Dear Sir/Madam

Welcome to the February issue of the Holiday Home Information e-newsletter.

With the 2012 holiday booking season now in full swing, there are many positive indicators for a successful year of Staycations in the UK. Uncertainty over the future of the Euro, an increase in Air Passenger Duty of more than double the rate of inflation in April, coupled with the Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics, suggest domestic tourism looks set for a good year.

This month we have a number of articles around holiday letting a second home including a 3-part guide to photographing the property, one of the most critical aspects of holiday letting.

AGENT PROFILE - THE VICTORIA PARK HOUSE COMPANY

The Victoria Park House Company manage a selective portfolio of elegant properties for short lets, all within walking distance to the main venues for to the 2012 Olympics site in London. Read more...

A COMPLETE GUIDE TO PHOTOGRAPHING A HOLIDAY LET

The photographs are the single most important factor in marketing a holiday let. These are they pieces of the marketing material which create desire and ultimately action with potential guests. The adage a picture is worth 1000 words is never more true than for self-catering holiday cottages, where potential guests are looking to choose the perfect property from the many thousands available. Read more...

SELF-CATERING SCAMS

Periodically, a story will make the national media about fraudulent advertising of a holiday let, where a family have lost thousands of pounds, and sometimes travelled many miles to arrive at the property to find it does not exist or is occupied by a genuine guest. Read more....

DEALING WITH DAMAGE IN A HOLIDAY LET

Damages caused to a holiday home by paying guests is relatively rare and should not be a deterrent to letting a property for self-catering holidays. Here we have a few tips on how to deal with guests who cause damage to a holiday let during a stay. Read more...

IN THE NEWS...

Still on the subject of holiday lettings, TravelSupermarket have published an infographic on Holiday Happiness, discussing how guests feel at different stages of booking and taking their holiday. Experian have released research on how holidaymakers use the Internet to research and book holidays, suggesting a move away from the traditional booking month of January, while Google have published an interactive tool identifying the stages of booking a holiday.  Finally, for further evidence of the popularity of Staycations, Supercontrol have announces their self-catering software took over £130 million of bookings in 2011.

WRITE FOR HOLIDAY HOME INFORMATION

We are inviting second home owners and holiday let owners, and suppliers to the industry to write for holidayhomeinformation.co.uk. We would like to hear your stories and in return can offer a mini bio about you or your company. Read more...

Our next e-newsletter will be published on the 1st of March.

Best Regards

Andy Easton
Holiday Home Information Ltd. – www.holidayhomeinformation.co.uk