Home Owners Thinking of Renting for Holidays

There are lots of things to consider when it comes to renting out your home to holidaymakers.  It is not just a simple case of finding someone to rent out your property and taking the cash.

People sometimes forget about things like providing maid service or having someone at the property with the keys to let your guests in, especially if you don’t live in the property or even the same country.

Here are a few tips that may help you decide whether holiday rentals are for you :-

1)  Do your research

Make sure you do all your research about the surrounding area so you know what goes on around you.  This could include golf courses, special events and activities.

You should also research the average rental rates for the same type of property in your area.  It would be pointless being 50% more expensive than other properties in the area, unless you can justify it with extras that other properties don’t have.

Make sure you know how far away things are from you, like the airport, and how long things take to get to by car (or foot if they are close).  This is useful when you come to promote your property.

Also make sure you know the cost of services to your property for things like maid service, air conditioning, pool heating and any villa management services you have.  This makes costing the rental price easier if you have all this information to hand.

Make sure you know the type of clients you want to attract.  Your villa maybe perfect for families or it might be for nature lovers. 

2)  Promoting your property

Once you have your prices set for each rental period you can start promoting your property.  There are a number of ways you can do this.

You can take out adverts in free newspapers or online ad sites, such as adzooks.  These tend to be free and they also have contact forms, which means your contact details are not on display.

You can pay to join sites such as Owners Direct.  These sites normally charge a yearly fee, regardless of any bookings or not.  Some make no yearly charge, but charge a commission to you when a booking is made.  You need to work out the cost and whether it is good value for you.

There are sites out there on the internet, such as Portugal Holiday Accommodation, that don’t take a yearly fee or any commissions from owners.  They charge a booking fee to the person booking the property.

There are many ways to promote your property, both free and paid, it is just finding the right one and the one that works for you and your property.

Happy renting!