Starting holiday lets

ouraggie

It’s only a small property and I reckon I could could clean it and cleansheet the bed etc in  1.5 hours.  

We've let out our holiday cottage for 12 years. I do the changeovers myself. There are only 2 bedrooms, ensuite, kitchen, lounge and bathroom but I start at 10 a.m, go at it like a whirling dervish non stop, only have 30 mins for lunch and still often just manage to be ready for 4pm. As somebody has commented above, you never know what you will arrive to (eg broken curtain pole hanging out of the wall, microwave defunct but nearest Argos 8 miles away, dog sh#t trodden in all the way up stairs carpet, blocked sinks etc etc). You will need to sort these as well as getting the cleaning done. Many guests will not mention nything broken in case you charge them for it. They just hope you won't notice. 
Interestingly, with guests I typically find that the ones who might look a bit rough/down at heel leave it spotless. It's the well-spoken professionals who tend to leave you a lot of cleaning. 

Pennylane

ouraggie said:

It’s only a small property and I reckon I could could clean it and cleansheet the bed etc in  1.5 hours.  

We've let out our holiday cottage for 12 years. I do the changeovers myself. There are only 2 bedrooms, ensuite, kitchen, lounge and bathroom but I start at 10 a.m, go at it like a whirling dervish non stop, only have 30 mins for lunch and still often just manage to be ready for 4pm. As somebody has commented above, you never know what you will arrive to (eg broken curtain pole hanging out of the wall, microwave defunct but nearest Argos 8 miles away, dog sh#t trodden in all the way up stairs carpet, blocked sinks etc etc). You will need to sort these as well as getting the cleaning done. Many guests will not mention nything broken in case you charge them for it. They just hope you won't notice. 
Interestingly, with guests I typically find that the ones who might look a bit rough/down at heel leave it spotless. It's the well-spoken professionals who tend to leave you a lot of cleaning. 

Thanks very much.  That’s all really helpful.

Pennylane

Update.

The property details and photos only went online last week and I have 4 bookings so far!  3 x 7 day holidays  and 1 x mid week break.  

First visitors arriving tomorrow. House is spotless, garden tidy, garden chairs and table in shed, welcome pack left, contact details to hand, heating on, everything checked and double checked. hand sanitisers, hand wash and face masks left for visitors.  Suddenly remembered we needed a TV licence so quickly organised that.    

Fingers crossed the bookings continue.  👍 
Hope other holiday lets on here are getting booked up too. 

Pennylane

We were booked two of the weeks in April, all of May and all of June is booked up too.  We have bookings for July, Aug and Sept and just got one for October.  I am well pleased with this.  We have so far had all favourable comments from visitors.  We actually need a few non booked days to go and paint the garden shed!  I definitely am pleased that it’s just a one bed property as it seems to attract older couples who leave the place immaculate.  We do our own changeover and hoover carpets and mop and disinfect hard floors. We air off the rooms while we cleansheet bed and scrub the bathroom within an inch of it’s life!  We check all the crockery and cutlery, pull any weeds up etc.  We will need to pay someone to do this when we go on holiday ourselves but the lady next door has already hinted that she would be up for it as she has recently retired.  I can’t think next year will be as good as this but, so far, so good. 

Keswick1uk

I'd recommend you pay her well but, also  run a clean through with her and have a checklist.

So everything is done to your own high standards and you take account that a good, flexible, cleaner is.worth their weight in gold.

Splatfoot

Keswick1uk said:

I'd recommend you pay her well but, also  run a clean through with her and have a checklist.

So everything is done to your own high standards and you take account that a good, flexible, cleaner is.worth their weight in gold.

At least £15ph plus extra if she does the washing.

Pennylane

Update.  Had 3 great years but this year has been patchy.  I have spoken to several other holiday let owners and agencies and it seems to be the same for everyone.  We won awards 2 years running and have really enjoyed doing holiday lets.  More people going abroad again so we are going back to long term renting starting in October.  

Albermarle

My impression is that prices for renting somewhere nice in UK, have increased since Covid to a point that will be putting some people off ( cost of living crisis etc).
Plus like you say a general move back abroad after a boom in UK staycations, probably not helped by a poor Summer so far that looks like it could continue in a similar vein.