Do you really want fluffy towels and new linens? What are your limits with country holiday lets?

[cottageinthecountry]

I'm about to renovate a cottage for letting out for holidays. It's in a very rural position and can withstand a lot of wear and tear regarding mud and wildlife. I'm letting it out on Airbnb which has been great but I'm quickly getting drawn into the competitive linen game.

It's a great place for children and pets to charge about in the mud and I'm almost certain this will be brought into the house on a regular basis - it's rural position is its charm. But how do I market something so that people don't expect it to be spotless as a spa resort and give me bad ratings and disgruntled reviews?

I would be grateful if you could tell me what you prefer - a bit of mud and insect life or a spotless haven? What are your boundaries?

OK here goes - be gentle with me.

www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/1982820

And I am getting a photographer in to do proper pics.

I love staying in ramshackle places, much more interesting. I think big thick towels are lovely, and cotton sheets definitely, but quirky is what would bring me back, not boring run of the mill.
We stayed in a beautiful cottage last year, flagstone or wormeaten wooden floors, antique mismatched furniture, old fashioned kitchen. It was gorgeous. I do think a very good bathroom is important though, especially if you only have the one. Do you have space to make the bathroom really special?

Oh god I've just spotted the cobwebs under the windowsill.

The WC is quite big and has a large basin and all new.

I like it- good that you are getting photos done, I like to see every room when I'm looking.

It's very charming and I am sure loads would be enchanted by it.

(But I live in ancient and charming, so I like the opposite when we go away)

Americans, in particular, would really love it - perhaps you should target an international letting agency?

I would put that it is listed high up in the description (with maybe a brief explanation for overseas guests!)

I just wonder if airbnb is the right route?

Do you live there any of the time? I guess not.

Photos without puddles or snow would be good!

We stayed in an airbnb in Paris which was the owner's main flat - we were fine without any luxuries or even much space but it was a weekend and a great location.

I think it's too rural for the international crowd, there's not quite enough to do, it's better for people who are fairly local and want a long weekend or to relax in the country for a week or cyclists/walkers. Beach is a bit of a trek. There are a few quaint/desperate museums nearby along the lines of 'Barometer World' which I went to on a rainy afternoon in Devon.

OOh, interesting. Ok, if I was flicking through these pics, the comments I would be making to my DH are:
Cute garden in the opening pics. Needs the lawn mowing in the trampoline pic.
Not sure if the muddy path is just from this winters deluge, but looks a bit offputting, like you'd actually need wellies to get from the car to the front door. Some sort of path - chippings maybe?
A bit of a declutter would reduce stress levels if visiting with small children. make it easier to clean too.
Like a lot of the traditional furniture but hate the rattan coffee table and the cushions look a bit sad and in need of new pads.
Bathroom pic doesnt' really show bathroom. Ditto kitchen (although what you can see looks nice)
Fireplace looks amazing but not convinced the bright flower/creature things add anything to it!

Did you like the toothbrushes and the radox in the bathroom? Oh dear. I'm thinking of pulling it now.

I'm going the Airbnb route because the punters guests are ID'd. I feel protective about it and don't want any old body staying there and messing it up. It's also a very user friendly system which means I can stay on top of everything without having to find old emails and faff about with phonecalls. It tends to be a younger crowd use it and I'm hoping they are less opinionated more flexible.

Insurance and trampoline - is it worth it??

You definitely need more bathrooms!

We paid 1300 quid last August for a lovely 6 person cottage. It had 2 bathrooms which was about right.

Agree with all those who say it's got to be as nice as your own home. When renovating it, think of it as your home and think how you would like to live in it, rather than viewing it as a business venture.

Essentials for me:

Clean
Rustic charm etc
Comfy, large, quality beds
Well equipped kitchen
Decent modern tv and dvd player
Wifi

Amazing how many properties still don't have wifi. A bit like not having a tv was 20yrs ago.

Twelve, you're right about what you say about the pics - that's how it is for us when we go, not how it will be for guests. I HATE the rattan table with a vengeance. You know when you're so familiar with something that you don't see it? It's like that. It is going to be burned asap.

Trampoline insurance - really? There is a surroundy thing which we never put up. Will that help?

Yes I would put that up if it's a feature of your let!

It is a lovely building. Light the log burner for the proper pics, you really need to declutter/ add in some better furniture. Ebay/ gumtree can be your friend. I've picked up some lovely bits of old furniture for a song.

Lovely views, try and do some research into your competitors occupancy levels (online calendars will show available bookings and the way their rates vary through the year) also work out your market I'm rural Scotland but more than half my bookings in the summer are German and Dutch. Generally English families April/ May. Shorter breaks for localish people in the chillier months.

It's not something I'd take on being two hours away. If something goes wrong as it does in older properties then people, rightly, expect it to be rectified that day. Also ironing proper linen takes time, factor in an hour a set if your doing it yourself. You can manage to flip the towels/ bathmats (which also have to be ironed) on a changeover day but the linen you'll have to take home and have cluttering up your utility room at home!

Do a proper business plan and remember the practicalities, for example are your bins by the road if not you can't really expect a guest to drag a wheelie bin down the lane. It's bin night where I am, can you tell?

I would want to see photos of the bedrooms and definitely more comfy seating in the living room.

Spend a week in the house yourselves trying it out. I don't think the owners of the cottage we are in have done this. It's a beautiful cottage in a beautiful setting and has clearly had a lot of money spent on it but it is let down by some details which would be easy to sort. There's nowhere to put clothes on in the bedrooms so a box or chair would be nice. No towel rails or hoops by the sinks in the bedrooms. There is a tv and video player with a massive load of old videos for the children to watch but the missing lead makes them all useless. There aren't enough power points for charging phones, iPods, etc. The shower head in the main bathroom tips down and points back towards the wall so you can't stand under it properly. The sound quality on the tv makes watching it quite unpleasant. The coat pegs need gluing back into their holes because they fall out when you hang your coats on them.

One more thing. I am far more irritated by the fact that the shower in my bedroom doesn't get hot water to it than I would be if it were just not there. If you fit something, make sure it works properly.

There are plenty of lovely things about this cottage and lots of thought clearly went into the original design but the lack of attention to detail has been irritating and makes me feel less secure about rebooking because we don't know what else could have slipped by the next time.

The garden shots look pretty. But agree redo inside, which you are anyway.

Do not put laminate flooring in, it will ruin it.

Thanks Gracie, the bin thing is crucial and one I had forgotten. Need to try and get round the neighbours to allow me to put a bin store that they won't object to. The fact that some bright spark decided it's also a conservation area won't help either.

At the moment one of the neighbours lets us leave our rubbish in their bins but that will have to change.

I love the sound of your place do we get some pics? We stayed in Fort Augustus monastery a while ago. Amazing place but as it was recently converted it was underfloor heating throughout and really warm.

Goldmandra that sounds terrible. I would never let things like that happen. I am far too proud! And practical minded. Would you say the price you paid reflects the quality?

And damn you OP, I now have lots of lovely holiday cottages popping up in my sidebar ads and am twitching at booking a holiday!

You don't need trampoline insurance in the UK. You do need a sign saying it is not your responsibilityif anyone gets hurt on it.

I'm writing this from a holiday let. As nice as this place is, I will be writing a review as all the beds have Walmart bedding and are horribly uncomfortable. We've all been cold at night.

Op, did you do a business plan before you bought the place? You seem rather clueless about pretty basic things like insurance for the trampoline, how many bathrooms people will require, restrictions of a listed building , how living two hours away and planning to do things yourself will work etc etc.

But most importantly, you don't seem to have thought about how you will make any money and who you are targeting. You can't think of it as your home - you need to start thinking of it as your business.

I'd stop worrying about towels and sheets and start worrying about insurance, bathrooms, consequences of putting laminate flooring in a listed building (listing doesn't just mean structural things like walls and how the outside looks) and how on earth you are going to get a return on your investment.