Ten benefits of using a holiday home letting agent

Last Updated on November 18, 2014 by admin

If you own and run a holiday home have you ever considered using the support and expertise of a specialist holiday home letting agent?

If you haven’t, we explore ten benefits of using a holiday home letting agent that you could enjoy:

1. Saving time

Answering emails, the phone ringing off the hook, updating availability after the call, making sure you’re ready for changeover, taking payments, booking the plumber.

Owning a holiday home can be incredibly rewarding but it also takes time and even more so during the peak summer season. A letting agent can take this administrative burden away from you, allowing you to focus on the things you enjoy.

2. Taking payments

Many of your guests will want to pay quickly and easily over phone with their debit or credit card. PCI compliance, which allows you to take these sorts of payment, can be costly, time consuming and arduous to set up.

3. Chasing payments

As well as taking time, chasing people for money is not a task that many will relish, let alone enjoy. Your booking agent will not only take up the mantle for you, but also have systems in place to ensure that not a penny is missed, allowing you peace of mind that you’re not missing anything when times are fraught with booking activity.

Your letting agent will have these facilities in place, meaning you needn’t worry about missing out on potential bookings as a result of the payment methods you can accept.

4. A larger shop window

The Internet is an extremely competitive environment and getting your holiday cottage seen is vital to your success in driving holiday letting bookings. Holiday letting agency websites will boast good levels of traffic, driven by proven search engine optimisation (SEO), pay per click (PPC) and scoial media campaigns, potentially putting you in the shop window for even more bookings.

Many agencies will be able to tell you how many visits their sites gets, how many bookings they expect to generate and how often your cottage is being seen so you can keep a handle on progress.

5. Marketing and Specialist Support

Working with a holiday letting specialist can be extremely beneficial. You’ll benefit from the shared knowledge they’ve gained from managing not only your own holiday cottage property but also all of the others on their portfolio. They’ll know the best way in which to market your property, where to market it and how to gain the maximum level of bookings.

6. Their database of potential guests

Thousands and thousands of families, couples and individuals will book their cottage stay through a holiday lettings agent each year. Your agent will be able to promote you directly to those that have previously shown an interest in cottages just like yours; putting you right in front of a captive audience.

7. Complaints, disputes and issues

Whilst every holiday homeowner will want to give his or her guests the most pleasant stay possible, sometimes issues with your visitors will arise. With such a vested interest in the property these issues can sometimes become tense and stressful.

Lettings agents will be experienced in dealing with any disputes that arise from time to time and be able to achieve the best possible outcome whilst also diffusing the situation and keeping you stress free!

8. Keeping up to date with legislation and regulations

Regulations for holiday homeowners move a pace and at times it may be hard for individual holiday letting owners to keep up to date with the sheer volume of information they need to be aware of.

Do you know how often your gas boiler should be checked? Who should be checking it? When your appliances need to be portable appliance tested?

Lettings agents will be able to steer you through this potential minefield, keeping you informed and mitigating risk where they can.

9. Introducing you to reliable tradesmen, housekeepers and professional services

Reliable tradesmen, housekeepers and providers of other professional services, such as holiday home insurance advisers are key to the smooth operation of your holiday letting business. Your holiday letting agents will be able to recommend a list of people that they and their owners have had experience in dealing with. Indeed they may even offer a service to meet and greet your gas engineer when your boiler is due its annual service and safety check.

10. More bookings

Ultimately the role of your holiday home letting agent is to bring more custom through your holiday cottage door. All of the above will enable them to do that, whilst also freeing up your time and potentially lowering your stress levels!

Is now the time to use a specialist in every area of your holiday letting business?

Boshers offer specialist holiday home insurance to owners across the UK. For more information on how a specialist insurer can help and support your holiday home business, please give us a call on 01237 429444.