Imagine your online advert for your holiday cottage is a noticeboard on a busy corridor. Lots of people will pass it. However, if you don't update it regularly, people will stop paying attention because it never changes and, worse still, is out of date. Nothing will kill a potential booker's interest in your cottage faster than out-of-date prices, a lack of recent reviews or an empty availability calendar. 

You have to update it. 

Now imagine that Google is the noticeboard monitor. You may have paid for the right to be on the board, but the more out of date it becomes,  the more Google will move it towards the less-seen corners of the noticeboard - even placing other adverts over yours.

Alan Egan at Vacation Soup (a holiday rentals expert for whom we have the highest regard) has published an interesting and helpful article explaining why and how your website will die (if you let it) and what you can do to keep it alive and flourishing.

At My Favourite Holiday Cottages, we have always believed that an Owner's website is the best way to get bookings for your holiday cottage - if only you can get people to view it. That's why everyone advertising their cottage with My Favourite Holiday Cottages has a link not only to the home page of their holiday cottage's website but to their booking and (where possible) pricing pages. These links are also valuable because they play a part in Google's ranking of your site - especially if people are clicking on those links.

However, fail to keep your advert up to date, clicks will decrease, and it will do the technological equivalent of growing mouldy, likewise, for your own website, which must also be kept up to date.

First impressions count!

Making guests feel expected, welcome and cared for right from the moment they set eyes on your holiday cottage has many benefits:

* Fewer, if any, complaints (any minor transgressions will be overlooked)

* More repeat bookings

* More 5-star reviews and 'word-of-mouth publicity.

A creative floral welcome makes a significant impact on arriving guests

Read this intelligent article on more options to make your guests feel cared for from the moment they arrive.

Subliminal things like ensuring the temperature inside the front door is a few noticeable degrees warmer than on the outside, or the way the house 'smells' as you cross the threshold, are all important. Leaving lights on for 'after dark' arrivals or a handwritten note on a tasteful card all play their part

You know you've not got that welcome quite right if you find guests sending you a list or minor 'niggling' complaints - a cobweb in one room, a light bulb not working in another or a squeaky mattress. Many transgressions will be forgiven or overlooked if guests feel you have worked hard to make them feel at home. Light bulbs will always blow, and spiders will always weave a web or two in the cleanest of cottages, so here are some interesting ways to mitigate their impact.

 

Click Here to Read More on Ways to Make Your Guests Welcome

 

Find more advice and information  about Welcome Packs for Guests and other ways to impress them

1. Ten Ways to Ensure Guests Feel Welcome and Cared For

2. A North Yorkshire Holiday Cottage Welcome

3. Ideas for a Wow Factor Welcome Pack For Your Holiday Cottage

4. What Should You Include In A Holiday Cottage Welcome Pack to Impress Guests?

A welcome pack is more than just a handful of teabags, milk and a packet of Digestives. Making guests feel loved, welcome and cared for the moment they arrive is a great way to ensure:

*  No complaints

*  Great reviews

*  Repeat Bookings.

Here are six interesting suggestions for the contents of a welcome pack to greet and totally wow your guests.

To view Lodgify's list of suggestions for your welcome pack, click here.

 

Read these articles for more information on Welcome Packs for Holiday Cottages: 

1. Ways To Ensure Your Holiday Cottage Guests Feel Welcome

2. Ten Ways to Ensure Guests Feel Welcome and Cared For

3. A North Yorkshire Holiday Cottage Welcome

4. What Should You Include In A Holiday Cottage Welcome Pack to Impress Guests?

 

Send Us Your Welcome Pack Photos for Our 'Welcoming Cottages'  Blog

We would love to see and publish them!

Avoiding flights, ditching the car and staying on top of recycling are all effective ways to help the environment while on holiday. It’s also worth shopping around for accommodation with eco-credentials such as solar energy and hydroelectric power. The following cottages provide beautiful self-catering accommodation while doing their bit for the environment.

 

Woodville, North Yorkshire – Sleeps 4

Rustic woodland lodge on the North Star Club resort in the Yorkshire Wolds near Pocklington

There is no TV or internet in this cosy countryside cottage, making it the perfect place to get back to basics. Look out for passing wildlife on the veranda, walk in the surrounding woods and fall asleep to the crackle of the wood burner. The award-winning pub, the Star Inn, and the Michelin-starred Pipe and Glass are nearby.

 

Tehidy Yurt, Cornwall – Sleeps 4

Eco-friendly yurt near a sandy beach on the North Cornwall coast

You will find this family-friendly holiday cottage in the laid-back village of Mawgan Porth. The beach and its shops, cafes and pubs are a short stroll away, making it easy to keep driving to a minimum. (You could even abandon your car and use the local bus service to explore the coast.) The Yurt is furnished with beautiful Mongolian rugs in a rustic palate of sand whites and sea greens. Many of the site’s facilities are communal for maximum energy efficiency, including showers and bathrooms housed in converted shepherds’ huts.

 

Culls Cottage, Gloucestershire – Sleeps 6

Culls Cottage: Listed 17th-century Cotswold eco-cottage near Lechlade-on-Thames

This beautiful Cotswolds holiday cottage is equipped with energy-efficient underfloor heating – although you may find that the wood burner in the living room provides all the warmth you need. Some of the region’s most idyllic countryside is right on the doorstep, making it easy to enjoy an active break while keeping use of your car to a minimum. The pretty market town of Lechlade-on-Thames is a short stroll away, with a variety of family-run shops, cafes and pubs.

 

Jasmine, Cornwall – Sleeps 2

Beautifully converted Cornish shepherd’s hut on Melody Farm, near Truro.

This compact holiday cottage for couples is surrounded by peaceful countryside near the sleepy creeks and inlets of the Carrick Roads – a huge natural harbour on the River Fal. Jasmine is ideal for getting back to nature, with a wood burner and a handmade kitchen equipped with a single hob. Long walks can be enjoyed in the farm’s orchards and surrounding countryside, and a barbecue is available for cooking seafood fresh from the nearest harbour.

 

Balebarn Lodge, Devon – Sleeps 8

Award-winning converted cow shed at Wheatland Farm, near Winkleigh

Wheatland Farm recently won Gold for Sustainability in the Visit England Tourism Awards, and the lodge is full of upcycled details, such as a coffee table made from a beech tree which came down in a storm. This dog-friendly cottage in North Devon was created using local straw bale insulation – you can even see the fields from the lodge’s wrap-around veranda. Guests often spot barn owls and foxes from the sofa, and there is a pond which you can explore by rowing boat or even swim in if you’re feeling brave.

 

Y Bwthyn, Pembrokeshire – Sleeps 6

Converted eco-barn in the heart of the Pembrokeshire countryside, near Narberth

The eco-credentials of this cosy countryside cottage are second to none, with heating provided by a biomass boiler and a wind turbine and solar panels as the main sources of electricity. Guests at Y Bwthyn have access to a hot tub and can enjoy lovely walks from the doorstep without having to get in the car.