People do holiday rentals for all kinds of reasons, but a prominent one is to finance one’s own holiday home. Sometimes that develops into a larger business, but whether or not that happens, it is worthwhile to approach renting in a business like fashion.

Advertising

We get all sorts of approaches from internet advertisers wanting our business, and if you have a presence on the web, however obscure, you will too. You need to make up your own mind about value for money, but at the moment we are paying from nothing to £90.00 ($180) per annum. You should advertise in as many as provide value for money.

A lot of these web sites are speculative, and if you are around long enough you will notice that many of them fail. So before you pay much money you must establish how well the advertisers do on the internet. Don’t look for their ranking on their search terms (bound to be top !) but on your own. Look to see where your holidays cottage rental would come on their pages. Are the pages randomised (so that even if you are bottom on the current search you may come higher on the next) ? Would your entry link back to your web site ? It should.

Old style paper based advertising.

You need it, because many people still don’t use the internet, and even if they do they prefer browsing through a catalogue. We have our own views for France, and favour Chez Nous, but its likely to be different elsewhere. Most publishers are not oriented towards getting results, or indeed being accountable for them in any way so you must be careful not to spend too much

Your web site.

You need one, if you haven’t got one already. It doesn’t matter where you are: holiday, hotel and travel bookings are possibly the major success story of the internet, and a web site will yield a high proportion of your bookings. At the minimum, your web site supports traditional paper advertising, at most it comes to supplant it completely.

Being Visible on the Internet

Without going into detail about web site marketing you need to be sure that your site is findable by people who are looking to book on their terms (what search phrases are they likely to use ?) – not your terms. Don’t depend upon the advice of a web site designer, they are mostly useless at the job. Get an expert on “search engine optimisation� or learn for yourself. Remember that however attractive your web site is, it is useless unless seen by people.

Online Bookings

Most holiday cottage sites will benefit by having a booking method, including payments. We are constantly surprised by how many people like to book online. Its not a frill – it brings extra business. You will need a PayPal Account, and some money to pay for the system. It will repay you. You can see an example (which is available for sale) at www.ruelmain.co.uk

Legal Stuff and avoiding Complaints.

Use other renters terms and conditions as a template for your own, they are usually easy to find on peoples’ web sites.

We’ve been in holiday rentals for 10 years. In that time we have had three complaints which we consider quite low (being spread across three properties). The first rule, I guess, is to offer holiday accommodation of a high enough standard, but after that the golden rule is to never, never, never be less than completely honest about your facilities.

If all else fails (you have a complaint) then first try to put things right, and if that fails then offer the complainer their money back on the spot.

Visitors Book

Always keep one. Most people are very complimentary, and its nice to know what they thought of their holiday – real morale booster. Useful for other visitors, because most people leave tips about where to go, what to do, etc. Useful too if you have a complainer (….why are you the odd one out….?)

Avoiding Scams

Never hold an unconfirmed reservation open for longer than you want to, and make that clear to the booker. Some people like to “keep their options open� while they make up their mind but there is no reason to let them do it at your expense.

Some people will contrive to turn up to start their holiday and then negotiate a lower rental. Absolutely incredible, but be prepared for it.

A common internet scam is for a person to approach you by email about renting your cottage. Requirements usually vague, with some kind of offer to pay by bankers draft, money transfer etc.. The motive is to get your bank account details. Get rid of them by asking for payment by cheque in advance (if genuine then you might still get the booking).

Charles writes about french gites etc at www.ruelmain.co.uk and on travel matters , gardening and health issues

Popularity: 100%