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A view down the valley in Branscombe in East Devon. In the foreground is a large trough of flowers, behind which are cottages and a church tower. To either side are steep fields and woodland.

The Holiday Homefront: August 2020

  1. If this is your first edition of The Holiday Homefront, you should know its purpose is to help holiday property owners better manage and market their properties. The number of people subscribing to The Holiday Homefront continues to grow. Numbers are now approaching four figures. Thanks for all the positive feedback from so many of you. We will continue to write about what you tell us you want to read.
  2. News of regulations/compliance requirements affecting the holiday lettings sector.
  3. Helpful blog articles on holiday property maintenance, marketing and management were published on MFHC last month or elsewhere.
  4. Ways to increase the appeal of your adverts and attract more visitors to your website

Scroll down to read brief introductions to articles, then click on the links to read those that are relevant. If a link is not displayed in an article: Click on the Article Title. 

MAKE YOUR ADVERT WORK HARDER! Why Displaying Your Own Availability Calendar in Your Advert Will Generate More Bookings. This past month has seen record levels of demand for cottages. However, many owners have missed out on potential bookings because their adverts displayed empty availability calendars.

We are getting dozens of calls daily from people desperate to find a cottage but refusing to check our properties with blank calendars. We were told that this was because:1. If an owner is “too lazy” to keep their calendar up to date – it said much about how they also cared for their property. Of course, we know that is not the case, but that’s the public perception.

2. They didn’t want to waste time contacting an owner if the dates they wanted weren’t available. Too busy to update your calendar? There are alternatives! Swap our generic calendar to display your own. This ensures that when you update your website’s calendar, your advert will be updated simultaneously.

Better still, users of booking software such as SuperControl, FreetoBook, Bookalet etc., can enjoy online booking directly from their adverts. Please note that, unlike some sites, we do NOT charge any fees or commissions to you or your guests for such bookings. All payments by guests go straight to an owner’s account as they use the payment system on that property’s website to book.

 

If you’d like advice on changing the display on your calendar,  email Rick: info@mfhc.co.uk. He’ll check out your website and update your advert if we can.

 

Electric Car Chargers

Electric vehicle drivers seem to love holiday cottages. Figures from Ubersuggest indicate that there are over 2000 search queries a month for people seeking accommodation with vehicle charging points. We have added a new search category: Cottages with Charges for Electric Vehicles. If and when you have installed these in your holiday cottage, then log in and tick the category box in your ‘Edit’ section. If you are considering adding a charging point. Boshers Insurance has published an advice guide. Click the title to view it.

Photo Call: Bonus Publicity Opportunities

We are introducing ‘Banner Images’, which appear at the head of each town, county, location and category pages. If you’ve got a lovely photo that reflects the beauty and appeal of your location, email it to us. We’ll accredit it with a link to your advert if we use it, which will drive even more traffic. 

Email your images to Rick at info@mfhc.co.uk. If you’re sending a few, send them via a free file-sharing app such as www.wetransfer.com.

 

Logging in. If you cannot remember your username or password:

Your username will be the email address you used to register.· If you cannot remember your password: Use the Password reset button, which will be sent to your registered email address.· Once logged in, click on the icon /your name in the top right of the menu bar. This will open a dropdown list of self-explanatory options.

 

COVID-19 Advice and Creative Ideas 

I know, I know… while you may feel you’ve had all the COVID-19 advice you need, there are many helpful things out there that The Homefront would like to bring to your attention (and please note, we don’t get any commission for recommendations).

Advance Bookings For Visitor Attractions, Restaurants etc.

Another way to ensure your guests have a happy holiday: With many theme parks and attractions still requiring people to book admission tickets in advance, why not create a list of attractions requiring bookings? Include full contact details (including website links) and send them to your guests a week or so before their arrival. That’s the kind of guest-caring approach that also earns you repeat bookings!

 

Bed Stripping at Changeovers

A simple idea to reduce some cleaning stress… 

More owners are asking guests to strip their beds before departure to protect the cleaning staff. Generally, guests appear to recognise this justification and are happy to comply. 

Going one step further, the guest-experience-minded owners at Littlecourt Cottages in Sidmouth have provided an attractive and spacious linen bag for each bedroom, large enough to hold bedding and towels. 

A proper bag seems to make the task more agreeable – nobody likes carting their dirty laundry down the stairs in full view of guests – a colourful linen bag designed for the job makes things more amenable. Bagging it also prevents the spread of the virus - but don’t forget to sterilise the bag. Buy machine-washable ones if you can.

It also helps owners who use colour-coded linen or towel sets keep them together or work out where and from which room one has gone missing. 

We like these Rusty the Fox designs from Rex, London. A steal at £4.95. https://bit.ly/33LnT6P

 

Visit Britain’s COVID-19 Consumer Tracker 

View the latest results from Visit Britain’s COVID-19 Consumer Sentiment Tracker. 

They show the intent to which UK residents are planning to take domestic overnight trips during the late summer period and beyond. Understanding customer intent or concern is the first step to getting more bookings!

 

What businesses should do when a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 is reported

While many local authorities may have prepared similar action plans, thus far, only Somerset’s has come to our attention. Their COVID-19 Local Engagement Board has devised a Local Outbreak Management Plan for COVID-19 detailing actions to take in the event of an outbreak. We include it in The Homefront as their common sense plans are easily replicable elsewhere.

As part of this work, SCC has worked with South West partners to devise flyers and posters to help you, employees and customers know what to do when a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 is reported.

Download these documents at www.somerset.gov.uk/backtowork and keep them handy. Clicking on the links does not open a web page but automatically downloads the relevant pdf document.

The documents contain the following:

COVID-19 Business flyer - includes a checklist of actions for businesses

COVID-19 Accommodation Provider flyer – is specifically for tourist or accommodation providers – please add in your postcode

COVID-19 Visitor poster – to display in public settings, i.e. reception/kitchen/toilets/bedrooms, for visitors staying in your accommodation to see. Please add your contact phone number so visitors can call you if they suspect they have COVID-19.

Right, that’s the end of all Matters COVID for this month. I appreciate your diligence.

 

HOLIDAY COTTAGE MARKETING

 

How to Ask for Reviews (With Examples!)

You are asking guests to write a review after their stay is not something that comes easily to most of us cottage owners. If you’re one of them, you should find this article from Wordstream a great help!

 

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

 

The Ultimate Guide to Hiring a Holiday Home Letting Agency

Are you thinking of marketing your holiday property through an agency? While there are plenty of pros and cons, one thing you should have at your fingertips before approaching one (or more)is this comprehensive checklist from Schofields Insurance of questions you should be asking them before deciding whether they are suitable for you.

 

What to do (and how to be prepared for) guests who arrive with additional people.

If ever you’ve been in this position, you’ll know how tricky it can be to manage. Read these handy tips from Lodgify to help you resolve the situation. Hint: These situations are much easier to manage if you’re prepared for them!

 

How to secure your short-term rental business with mid-and long-term bookings (Ebook)

To compensate for lost business during the Lockdown, we will have to work much harder to fill the week and weekend in the shoulder and low seasons. This free and downloadable Ebook from Rentals United contains helpful nuggets that could secure much-needed income.

 

BREXIT PREP

As if COVID-19 wasn’t bad enough, love it or hate it, we all have to prepare for Brexit as the transition period ends. To ensure your Christmas isn’t ruined by the need to do last-minute tasks: the government has launched a new campaign to help businesses and individuals prepare for the end of the Brexit transition period. Business owners and citizens may need to take action regardless of the type of agreement reached with the EU. The steps people and business owners need to bring will vary based on their circumstances.

By the way... Are you adding a recent Guest Testimonial to your advert? 

 

Post-lockdown testimonials are VERY influential. Add some ASAP! Short ones have the most impact. Testimonials 300 characters in length or less are more likely to be featured on our Twitter Page. So, keep them brief (and frequent) if you want to be trumpeted on Twitter! We moderate all testimonials to ensure they comply with our criteria. Log in and select Add testimonials from your main page.

 

Social Media Activities - How To Be Featured

We have active and popular Social Media campaigns. Currently, we focus on the following:

Your subscription covers more than just displaying an advert. Please click on the links above to follow us on these platforms. We will follow you back. From time to time, we will share, highlight or re-tweet your own postings. Where possible, e.g. Facebook, we will tag you in our articles so that you’ll receive a notification. Please note that we can only share Social Media articles for holiday properties advertised on MFHC.

 

And just in case you were wondering...

How To Advertise on MFHC.Click here to place your cottage in front of thousands of potential bookers every month. A 12-month subscription is just £125, with discounts of up to 50% for listing multiple properties. If you’re too busy to find the time to upload an advert, let us do it for you. 

Our Ad-Design service will create and build your advert for you to approve for just £30 per property. This includes drafting unique content when describing your cottage. You can display your availability calendars or online booking calendars within your advert. No ‘middleman’ commission or booking charges are applied to you or your guests once your advert is up and running—Pay and Display.

We understand what works in an advert and what doesn’t, so if you want a free review of your advert on MFHC at any time, contact us. We are here to help (and are famous for it).

 

WE ARE HERE FOR YOU. As you know, we pride ourselves on our ability to respond to and help all our advertisers. If you need any help or advice or want to suggest how we can improve the site, all you have to do is get in touch.

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