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Wales Coast Path

Making the most of the Wales Coast Path as a marketing tool

If you’ve got a holiday home in Wales then you’ll undoubtedly have plenty to shout about to your prospective guests; rugged coastline, heritage, beautiful blue seas and sandy beaches make up just some of the many reasons tourists flock to the 870 mile coastal path that flanks the country each and every year.

St Davids Head

Here are a few things you might not know about the Welsh coastline…

  1. Over 43 million visits are made to the Wales Coast Path every year.
  2. Walkers along the Coast Path are estimated to spend nearly £550 million a year.
  3. 47 beaches in Wales were awarded Blue Flag status in 2018 – more than anywhere else in the UK.
  4. It would take about two & a half weeks to walk the 186 miles of Pembrokeshire coastline

With all of this on your doorstep, how do you make sure that those browsing for their next holiday know everything the local area and coastline has to offer?

The Wales Coast Path has put together a free online resource which gives coastal businesses in the country wide access to a range of resources aimed at promoting the welsh coast as a destination.

You can find a copy of their toolkit on this link:

We’ve had a good read and it’s incredibly thorough – here are just a few of the things you could and should be taking advantage of as a coastal business in Wales…

Make use of their library of images

If you’ve got an incredible coastline, one thing you’ll definitely want is for your potential guests to see it! The toolkit includes a large gallery of professional images that can be used to promote the local area and coast path, so be sure to make the most of them in your social media and newsletters, as well as on your website.

You can find access to their gallery on page 9 of the toolkit.

Take advantage of technology

The coastline isn’t just about breath-taking views and scenery; buried beneath the sand and stone is centuries of Welsh heritage and history.  Your guests won’t miss a thing with the new Wales Coast Path App, designed to keep children and families entertained and informed as they make their way along the coast.  Here’s a taster of how the App can get your guests inspired by the stories and secrets of the coastline…

Attracting the dog-friendly market

There are 12 million dog owners in the UK and there’s nothing our furry friends love more than to hit the great outdoors with the excitement and vigour only a dog knows how to! The good news is that the coast path is open to a man’s best friend as long as they’re kept on a lead, so the dog friendly market is certainly one you need to be tapping into. 

The Coast Path Toolkit highlights a number of ways you’ll be able to attract dog owners to the area, including badges you can place on your website showing you openly welcome dogs. To download a copy of the Toolkit please visit the Wales Coast Path website here:

Boshers offer specialist holiday home insurance to owners across the UK. Need an insurance quote for your holiday let? Give us a call on 01237 429444.

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registration scheme for short term lets

Calls for mandatory registration scheme for short term lets

registration scheme for short term lets

Feeling safe is a basic human need and something we should all be able to experience in our daily lives; we should feel safe when we’re at home, when we’re in the office or when we’re on holiday wanting to relax.

As a holiday homeowner, you’ll no doubt put much of your effort into the latter; ensuring that as soon as your guests arrive at your property, they are kept safe through any number of procedures and processes including fire risk assessments, gas safety certification, public and employers’ liability insurance and electrical checks. 

AirBnB terms and conditions

If we contrast that with the latest AirBnB terms and conditions they indicate:

“Airbnb has no control over and does not guarantee the existence, quality, safety suitability or legality of any listing”

Where safety for guests was once a given, the rapid growth of peer-to-peer accommodation providers such as AirBnB has far exceeded our own legislative response to its emergence, leaving an ever-growing unregulated market of peer-to-peer accommodation providers welcoming paying guests into their homes with sometimes minimal or no safety processes in place.

The size of that market is ever-growing; every region in the UK now has at least 2,000 listings on the platform and in London, the number is around 64,000. This places the UK as the fifth largest geography for Airbnb globally, when calculated by number of listings.

So how do we even the playing field in order to safeguard our guests and the reputation of the UK as a place to which people can travel and rightly feel safe, no matter where they book?

All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Industry

During 2018, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Industry issued a report on the ‘sharing economy’.  It recommended the introduction of a low-cost registration scheme for short term lets and holiday home accommodation providers, which would look to level the playing field of regulation and enforcement of those welcoming paying guests.  The scheme would in turn create a national database and allow regulators to do their job in ensuring the safety of visitors, no matter on what platform they’d booked.

In April 2019, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan co-signed a letter to the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government that outlined “the law is near-impossible for councils to enforce” and that “the time has come for a light-touch registration system”.  The letter was also signed by AirBnB.

Hadi Moussa, General Manager for Air BnB in the UK and Northern Europe indicated “A clear and simple registration system will help authorities get the information they need to regulate our industry effectively.”

The general consensus for this potential mandatory registration scheme for short term lets to date has been that it must be either low cost or free to register in order to achieve the necessary drive for sign ups.  If it does come to fruition, then any move to ensure that guests are kept safe and the gap in regulation between holiday homeowners and those listing properties through the ‘sharing economy’ is lessened can only be a good thing. You can read more about recent calls for increased regulation for AirBnB here:

Boshers offer specialist holiday home insurance to owners across the UK. Need an insurance quote for your holiday let? Give us a call on 01237 429444.

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Holiday Home Association launches new Holiday Home Industry Code Of Practice

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In order to ensure self-catering properties are effectively meeting quality standards, the Holiday Home Association (HHA), which is the UK’s longest serving trade association for the self-catering holiday home industry, has launched an industry code of practice aimed at raising quality standards and provide potential guests with a level of assurance when booking privately owned self-catering accommodation.

The Holiday Home Industry Code of Practice (HHICOP) is a comprehensive set of guidelines that sets out standards in health and safety, marketing, accessibility, liability insurance, data protection and complaints procedures.

HHA chief executive Martin Sach said: “The self-catering industry in the UK has changed considerably over the last few years, with a much greater increase in the availability of properties, with more and more owners and managers joining the market.

“There are also many more distribution channels through which a guest can book a property and these developments, can at times, be confusing for guests who are increasingly looking for more assurance that what they book will indeed be a professionally run and fairly represented example of what they are looking for,” he added.

The HHICOP, which can be easily downloaded from the HHA website, has no cost associated with it and is available for both members and non-members of the HHA.

For more information on the Holiday Home Industry Code of Practice, visit The HHA website here. It covers topics of interest to holiday letting owners which include:

  • Health and Safety
  • Fire Safety
  • Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
  • Electrical Safety
  • Gas Safety
  • Legionella
  • Safety of Furniture and Furnishings
  • Employers’ and Public Liability Insurance

Boshers offer specialist holiday home insurance to owners across the UK. Need an insurance quote for your holiday let? Give us a call on 01237 429444.

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Top 100 Short-Term Vacation Rental Blogs

Boshers listed in Top 100 Short-Term Vacation Rental Blogs

Top 100 Short-Term Vacation Rental Blogs

We’re delighted to say that our blog has been named as one of the most helpful online resources for holiday homeowners across the UK by Padlifter.com.

Our appearance on their ‘Top 100 Short-term Vacation rental blogs’ list, which recognises those that offer ‘best practice tips and ways of enhancing guest experience’, comes after we’ve written more than 300 blog posts over the past five years, crammed full of information on topics such as health and safety, insurance and online marketing.

We’ve been specialising in holiday home insurance for almost 30 years and over that time we’ve been able to build up a wealth of knowledge and experience by talking to holiday homeowners each and every day; the Boshers blog is our way of sharing that experience with cottage owners.

Top 100 Short-Term & Vacation Rental Blogs

No matter if it’s the latest legislative changes on credit card payments, updates to fire risk assessments or ways you can encourage more guests to your property during the winter months, we want our holiday homeowner blog to provide you with useful tips you can quickly put in place in order to enhance your guest experience and bookings, whilst also ensuring you’re on top of everything you need to be doing in order to keep your guests safe.

Here are some of our most popular topics…

Health and Safety

As a holiday homeowner you’ll want to make sure that your guests not only have a great time in your cottage but also a safe stay.  With the ever-changing landscape of health and safety regulations and the growing list of areas you need to be aware of it can often be difficult to keep up.  Our health and safety posts are here to help you put the right processes in place and minimise the chances of an accident happening.

Holiday Home Insurance

We of course know the importance of having the right insurance in place for your holiday home.  Have you ever thought about what would happen if your holiday home were to become unavailable during the peak summer months? How about if it were to be involved in a serious fire and need to be rebuilt? Or where you stand if paying guests accidentally damage your furniture?

Our holiday home insurance posts provide you with the answers to questions you might not have thought or be aware of when it comes to your insurance policy. 


Holiday home maintenance

With hundreds of paying guests entering your property over the course of a calendar year it’s understandable that there’ll be a little wear and tear.  No matter if you look after the cleaning and maintenance of your cottage yourself or you live a good distance from the property and employ an external agency, our maintenance tips are all geared toward making sure your property is looking great every time a guest walks through the front door.

Still wanting more?

If you’re still looking for more information and helpful tips for your holiday home, you can find the full Padfinder.co.uk list here:

Boshers offer specialist holiday home insurance to owners across the UK. Need an insurance quote for your holiday let? Give us a call on 01237 429444.

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holiday letting terms and conditions

Are your holiday letting terms and conditions fair to your guests?

holiday letting terms and conditions

A new campaign led by The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is highlighting the importance of being open and transparent with your guests when it comes to your holiday letting terms and conditions. 

The initiative, named ‘Small Print, Big Difference,’ is encouraging holiday home owners to ‘check in’ on their small print to ensure it’s fair to guests that have cause to unexpectedly cancel their holiday after booking, and is backed by a number of leading players within the industry including ABTA, The Travel Association, UKHospitality and Specialist Travel Association (AITO).

Are your terms and conditions ‘fair’?

The UK spent an estimated £81 billion on travel and holidays in 2018 alone, with the average family spending up to £3,000 to enjoy a range of destinations across the world and closer to home.  The thought of having to cancel a holiday, whether through ill health, bereavement or circumstances outside of your control, and subsequent loss of a deposit or cancellation fee, can therefore be an expensive one.

However, on the part of the holiday homeowner, if you’ve taken a booking and perhaps lost other bookings in order to honour that reservation, you are equally left with the prospect of having to fill that cottage, sometimes with very little or no notice, or be left significantly out of pocket.

It would seem in this scenario there are really no winners; the guest doesn’t get to enjoy your cottage and potentially loses a sum of money, whilst you are left frantically trying to re-book or face losing out on potential rental income.

The answer therefore lays in finding a ‘reasonable’ and ‘fair’ solution for all involved.

What is legally reasonable and fair?

Under consumer law, a business may be entitled to ask customers to pay a cancellation fee in order to cover any potential losses.  With that in mind, how much should, or could you be asking guests for if they need to cancel a booking?

The key is that the figure must be seen as proportionate to what you are losing. 

For example, if you were to ask for the full sum of their holiday and you then had time to re-book for the cancelled period, this would be seen as unreasonable. 

On the other hand, if you incurred costs in advertising and administrative time in order to re-book for the cancelled period, then asking for some of this to be covered would be more fair and reasonable if clearly communicated and stated within your terms and conditions.

How about non-refundable deposits?

If you include a blanket “non-refundable deposit” demand or cancellation fee in your terms and conditions then this could be an unfair contract, not legally binding, and unenforceable if that figure doesn’t correlate to your potential losses – even if the customer has signed it.

What do guests currently expect?

A recent survey conducted by CMA found that:

  • 89% felt they should get all, or most, of their money back if they cancel and the business re-sells their booking.
  • 85% felt that it’s unfair if they have to pay part of the cost of a booking when they cancel
  • 66% felt that travel and holiday businesses do not always make it as easy to cancel a booking as they should
  • of the people with experience of cancelling a booking, 1 in 5 felt that they had been treated unfairly

The key to fair conditions

When it comes to the law, the key is to ensure that any figure you request on cancellation correlates to the potential loss. However, at the heart of good customer service is great communication, so always make sure that your holiday letting terms and conditions are not only fair, but that your guests have seen them, read them, understand them and have easy access to them at every point of their booking with you.

For more information on the ‘Small Print, Big Difference’ campaign please visit: https://fairterms.campaign.gov.uk/

Boshers offer specialist holiday home insurance to owners across the UK. Need an insurance quote for your holiday let? Give us a call on 01237 429444.

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Septic tank

Does your holiday cottage have a septic tank?

Owners of rural holiday cottages should be careful not to fall foul of new septic tank regulations

Septic tankWhen you think about a holiday home, emotive thoughts of stunning locations, long summer evenings and fun with family and friends are often some of the first things that spring to mind. An important, albeit less glamorous aspect of owning a rural home or holiday cottage is dealing with sewage. Not a problem if your property is connected to the main sewerage system, but what if it isn’t?

Does your cottage have a septic tank or a private sewage treatment plant?

As many holiday homes across the country are based in rural, coastal and countryside areas, it’s not uncommon for them to be served by a septic tank or private sewage treatment plant (STP). If your cottage has either of these then you’ll need to comply with The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, which came into force on 1st January 2017 and need to be adhered to by 1st January 2020, or sooner if pollution is already occurring or you wish to sell the property this year.

So, for those that perhaps aren’t fully acquainted with waste management systems, what actually is the difference between a septic tank and a STP?

Septic Tanks

A septic tank is the most common and well-known of potential waste disposal systems. Sewage from the holiday home enters the tank, which is usually buried underground or situated away from the property, with solid matter staying within the tank and liquids flowing out for disposal.

Strutt and Parker reports that a 2010 study by Natural England found around 80% of septic tanks weren’t working satisfactorily, with the outflow pipe from many older systems flowing straight into a field drain and eventually to an open watercourse or, in some cases, directly into streams and rivers themselves.

If your septic tank is currently leading to any of these watercourses, then you’ll need to take remedial action before the end of this year to prevent any potential fines or further pollution and damage to your local area.

Private Sewage Treatment Plants

A private sewage treatment plant operates much like a mini sewage works. Pumping and aeration equipment within the plant enhances the breakdown of waste, meaning that any effluent discharged is much cleaner when compared to a traditional sewage septic tank, and can therefore be discharged into rivers and streams (subject to an Environment Agency permit where appropriate).

Practical Steps for you to take

The following useful information has been taken from Strutt and Parker’s recent guide on septic tanks and sewage treatment plants. You can find a link to their full information at the bottom of this blog post.

Septic Tank Owners

The first thing to say is that every property needs somewhere to place its waste, but if your holiday home is served by a private septic tank or a private sewage treatment plant (STP), you’ll need to ensure that this is compliant with The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 which have come in to place.

Check that your septic tank is:

  1. Discharging to the ground only
  2. Discharging domestic sewage only
  3. Not discharging more than 2m cubed per day
  4. Regularly de-sludged by a registered waste handler

Also check that your septic tank:

  1. Has sound, properly fitting lids and covers
  2. If installed prior to 1st January 2015, is more than 50m from any well or borehole and is outside a Special Protection Zone
  3. If installed after 1st January 2015, is also outside any designated sensitive area (DSA)
  4. Shows no evidence of overflowing or pollution (If there is effluent visible in the vicinity of your tank, your tank needs to be emptied, or your ground discharge is not working properly – or both. Surface run-off of effluent is likely to end up in a watercourse which is illegal.)

If your septic tank is ticking all of these boxes then no further action should be required. However, if you fail to meet any of these requirements then you’ll need to employ a competent professional to remedy any issues before 1st January 2020 passes.

Owners of a sewage treatment plant

Check that:

  1. Working parts are suitably serviced –advisable to have a management contract with a specialist
  2. The plant is regularly de-sludged by a registered waste handler
  3. There is no evidence of overflowing or pollution

In addition check that it’s:

  1. Outside of a designated sensitive area (DSA)
  2. Handling domestic (i.e. not commercial) sewage only
  3. Not discharging more than 5m cubed per day
  4. Installed in accordance with the planning and building regulations in place at the time (pre-1983 installations are deemed to comply automatically with this)
  5. Installation date was pre-1st January 2015.

If your STP is meeting the requirements then you shouldn’t need to take remedial action. In the event that it isn’t, it’s recommended that you seek professional advice to quickly remedy any issues.

For more information on this topic you can download your own copy of Strutt and Parker’s guidance below:

Additional information is available on the Government’s website below:

When holiday letting your second home to paying guests it’s essential to take advice on suitable insurance. Boshers offer specialist holiday home insurance to holiday letting owners across the UK. Need an insurance quote for your holiday home or cottage complex? Please give us a call on 01237 429444.

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electrical safety checks

Mandatory Electrical Safety Checks for private rental homes

electrical safety checksThe government has recently announced (on 29th January 2019) that they intend to introduce new mandatory five-year electrical safety checks for privately rented homes throughout the UK. This move will require new electrical safety legislation to be drawn up. It comes after years of campaigning by consumer and safety groups following a number of tragic and fatal cases.

What do the electrical safety checks changes cover?

The intended changes cover two distinct areas:

1. That electrical checks must be carried out on privately rented homes every five years

2. That the person carrying out the checks is subject to meeting the minimum qualification and competence to do so. With the responsibility of employing a competent person falling to the landlord themselves.

Both measures are geared towards reducing the risks for those living in privately rented accommodation. The Minister for Housing and Homelessness Heather Wheeler MP explained; “These new measures will reduce the risk of faulty electrical equipment, giving people peace of mind and helping to keep them safe in their homes.

“It will also provide clear guidance to landlords on who they should be hiring to carry out these important electrical safety checks.”

When are these new measures likely to come into force?

With Brexit negotiations currently dominating proceedings in Westminster, it is conceivable that there may be some delay. Therefore the timing of the introduction of this new legislation is uncertain. However the government has indicated that developments ‘will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows.’

It is anticipated that once passed, the legislation will be introduced in a series of transitional phases over two years. For the first year, the regulations will apply to new private tenancies. In the following year, they will be extended to all existing private lets. Landlords have six months to become familiar with the new requirements before regulations eventually come into force.

Failure to comply will lead to potentially hefty fines.

What does this mean for holiday homeowners?

It is currently unclear as to whether this new legislation will apply to holiday home owners in addition to those letting their properties under an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST). Regardless of any specific inclusion, it does highlight the need for cottage owners to remain vigilant when it comes to electrical safety. Holiday homeowners have a duty of care to ensure their holiday home is safe for both guests, visitors and employees. It has long been seen as good practice to have your holiday home electrical circuit tested every 5 years.

Please do check your records to ensure that your own electrical circuits and systems have all been checked and professionally tested within a reasonable period, or arrange for a competent and qualified person to do so as soon as possible.

For more information on electrical safety in your holiday home please take a look at our helpful blog posts:

When holiday letting your second home to paying guests it’s essential to take advice on suitable insurance. Boshers offer specialist holiday home insurance to holiday letting owners across the UK. Need an insurance quote for your holiday letting apartment? Please give us a call on 01237 429444.

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social media

Five social media hacks to increase your Holiday Let bookings

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social mediaSocial media has changed the way in which many of us find and book our holidays; more and more potential paying guests are now finding their holiday home accommodation provider through platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, where once upon a time they’d be at the local travel agent or reading about them in a glossy magazine or directory.

The question is no longer if you’re using social media as an agent or a cottage owner, it’s whether you’re utilising it to its maximum potential. With that in mind, here’re five very simple tips to increase your performance and generate more enquiries from your social media presence.

It’s good to find a niche and be targeted

All social media needs content; whether it’s 140 character tweets on Twitter, photos and some text for Facebook or that perfectly filtered image to go onto Instagram, content makes the world go round.

So how can you make that content more focused? By understanding who you’re targeting and thinking before anything you post, ‘would that person be interested in this content?’

Your holiday home will attract a certain type of person; if it’s ideal for young families then your content needs to be interesting and engaging to those with children. Are there soft play areas nearby? Is your cottage ram-packed with kids toys?

If it isn’t interesting to your target market, then it’s unlikely to stimulate response and intrigue.

A picture speaks a thousand words

No matter what platform you’re on, always try to include stimulating photography. It’s undoubtedly the easiest way to stand out from the crowd, and also sell your destination and accommodation. Consider stock-piling photography during the summer and brighter months which will tide you over during the winter. Many can become stuck for photos when the nights are longer and the leaves are long gone from the trees!

Timing is everything in social media

It’s important to understand the best times to post in order to boost the levels of interaction you gain. When it comes to Facebook, evenings (6.30pm – 10pm) are particularly effective. A massive amount of holiday research and bookings are made on a Sunday evening. If you’re not posting late in the afternoon or early in the evening on a Sunday, you could be missing out!

Twitter also buzzes during the evening when interaction is proven to be higher (people have more time having left the office for the day), whilst Instagram have done away with chronological post feeds meaning that post interaction is less dependent on timing (although first thing in the morning is still a winner!).

You’re more than just a holiday home (destination)

Holiday homeowners can sometimes come unstuck when trying to come up with content ideas. It doesn’t have to be just about your cottage, so worry not that you’ll need to be putting that same photo of the master bedroom up for a fourteenth time!

Visitors are likely to spend a good deal of time away from your cottage, so what is it that your area has to offer and how can you use this to entice potential guests? As much of the content you’re sharing should be about your destination as well as your property, and remember to make this all relevant to the person you’re trying to reach (as mentioned in our first point!) so it really strikes a chord and encourages an enquiry.

Be focused when it comes to advertising

Facebook make it incredibly simple and easy to advertise through their big blue boost buttons. Although it doesn’t mean that you need to be doing this recklessly. If you are considering boosting a post, then always consider if there’s any point to doing so before you do.

Trying to fill a week after a cancellation and have a special discount to encourage a booking, then fine, boost away!

Just posting an image and an update with no real call to action? Keep your money in your pocket!

Selectively boosting when there’s a distinct action you’re wanting the viewer to take can be extremely effective. By avoiding irrelevant post boosts you’ll have more spend to ensure it really works when you should be using it!

When holiday letting your second home to paying guests it’s essential to take advice on suitable insurance. Boshers offer specialist holiday home insurance to holiday letting owners across the UK. Need an insurance quote for your holiday letting property? Please give us a call on 01237 429444.

 

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hot tub legionella

Safeguarding your guests against Legionella bacteria

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hot tub legionellaWith longer evenings and the busy peak season fast approaching can there be anything better than the thought of relaxing in a hot tub, taking in the fresh air and watching the sunset over a beautiful coast or countryside view?

Holiday homes with a hot tub are proven to secure more bookings. However they do bring additional risks including those associated with Legionella. As the owner it’s your responsibility to ensure that your guests enjoy a healthy and safe environment. This includes being free of diseases caused by the Legionella bacteria.

It’s the less glamorous side of having a hot tub at your holiday let; with water comes Legionella bacteria which can be extremely serious and even deadly. Whilst most of us will have heard of Legionnaires disease many don’t understand the risks. However, with a death associated with a holiday lodge resort in England and another outbreak in a UK-based holiday chalet it must be taken seriously.

What is Legionnaires disease? 

Legionella pneumophila is bacterium which is very common in natural water sources such as rivers and reservoirs. It can also be found in water coolers, ice machines, hot and cold water systems, shower heads and hot tubs. Legionellosis is the collective name for the diseases caused by the bacterium including Legionnaires disease which is a pneumonia type illness.  You can catch it by breathing in tiny droplets of water containing the bacteria that cause the infection. This makes your hot tub a potentially perfect breeding ground for the bacteria if it’s not properly managed.

How do you control the risks associated with Legionella?

So what procedures and processes should you have in place for your hot tub to ensure that the risk of infection is minimised and your guests are able to enjoy their relaxing evening soak?

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Guidance

The HSE has produced a very thorough document on the controls and procedures you should have in place as a hot tub owner. We’ve included a link to this document below. If you’re not already, it’s worth familiarising yourself with all of the processes mentioned in order to ensure your hot tub is kept in a clean and sterile condition throughout the summer and beyond.

  • HSE advice on the control of legionella in your hot tub – to download click here.

Some key points in maintaining your hot tub

  • Conducting a risk assessment

Although these can seem like even more paperwork for your holiday cottage they’re vitally important. They help you understand how to address the risks. When it comes to your hot tub risk assessments should be undertaken by a competent person. This can be you as the owner, so long as you fully understand the system, associated risks and legislation.

It’s important to highlight that even if you don’t undertake the assessment yourself, you’re still responsible for it as the holiday homeowner, so it’s essential that it’s thorough and detailed.

  • Regular monitoring

The risk assessment is only ever the first step in the process; it’s important that you put in place processes that minimise the risks faced by your guests, and that these are then regularly reviewed by a competent person in order to ensure they’re effective.

As with your risk assessment, you’re ultimately responsible for these ongoing measures, so even if you do live a good distance from your home it is worth having a regular check yourself to make sure that your instructions are being delivered and implemented to the standard they need to be.

  • Effective training

To reduce the risk of Legionnaires disease and other infections it’s important that everyone sings from the same hymn sheet. Do you outsource the cleaning and maintenance of your holiday home and hot tub? Then you’ll need to ensure that the cleaner or company you’re using are: familiar with the procedures that you have in place, the installers guidance on cleaning and maintaining your hot tub, along with any other information they need to reduce risks effectively.

Inadequate management, communication or instruction are often the source of problems when it comes to delegating tasks like this, so make sure there’s clear and written guidance on what needs to be completed, with reviews taken on a regular basis and increased in frequency if a new cleaner or individual is made responsible for these tasks.

Our holiday home insurance includes cover for Legionellosis 

We believe in giving our holiday homeowners the broadest level of cover possible. This is why we include cover against accidental bodily injury caused by Legionellosis. We recently increased the public liability extension for Legionellosis liability to provide £1m of cover*. This applies to any one period of insurance and includes associated legal fees.

* It is a requirement of this extension to cover that you adhere to the current Health and Safety Executive’s Approved Code of Practice for the prevention of Legionnaire’s Disease: The control of legionella bacteria in water systems

For more information about our specialist holiday home insurance please give our experienced team a call on 01237 429444.

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holiday home booking scams

Holiday home booking scams `Vigilance is key’

holiday home booking scamsDid you know that there are 14 billion spam emails sent across the world every day? With that sheer volume you’ll not be surprised if one or two pop into your own inbox each day!

Whilst we can all turn a blind eye, perhaps muttering under our breath as we delete them from our rapidly filling inbox, the problem is that some are becoming more and more realistic; the lines between valid enquiries and booking scams are blurring.

This potential problem is further exacerbated for holiday homeowners when you consider that the majority of bookings are now taken online through booking engines. So how do you tell if someone is real or fake so you don’t fall foul of booking scams? A number of incidences have been recently reported where:

  1. holiday homeowners have taken a booking, the person has stayed at the property and;
  2. the payment has subsequently been denied after their departure
  3. the card used had been stolen or impersonated.

So what would you do in these circumstances? You’ve not only lost out on the payment for the stay but also lost out on letting it to someone else. A double loss.

The answer of course is as always to stay vigilant when taking bookings and investigate further if you have doubts over the validity of a potential booking. Here are just a few tips to hopefully help to ensure that fake bookings don’t make it past your proactive safeguards.

Look for some of the more obvious signs of faking

As we’ve already said, email correspondences and online bookings can be very sincere and on the face of it look completely legitimate. However, there are a few red flags that may arouse suspicion:

  1. Not providing a telephone number or other key pieces of verification information – this can be easily solved by making this a compulsory field of any bookings. You could also ask for their home address as a part of this process.
  2. Monitor very late and last minute bookings. If someone has obtained someone’s credit or debit card information, then it’s unlikely they’ll be planning their trip months in advance for fear of being caught. The majority of holiday home scams are concentrated around last minute bookings for short breaks.
  3. Some booking scams have involved individuals ‘arranging a surprise trip’ for someone else. Whilst this in isolation isn’t completely uncommon, if combined with the other potential red flags we’ve already mentioned it may arouse suspicion of scamming.

Trust your own instinct to prevent falling foul of booking scams

If you manage your own holiday home bookings, then you’ll have undoubtedly taken hundreds if not thousands over the years. Trust your instinct; if something around a booking doesn’t feel or smell right then investigate it. Give them a call. Look into things a little further and ask for additional information that would dispel any doubt.

If you’re still in doubt…

Where you have concern over a booking, consider asking for ID and to view the card on which they paid on arrival. If someone has stolen the personal information of another individual, then they’ll not have this to hand.

Use a good holiday letting agent…

Using a good holiday letting agency can also help you stamp out fraudulent or scam bookings. Working with cottage owners in the local area or even nationally, an agency will have an unrivalled knowledge and understanding. Not only will they get you new bookings, but also keep you as safe as possible from would-be scammers.

If you have been a victim of fraud it’s important to report it to the relevant authorities. You can report a fraud to Action Fraud using their online fraud reporting tool or by calling 0300 123 2040.

Boshers are specialist providers of holiday home insurance. For information on how we can help protect your holiday let business ,call us on 01237 429444

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