Are you just starting on the road to letting out a holiday cottage? Your business's success will be influenced by the research you put into preparing and marketing your property. Read this times Newspaper article that lists five critical steps to renting your property:

1. Grab Those Tax Breaks There are some available

2. Save on Energy Bills Many guests seem to turn everything on when they arrive and leave it that way.

3. Get the right insurance. One day you may be very grateful that you did.

4. Furnish With Care, Especially if you want to attract repeat bookings and keep maintenance costs down

5. A Blindingly Obvious One That Too Many  Owners Overlook at Their Peril But Which You Should Enjoy Doing.

It's a quick and easy read but contains some excellent advice for newbies - and might also be of interest to those who have been renting out for a year or two and need a few reminders.

Here's the

Three things from the 2021 Budget that could benefit Self-Catering businesses in the UK

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, outlined his tax and spending policies in the Budget. Below is a summary of the budget for the tourism and hospitality industry. Highlights include: •    VAT reduction for the UK’s tourism and hospitality sector - The temporarily reduced rate of 5% VAT for hospitality businesses has been extended until the end of September. From October to March 31, 2022, the rate will revert to an ‘interim’ level of 12.5%. There is no change to the scope of the VAT reduction.

Business rates reliefs – There will be a three-month 100% business rates holiday until 30 June 2021. For the remaining three quarters, there will be a two-thirds relief (66%), BUT the value of the relief on these nine months (1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022) will be capped at £2 million. Any business that has a rates bill over £4m will, therefore, be subject

MARCH ON!

Well, it is nice to see Spring ushered in with blue skies. Let us hope this is a harbinger of a long, warm, dry summer. We need it not just for the bookings but also to reassure people that a UK Staycation is a sunny vacation to ensure they return in 2022.

Welcome to the March issue of The Holiday Homefront.

  How it Works

The Homefront features the best and most helpful articles we have tracked over the past few weeks that we believe will be of interest (and help) to holiday property owners and businesses. It's free, so if this is your first time here, click on the link at the bottom, and we'll email you a copy of each issue once a month.

The link will be blue-green when an article is a synopsis of a more extensive article. Click on it, and you'll be taken to the full article.

 

How to Track the Recovery of Vacation Rentals 2021

In the old days, when it came to pricing, many an owner would be guided by

This information is produced here courtesy of Visit Devon

Roadmap for the easing of restrictions in England announced in his statement to the House of Commons today, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the government roadmap that outlines how lockdown restrictions will be eased in England. The roadmap is in four steps. Before proceeding to the next step, the Government will examine the data to assess the impact of previous steps. This assessment will be based on four tests: 

The vaccine deployment programme continues successfully. Evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths in those vaccinated. Infection rates do not risk a surge in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS. Assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new variants of concern.

There will be a minimum of five weeks between each step: four weeks for the data to reflect changes in restrictions;

Cornwall in a Bottle

Of all the opportunities to enjoy and unexpected discoveries to make, have you ever considered a tour of North Cornwall’s local breweries, cider mills or vineyards? It’s a pleasantly refreshing and intriguing way to spend a day or two when overcast skies rule out time on the beach.

It’s probably entirely appropriate that a county with a long and fascinating history of smuggling should now boast a thriving (and legitimate) brewing industry, achieving standards resulting in the accumulation of awards from across the globe. Here are three of Cornwall’s finest that welcome visitors, along with some recommended holiday cottages in which to stay.

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Healeys Cornish Cyder Farm

A Cyder Press at Healeys Cyder

Location: Penhallow, Truro,

With all the talk about the massive surge in demand for holiday cottages in the UK this summer, we’ve trawled through our site and found a collection of beautiful character cottages for romantic retreats for couples or family holidays, all available in July and August.

 

Moreover, book these online from the advert before the 29th of February, and you’ll get a 10% discount on the advertised price. What’s not to like? To book one of these luxurious properties, click the Visit Website or Book Now button displayed within its advert.

 

Click on the property name to view more information and to book online.

 

Country Postcard

A converted Great Western Railway  Signal Box - now a luxury holiday cottage near Frome.

A converted railway signal box in the East Somerset countryside, complete with its own shepherd’s hut, is restored as a bedroom.

Location: Somerset

Sleeps: 4

Bedrooms: 2

Hello!

Let us start with a cheery note. In the gardening calendar, February is the first month of spring, nicely illustrated by the profusion of flowers such as snowdrops, daffodils and primroses which are already blooming in the narrow Devon lanes surrounding our offices.

Despite the continuing lockdown, there appears to have been a spring awakening in the holiday cottage business, with a significant upsurge in demand for dates since July and August. So, while your property currently resides in a state of lockdown emptiness, now is the time to ensure that it is prepared for a busy summer. Preparation also includes updating your adverts and calendars to ensure you can acquire more bookings.

As always - having read an article in The Homefront, if the title is in BLUE, click on it to view the full version.

 

How to Get Your Property Listed on Google Maps

If you have always wondered how to place your holiday property on

There’s more than to it just having a pretty holiday cottage to generate 5-star reviews and more repeat bookings. While stunning reviews and repeat bookings make marketing your holiday cottage a lot easier, they do require some work and planning. Ultimately though, they all derive from building an excellent professional relationship with your guests based on respect and integrity. They must feel that you always have their best interests at heart in giving them a memorable, care-free and rejuvenating self-catering holiday with people they love.

We all know that the greater your ‘relationship’ is with a guest, it leads to more great reviews and repeat bookings.  But ‘relationship’ doesn’t mean the strength of your face-to-face contact with guests and sending birthday cards to their children. It means the things you do to show them you want them to have the best possible holiday when they book your property.

Here are twenty-five ways to go about

When most people hear about walking holidays, they imagine rucksack-laden, drizzle-ridden days spent slogging up hills and down dales in high-vis cagoules.

Not so! There are plenty of more civilised and attractive ways to spend time on foot exploring the countryside. The UK is scattered with a host of lowland walks and cycle paths created from old railway lines, along which many a mainline express and tank engines once chugged along at a stately pace.

The disused tracks now ring to the muted trills of bicycle bells and birdsong. They are a haven of wildlife, colourful flora, and stunning rural views, no longer viewable only through a train window.

Why not book a holiday cottage for a few nights outside the Peak Season to explore out-and-back walks or cycle rides along an easy trail lined with old railway architecture, cream teas and beer stops for the weary?

For those to whom the idea of a trip to the Yorkshire Wolds appeals, consider the