To those who run holiday cottage/ glamping- can you advise me?

[Twoshoesnewshoes]

I work in quite a stressful sector and would like to step down after my youngest leaves Uni in three years.
I have always liked diy, doing up properties, planning land etc.
so I’ve been thinking for some years that I’d like to do holiday cottage and/or a small glamping project.
I need to bring in around £1500 ish after costs each month.
my friend who has a one bed annexe thinks this is achievable- any thoughts? It can be average over a year.
I would aim for a two bed cottage, or three caravans plus bell tents, or a combination of the above.
we live in a beautiful popular area of Devon.
thanks!

I also think it’s worth thinking about how hard you would need to work to make that level of money - especially in high season if you have multiple units with guests coming in and out. I would bet that there are easier ways of making the £1500 a month you need.

It’s not realistic to have same day changeover on multiple properties if your doing all cleaning and changeover yourself.
As an idea our 2 bedroom property is a minimum of 3 hrs for a quick turnaround, that’s if it’s left clean ish, doesn’t include garden maintenance (even basic like sweeping leaves, watering, deadheading, weeding adds a lot of time. Actually gardening takes days).

Most properties are 10 am check out and 3 pm check in. So you would have max 5hrs to clean and change multiple properties, fix anything, maintenance, etc. laundry isn’t included in that time but washing and ironing takes ages.

You need multiple sets of linen. Or rent it and add it to costs of renting. We have an agent with access to maintenance people. We live too far away to manage anything else but it’s a service we pay a premium for. Unless you are handy, you need someone who can help you out at the drop of a hat. Plus when things get broken, how quickly will you get replacements? If you are cleaning, it’s unlikely to be on that day.

Also Shepherds huts cost a lot! A lot.

We make between 8% return on a good year and 4% on a bad year. When banks were paying 1%, 8% was worth the effort. Now banks are paying 5%, a 4% seems like hard work. Do you have 450-550K in cash to invest?

We’re moving in the next year or two, and looking at places with a bit of land and annexe or annexe possibility.
we can get that for the price of our house if we change area a bit. So no additional costs.

OP I do't know whereabouts in the UK you are hoping to move to, but, as previous posters have said, many (?most) local authorities now have very strict rules about short-term lets. In many areas, you might need planning permission and everywhere you'll need a licence (and that licence will specify the number of people you can have to stay in a property).
Here, just as an example, are the rules that people who run short term lets in the Highland Council area have to obey:
https://www.highland.gov.uk/info/20021/short_term_lets/1021/short_term_lets/4

see also: https://www.highland.gov.uk/info/20021/short_term_lets/1021/short_term_lets_licensing/2
and
https://www.highland.gov.uk/info/20021/short_term_lets/1021/short_term_lets_licensing/5
and
https://www.highland.gov.uk/info/20021/short_term_lets/1031/planning_permission_for_short_term_lets

The local authority in the are you plan to move to will have similar info on its website.

Also, glamping pods/shepherds huts/caravans will need approved water, sanitation and electricity and heating installed. And proper parking arrangements. And will be subject to a whole lot of safety rules and regulations.

Simple tents will also need approved water and sanitation arrangements, and, as a previous poster said, you will normally only be allowed to let out all these for a limited number of days each year.

OP we let a holiday cottage but fell into it as we had the house already (a long story). It's been succesful so far and we've been pretty much fully booked since we opened about six months ago but we work as well doing regular jobs.

Other people I know with holiday lets also use them as additional income on top of working or they're covering their costs on a house they regard as an investment. I think it might work for you if you have another maybe part-time job but I'm not sure it could be your only source of income.

I currently do two jobs plus a couple of projects, and I can’t cope;! So it would need to be my only job but I’m happy to work hard- I was thinking of doing the pop up glamping with bell tents for the 60 day window alongside side a couple of permanent lets. But having doubts now…

Have you considered the purchase of the land , huts or properties and associated mortgages , insurance and utility costs ?

Apart from insurance and utilities it will all be part of our property anyway so all accounted for. The bell tents I would buy additionally though. But they seem a fair investment.

You also need to allow cost of replacement. If you did bell tents how many years would they last.

If holiday cottages you need to allow for things like sofas and beds to be replaced and kitchens and bathrooms need to be kept updated every 10 years or so of you want to keep up with the competition.

I'm assuming the £1500 a month is after expenses? Bear in mind you'll have additional water costs and electricity costs (running a business, so no energy price cap). There will also be costs for replacing breakages/damage etc and probably some maintenance will be needed every winter to keep shepherds huts/bell tents looking fresh. So you'll obviously need to be making a lot more than that in order to have that as your left over income.

£120 a night is pretty ambitious for a Shepherd's hut- around here (also south west) you are probably looking at £50-70 a night for a Shepherd's hut that sleeps 2. Bell tents are normally in a similar price range, but might sleep a whole family. £120 a night for this sort of thing is really high end, so would probably require lots of investment at the start.

Kitting out a shepherd's hut or bell tent to a high standard will require some investment too- as will putting in a shower block or similar on the land!

Realistically for bell tents, your season is around April to October, but if it's a wet summer like this one, you won't be fully booked all the time. For Shepherd's huts, if they're well insulated (and so you've spent money on a decent one) then you can sleep in them all year round, but not that many people will be booking them in November/January, for example.

Really you're probably looking at needing to make £3000 profit for 6 months of the year- which is probably going to be a bigger concern than you're imagining, and comes with lots of complexities.

If you're going to buy somewhere with land, and you'll be near Dartmoor, for example, you may be better off just having a traditional campsite- I know it's not as fancy, but it'll be easier to run and people won't expect such high standards from you! You can also get a bit of off season stuff in the spring from ten tors etc, if you're willing to accept several tents of teenagers overnight at weekends!

Depending on where you are in the country, most of the last 6 months are very much part of the "season". IME, November and January (after new years) tend to be the months that are really quiet- the gap between about October half term and Feb half term (With the exception of Christmas) is pretty much the "off season".

It really does depend on the area.

My 1 bed cottage ( annexe) makes around £25k a year before expenses. My shepherds hut makes £35k, again before expenses. I am in a honey pot location in Cornwall.

It's our only income- we both gave up our jobs to do this. We do everything ourselves- cleaning, laundry, ironing, gardening. If we were paying someone the figures wouldn't add up but as we're not they do.

The market is pretty much saturated at the moment, there are new things coming on Air BnB every week. Winter bookings in the cottage are going to be much more difficult this year as there is now so much to choose from. We are investing in a hot tub to try to mitigate this!

I think an £18k profit from 2 things is certainly not unreasonable. If that was our only profit we would be fucked!

Thanks @Movinghouseatlast thats good to know - interesting that the shepherd’s hut make more than the annexe?
I think we’re in a good area - I’ve asked around and most people have said booked for 2/3rds of the time. But I guess if more accommodation is coming on then the market will get tighter.
hopefully if the new reforms come in in the next few years it will be that all holiday accommodation needs planning permission, so some of the second homes will no longer be let? Dunno 🤷‍♂️

I’m only open 6m a year but bring in about 1500-2k a month in that time.

We’d love to upscale and make my FT occupation and plan to, but DH would still work so we wouldn’t be reliant on it as the only source of income.

I have taken our places off Airbnb after a series of short bookings from people using them for parties.

We have a 3 night minimum booking plus a £250 housekeeping deposit. We are always fully booked but in a different area to you.

@SpideyWoman1 my DH will keep working too, I need (and want) to contribute though. What kind of accommodation do you offer?
@AnxiousPangolin where are you advertising now?

I’ve messaged you.

🙏

Do you actually have ahh experience of this? My profit is well over £3k for 6m. It’s a great return on the initial investment, better than rentals.

Theres nothing complex about it. It’s really straightforward.