Forward-thinking family-owned holiday letting agents, Skies Holidays have some useful advice for self-catering holiday property owners this month, after the government outlined the plan to re-opening the country last week.

They say:

“For anyone that has holiday accommodation in Britain this year will be one of the busiest you will ever see. With the nation spending over 6 months locked down in their homes, everyone is eager to escape on a well needed vacation. The big question is, are you ready for the staycation boom?

For many self-catering holiday businesses, you as owners will be relying heavily on your holiday letting company to guide you in the right direction. However, many owners during this last 12 months have been struggling to receive support from their letting agency and have lost confidence in handing over control and management to a 3^rd party.

Here are three key things you should be asking your holiday letting company, to ensure they are making the most out of the staycation boom for you and your property.

Revenue management

Revenue management is about getting the balance between best pricing and high occupancy. A lot of companies will do this by offering last minute discounts and offers, but do they make the most of the days where demand is high? With the bookings soon flowing in it is time to change the last-minute availability trend, and start increasing the price on a day or week where there is only one room left available. This may seem against the norm, but the current pricing and occupancy balance is something that has never been experienced before by the holiday market, and it is time to make up for the last year of losses.

“A 3 bedroom holiday let based on the outskirts of the popular town of Windermere has been seeing reservations for £650 per NIGHT with a minimum 3 night stay. “

These have been unprecedented and unpredictable times, and now is the period for holiday lets to recover.

Marketing exposure

There is a lot of stigma around the use of the big online travel agencies when letting out your holiday property. In an ideal world, having guests booking with you directly and building a rapport with them would be every owner’s dream. Unfortunately, the world we live in is now operating online more than ever. The era of instant demand and easy results has reached a level never seen before. The world of Amazon’s next day deliveries and Tesco’s groceries to your door is becoming the norm for most people. This means your holiday letting agent needs to keep up with the change in culture, and be exposing your property across as many markets as possible.

“The simple truth is; the more exposure your property has, the higher demand you will get.”

No matter what industry you are in, whenever you talk about marketing strategies you will inevitably discuss how much exposure you are getting for your business. This applies just as much to holiday accommodation. The world of online travel agents, social media, and SEO is vast and the opportunities are endless. So how do you make the most of it?

Its surprisingly simple.

You use all of them! There is some fantastic software and algorithms out there that can link your property, reservations, and guest databases to all of these sites. You no longer need to settle for your property only being visible to 10% of the available holiday makers. Make sure your holiday letting company is getting your property noticed and getting you the best price!

Individual guest database

Now you have your property out on the market, getting great prices for each night and higher demand, how do you stay connected with all of those guests? Your happy customers are what makes all this possible, and their experience at your holiday home is what will make or break your success. As a holiday-home owner you will need to put a lot of thought, time and effort into making the guest experience a seamless journey from arrival to departure. However, all of that effort is needed again and again if you can’t attract that guest back next year and the year after that.

The key is staying connected, and the way we do that has changed. It is no longer about visitors’ books, but about Facebook check ins. It’s no longer about testimonials, rather Trip Advisor reviews. Guests having the right information is everything and having the ability to follow up with those guests after their stay and encouraging them to book again is the life blood of holiday accommodation. That means you need to make sure your holiday letting agent has a guest database that is solely dedicated to your property, not the other 100 similar ones it has on its books. You want those guests to be contacted to book at your property again, and not receive the “we noticed you stayed at this property, we think you might like these 10 others that are similar…”

“An individual marketing strategy for your individual property.”

You have put the time into planning your guest journey to make sure their experience is the best it can be, then plan to get them back again, and again… ”

Skies Holidays Ltd is a holiday letting agent that has paved the way in modernising the guest experience. If your current holiday letting agent isn’t able to keep up with way the world is changing, then call Skies Holidays on 01539 324055.