Want to let your own Holiday Home?

Here are a few considerations you need to make.

• First you need to give careful consideration to the type of holiday home you want to let, be that a static caravan on a holiday park, a chalet by the sea or a cottage in the country etc.

• Second who are you target guests and what are they looking for when choosing a holiday property?

• Third will the location of your holiday home be suitable for your target guests.

• Fourth how will you fund your holiday home purchase and what other cost will be involved.

• Fifth how involved do you want to be in the letting process of your holiday home.

Take a closer look at any one of the above considerations and you will soon realise that no real decision can be made without joint consideration of most if not all of them. For example you may prefer a chalet by the sea but you cannot finalise that choice without knowing if the chalet has enough beds for your target guests or if the chalet is located in an area with suitable amenities for your target guests and all of that will influence how much you will have to pay for your chalet.

The cost of ownership of your holiday home may not be a straight forward as what you might at first think. If you are able to purchase a holiday home from your savings then your annual outgoings (Council Tax or Business rates, Utilities, Insurances, Income Tax and Upkeep etc.) should allow a greater return on investment than would be the case if you needed to factor in the cost of a Mortgage. Many holiday homes will be leasehold only and this brings many more financial considerations such as how long is the lease (a longer lease allows greater time span over which to apportion initial purchase cost). How much is the annual ground rent, how much are the annual service charges, how do you pay for utilities etc. Can you sell your holiday home to anyone or do you need to sell it back to the landlord, will you have to pay a premium to the landlord when you sell.

Having given due consideration to all the above there are other related considerations. What furniture do you need to buy (a caravan or established holiday home might already be fully furnished) and how much should you spend on furniture and other fittings. If your holiday home is successful then your furnishings, fittings, appliances and crockery etc will all take a heavier than normal workload and it would be false economy to provide the cheapest options, for example cheap cutlery is likely to rust in seaside locations due to salty atmosphere. Cheap seating might need to be replaced in two years whilst better quality might last many, many years. Cheap and uncomfortable mattresses will soon receive negative reviews which in turn will have a negative Impact on bookings. A quality stainless steel saucepan set will pay for itself many times over when compared to budget non-stick saucepans sets. Some might argue that buying cheap and replace as required is the cheapest option but our advise would be buy the best you can afford it will pay in the long term not only financially but also in a far greater number of appreciative guest reviews which in turn can only improve your holiday let bookability.

Then comes one of the biggest considerations “how involved in the letting process do you want to be?”. Ask yourself…

• Do you have time and are local enough to fully manage your holiday let?

• Are you local enough and capable enough to be able to maintain and repair your holiday home and its contents? Are you able to set up a website (maybe using a platform like wix) and can you set up a booking engine? (something like freetobook).

• Do you have time to manage your website and booking engine?

• Are you local enough and are you willing to clean your holiday let and launder the bedding and towels? (maybe two or three times a week).

Maybe you want to be partially involved.

• Maybe you want to engage someone for cleaning and laundry if so ask for references and regularly check their work (remember cleanliness can have a huge impact on guest experience and expectation and will certainly influence how negative or positive any review might be).

• Maybe you want to engage someone for maintenance and repair if so how competent and local is that person (because again any lack or delay in remedy will impact on guest experience and expectation and will certainly influence how negative or positive any review might be).

• Maybe you want to engage a listing website such as booking.com or holidayletting if so do your homework check if they promote other holiday lets in your region and if they look successful and that the market place is not crowded, also compare their fee structures carefully and check if there are restrictions on owner’s use.

Still want to let your own holiday home? done your homework? if it all adds up to a positive - then our advice - go for it!!!!