Posts

Holiday letting tips

Holiday letting tips | Essential guide for cottage owners

Holiday letting tipsAs a holiday home owner there’s so much to think about; from guest safety to website photography and Facebook posts to the internal fixtures and fittings. Or even who’s doing the changeovers and mowing the lawns before those guests roll up the driveway.

The good news is that we’re here to help. We talk with holiday homeowners and letting agents every day giving us an insight into many aspects of holiday letting. As a result we’ve put together some of our most useful articles containing holiday letting tips all in one place.

No matter if you’re looking for ideas on how to cut electricity bills or keep the visiting kids safe in the garden, here are some of our top holiday letting tips when it comes to getting the most out of your holiday home this year….

Keeping your guests safe – checks to make before the peak season

You’ll undoubtedly want your guests to have a great time in your cottage and that means that they’ll also need to have a safe time. There are a number of checks and processes you should have in place and these should always be done prior to the busy summer season.

Here are a few checks that you need to tick off the to-do list as a priority:

How to make your cottages dog friendly

There are nearly nine million dog owners in the UK and almost 40% of visitors now want to take their pet with them on holiday. If you’re looking to make the most of this continually growing market or want to fine-tune your cottage to welcome our furry friends then here are some great pointers…

Engaging with the growing green tourism market

It’s not just a welcoming cottage for our trusted canines that piques potential booking interest, as more and more of us are becoming driven by sourcing eco-friendly accommodation. A whopping 58% of English consumers surveyed by VisitEngland indicated they’d want to stay in green accommodation with awards or environmentally friendly practices. Here’s how to communicate your green credentials and a few ideas to grow them, too…

How to make your cottage a haven for families

If you’re welcoming young children into your cottage this year, you’ll need to answer all of the needs that your paying parents arrive with. Here are just a few ideas on how to make your cottage perfect for each family, no matter what the weather….

Keeping children safe on outdoor play equipment

If you’re welcoming children to your cottage then it’s certainly not uncommon to have an outdoor play area for them to enjoy. Ever wondered what you need to do in order to keep them as safe as possible whilst playing on your outdoor equipment? Here’s our guide on everything you should be doing in order to minimise the risks of an accident…

How to make a first impression

Your guests will only ever walk into your home for the first time once. It’s therefore vital you achieve that wow factor which will leave a positive lasting impression. Hampers are an easy and popular welcome gift for guests and, if used well, can start someone’s holiday off on the right foot. Here’s how to get the content right whilst also catering for those with allergies and those who like a tipple!

How to get your property photography right

A photo speaks a thousand words, so getting them right is definitely a priority! Here’s our guide to make sure your images are immaculate. Also included are some elements you might not have thought of until your photographer has made his way home!

Increase bookings by promoting your cottage as a destination

Visitors spend 80% of their time outside of your cottage, yet the average cottage website has 80% of its content focussed on what’s inside. Here’s how to promote your destination and experience in order to grab people’s attention and bookings…

Become more energy efficient

Energy bills across the UK risen considerably; by up to 10% this year and for some by more than 30% in the past 30 months. Being energy efficient is becoming increasingly important, not only to prove your eco credentials but also to keep costs down. Here’s a few ideas on how to do just that…

Electric vehicle charging points

The UK is going electric when it comes to cars and the growth continues to be exponential.  In 2012 there were just 2,254 electric cars sold in England. Fast forward to 2015 and that figure was hitting 30,000. Last year? Near 60,000 electric plugin cars were sold. If you want to welcome this growing trend of traveller then here’s all you need to know about your electric hook-up point….

Getting your insurance right

We’ve been working with holiday home owners for more than 30 years and we’re specialists in making sure that cottages across the UK have the insurance in place that they need. For more information on insuring your holiday home or cottage complex please give our experienced team a call on 01237 429 444.

/by
reducing single-use plastic

Reducing single-use plastic in holiday homes

reducing single-use plastic The BBC documentary series Blue Planet and several other high profile media campaigns have recently shed a considerable amount of focus onto the topic of single-use plastic and recycling.

As tourism businesses and holiday homes are often located in some of the most outstanding and naturally beautiful places on the planet, how can we contribute to maintaining what’s around us and ensure we preserve the environment in which we live so that people can continue to enjoy it a long time into the future?

Single-use plastic – the statistics:

  • There are approximately 500 billion plastic bags used worldwide each year.
  • 50% of plastics are only used once before being thrown away.
  • It can take between 20 – 1,000 years for a plastic bag to break up into small pieces.
  • Every year 6.4 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into the ocean – the equivalent of 3,200 kilometres of waste disposal lorries full with waste.
  • If you joined all of the plastic bags in the ocean it would be long enough to circumnavigate the globe 4,200 times.
  • Approximately 1 million sea birds die every year due to plastic in the sea.

So what can you do as a holiday homeowner?

Offering your guests reusable bottles…

Globally humans buy a million plastic bottles per minute; 91% of these are not recycled. Providing your guests with reusable bottles will make a real difference over a week’s stay. They can even be branded with your logo at a reasonably low cost.

Say no to plastic straws

Single-use plastic straws are bad news for our oceans; they’re dangerous for sea wildlife and just like a plastic bag, take many, many years to break down. By removing any from your holiday home you’ll be doing your bit to reduce the waste going into our seas.

Consider providing guests a bag for life

Since the plastic bag charge was introduced in England, there’s been a dramatic 85% drop in their use. This has led to a distinct change in the way people think and behave; a bag for life is certainly now no longer something for the minority. However, with so much to pack and think about when on holiday, some of your guests might leave their resuable bag at home. Thus increasing the chance of using single-use plastic carrier bags to fetch their daily items from the shops. Have you considered offering a non-plastic bag for life to your guests? Just like your reusable bottle this can be branded if you wish, and will stay with your guest a long time after they leave.

Avoid Microbeads

The good news is that microbeads, which are made from plastic and commonly found in cosmetic and personal care products, should now not be used, furthermore a full ban on their sale is due to come into force from July this year. If you provide your guests with face scrubs and other toiletries be sure to remove any with microbeads from your cottage, and always check that what you’re buying is environmentally responsible.

#2MinuteBeachClean

The #2minutebeachclean initiative encourages all of us to visit our local beach and clear some of the plastic waste. The hashtag, which has grown immensely since its inception in 2014 is now used around the world.

For more information about the two minute beach clean and how to get involved please read our earlier article:

This is just an overview of how holiday homeowners can reduce the single-use plastic used in holiday homes. If you have any tips or suggestions please leave them in the comments box below.

Boshers offer specialist holiday home insurance to owners across the UK. For information on how specialist insurance can help protect your holiday home business, give us a call on 01237 429444.

 

 

/1 Comment/by
sustainable holiday letting

Why building a sustainable holiday letting business is good business

sustainable holiday lettingWe live in a society in which we are all growing more and more conscious of the world in which we live and the impact we make upon it. Recent news of motor manufacturers moving away from gas-guzzling cars towards cleaner electric vehicles are indicative of this change. Indeed there is a trend towards sustainable holiday letting businesses installing electric vehicle charging points to cater for increased demand. These trends have also permeated visitor opinion and purchasing behavior when it comes to booking a holiday cottage. Building a sustainable holiday letting business will increasingly become good businesss.

Recent research has found that guests actively seeking sustainable holiday letting accommodation are still in the minority. Importantly this research also illustrated that a holiday home with sustainable credentials does add extra appeal to potential guests.

When combined with the fact that sustainable no longer has to mean expensive – and quite often leads to cost savings over the medium to long-term for the holiday homeowner – the idea of building a sustainable and eco-friendly brand for your holiday cottage can become quite appealing. For example owners who have embraced the use of LED lighting have seen a reduction in electricity use.

We’ve been taking a look at Visit England’s ‘Sustainable Tourism Management Good Practice Guide’. The guide outlines ways in which you can improve the ways in which you work sustainably as a holiday homeowner, and become more green in practice.

Understanding your current position and developing a plan

When it comes to being green, the first step is to increase the knowledge you have of what you’re already using and where. This should involve monitoring your meter readings and fuel deliveries to identify the current level of consumption and where savings can or could be made. A great tool for highlighting the potential for improvement and developing a plan of action can be found at Better Tourism – Securing a sustainable future for your business.

If you don’t already do so, be sure to let your energy and water providers have regular and accurate readings as these can significantly lower bills. Live a good distance from your property? Ensure the task is delegated to someone to undertake on a regular basis.

Communicate with your guests

Getting it right when explaining your sustainable credentials to guests can be tricky; you don’t want it to come across as too technical and you definitely don’t want it to come across as preachy. Ensure you explain the changes that have been made, and most importantly, how they impact and improve your guest experience.

For example, if you’ve insulated your holiday home, explain what this means to your guest in the winter (particularly if your cottage is stone walled or of original construction and therefore may be perceived to be pretty chilly in January), not what it means in terms of your exceeding building regulations, its millimeters in thickness or how they should do the same themselves!

Get the guests involved in your sustainable holiday letting business

If you can, get the guests involved in your efforts. Clear communication is the key here too; do they know what they need to recycle and where within your holiday home? If they’re staying for a week, do they know when the recycling collection is made? Consider communicating this in your holiday let welcome folder.

Make this as obvious and as easy as possible for them to do, and if you’re attracting families, think of ways and games you could create to get the little ones involved in the effort. Things that are fun are more likely to be done.

Remember it doesn’t stop at the front door

It can be easy to think of sustainability as being contained within the four walls of our holiday homes. When in reality it can and perhaps should extend to the garden and grounds of your cottage. Consider using plants and shrubs that are in keeping with the local environment. Perhaps encourage wildlife through bird boxes in order to create the perfect holiday haven. Water butts can also be a handy addition in reducing the mains water that you use on the garden.

For more tips on how you can be a little greener please take a look at: VisitBritain – Maximising your Sustainability.

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.

/0 Comments/by
How green is your holiday home

How green is your holiday home?

,

How green is your holiday homeThere has never been a better time to reduce your energy over heads and ‘Do your bit’ for the environment. You may have made changes to your home but have you given thought to “How green is your holiday home?”

As energy assessors and building surveyors our friends at footPrint Energy Assessments Ltd have experienced the various incentives to aid us all to reduce the amount of energy we use for heating and power. In this brief guest blog, footPrint Energy Assessments introduce some of the incentives and schemes currently available.

There are three distinct phases to the governments push towards a low carbon economy:

  1. Incentives – to reduce energy demand – Now!
  2. Neutral – Loans to reduce energy demand that are paid off by the reduction in energy bills
  3. Penalties – Legislation to enforce energy efficiency

Currently there are numerous incentives ultimately in place to reduce the amount of carbon the UK’s buildings emit, but also help us reduce our overheads – whether you run a business from a commercial premises, own a domestic property or indeed run a furnished holiday letting or buy to let, you may be able to take advantage of the following schemes:

  • Feed in Tariff (FiT) – This scheme offers payments for each kWh of electricity produced by a renewable source (Solar PV, Wind turbine, Water turbine, CHP), in addition a further payment is made for each kWh of electricity exported back to the national grid. The occupier of the building also has the added bonus of free electricity whilst the technology is producing.
  • Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) – Very similar to the above FiT, payments are made for each kWh of heat produced from a renewable source, this coupled with the reduced heating bill makes a great another great scheme.
  • The Green Deal – A government monitored loan scheme, where the savings made through energy reduction technologies go towards paying off the loan.
  • Energy Company Obligation (ECO) – The scheme is aimed at social housing or people on benefits and is a grant to help pay for more costly energy saving methods that do not fall under the rules of The Green Deal
  • Landlords Energy Saving Allowance (LESA) – As the name implies this scheme is for landlords, the landlord can claim the full cost of installing qualifying energy saving technologies against their tax, up to £1,500 per year for each property.
  • Enhanced Capital Allowance scheme (ECA) – The ECA is for businesses and is similar to the LESA, businesses can claim the full price of the energy saving technology installed against their taxable profits

footPrint Energy Assessments Ltd are a small independent firm that provide energy reduction plans, energy surveys (EPC’s) and environmental plans. For further information about us or any of the above please contact us through our website – www.fdea.co.uk

Holiday home insurance and renewable energy technology

If you have renewable energy technology equipment, such as:

  • solar panels
  • ground or air source heat pumps; or
  • wind turbines

fitted at your holiday home or are considering doing so do check with your holiday home insurance provider to ensure that they are covered for all perils. Boshers holiday home insurance policy wording is wide enough to provide cover for full perils including accidental damage. You will need to ensure that your sums insured are adequate to include replacement costs of the equipment. Should you have any holiday home insurance questions relating to renewable energy pleas call one of our team on 01237 429444.

You may find the following holiday home insurance articles of interest:

For further information on UK holiday home insurance visit the website page most relevant to you:

/0 Comments/by