Top Tip: Anticipating Enquiries Pays

We noticed that one of the influential factors in converting an enquiry to a booking is a timely response. We’ve also seen a distinct correlation between the weather and the number of enquiries received. These things are worth noticing as they help ensure that you can be standing by, ready to receive and respond to enquiries when they arrive. You may well have discovered your own patterns – and feel free to share your thoughts on this, but speaking personally, I love and hate (the latter, just a teeny bit) a sunny Sunday. That’s because people tend to drift outdoors, enjoying the fine weather with a BBQ or day trip into the countryside and loving it. 

This prompts people to think about their as yet unbooked holiday, resulting in an hour or two surfing the internet after tea, looking for likely places to stay. By about 9 pm, they are ready to contact their shortlist of possible cottages and send e-mails winging their

Don’t Be An April Fool

We’re starting this month’s My Favourite Holiday Cottages Newsletter with a cautionary tale. If I asked you whether you have ever posted an image on your website without having obtained and paid for permission to use it, the correct answer would be something along the lines of “Never in a million years!.” And that’s how it should be. 

The trouble is that it’s so easy to post something on your site in all innocence without thinking that it will get you into trouble (perhaps in a blog or on your property’s Facebook page of an image sent to you by a friend). This is because Getty Images owns the rights to squillions of photographic pictures and buys more every day, which could come knocking at your door. They continually search websites for illegal use of the images for which they own the licencing rights. Should they find one on your site, they’ll send you a strongly worded legal letter, and an invoice which works out to around £400

Show Sunshine on Leith

...and Lincoln, Lowestoft, Launceston or where ever you are! The arrival of spring will probably come as a relief to everyone, as it’s quite clear that most people experienced a reduction in the number of last-minute half-term bookings in February. The nation seemed to assume that everywhere in the countryside was underwater while massive waves were inundating all holiday cottages within a few miles of a beach. The priority right now is not to let bookers believe that such soggy conditions will prevail into April, May and June. The most common question being asked in phone calls to our offices at the moment is, “What’s the weather going to be like at Easter?” 

It seems that bookers believe we are blessed with meteorological foresight. Experts at holiday cottage marketing and management, we may be, but as yet, we haven’t completely mastered the art of sunshine on demand. Believe me, if we had, we’d be giving a hefty chunk to the

What’s Trending in January?

In addition to the big increase in site traffic, we have noticed that interest in the main summer holiday weeks is well up on last year. Naturally, the fact that the sun decided to grace the UK with its presence last summer may be an influential fact. However, it may also be because people have woken up to the fact that many local education authorities have reduced this year’s official summer holiday dates from 6 to 5 weeks (although some schools may allocate training days to extend the holiday).

In addition, schools are now working hard to stop parents from taking their children out of school for holidays during term time (in some cases even fining them), all of which may mean more families competing for holiday dates in July and August. If that means the peak summer is taken care of, the challenge now will be positioning your cottage to attract bookers able to holiday during term time. 

Brainstorm the type of niche

Spend Christmas or New Year in a North Devon Holiday Cottage

Are you still looking for a holiday cottage available for Christmas and/or the New Year? There aren’t many gems left by now, but we’ve uncovered a few too good to be left unbooked. Here’s a tidy selection of beautifully furnished houses and cottages sleeping from 4 to 12 guests in North Devon.

Why North Devon?

It’s a land of deep-banked lanes and big beaches which, in winter, are perfect for long bracing walks. Watch the surf thundering onto the shore, or stomp from pub to pub on Exmoor before returning to your cottage with its roaring log fire. It’s also a corner of England that knows how to celebrate. Enjoy or join the various Beach Swims on Woolacombe, Saunton Sands or Westward Ho! where locals and visitors plunge in the bracing waves on Boxing or New Year’s Day. You can wear your wetsuit if you like, but it would be cheating! Most people wear fancy dress, but some hardy folk still venture

It's competition time again! All over the country, people will be reviewing their photographic archives in search of an image that will be good enough to be awarded the ultimate accolade: The My Holiday Marketing Christmas Card.

We are still dedicated to some of the old ways for an online company. Sending a genuine, handwritten Christmas Card to all those to who we'd like to send seasons greetings (around 400) by Royal Mail is one of them.

Last year's winning photo from Binney Matthews at Great Trevarron House is shown here.

For the winner, as well as gracing the front of the card, we will:

Send you a Christmas hamper, or if you are a cottage owner, you can have a 12-month free listing on My Favourite Holiday Cottages. Please post a picture of the winning card on our Blog, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ pages to all corners of the globe. Post it as a News Story on My Favourite Holiday Cottages. We'll also send you a Christmas card!

New - Add Your Testimonials

Last year, the techies amongst you were probably talking about Panda and Penguin. This autumn, it's all about Hummingbird. For the uninitiated, they are not Batman villains or secret agents. It's the latest changes Google has made to the way it ranks websites.

My Favourite Reviews should appeal to these latest changes as it encourages more, forgive the jargon, 'user-generated content' on the site. Allowing your past guests - or even those who have fallen in love with your cottage having read your listing can now add their opinion on the favourite things they like about your cottage. Do note that, My Favourite Reviews allows people to do just that - write about their favourite things, so no risk of being held to ransom by someone with an axe to grind. Why not e-mail recent guests who you know have had a wonderful holiday at your cottage and ask them to add a review to your listing on My Favourite Holiday Cottages? Enclose the

My Favourite Reviews: What and How

We raised this in the August Newsletter, and no doubt we'll raise it again as it can become a very powerful tool in generating more interest in MFHC.

My Favourite Reviews invites your guests, past and present, to post a description of their favourite things about your cottage. It's just about their favourite things, though. We've seen and heard too many horror stories of review sites being abused with unfair and often untruthful postings. Let's face it, if you really wanted to, it's always possible to find something to be negative about in just about any cottage. What we want to do is to allow people to see what others enjoyed about your cottage.

All you have to do is to e-mail your guests inviting them to list their favourite things about your cottage or their holiday, giving them the link to your page.

Then, invite them to click on the 'My Favourite Reviews' button and add whatever compliments they feel

September, and harvest festival time in the shires (at the time of writing). But there’s an all year round harvest festival to be enjoyed all over the UK in the form of Farmers’ Markets. If you’ve yet to visit one, put aside your next trip to Tesco and head for your local farmer’s market. As well as providing deliciously tasty, organic and locally grown foods, shopping at one is a great way to support the local economy and a healthier lifestyle. You’ll find the majority of the produce originated from within a few miles of the market, rather than having been flown and driven hundreds, if not thousands, of miles. What’s more, the stallholders themselves will often suggest delicious ways to prepare and cook their wares.

There’s probably a farmers’ market near you – go visit. But why not incorporate a trip to a market within a short break at a holiday cottage, creating a real culinary break without having to spend a fortune in restaurants. Check out our