost full occupancy and a net return on capital of around 6%.

We use a (very good) local agency. They are adept at spotting problem tenants - stags and hens are common in the area. Their total costs (clean, linen hire, toiletries etc) and commission plus VAT probably work out to around 40% of the gross holiday let revenue. But they work hard for their money and summer rents are high so plenty left. On cleaning I think they usually use moonlighting chambermaids from local hotels, who are good and fast. I like the fact that the flat is fully equipped when we use it, and that we can lend the flat to friends and simply as them to cover the cleaning cost, meaning they don’t feel obliged to clean and that we don’t feel let down.

Almost all our tenants are brilliant and leave the flat thoroughly clean. The agency is clear though. If the clean takes longer than four hours they are charged.

When we relocated to the UK we stayed for 3 weeks out of season in a holiday let that allowed pets - we have 2 house cats. Not that many places accepted any animals, and the vast vast majority stated they accepted dogs, rather than pets. It may well be some were open to the cats, but it was off putting to think about going through them all one by one and contacting the owners. Totally understand some people might not have wanted any pets other than dogs but just thought I'd mention it for those who do accept animals.

We take cats! You just need to ask people if they include cats.

So do we - I think most dog friendly places do. I don't advertise it though

That's my point though. If I had 2 potential places, one I knew I could take the cats and one that might accept them or might indeed only accept the dogs they state they accept on their website then all other things being equal I'll just go with the one I know will be OK. It's booked, job done. No need to wait for someone to get back to me and potentially say no.

Although in fairness I don't normally take my cats to holiday lets, as I said this was a relocation move, but it filled 3 out of season weeks for someone and was a hot topic of discussion on the expats forum I used to frequent.

Hi @bird the damage you've incurred from those guests does sound very extensive. Sorry to hear about that. I'm sure in time we will get our fair share of horror guests!

Brilliant tread op, I will read it all later but just a quick question;

What to do with duvets that I don't use any more, they are feather and down all season 3 in 1, perfectly clean and usable?.
I only changed to non feather as have regulars that are allergic to feathers and it was a pain to have to change them.

Local homeless charity? Local seamstress to use in cushion fillings?

I change all mine every year and they go to a local animal rescue charity. They may not want feather though.

Wish I could have a holiday let. Sounds hard work but fun.

If jot too cheeky can I ask hat size is the property, where and how much do you charge for it?

Oh! Good thread .

We have a two bed holiday let on a small complex in North Cornwall in a very popular resort, not Newquay! We allow dogs because the local area and beach is very dog friendly. It would be foolish not to.

It was our family's holiday home for 30+ years and we inherited it when my Dad died. We have dogs and always took them with us when it was just 'ours' but to keep it long term we need to maximize our lets.

We employ an amazing local housekeeper/cleaner who does all the changeovers and maintenance. We would struggle without her and pay her well. Our problems come from the 'Management Committee'. They seem to want to block people enjoying themselves. It doesn't affect our customers - it all gets belched out at the AGM . I hate to say it but they are all men of a certain age and lack the foresight of what will happen to their investment .

We are in our third season and are fully booked. We managed to grab a week recently for the first time in three years.

Sounds hard work but fun

It can be incredibly stressful. Some guests have saved up all year for their holiday and have great expectations. The wifi being slower than they are used to can cause trouble out of all proportion to the issue.

And if drains are going to block then they will do so at 8pm on New Years Eve - yes that did happen to me. Ruined my New Year as well as theirs....

@Elphame. Sounds very hard work

It has its moments! Most guests are lovely and no trouble at all.

Oh God, don't talk to me about drains at the moment :( I have a septic tank. Thanks to a feud between two of the villagers going back 25 years, instead of going house - drain - septic tank - soakaway, it goes house - drain - septic tank - very long pipe - soakaway. We are trying to find the end of the pipe, as my drains guy thinks it's silted up where it goes into the soakaway, causing it to back up (he's had his powerflushing system down it as far as it extends). The person who put the pipe in stuck a marker in the ground for me and said dig down there about 18" and you'll find it - well, two blokes and a digger came and had a good scrape around for me and found nothing. Going to have another go when the digger guy is next free and drains guy has emptied the septic tank for me to give me some breathing space, but I have a horrible feeling with parties of 5 booked in for 3 out of the next 6 weeks (we usually get couples) that I'm going to get phone calls :(

@doilooklikeatourist the poldark ladies sound fabulous.

What do people do re change overs if they don't live near the property? Considering buying a holiday house overseas and letting out when we are not there.

Our place is on IOW and we're with Classic Cottages who, touch wood, so far have been really good - they have an office on IOW too which is great. The test of any relationship of course comes when there's real problems - which we haven't encountered yet. We are in first year and have 22 weeks booked YTD, which is not amazing but ok. Income should easily cover costs and give us a bit.
We've resisted nudges from extended family for freebies as we do need the place to pay....it's a serious business. Where have others stood on this....family & friends requests????

We live next door ( but far enough away so there’s plenty of privacy ) so manage our own changeover ( with help from a cleaner )

We have a septic tank too !
Oh the joy 🤢 of a clog that needed jetting

We don’t take bookings over Christmas and New Year for the very reason of something going wrong over the holidays

Just imagining the phone call to say the oven won’t work , and I’m trying to cook a turkey ?
Yep , so am I !

Re friends and family , we do let them stay for free , as long as it’s someone we want to see ( and they generally take us out for dinner 😀or something similar )

We have a ski chalet in the French Alps that we let out 9 months of the year (more bookings in summer than winter). Trick with getting locals to do the clean & change over is having your change over day on a Sunday - this means that you are not competing with all the other lets for staff. It is also better for the skiers as they get to ski on the quietest day of the week - ie Saturday when slopes are empty as everyone else is packing up to leave or arriving - also they get to do any ski hire stuff on less busy day as well.

Seems that there is a long season in UK which is great. If you are looking abroad be careful to ensure that the season is sufficient for ROI if needed. We are lucky as we have 3 very different seasons - skiers, cyclists, tri- athletes, extreme sports (singles/couples/groups etc and then the families in July and August.

We have a small up market B&B next door - they are more than happy to generate extra revenue by managing our let, doing the change over etc.