Free Book Offer for Holiday Home Owners

Now summer is coming to an end, most Holiday home owners will find their rentals slowing down and coming to an end.

So what to do now?  Now is time to take stock and think about next year, yes NOW is the time to start preparing for next year.  It is never too early to start planning for next years bookings, as in the next few short months holiday makers will start to make plans for next year's holiday.

So what should you be doing?

There are three main things you should be doing now:

1) Assess your results for this year.  Did you do as well as you expected?  Did you come across any problems?  Did you marketing reach your target market?  Did you meet your financial targets as you wanted / needed?

2) Look at your marketing.  Did you reach the market you wanted to effectively?  Did you get the results you wanted from your current marketing plan?  Should you change / extend your marketing to be more effective?  Are there any new products / services to help with your marketing?  Do you know and understand your target market and what they want?  Do you need or want to change your target market?

3)  Does your property need updating or changing to make it more sellable?  Do your photos need updating?  Are they good enough?  Do you need to change some furniture or decoration to make it more appealing?  Can you make some simple changes to bring in a higher level of client thereby increasing your rentals and profits?

These are the main things you should be thinking about, with a view to get it completed by December, ready for the end of year / new year bookings.

If you need some advice and ideas, take a look at this FREE book written by Award winning Letting Expert and Marketer, Wendy Shand.

For your FREE copy, click here

For a holiday home owner, this needs to be seen!

This Christmas we raised a toast to another very successful year and, in spite of the current economic climate, we are looking forward to an even bigger and better 2012.

As I write, in the last week of December, we are ending the year up by an amazing 30% on forward bookings for 2012 compared to this time last year all within what I think you’ll agree is really a pretty shoddy economic climate.  25% of these bookings are repeat bookings, people who have travelled with us before.  This is my favourite stat because I truly care that we are delivering on our promises.

So this is a thrilling end to the year which I think reflects the energy, enthusiasm, value and commitment that the Tots Team demonstrate.  For families who book with us we deliver peace of mind and save them stress and time and for holiday home owners we represent a successful partnership that brings not only bookings but advice, support and a stronger, more successful business proposition.

Read more

Original post can be found at Holiday Home Rental Site (Tots to Travel)

Now is the time!

With only a few weeks left in the year, this is a critical time for planning for next years rental season and having everything in place ready for the peak booking time in early January.  These early weeks are critical for most home owners in terms of getting a good start on the year's bookings and for some can make or break a year's success!

So are you ready?  Do you have a clear plan?

What are your targets?  It is very important to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and an plan of how to get there.

Who is your market?  Are you happy with that market or do you want to make a change, maybe upwards or 'across'?

Do you have all your marketing ready, are you getting enough exposure where you want it?

Have you reviewed  your performance of this year and identified how to improve for next year?

If you are struggling with any of these issues, or are new to the letting game, I can help.  Maybe you do great during high season but bookings slump once September comes and the school holidays finish and you want to change that.  What a difference that could make to your income, right!

In my role as a Letting Expert with Tots to Travel, I have helped several owners this year boost their profits by filling their empty 'out of peak' weeks by assessing their individual property and providing them with a highly detailed and bespoke strategy report full of advice that can be used across all of your marketing channels.

 If you are interested in finding out more, email me (details on my contact page) and find out how I can help.

Adding a touch of luxury to your holiday home

I was in town the other day and wanted to have a coffee.  There are many, many cafes in my town, you know how the Portuguese love coffee!  And I went to one I had never tried before but always looked at.  It is quite new, probably two years old, had a nice facade with nice tables and chairs outside and big umbrellas.  It all looks very nice, and as I sat there I looked around at the other customers and the corrolation of customer type to image, really rang true.  This cafe had a more upmarket look to it, with its furniture and large (expensive looking) umbrellas and servers.

And it got me thinking about holiday rental homes and how exactly the same thing happens.  Its known that people like to go upmarket with their holidays if they can, they like to spoil themselves and will almost always choose something which is nicer than home.  This has rung true this year with Tots as we have seen people choose to spend slightly more money on booking a nicer type of place, rather than save that difference for a dinner out or a night of babysitting.

So my thought is, if you make those little 'luxe' touches, which do not cost a lot but could move you 'up' in the eyes of your customer base, that can only bring a better 'type' of customer who is willing to spend some more money on those extra touches.

Even simple things like,

• Change light fittings to something more modern or elaborate (but not expensive if you shop around).  
• Paint one wall in the bedroom a different colour to give some life and also a theme, to add pictures or prints to (use your own photos of the local area, costs very little and adds a sense of 'holiday')
• Add bathrobes to the master bedroom, one off cost, which can be recuped several times and gives that  'boutique hotel' feel.

Recently I have been looking for a holiday rental for a late season break and the places I have seen, some I just wonder how they get bookings, examples are fuzzy photos, so I have to look really closely (and think Im going blind).  Child friendly properties with an unenclosed pool within a metre of the door of the house or low walls with a long drop on the other side.  Lounges with really old looking and cluttered furniture.  And then you have the bright, airy, modern dining rooms with painted walls and simple blinds.  Luxury, doesnt mean elaborate, just means to take the time, make it simple but pleasant.  

How to do it - clear photo, lots of light and simple furnishings. 

How not to do it.

If you are a holiday home owner looking for help to fill those empty weeks, get yourself a Free copy of Wendy Shand's book, 'Empty Weeks? How to get more bookings and make money from your holiday home.'

Social Media and Holiday recommendations

Hi All,

Once again I am banging on about the social media revolution and how it can affect your business.  Hays Travel recently conducted a survey of holidaymakers looking into how they choose their destination and information sources used.  Over half the respondents said they had used social media platforms to gain information about their destination and accommodation.  Many people also went further looking at local activities and attractions, restaurants, nightlife, beaches and children's activities. 

The two most used sources for this information were review websites, (eg.tripadvisor) and social media platforms of Twitter and Facebook, for the majority.  The use of these two sources far outweighs the use of the traditional Travel Agent.  People are looking predominantly personal reviews and recommendations, something that Travel Agents can not always give.

Yet another reason to get on-board with social media.  If you need any help, Im happy to advise.

For the full article, please visit
http://blog.sunshine.co.uk/britons-social-media-holiday-recommendations/

Empty Weeks?

Do you have a holiday home which is sitting empty and costing you money?  Would you like to see your property more used and therefore making you more money?

Tots to Travel founder and Lettings Expert, Wendy Shand has written a book, 'Empty Weeks? How to Get More Bookings & Make Money from your Holiday Home', where she shares her years of experience on what makes a holiday property more sellable.  With tips and advice on how to prepare your property in the most customer-friendly way, how to niche market yourself to stand out from the crowd and where to market your property to get maximum exposure. 

She has FREE copies to give away now, just go to http://www.freeholidayletsbook.com/ or have a look at our Property Owners site at http://www.holidayhomerentalsite.com/ for more tips and advice.

Take a look, you have nothing to lose.

Christine

Are you ready?

So now we are into May and the summer peak season is just around the corner.  Are you ready? 

Is your property all prepared for your guests, any replacements or maintenance work done?

More importantly have you sold the weeks you need, is your property getting the interest it deserves.  In these tough times, market positioning is so much more important.  In the past, you could almost sell a holiday rental in the algarve with minimal effort. Not so easy these days, with fewer customers looking for a lot of value.  So what do you do?

There are several things you can do

1. Assess your marketing, are you targeting the right customers?
2. Is your property appealing to the customers you want?
3. Are you offering value and quality against your competition?

Be aware, lowering your prices, will not necessarily bring more customers!

If you need any further advice, please contact me and I can help.