Search found 699 matches

by Joanna
Sat Jun 17, 2023 10:40 pm
Forum: UK & Ireland
Topic: Registration of Holiday Lets
Replies: 3
Views: 711

Re: Registration of Holiday Lets

Sorry - just realised you’re talking about the proposed changes to planning laws. That is more complex - again worth reading the info on the PASC website: http://pascuk.co.uk/ Hopefully it won’t be retrospective & won’t affect existing holiday lets. The consultation has just finished so it will ...
by Joanna
Sat Jun 17, 2023 10:37 pm
Forum: UK & Ireland
Topic: Registration of Holiday Lets
Replies: 3
Views: 711

Re: Registration of Holiday Lets

One proposal is that anyone who lets rooms for money will have to register, regardless of how many nights per year. The most likely outcome is that there will be an annual fee of around £100 and every owner/host will have to register & upload their fire risk assessment etc. to show they are comp...
by Joanna
Thu Jan 26, 2023 11:22 am
Forum: OTAs: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking, Tripadvisor, etc.
Topic: Trip Advisor No Longer Connecting To Property Management Platforms
Replies: 3
Views: 457

Re: Trip Advisor No Longer Connecting To Property Management Platforms

We had a reasonable number of bookings from TA around 2017-2019 then it tailed off and in the last couple of years we've had none at all. I kept our listings going because of all the good reviews but now that the reviews are all over 2 years old I think they're less relevant. I'm considering taking ...
by Joanna
Tue Dec 06, 2022 12:14 pm
Forum: UK & Ireland
Topic: Is a Visit England Quality grading worth it?
Replies: 1
Views: 345

Is a Visit England Quality grading worth it?

I know this has been discussed before but I wonder if things have changed. We have one cottage graded by the AA through their star scheme which is fine - we can put happily put '4 star' accommodation on our marketing materials. The renewal is due in January so I was just checking what the difference...
by Joanna
Sat Jun 11, 2022 6:25 pm
Forum: Managing your property
Topic: Guest with Covid
Replies: 3
Views: 580

Re: Guest with Covid

Pretty sure PASC have said that 72 hr gaps are no longer necessary. Covid doesn’t persist on surfaces for very long, so, as long as you’re doing a thorough clean and sanitise there’s no need for a gap before the next guests arrive. You might be able to challenge your agency on that point - direct th...
by Joanna
Mon Jun 06, 2022 8:23 pm
Forum: OTAs: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking, Tripadvisor, etc.
Topic: How To Set Pricing
Replies: 5
Views: 832

Re: How To Set Pricing

It is tricky - I aim to get the same as a direct booking but it’s hit & miss. We sometimes use ABB to fill odd gaps & I’ve worked out what percentage I need to increase my prices by so that I end up with the same after they’ve taken their commission.
by Joanna
Wed May 25, 2022 7:30 am
Forum: Managing your property
Topic: Monkeypox
Replies: 1
Views: 401

Re: Monkeypox

This doesn’t seem anything like as serious as Covid - although it’s very unpleasant, it doesn’t seem to be life threatening and there are very few cases. When the Covid restrictions were lifted we suggested to our cleaners that they carry on removing bed linen by ‘rolling’ it off the pillows, etc. a...
by Joanna
Fri May 20, 2022 10:04 pm
Forum: OTAs: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking, Tripadvisor, etc.
Topic: Tripadvisor Update your status - business or consumer
Replies: 15
Views: 1110

Re: Tripadvisor Update your status - business or consumer

I selected business - we fill in our tax returns as a furnished holiday let business; one property qualifies for business rates and the other is in the process of going over to business rates. All they asked for was our business name, address & phone number - information that is publicly availab...
by Joanna
Thu Apr 28, 2022 11:41 am
Forum: Just starting out
Topic: Lake District Holiday Let
Replies: 5
Views: 1385

Re: Lake District Holiday Let

I haven't used Booking.com - I think they used to be instant book only, but I could be wrong. TA used to have the option of Instant Book, although the last time I looked they had switched it off. Not sure if that's just temporary.
by Joanna
Wed Apr 27, 2022 3:14 pm
Forum: Managing your property
Topic: Embedded Capital Allowances
Replies: 5
Views: 856

Re: Embedded Capital Allowances

This is news to me. I Googled it but I'm still not sure what it means! Have you made a claim yet?
by Joanna
Wed Apr 27, 2022 2:59 pm
Forum: Just starting out
Topic: Lake District Holiday Let
Replies: 5
Views: 1385

Re: Lake District Holiday Let

Good point from Newtimber about double bookings - I don't have 'instant book' enabled when I use ABB, etc. so double bookings aren't an issue. But, if you want to allow instant booking on more than one platform then PIMS may not be ideal as the calendar won't be synced in real time.
by Joanna
Mon Apr 25, 2022 11:00 pm
Forum: Just starting out
Topic: Lake District Holiday Let
Replies: 5
Views: 1385

Re: Lake District Holiday Let

Welcome to the forum! In answer to your first question - as you're just starting out you'll find it useful to have a website that you can easily add to and update as you go along. I haven't used PMP but I gather that you can use it that way. You definitely need your own domain name for the website &...
by Joanna
Tue Feb 01, 2022 9:26 pm
Forum: Handling rental enquiries
Topic: Instant booking pros and cons
Replies: 21
Views: 8552

I agree Nemo - we will carry on as we are & hopefully will find enough bookings to keep us going. We get plenty of repeats so we don't need dozens of new bookings.
by Joanna
Thu Nov 25, 2021 5:32 pm
Forum: Handling rental enquiries
Topic: Instant booking pros and cons
Replies: 21
Views: 8552

We use the OTAs so little these days that it's probably not worth the cost and hassle of getting a different booking system at this stage.
by Joanna
Thu Nov 25, 2021 1:22 pm
Forum: Handling rental enquiries
Topic: Instant booking pros and cons
Replies: 21
Views: 8552

Thanks - we're using PIMS which supports ical to link our calendar to the main OTAs if we wanted to do that, but I think that's as far as it goes.