Taking Advantage of the Golden Age of Private Holiday Rentals

by Alex Adams Freelance Writer / Blogger

It looks like there is a Golden Age on the horizon – namely, the golden age of private holiday rentals. The sector has seen a lot of activity as cost-conscious individuals and families planning holidays are increasingly seeking alternatives to the traditional options of hotels, Bed & Breakfasts and so on. And while caravans and camp sites do it for a few, many are finding that renting a private house as self-catered accommodation can not only be a good way to spend a little less – the experience can be absolutely fantastic, too. In fact, as more and more people are trying private rentals, many are finding them a more luxurious and enjoyable option to hotels. So we can expect to see the industry continue to do well into the future.

This begs the question of how property owners can get ahead now. If there is a boom in holiday lettings ahead, now is the time to take advantage of it. And there are several good ways of doing that – so here are three of the best.

First of all, it is of course worth noting that it will ultimately be the best properties that are the most popular. There a few different ways to make your own property or properties fit that bill – and the good news is that they're all quite a lot of fun. The first is simply to prepare a professional write-up and take a really good set of photographs to show them off. A big part of holiday lettings is about first impressions, and these are split between the photographs which guests see (and then keep in their minds as a standard with which to judge the place 'in the flesh') and their first look around the properties themselves. So, why not dedicate a small budget to making sure the upkeep is to a high standard, the decor and facilities (cutlery, crockery, furniture and so forth) are good and that there are a few little 'extras'. Arriving to find a bottle of spring water in the fridge, a box of mosquito repellent on the counter and a few 'goodies' in the bathroom will give a great first impression.

After that, if you haven't streamlined your workload, now is very much the time to do it. Getting the paperwork down to a tee early will give you a solid foundation on which to grow your business in the (hopefully near) future. One particularly good way to do this is to integrate your phone and/or tablet device by getting your database and records into a format that can be accessed in this way. This will prove invaluable as you take more and more phone calls on the go, work away from your computer and take more orders. Using a product like an advanced management program or, even better, holiday rentals software is one way of doing this. Integrating all of your information into one place that can be accessed from multiple devices will cut down on your paperwork, speed up inquiries and generally help you to keep ahead of your workload.

And finally, don't forget to do everything you can to get your property or properties seen. Listing them on the right online agencies, using SEO (search engine optimisation) technology to get your property higher up in search engine rankings—rentals software is good at this, too—and having a professional, attractive website will all help you to do this.

And, put together, these simple steps will help you to take advantage of what is shaping up to be a golden age for holiday rentals.