An increasing number of holiday rental websites are offering guests the opportunity to review accommodation after their stay.
Many second home owners are nervous of these reviews, fearing that poor feedback could wreck their reputation and future bookings. But there really is much less to fear than you imagine – in fact reviews can seriously boost your rental revenues when handled properly.
We’ve analysed holiday rental review patterns over the last few months and they throw up some results that may surprise you.

1. Mr Angry is in the minority

Conventional wisdom holds that the unhappiest customers are the ones who shout loudest. However in the holiday rentals sector the opposite is true. Over 90% of reviewers give positive ratings and write very constructive comments.
On closer inspection this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Renting a holiday home is a personal business and guests are likely to form a closer relationship with a property owner than a faceless firm. The result is that happy customers can’t wait to show their support (and reminisce on their holiday!) when they get home by writing a review.

2. Five is the golden number

When we analysed enquiry rates for property that had been reviewed, we found a tipping point once a property received five or more guest reviews. Enquiries surged at least 20% (much more for many properties) when visitors saw that the property had been heavily reviewed.
To make the most of this effect, encourage all your guests to write reviews after their stay. Email them after they leave, thank them for their stay and send them a link to your review page.

3. Poor reviews are essential to being believed

Web users aren’t stupid. Google undertook extensive research into shopper behaviour that shows people don’t believe online reviews when they’re all good. It seems that a poor review actually serves to make the good reviews more believable.
Potential customers are also very good at judging reviews by “how” they are written. Bad spelling or grammar is often a sign of an unthinking writer and people subconsciously downgrade the weight of such comments.

4. Complaints are an opportunity

Most holiday home owners will have at least one guest per year who just can’t be pleased. All your efforts will be in vain with this person and you should expect poor comments after their stay.
This can be a chance to really shine. Most review systems allow the owner to reply to guest comments and it is essential to use the opportunity wisely.
Never get into an argument – however tempting! Instead thank the guest for their stay and offer feedback on how you’ve taken their comments on board and have acted on them for the good of future guests. This conveys the message that you listen – something prospective renters value above all else.

Happy renting!
This article was written by Richard Speigal, Editor of España Breaks – a specialist website for villa holidays in Spain. The business has been operating in the rentals market since 2002.

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Holiday Rental Websites – Reviews Sections – Are You Scared ?

Here’s my step by step guide :

1) Click here to go to the paypal sign up page

2) Choose your country and language e.g. UK and Englsish

3) Choose “premier” account since you need to accept payments. If you will have a high turnover or want to add paypal buttons to your website so people can pay you directly then choose a “business account”

4) Fill in your contact details and choose a strong password.

5) Now you get something about making payments – e.g you can choose a  card or bank account that you want to be linked to the account. You can skip this step by clicking “Go to my account”

6) For most holiday home owners payments by Email will be sufficient which means your done ! As soon as you have confirmed your email address by clicking the link in your inbox, you can ask people to pay you by paypal by going to the “request money” tab on your account page. You can choose to send an invoice or a “money request”. For more advanced uses you can add paypal buttons to your website so people can pay you directly from there.

Further Thoughts

• Have a think about whether you want to pass on some of the fees to your customer. Leading holiday companies, airlines and travel agents do in general charge a credit card fee so don’t be too shy about it.
• In order to reduce the fees, you may want to try and get just the deposit taken through paypal and arrange for the balance to be paid by bank transfer or in cash later.

Are you taking paypal or any other alternatives? Are your customers asking to be able to pay with credit card / debit card or paypal itself ? If you have any other tips, please leave a comment.

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Paypal for villa owners

Here’s a list of items that most holiday letting properties should be stocked up with if you are going to have happy renters which of course can only help in terms of those important word of mouth referrals and indeed repeat guests.

Some of the items will depend on how accessible your property is to shops and how far your guests may have travelled to get to your holiday home or apartment. First impressions count for a lot and having the essentials in place or going that little bit extra can make a big difference following a long / tiring journey.

• Hygiene products – toilet roll and soap are essential, ensure anything like bleach is well out of harms way. A first aid kit may also be a good idea.

• Things to clean up with – after all it’s your house so you want to give your guests the tools they need to look after it ! Kitchen roll, Washing up liquid, Dish brushes /sponges, bin bags & dishwasher tablets (if applicable) should all be available as should hardware including a dustpan and brush . You might also like to provide laundry powder,

• Household items and replacements such as spare light bulbs, a torch, spare batteries for the torch, clothes pegs, additional blankets and pillows. If you want to go five star include a “pillow menu” in the pre arrival options and let your guests choose from a range of pillows ?!

• For meal times, a major part of most holiday home holidays – you need to provide enough plates, bowls and cutlery for at least your maximum number of occupants. Allow for breakages and extra visitors, many properties have a “rule” that if something more significant than a plate is broken the guests should replace as new or leave some cash. Also have you got enough chairs for at least your maximum number of guests ?

• For a BBQ, imagine how annoying it would be for your customers to find there is no matches or a  lighter – but ensure they are well out of reach from kids.

• Some extra touches your guests may appreciate – “wet weather items” – board games, books etc, sunny day in the garden items – tennis racquets, bats and balls, a nice welcome pack – perhaps a cake from the local area, milk, tea, coffee will surely be appreciated. Some holiday home owners prefer to have this as an extra service, others include it for free. If charging don’t give your guests cause to think they have been short changed.

I have read countless reviews of holiday accommodation and one thing I have learned is that little details like a welcome pack so guests can make a cup of tea really stick in people’s mind. What do you think of this list of essential items for holiday rental properties? If you have any suggestions please leave a comment.

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Essential Items For Your Holiday Home Rental

Police in Spain are investigating the case of Morairaway.com – a fraudulent villa rental company which advertised and took bookings for high end villas in Moraira, Javea about 80km north of Alicante. It seems many families from all over Europe have paid thousands of Euros for bookings with Moraira – for villas that have never even existed. The website has been taken down and there is now no way to get in contact with the “owners”. It seems as if the fraudsters used leading holiday home rental sites including holidaylettings.co.uk and holiday-rentals.co.uk to get initial leads for their properties and sent out receipts and booking confirmations containing arrival information.

What can people affected by the Morairaway.com fraud do now ?

Those that have booked with holiday-rentals may be covered by a rental guarantee which covers travellers for up to £3300 / €4000 that they may have paid to Morairaway or other fraudulent rental advertisers but not for flights, car-hire etc. To be eligible customers must have registered their booking for the scheme before they sent payment and they must have sent payment by credit card, PayPal, cheque or direct bank transfer.

People that have not booked through holiday-rentals or are not eligible for the guarantee should check with their banks / credit-card companies / paypal to see if they can reclaim any payments made to Morairaway. Customers should also seek alternative accommodation. Thanks to the publicity on this case I hope that some holiday companies will be offering deals for affected holidaymakers. We shall see.

The police station in Denia, from where the crime is being investigated can be reached on (00 34) 9 6578 3851

Questions raised by the Morairaway Case

How many more of these cases will come to light in the future, and on what scale ? Sad to say, but will there be copy cat crimes thanks to the publicity of this case ?

Is it time for the holiday home rental industry to develop an industry wide consumer protection system such as the rules governing package holidays (ATOL) and the leading bonding system for travel agencies (ABTA) ?

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Morairaway Scandal – Time for a bonding product ?

Whilst the mainland offers steady returns the Canary Islands boast year round sunshine. Creating a twelve month rental calendar that simply cannot be matched anywhere else in Europe. And whilst these seven islands are located off the coast of West Africa, many hundreds of miles south of the Iberian Peninsula, they still offer tourists all of the customs, culture and reassuring familiarity of a holiday in Spain.

Lanzarote is the most easterly of the islands and tourism first took off here back in the 1970´s. Expanding rapidly to an average of around 1.6 million foreign visitors annually. The bulk of them from the UK and Eire. So creating a very reliable market for English speaking owners of holiday rental properties on the island.

Importantly, Lanzarote is also serviced by some of the UK and Irelands leading low cost flight operators. Such as easyJet, Monarch and Ryanair. With return flights starting from as low as £150. So ensuring a steady stream of independent travellers who like to create their own holidays and who are on the look out for private rental accommodation. Which comprises around 40% of all tourist beds on the island.

Rental returns are solid too. With a standard two bedroom villa with pool commanding around £550 per week. But rising much higher than this during peak periods such as Easter and Christmas. Which are usually booked solid.

Where should investors be looking? The southern resort of Playa Blanca has expanded rapidly over the last ten years and is now established as the second most popular holiday destination on the island. Thanks to the fact that luxury villas were developed at the core of the blueprint. Currently, standard villa rental properties are available from around the €250,000 mark.

Those with a smaller investment budget should turn their attentions towards the islands oldest and most popular resort of Puerto del Carmen. Where apartment complexes rule the roost. With prices dropping sharply over the last year it is now possible to pick up a basic studio on a holiday complex from as little as €65,000. A price level unseen on the island for well over seven years.

Marketing your Lanzarote rental property is of course key. There are now a number of websites dedicated to the UK and Irish self catering holiday market – such as Lanzarote Guidebook. Which holds excellent rankings for search phrases such as holiday villas in Lanzarote. With listings costing €12 per month.

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Buying Holiday Rental Property In Lanzarote

So you though the hard work was winning bookings for your holiday home ? While renting out your holiday villa or apartments is a great way to earn additional income,  you are bound to come across certain challenges now and then. Courtney Wylie, Managing Director for Holiday-Rentals.co.uk said recently,

“To maximise bookings, it is essential you treat it like a business. Holidays are an emotional purchase, so providing good customer service and efficiently dealing with problems are integral to success.”

Pitfalls before arrival

Potential Problem:
Late payment of deposits or balances, and cancellations.

Solutions:

• Make your payment terms clear, including cancellation and refund policies. Send through with booking confirmation and rental terms and conditions.
• A common policy: deposit is non-refundable and a decreasing proportion of full balance is refundable the closer it gets to the holiday. All major tour operators do this.
• Late payment of deposit: send a few friendly reminders, then a final notice saying if you do not receive payment by day/date, the booking will be cancelled.
• Late payment of balance: As above, plus a reminder that deposit is non-refundable.
• In both cases, telephone first. However, always follow up with written confirmation.

Pitfalls during the stay

Potential Problem:
Renters lock themselves out / lose the key.
Solutions:
Plan ahead of time for this and make sure you have a procedure.

• Firstly, using a keyless lock with a code will avoid this problem altogether!
• Be sure all fees associated with lost/misplaced keys are clearly marked in your Ts&Cs.
• Distribute as many spare keys as possible to trustworthy people; housekeeper, property manager, complex manager etc…
• ‘Hide-a-key’ somewhere; but somewhere VERY well hidden! Or, use a secure key lock-box such as the portable GE KeySafe™ .

Potential Problem:
Something goes wrong at the property during the renters’ stay.
Solutions:

• If you can’t quickly remedy problems at your property, guests will most likely go away with a poor impression and you will not enjoy repeat business.
• Be prepared! Make sure you’ve got plenty of emergency contact details for (reliable!) any type of service provider you may need.
• A good strategy for ‘problem resolution’ is the ‘Three Rs’ from Robert Grede: Recognition, Remedy and Reinforcement:
• Recognition: first, apologise and assure them you are springing to action.
• Remedy: solve all problems as quickly as possible, even minor ones. Keep guests informed of progress.
• Reinforcement: once the problem’s fixed, acknowledge the inconvenience again with an appropriate gesture, such as a part refund or discount.
• Thirdly, have details of alternative accommodation nearby.

Potential Problem:
Renters behaving badly!
Solutions:
Hopefully you will rarely encounter this, but…

• Prevention is better than cure! Talk to all guests beforehand to find out more about them, and the reason for the trip.
• Ensure ‘unacceptable’ forms of behaviour and subsequent consequences are detailed in your Ts&Cs and/or rental rules.

Potential Problem:
Renters damage something, or things appear to be missing.
Solutions:
The odd cup breakage is inevitable, but make sure you’re covered for other damages by;

• Asking for a refundable deposit of £100-£500 (or a proportionate amount for your property size/value) before handing over keys.
• Make it clear in Ts&Cs that all damages/losses must be paid for in full.
• Make a full inspection of the property before and after departure. Keep a written, signed and dated note of the outcome.
• Keep ALL receipts for replacement items or work done to repair damages.

Also don’t forget home insurance:

Get sufficient insurance to cover your property and liabilities. A good company to consult is Intasure, a holiday and second home insurance specialist.

As ever it would be great to hear from anyone about problems they have encountered when renting out property – and any solutions / precautions you can recommend. Please leave a comment or contact us.

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Potential Pitfalls with holiday rental by owner

To get underway (no obligation), visit holidaylettings.co.uk and sign up as a new advertiser. That’s pretty easy :

a) There is a registration box in the top right. Put in your name, phone number, email address and choose a password.

b) Enter your postal address, this is not used in the advert. Then simply state the country you are resident for tax purposes & then add which methods of payment you are able to accept for your holiday home rental. ( Guide to paypal for holiday rental owners )

c) When they ask how did you hear about us choose “other website”, then “other”, then type or paste in “holiday-home-rental.co.uk”.

d) Now we are getting into the bit where you construct your holidaylettings advert – sign up to the free SMS notification service with your mobile number and specify which languages you can handle rental enquiries in.

e) Your account is now ready for you to add your property to holidaylettings and take advantage of their excellent branding and web presence. It’s a step by step process where you add the elements of your advert – location, property, prices, photos etc. There’s some really good advice on how to make a great advert there on site or refer to some of the articles on the holiday home rental site

f) When it comes to payment, you need to pay the annual fee up front to take advantage of the holiday lettings enquiry guarantee. To get a feel for the system, you can register for free – you don’t have to pay anything until you are happy with your advert and want to publish it.

Whenever you’re ready, give www.holidaylettings.co.uk a go, no obligation. Or bookmark this page for when you need a boost in ads or your current rental website subscription is coming to an end.

If you have any queries at all or more tips to share feel free to leave a comment on the form below.

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Advertise on holidaylettings website

Make your holiday home stand out.

1. Why not add a fun extra to your property – an ice-cream maker, espresso machine, Belgian waffle maker, popcorn popper, smoothie maker, bread maker or even karaoke machine? Guests love playing with gadgets they don’t have at home. Get one of these and watch the booking enquiries roll in!
2. Make sure you always have a few decks of cards and a board game for a rainy day or an evening in.
3. Stock up on a selection of books – fiction, guide books on the local area and local cookbooks – plus DVDs.
4. Consider offering a grocery-stocking service, or providing details of local grocery delivery services. Have your guests email a grocery list for their stay and stock the kitchen prior to their arrival.
5. Grow herbs, vegetables or fruit in the garden outside your property. This will add a nice touch and attract foodies who pride themselves in preparing authentic dishes using local ingredients.
6. If you own a luxury or high end property (or want to reposition your home as one), consider offering in-house spa services to your guests. Look for local masseuse and beauty therapists you could team up with. Or if you own property in a holiday rental market where many travellers go for spa getaways (e.g. Barbados), you may be able to increase your rentals by targeting this segment.
7. Offer to teach guests a new skill or suggest them to try a new activity at your property – yoga in Marrakech, cookery classes in Tuscany, belly dancing or carpet weaving in Turkey are just some of the options. If you can’t teach them yourself, contact locals with speciality knowledge and skills to do the job.
8. Learn about the nearby vineyards and local wines produced in your area and market it as a wine destination and publicise that you can help guests organise excursions. Speak to the local suppliers and see if they would be happy to offer your guests a discount in return for you publicising their business.
9. Be a tour guide – offer to take guests to nearby museums or galleries and give them a personalised private tour, or find locals who could do this for you.
10. Create a games room at your property – kids will love it and parents will get some valuable me-time by the pool. This is especially a good idea if you have plenty of space, I can remember really appreciating the games room – including table tennis table – in the games room of an old farmhouse in The Dordogne we rented in Summer 2007.
11. Do you have an exercise bike, treadmill or any other unused sporting equipment stocked up in your garage? If so, consider relocating it to your holiday home. A private mini-gym will appeal to health-conscious holiday-makers – or those of us who always promise ourselves to get fit while on holiday, but never actually get round to it!
12. Suggest your home as a wedding venue. Many people marry during the off-peak periods in autumn, winter and spring, and while you may think: “Oh no! Not in my home”, think of the revenue that you might be able to get from a wedding booking. You could potentially make all sorts of extra money or anyway, new friends by putting the wedding planner in touch with local caterers, a photographer etc etc. You never know some of the guests might like your property so much they make a booking.

Thanks to Holiday-Rentals.co.uk for help with this article. Have you got any tips you would like to share ? Please leave a comment. If you would like to contribute an article please get in touch.

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Make your holiday rental property stand out

Advertising Online
To start with, type in typical search words into a search engine that relate to your property such as the resort name and the type of property. An example search might be “rent apartment benalmadena”. Now look at which websites come up in the results, if any are holiday home rental websites then they should be on your shortlist to advertise with.

Use these links to research the prices your “competitors” are charging and note down any thing that might put people off renting from the existing advertisers and have a think if you have the solution to the problem. You need to sell your property to a viewer so talk up the good points and make it personal. Write how much you love the local area, how eating breakfast on the sunny terrace is a great way to start the day. That sort of thing will get you the enquiries.

There are many free holiday home rental websites now but in my experience of renting out both my own holiday apartment and a portfolio of villas for an overseas property investment company it is simply not worth the hassle of setting up an entry, and keeping an availability calendar up to date for the few or none enquiries it brings. Choose one leading paid directory such as holidaylettings.co.uk or holiday-rentals.co.uk and put the time into making a good advert that stands out from the crowd.

There’s loads more tips on how to rent out your holiday home on this website. Feel free to leave a comment with your own tips or suggestions.

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Renting your holiday property

• Prioritise getting the high-value weeks booked, and be prepared to do deals. In case you hadn’t noticed, there is a recession on, which means people will have less money to spend on holidays. You are also competing with a growing number of owners.

• Market your property to specific groups. “The romantic-breaks offer is a good year-round one for smaller properties,” says Sylvia Blomeley, senior property consultant at Toad Hall Cottages. “People want detached cottages somewhere pretty, where there are good walks or views.” An open fire will add to the appeal, as will a large hot tub if you can squeeze one in.

• Invest in contemporary furnishings: there is no shortage of discounts at stores right now. Choose wipe-down leather sofas or designs with removable covers, such as those at Ikea.

• Listen to the letting agents’ advice: if they tell you to put in a flatscreen television, then do so. In a tough market, such details can be all-important. The more expensive the property, the more holidaymakers will expect the latest high-tech equipment.

• Read up on tax law. Revenue & Customs treats holiday lets more favourably than ordinary buy-to-lets – and even allows you to offset any loss you make against your income as a whole. At the same time, you must follow certain rules: the property must be furnished, available for a minimum of 140 days and actually let out for at least 70 of them at a market rent (which means no mates’ rates). They can be let for longer-term occupation (more than 31 consecutive days), but not for more than 155 days a year. Confused? Go to www.hmrc.gov.uk and search for “holiday lettings”, or consult an accountant.

These holiday home rental tips I spotted at an article in The Times aimed at UK second home owners.

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Holiday Home Rental Tips for Owners