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Investment: Guide to renting your property

Advertising secrets

Good photography is the single most important tool for effective advertising.

Your photos should entice holidaymakers to read the whole advert.

Professional photographers charge £40 – £70 per hour but it may be worth it.

If you take the photos yourself, take your time and prepare every shot:

• Remove clutter and clean the property.
• Lay the table and make the bed.
• Don’t put people in photos, allow holidaymakers to imagine themselves there.
• Take photos with the sun behind you to prevent loss of contrast.
• Daylight is most complementary in the first or last few hours of the day.
• Take external photos in good weather.

Make your USPs stand out in your photos and highlight these with captions.

State important points in easy to read lists but also provide a good summary paragraph that sums up a great holiday at your home.

Remember you are selling the features and benefits of your property to holidaymakers, so don’t be afraid to boast about the best ones!

DON’T USE CAPITALS – it looks like you are shouting and is much harder to read.

You need to come across as pleasant and approachable through your advert.

Update your advertising regularly. Adapt it to different seasons and different client bases throughout the year.

Be clear about costs. If your prices look low but don’t mention extras like heating or cleaning, you will lose potential bookings when the true cost is revealed.

Internet advertising

Use your best photographs online. Photos are often the first thing online advertising sites show, drawing holidaymakers in immediately. Make use of all the photo slots available.

Get creative and write descriptions of your property and local area brimming with USPs, emphasising what’s really great about your holiday home.

Be sure to tell people the easiest ways of getting to your property and useful contacts, such as car hire and taxi companies in the area.

Tell people about local attractions and facilities – they may not know the area and need the destination selling to them just as much as the property.

Be sure to use and regularly update your online availability calendar as many holidaymakers like to search by date. Listing sites often order results by availability and may display most recently updated adverts/calendars first.

Set up a dedicated email account for booking enquiries and check your spam filters to make sure your enquiry emails don’t get dumped in your trash folder.

Check your emails as often as you can, but at least once a day. Most online rental websites offer free SMS text messages to your mobile, alerting you every time an email enquiry is sent, in case you are not near your computer.

A basic advert on an Internet listing site costs about £150 per year and lets you showcase your property online. These sites typically attract tens of thousands of holidaymaker visitors every day, making them the best source of enquiries.

Tricks of the trade

Respond quickly and politely to enquiries with any suitable information they may need.

Provide a welcome pack for guests on arrival at your property. A bottle of wine and some basic food items are always welcome after a journey.

If you have any late vacancies to fill, try emailing previous guests to offer them a special late deal.

Provide a Guest Book for visitor comments providing useful feedback and valuable testimonial comments to entice new guests.

Keep up to date with local events and activities and get listed with event organisers, as this is often free.

Work with other owners. They may be your competitors, but if you get an enquiry you can’t honour, someone nearby may have availability. They may return the favour another time.

Keep an eye on the market and make sure your pricing and facilities remain up-to-date and competitive.

Finally, don’t forget to keep some weeks free for you and your friends/family to enjoy!

It can sometimes be tempting to take all the bookings on offer, but make sure you don’t end up in a hotel!

© Holiday Lettings Ltd 2007

More pages

Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Setting your pricing
Page 3: Advertising secrets

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