Renting your holiday home on the short-term let market is time-consuming, hard work, and a 24/7 commitment.

Read on to see the top 3 tasks hosts find the most difficult to navigate and how Pass The Keys Dumfries & Galloway can manage these for you.

Owning a holiday let has many advantages and can give you a substantial extra income. However, many new hosts however don’t realise just how much work is involved in the day-to-day running.

Holiday let management in Dumfries & Galloway and all the associated pitfalls can become seriously stressful. From cleaning after every changeover to pricing strategies on the many available platforms, the list is endless and can take over every spare minute you have.

Guest Changeovers 

Whether you decide to do the cleaning yourself or try to find a cleaner to do it for you, both of these options come with their challenges.  

Doing each clean yourself will take up a large chunk of your time (especially in peak season when you could be cleaning the property 2 - 3 times a week), but it’s not just the clean itself that becomes a problem, all the bedding and bathroom linen will need to be laundered and dried. Unless you have a professional laundrette at home, this can become a mammoth task! With our beautiful but unpredictable Scottish weather, trying to potentially get over 60 individual items of laundry prepared week in and week out for 6 months can, in itself, causes huge stress.

So you’ve decided to employ a cleaner? This is harder than you may think. Finding a reliable and committed cleaner that has a flexible schedule that can consistently meet varying changeover times is extremely challenging and even if you do find someone…….there’s still that laundry!

How we can help:-    With our network of cleaning associates and laundry specialists, we completely remove all the stresses of managing these tasks, in addition, we even provide guest toiletries and all the kitchen consumables your guests will need to ensure a comfortable stay - problem solved!

Guest Communications   

The volume of guest communications can (and often does) become overwhelming! From the minute a booking is confirmed through to check out there will be an almost constant stream of questions from your guests, everything from, "is there a microwave" to "what is the best local taxi service".  You will need to be available and contactable 24/7 during guest stays and, be prepared to drop everything and dash out should an emergency arise (even on Christmas day)!  That at first glance seems almost manageable, however, consider that in peak season alone you could have up to around 40 - 50 individual advance stays booked, now you see the problem!

How we can help:-   Our 24/7 Guest Services Team is on standby to answer any questions from guests. Our extensive onboarding procedure means we gather as much information about the property as possible, this (in most cases) means that the Guest Services Team will have a database of knowledge at their fingertips to advise and help guests wherever needed. In addition, with local ‘feet on the ground’ management, there is always someone on hand to deal with emergencies that can not be dealt with on the telephone. You, as a host, will be able to relax in the knowledge that you will not have to communicate with guests at any stage and that your guest's queries are handled efficiently - problem solved!

Listing, Pricing Strategy & Occupancy Rates

With the number of listing platforms increasing, it has become more and more difficult for hosts to manage their listings on the number of platforms needed to ensure maximum occupancy. From Airbnb hosting to Booking.com, it is not just a case of simply listing the property details on each. Every time you receive a booking you will need to update your property's availability across all platforms you advertise on.

Then there is your pricing strategy. Based on numerous factors such as seasonality, local and national events, holiday times and many others, your nightly pricing rate needs to continuously rise and fall both to ensure maximum income and occupancy potential but also to remain competitive locally. The financial administration side of hosting is again, extremely time consuming and needs to be monitored on almost a daily basis and is where Pass the Keys as your holiday let company in Dumfries & Galloway will make life easier.

How we can help:-   Huge investment in our technology means that our internal systems and integration capabilities are second to none! We manage your listing across multiple platforms which are integrated with our internal system meaning there is no chance of double bookings. Our dynamic pricing algorithm works tirelessly monitoring your nightly rate and occupancy, this, coupled with hands-on analysts, ensure your property receives maximum exposure resulting in maximised income & occupancy, all without you having to spend hours each week in front of your computer - problem solved!

Now that you have an insight into what some of the pitfalls and challenges running a holiday home will present, you can also see the value in letting Pass The Keys Dumfries & Galloway manage your property for you, but please don’t think the above 3 points are all that is standing in your way of peaceful life! There are numerous other obstacles and daily chores that are needed on top of these in managing a successful holiday let, things such as guest vetting, host insurance, key management and guest documents are but a few additional essential tasks that are all taken care of by Pass the Keys Dumfries & Galloway.

So, for a fully managed service, hassle-free hosting and most importantly a stress-free life from the only holiday let company in Dumfries & Galloway to hold the Airbnb Professional Co-Host status, contact Charlotte on 01387 403348 or charlotte.boyd@passthekeys.co.uk to discuss your property further.

You can also click here to book a call with one of our host consultants.

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