How we helped a holiday home owner generate £70K in revenue in under two months
Once upon a time the rule of thumb was that you wouldn’t make money from letting your holiday home. You might just cover the running costs and help to prevent damp setting into an empty house. Today that’s far from true. Owners are much more discerning and want to see a real return for letting their beloved properties - and rightly so. To make that happen, it’s important to get the value proposition right - that’s where we come in.
From marketing to guest communications, setting the right price point to making recommendations that really elevate the experience that guests have at your holiday home. These are just some of the things that we as experienced hosts are able to offer to help boost revenue for our clients. We set aggressive targets for properties to meet, against the criteria that are important to the home owners themselves. For example, you may want to make the most of letting it for just a few short weeks of the year so you can enjoy it the rest of the time. Here is a holiday letting case study that illustrates these key values.
Maximising return on investment in less than eight weeks
One holiday home owner worked with us to market their four-bedroom property in Salcombe. Sleeping eight people, the property enjoys views of the famous estuary and is within easy walking distance of the centre of town. Having never let their holiday home before, we brought it to market in December 2020, with a view to taking bookings for summer 2021.
Our team worked with the owners, from set-up to sell. We provided support in a variety of areas, including but were not limited to:
- Advising on health, safety and insurance requirements for letting?
- Staging the property for a photoshoot?
- Sourcing and organising a professional photographer?
- Copywriting for their listing?
- Listing set up and curation
- Price pointing against comparative properties in the area
- Recommendations to improve guest experience - including purchasing spa and gym membership for all eight guests at the property at a nearby luxury hotel for the duration of their stay?
- Liaising with guests from enquiry to recommendations for local activities, restaurants and necessities
- Managing administration and finances?
Understanding the market and the demand for holiday homes
Having begun marketing the property in December, by the end of January 2021 it had more than £70,000 worth of bookings, filling 80% of its revenue target for the year ahead. A rapid turnaround on getting their listing up and running allowed them to make the most of the unprecedented demand for holidays in the UK this summer and autumn.
Meanwhile, optimised selection of booking platforms including Airbnb and Vrbo and the rest of the Expedia expanded distribution network (including Trivago, Kayak and ebookers); high quality marketing including key information about the property and the local area; and supportive customer service to help secure bookings, have all been contributing factors in this rapid uptake.
It isn’t a one off either. Other properties joining the HolidayHost community have followed a similar track with high volume, high value bookings reaching £40,000+ revenue in the first four to six weeks of a listing going live.
The other thing that makes it possible for home owners to get the maximum return on their property is the commission that we take. Combined with the fee taken as standard by online marketing platforms, the total commission taken from each booking when using HolidayHost is 13-14% . That’s as much as 21% less than the standard rate taken by more traditional letting and marketing agencies.
Find out how HolidayHost can help you make the most of your holiday home
