Tenants v holiday let

r.mac_2

My parents are currently renting a property to tenants. However, the rent does not cover their costs and they have decided it is time to think about other options - one being holiday lets because the property is in a beautiful and popular tourist area of Scotland. However, we need to research whether it will be financially worth the work involved and the risk of the holiday market.

I'm looking to work out a fair rental price, for which I am researching similar properties in the area. I also need to look at occupancy rates - though I'm not sure how to do this. I need to know how many weeks the house is likely to be rented out and know the minimum required to make it a better financial option than the current tenants. I also need to work out the costs of using a 3rd party advertiser/booking agent and setting up a website for direct bookings. (I've volunteered to research this on their behalf)

can anyone offer me any advice? or better still have a holiday let and can tell me how they run it?

Many thanks in advance.

chickmug

Contact your regional tourist board as in the areas I know they are very helpful and especially with occupancy rates.

Welshwoofs

My advice is to try and get in contact with the owner of a holiday cottage which is in an area of similar attractiveness and ask. I recently did this (as it's an option I'm considering myself) and got a wealth of useful info from a seasoned holiday rental owner....including the big pitfalls to avoid.

Also go on to one of the big holiday letting sites like Welcome Cottages,search for places in your area and look to see how many weeks ahead they're booked up for.

PasturesNew

The biggest issue is how you are going to market it and get people in. Some holiday lets have taken years to get their places full... and some never manage it.

Speak to the local tourist office to find out what there's a shortage of. Maybe there's a niche you can fill, e.g. for pet owners, wheelchair users, gays, faith-based.

See what incentives others give. e.g. arranging trips for them, pickup/delivery from train stations, veg box on arrival, tickets booked, itineraries created.

Once you have anybody come in, you then need to work out how you're going to get them to book again. There's no point getting a booking, then waving them off on the last day saying "do come again" - you have to get them on your mailing list, mail them out with late deals from then on. Perhaps offer if they book a week in high season at full price they get a free week off peak.

I know somebody who booked a hotel and had to cancel at the last minute, even though they cancelled a peak time room the hotel wrote to them and said they'd hold their 25% deposit against anot her holiday if they took it within 6 months - they assumed they'd lost their deposit. If the hotel hadn't done that they'd have never gone, what they ended up doing was taking up the offer and now they've been back 5x and told their friends (who have also used it).