The Pros and Cons of a Holiday Let Management Company

Whether you’re thinking of buying a holiday let, one of the keys decisions is deciding how to manage it. Are you going to complete this yourself, or are you going to seek the help of a holiday let management company?

There are advantages and disadvantages to each option, and the best option for you will depend on a number of factors such as, how close to your holiday home you live, how much spare time you have, and your experience in holiday letting.

To help you make  the best decision for you, here we detail the pros and cons of using a  holiday home management company.

The Advantages of Using a Holiday Let Management Company

Whether you’re just starting a holiday let business, or you have years of experience, there are a number of elements that holiday home management agencies can help with to make your role as a property owner easier and to help you maintain consistent bookings.

While the exact detail of what individual holiday rental management companies offer may vary, the main advantages of using a holiday let agency are:

Knowledge and Expertise

If you’re considering buying a holiday let, it can soon become overwhelming thinking about mortgages and what type of insurance you’ll need. Short-term let management companies can support you with advice from this stage, and may be able to suggest some contacts for specialist holiday let mortgage brokers. Make use of our free Holiday Rental Income Estimate Letter service to help you along this process.

Here at Sykes Holiday Cottages, we have helped thousands of owners to start their holiday let businesses, so we can offer our insights gained from more than 30 years in the industry.

Once you own your property, holiday let agencies can also give you useful tips on how to maximise your income through techniques that are proven to be successful. Discover our top tips on boosting your holiday let income. Holiday rental management companies can also offer expert advice on how to price your property, how to furnish, how to deal with guests and much more.

As a holiday let property owner, you’ll also need to be aware of any holiday let rules and regulations, such as fire safety and electric and gas safety. Holiday let agents can keep you up to date with any legislation changes, so you have peace of mind that you’ve not missed anything.

Marketing Power

It can be hard to know where to start when trying to advertise and market a holiday let on your own, and you could easily spend a lot of money doing so unsuccessfully. A holiday rental management agency can be invaluable in this area.

How does Sykes market your holiday let?

• Relationships with more than 500 trusted partners, including TripAdvisor and Vrbo

• A  huge database of holidaymakers  who we contact via email and through printed materials

• Thousands of followers on  social media

• A PR team dedicated to earning coverage in national publications such as The Times, The Guardian and The Mirror

• Professional photographers and description writers

• A digital marketing team focused on improving our online presence and the usability of our site

Hassle-Free Holiday Letting

One of the biggest advantages to using a holiday let agency is the time and hassle it can save you, sorting out the day-to-day running of your property such as; handling bookings and payments, managing staff, dealing with guest queries and complaints, and keeping on top of your property’s maintenance.

Using a booking management system, agencies will ensure that there are no double bookings and no miscommunication when placing holiday bookings manually. Not only will this be beneficial for your customer, but it will save you the hardship of letting some customers down if a double-booking mistake has been made.

A key part of ensuring that your property letting career is as fruitful as possible, is the element of customer satisfaction. Without it, how well do you expect your property to perform?

Ensuring that your customers have the best stay possible will help drive positive reviews for your property, enticing new potential customers to stay or even attract historical customers to return.

Future customer queries can quickly become a full-time burden that you will be glad to see the back of once your property is managed by a property management company.

Think realistically about how much time you have to dedicate to running a holiday let, as small tasks can soon add up. Although managing your holiday let yourself can save money, working with a management agent could be a worthwhile expenditure if it saves you valuable time.

You must also take into consideration the distance that you will need to travel from your own home to your holiday let. If you’re not based near to your property, think about how long a trip to do something as simple as changing a lightbulb could take.

Boosts your Finances

Managing your bookings is one thing, but handling your finances is an entirely separate challenge. As you can imagine, a variety of different problems may arise when trying to manage your finances such as:

• Inefficient spend: Through the best local suppliers, management companies will ensure that any cost for resources or even services, are covered in the most cost-effective way.

• Missing payments: Handling the finances of your property on your own can be an extremely challenging and daunting job. Through an agency, you will be guaranteed to receive your payments when a customer books your abode. Some agencies will even provide you with your payments in advance!

• Services: The costs of maintenance services such as plumbing and cleaning can cost a small fortune if managed on your own. Most agencies tend to partner themselves with efficient and affordable businesses that will keep the cost of maintenance down.

• Keeping prices fair: When putting your property on the market, it is important to know how to price your holiday home. If you value your house too high, the number of bookings you receive will be much lower. If your value is too low, you won’t be getting the best value stream for your property.

Through an agency, you will get a realistic value for your property that will benefit both you and your customer.

Bespoke Short-term Let Management

You may love gardening, but hate cleaning. Or maybe you’d like  to put welcome packs together, but don’t feel confident  keeping up with the  property’s  maintenance.

With Sykes Holiday Cottages’ Managed Services package, as well as using us to look after your bookings and payments, you choose a support package to specifically match your needs as a property owner.

We have more than 350 professional holiday let changeover and managed holiday letting companies in our UK network, and can match you to the right supplier. Using these, you can custom build the best package for you.

This could include:

• Property changeovers

• Full property management

• Welcome packs

• Refresh and mid-stay cleans

• Deep cleaning carpets

• Window cleaning

• Gardening services

• Hot tub cleaning

You can arrange a free, no-obligation visit with one of our preferred and quality-monitored suppliers to help your holiday let run smoothly.

Advice and Guidance

Managing a holiday home is tough and it’s hard to do it alone. Even though there may be tough challenges ahead, with an agency, a helping hand is never too far away!

As a property owner, you will face a variety of challenges and even questions from your customers that may become too much. Seek advice and guidance on your property before and during your letting process.

The Disadvantages of Using a Holiday Let Management Company

Although there are many positives that come with using a holiday rental management company, it's not for everybody. There are some factors that could mean that it's not the right path for you to follow, and you may be more suited to managing your property yourself. The possible disadvantages of using a managed holiday letting company include:

Additional Costs

Perhaps the most obvious disadvantage of using a holiday let management agency is the extra costs that you’ll have to pay.

You’ll likely have to pay the agency a commission fee per booking, and may also have to pay agency fees and annual fees to allow the agency to carry on helping you out – so read your terms and conditions carefully to avoid any surprise charges.

These holiday home services could be well worth it if you don’t have enough time to dedicate to your property, or if you’re not experienced in marketing or customer relations. If you pick the right management package that suits your needs, you could in fact earn more with the support of these experienced professionals.

Less Control

One of the big advantages of owning your own holiday let is being able to visit it yourself when you want, however with a holiday let agency, you may have less freedom over when this is. You’ll also have less control over who books and stays in your property, and potentially how guests are greeted or complaints are handled.

However, Sykes offers a flexible approach, and you can talk to our property experts to block time out for your own use, so you can make the most of your property yourself.

Bookings are Not Guaranteed

Despite having expertise in the holiday let industry, management companies can’t guarantee how many bookings you’ll have in a year. So, it’s important that if you do decide to use a managed holiday letting company, you take advantage of all of the resources and help it offers to maximise your relationship and chance of success.

The Advantages of Going Solo

Prospect of Earning More Income

If you decide to go it alone, there will, of course, be the possibility to earn more income each year. This is due to the fact that you will not be paying any agency fees and commissions towards each booking, so you will receive 100% of the rental income after tax.Not paying agency fees can seem like a no-brainer, with the possibility of earning more but if you are just starting out and need that exposure for your property to get the first set of bookings in then using a trusted agency may be something to consider.

More Control over Guests

Having complete control of your holiday let will allow you to accept each guest that books your property. There can be less control when working alongside a holiday let agency, although you can adjust your property criteria to cater for small or larger groups and whether your property will accept pets.If you go alone you can add in certain age groups and other extra criteria that you feel you may need. This allows you to have the final say but just make sure this is highlighted to people on the website before booking. Doing this, however, will also reduce the number of bookings at the property if you are rejecting certain guests who choose to book so be aware of this.

You have more Flexibility

Being in more control of the property allows you flexibility on when you can stay in your own property with no issues with having a certain week allowance. This also allows you to let your friends and family stay at the holiday let without you having to use up your own allowance to book the time out.This can be a convenient option to have but this sees actual revenue weeks lost so remember to only use it sporadically. Certain agencies offer different owner booking allowances to cater towards this so make sure you consider these options.

Manage Guests Direct

When looking after the property on your own, you will have to manage the guests' process throughout their stay at your property, from questions at the beginning of the booking stage to their arrival and any questions or queries at may arise during the actual stay. This will see all communication going direct through you without any agency or third party in between.You will also be able to highlight to them the best ways to leave feedback and make sure your property is rated after each stay. This will help in showcasing the holiday let to potential future customers.

Control in Rental Prices

If you are looking after the day-to-day running of your holiday let then you will be the one in charge of setting up the pricing. You will have to be careful to not price yourself out of the market, so make sure to check out the other holiday lets in the area similar to you.You will also be able to offer special discounts & deals to whoever you choose as well as being able to be in contact with guests directly to secure a last minute booking. But be aware that securing bookings at a discount is fine but you need to make sure that the amount will be correct for you to be able to keep the holiday let sustainable. With most agencies they will have a pricing structure in place to make sure your property will be maximising its potential without compromising the costs long term.

The Disadvantages of Going Solo

No Guarantee of a Certain Amount of Bookings

When starting out on your own, it can be harder to get the ball rolling on getting a steady level of bookings each week. This can be from a number of different reasons, from the marketing of your property to making sure you have the best possible photos showcasing your holiday let and the local competition in the area.It can take a while for a property to be highlighted on web searches so patience is key. You will have more chance of a better start with your holiday let by working alongside an agency that has the expertise required to start your property off right.

Time-consuming & Extra Responsibilities

If you opt to go solo and not work with a holiday let management company then you will have to deal with all the responsibilities that come with a holiday let on your own.This can be the big things like marketing the property to confirming the booking and payment process to smaller things like sending key collection information and being on hand for any guest queries throughout their stay, this part can happen during the day or in the early hours of the morning depending on the issue.This can take a lot of time out of your normal day and can be a lot of extra responsibility if you are doing this alongside your current job. This can see you working over the weekends and into the evenings and missing out on quality time with friends and family.Working alongside an agency will allow that extra time as they look after the main administration work, from dealing with the initial reservations to being the first point of contact for any issue.

Starting from Scratch

When starting from the very beginning you will need to look at items such as website creation, advertising and a software or website that can deal with the booking management for each holiday.If you are someone that has not considered holiday property management in the past then this will be a learning experience and will take time to get used to the processes. With all this also comes cost because having this all set up will see a significant outgoing at the very beginning of your business, so this will need to be budgeted for before any income is ever generated.

Marketing Exposure and Competitors

When you are part of a big holiday letting agency, you have the marketing power from them to push your property once it goes live on their website.When working on your own you will need to look at things such as place advertising, and using social media for promotion and campaigns. It will be quite difficult to get noticed at the very beginning due to starting from scratch and there will be other properties starting out with agencies that may see their listing get more exposure.