Advertisers Guide To Renting Their Property

As we where the first company in Ireland to introduce an international holiday home rental and advertisement service into Ireland way back in 1996, we have considerable experience and knowledge in this area, which we would like to pass onto our advertisers.

Firstly, before you make the very important decision to rent your property, we would like to point out the very obvious. "Strangers will be staying in your holiday home when you rent it out". That said, we would like to give you some guidelines and hopefully, some useful tips and information, which will be invaluable to you and help you maximise the rental potential of your holiday home.

FURNISHING YOUR PROPERTY

You should furnish your property to cater for the maximum number of persons your property sleeps. You should provide at least the following items; Matching fresh clean towels and tea towels for all guests with a minimum of one large type towel per guest & 3 tea towels per let; Matching bed linen and bed covers for all guests; Two pillows & pillow cases per guest; Change of towels, tea towels and all bed linen every 7 days; Hot and cold clean running water; Safe adequate heating and ventilation; Safe electricity/gas supply; Spare bulbs and fuses; Sufficient dining/sitting room seating, cutlery, crockery, pots, pans & cooking utensils for all guests; A hob/cooker with oven or microwave oven: A fridge freezer: Smoke and dangerous toxins alarms; Fire extinguishers for both electric and non-electric fires; Fire blanket; First aid kit; General cleaning material; Vacuum cleaner; Refuse bin and at least two refuse sacks; Kettle and toaster.

MANAGEMENT, CLEANING AND KEY HOLDING SERVICE

This is possibly the most important service you will have to provide to your guests and one which could cost you quite a lot of money in compensation to your guests if things should go wrong on-site and are not handled in the correct way. You should employ a reliable and honest person or company who knows whats expected of them, especially if things should go wrong locally, to act as your local contact. Make sure you have a written contract outlining exactly what services they will be providing and what their charges are.

You should ensure your local contact, whether a person or company, will provide you with a minimum of the following essential services. Property preparation; Cleaning and laundry service; Property management and maintenance service; Key holding and meet & greet service; Handling of guests security deposit; Handling of on-site problems; Out of hours emergency contact details for guests;

Remember, the cheapest option is generally never the best option. Likewise, the most expensive option is not necessarily the best option. Don't be afraid to ask awkward questions about how they would handle various on-site problems like a burst water pipe at 9pm on Saturday night. Most management companies will appear to be a good company doing their job while everything is going well. However, how they deal with a major problem will determine just how good they really are. So ask those questions! If you don't, you will regret it later.

TO USE OR NOT TO USE A BOOKING AGENT SERVICE

If you do not have the time to deal with telephone and email booking enquiries, chase payments, update your property web page, update your availability calendar, take phone calls (sometimes at very unsociable hours over the weekend) to deal with on-site problems, promoting your property etc, then using a booking agent service is a very good idea. Booking agents commission range from between 20% to 30%. Remember to include their commission when projecting your yearly running costs.

Before you commit to using a booking agent service, make sure you agree in writing, if you want to work with them on a request or exclusive basis. From the feedback we get from property owners, and also from our own personal experience since 1996, there appears to be one major problem with using a booking agent. That is, quite a lot of them don't always advise the property owner when they take a booking for their property and they keep the rental fee for themselves. It is very difficult for a busy property owner to keep this under control. One simple way is by checking your utility bills, electricity, gas, phone etc. If you are billed for usage during a time your property was supposed to be empty, this is generally a good sign that your booking agent is renting your property and not informing you.

FINANCIAL OBJECTIVES

The first thing you need to decide upon is, what are your financial objectives?
Do you want to maximise your property's rental income? See below.
Do you just want to cover your property's running costs? See Below.
How often do you want to use your property for your own use? See Below.
Do you want to minimise the wear and tear on your property and its furnishings, thereby saving on redecorating costs? If so, you have to be more selective about the type of people you rent your property to. Groups of single males, groups of single females, and families with young children will increase the wear and tear on your property and its furnishings

Maximise Property Rental Income: Means higher rental income; Requires that you use your property outside the peak season, for three to four weeks a year; Requires more work on your behalf administering bookings and booking enquires and making all the necessary ground arrangements for guests arrivals; More wear and tear on your property.

Cover Costs: Means lower rental income; Personal use of your property more often; Still requires at least 50% of the peak season weeks made available for rent; Less work administering bookings and booking enquires; Less wear and tear.

It is extremely important that you are clear from the start what your financial objectives are. Think them through thoroughly, write them down, and when you decide what is best for you, stick to it.

DECIDING WHAT RENTAL RATES TO CHARGE

It is our opinion, which is based on our considerable experience in this business, that it is better to have a property rented out consistently at a lower price than to have it rented out for a few weeks at a high price. Please feel free to use our six step guide which we hope will help you set your rental rates. This example is based on you allocating your full yearly costs to months May to October and any rental income you achieve during other months will make up for any shortfall in the months May to October.

1. Add up the total yearly running cost for your property. Do not include cleaning & laundry fees you can add these to your final weekly rates.
2. Add 8% to 10% onto your yearly running costs or whatever return you want within reason of course. Remember not to price yourself out of the market.
3. Allocate 45% of your yearly running costs to months July & August and divide that amount by 8 to get your weekly rate.
4. Allocate 60% of the balance to June & September and divide that amount by 8 to get your weekly rate.
5. Allocate the balance to May & October and divide that amount by 8 to get your weekly rate.
6. Set a weekly rate approximately 30% below the May & October weekly rate for all other weeks during the remaining months.

Obviously there will be high demand periods such as Easter, Christmas, New Year, mid-term school breaks which you can charge a 10% to 20% surcharge, but again, remember not to price your property out of the market. If you follow these basic steps you should end up with very realistic and achievable rental rates. You should also look at other properties in your area and see what they are charging.

GOOD ADMINISTRATION

In order to ensure you don't forget about a guests arrival, or money due from a booking, or costs related to a booking, to name but three important administration duties. It is very important that you have a good administration system in place. Below are some basic guidelines, which may be of use to you.

TAX & LEGAL ISSUES: You should keep and file all receipts and invoices for all costs related to your property. Regardless of how small or insignificant they may seem, you can offset them against your income tax liabilities. You should also seek advise from a local accountant and legal advisor as to what your local tax and legal requirements and liabilities are. Every country will have different tax and legal requirements so so its important to seek local professional advice from an English speaking lawyer or accountant.

BOOKINGS: We recommend that you set up a spreadsheet on your computer to keep track of bookings and all associated payments and costs. Microsoft Excel spreadsheet is a very effective way of keeping track of all your bookings. You should apply a lead name and booking reference number to every booking for quick reference. You should have all the following columns in your spreadsheet.

Personal Details: Date Booking Was Made; Booking Ref; Lead Name; Address; Home Telephone Number (landline very important do not accept just a mobile number); Email Address; Name of Property (if you have more than one); Arrival Date; Departure Date; Total in Group; Total Cost Of Booking; Payment Received: Date & Amount Of Payments Received; Balance Due; Balance Due Date; Date Balance Paid; Booking Notes:

Booking Costs: Cleaning & Laundry; Management/Maintenance; Miscellaneous; Total Cost; Date & Amount Paid; Payment Reference; Balance Due; Date Balance Paid: Notes:

We have produced a professional Excel booking database, which is free if you advertise your property on Apartments Direct web site. Our professional booking database will help you keep track of all your bookings, payments and costs. Our spreadsheet contains all the above columns, which we have linked to each other with various formulas to make entering details quicker. It calculates and offsets amounts due, payments received, costs due, and costs paid, all against each other and then automatically calculates all nett and gross amounts for you and then shows you exactly what profit you have made on each booking. It also displays overdue amounts in red so as to draw your attention to them. You can enter booking details on just one, or on an unlimited amount of properties.

Yet another great FREE offer from ApartmentsDirect.ie!

TRAVEL DOCUMENTS FOR GUESTS

After you have received full payment from your guest, you need to provide them with some form of travel documentation that contains full details of their booking. Details such as, ; Name and address of where they are staying; Their arrival and departure dates; Check-in and check-out times; Key collection and return procedure; Name and contact details of your local contact; Emergency number(s); Complaints procedure; Details of security deposit payable; Instructions on how they should leave your property at the end of their stay.

We have produced a professional accommodation voucher which contains all the above items and more. If you advertise your property on Apartments Direct web site we will email you our professional accommodation voucher, totally free of charge.

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AVAILABILITY CALENDAR

Your availability calendar lets visitors to your property web page know exactly what dates are available and what dates are not available in your property. Therefore, it is vital that you keep your availability calendar up to date at all times. You should rent your property on a nightly basis rather than a daily basis. This allows you to have one guest leave in the morning and another guest arrival in the afternoon of the same day. You should also set a minimum rental period. This is normally 7 nights or weekly basis. You should also decide if you want to stick to a set check-in day. Most advertisers set a specific check-in day during the high season and a flexible check-in day at all other times. Remember also to set check-in time, normally 16:00 and a check-in out time, normally 10:00. Your cleaners will need this time to prepare and clean your property if you have one guest leaving in the morning and one arriving in the afternoon.

If you advertise your property on Apartments Direct web site your availability calendar will appear on your property web page and you can update it instantly on-line from your advertisers administration center.

DEALING WITH BOOKING ENQUIRIES

When you receive a booking enquiry, it is so, so vital that you respond quickly. In your reply you should confirm whether the dates in question are still available, what the potential client has to do next to reserve these dates, what deposit they must pay now and when their balance is due. Answer any questions in a professional and polite manner and invite them to contact you if they have any further questions or if they require any further information. The potential client may ask you to place the dates on hold for 24 hours so they can arrange flights or other travel arrangements. This is normal and generally expected, with the exception of last minute bookings, which you should never place on hold. End your reply by thanking them for their enquiry.

CONFIRMING A BOOKING

You should only confirm a booking when you have received a deposit or full payment. When you do, the first thing you should do is update your availability calendar. The next thing to do is confirm receipt of the payment and confirm the booking to your client. Make sure your client is fully aware of when their balance payment is due, what your cancellation policy is, and what your booking terms and conditions are. You should never accept payment by cheque for last minute bookings or bookings with less than four weeks to arrival date. You should also not allow guests to send you payment after they arrive, unless you or your local contact can meet them at the property and accept payment from them in cash before keys are handed over. Payment on arrival is something we strongly advise against because if the client doesn't turn up, they don't have to pay you and you have lost the rental income from those dates.

SCAM WARNING!!!

If you are renting your home, please be aware of the following scam. The scam we uncovered works like this;

You will receive an enquiry from a person who will provide you with an email address (usually a hotmail or yahoo address) and sometimes they will also provide you with a mobile / cell phone number. The dates they want to rent will be for something like, one or two months, but not always. To try make the enquiry appear genuine, the scammer may haggle over the cost of the booking and ask for a slight discount. So lets say you agree on a booking cost of €4,000.00. What the scammer will do is over pay you by something like €3,000.00 and send you a €7,000.00 payment by cheque. This cheque will look genuine and official but it will be absolutely worthless and will be drawn on a foreign bank to you. The reason the scammer uses a foreign bank is because it will take at least four weeks before the great looking worthless cheque is returned to your bank unpaid. If you have not fallen for this scam then all it you will have cost you are the fees your bank will charge you for processing the cheque and it coming back as unpaid.

After sending the cheque to you the scammer will contact you and ask if you received their payment. You of course will say yes but then proceed to tell the scammer they overpaid you. The scammer will apologise and say they got mixed up. At this point the scammer will tell you to go ahead and lodge the cheque with your bank as normal but could you send the €3,000.00 they overpaid you back to them by Western Union or some other similar payment facility. DO NOT SEND THEM ANY MONEY WHATSOEVER. We heard of one property owner who fell for this scam because three weeks after lodging the worthless cheque, their bank told them the cheque must be okay because it has not been return to them so the property owner sent money to the scammer only to find out two weeks later the cheque bounced. We say again, DO NOT SEND THEM ANY MONEY WHATSOEVER regardless of what your bank tells you.

Another version of this scam is the "can you refund my money as a close relative has just died" How this works is like this;

You get a person looking to rent your property at the last minute. They want to pay on arrival. They arrive at your property, pay you or your local contact by cheque, yes, another one of those great looking worthless cheques. Later on the same day they arrive, they will call you with the terrible sad news. The timing of this call is important as it will be after the banks have closed. The scammer will seem really upset and tell you they are very sorry but they have to return home as their mother or some other relative has died suddenly. They will ask if you could refund some of their money as they will not now be able to continue with their stay. You will feel very sympathetic towards them or at least the scammer is hoping you will. They will understand that you have to deduct the cost of at least one nights stay plus cleaning charges and ask you to refund them the difference in cash. So whatever refund they get, is what they make on this scam. So, again we say DO NOT REFUND THEM ANY MONEY WHATSOEVER. If they insist on a refund, ask them for a forwarding address and a landline number and you will send them their refund. They won't give you this information and will say anything to get you to refund them in cash DON'T!!!.

MARKETING YOUR PROPERTY

Provided you have entered good descriptions and photographs of your property, you should achieve a high level of bookings form our web site. However, you should not just reply on our web site to generate bookings. There are other marketing options which you should avail of.

Local Newspapers: There are quite a few local community newspapers that offer small private advertisements for free. The don't allow much space but enough to include the main details of your property and your contact telephone number or even your property web page address. If you advertise your property on Apartments Direct web site, we will give you the full web site address for your property, which you can feature in your newspaper advertisement. This will take potential renters directly to your individual property.

Holiday Property Magazines: There are a number of holiday property magazines which you could consider. However, these tend to be quite expensive and will cost more than your yearly advertisement on Apartments Direct. They usually only feature for a week or two and give you limited space to describe your property. Bear in mind that once you confirm your advert and it goes to print, you cannot make any adjustments or changes even if there is a serious mistake such as a wrong digit in your contact telephone number.

DISCLAIMER NOTICE: Please be advised that all the above information is provided for information purposes only. Apartments Direct has made every effort to ensure this guide is complete and accurate, however, Apartments Direct do not accept responsibility or liability for any incomplete, inaccuracies or omissions, whatsoever.