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Between your parents' mountain chalet rented out all winter, your friend investing in 4 new apartments, and all the "double your salary with seasonal rentals" ads, this new market can quickly catch your eye... And that is understandable! But you can also rush, go too fast, forget details and end up with no profit or even debts.
Invest
Obviously, the 1era The first step to start a seasonal rental business is to invest in one or more properties to rent (apartments, houses, villas, etc.). It is one of the first steps, but especially one of the most important: the choice of your accommodation, but also the location of this accommodation will be the most important factors for future tenants. Firstly, if you want to rent all year round, choose a touristic place, with little seasonality (avoid cities frequented only half the year). Secondly, choose accommodation that will appeal to a wide range of people. For example, it is better to invest in a 40m² apartment that can accommodate between 2 and 4 people, rather than a 100m² house that can accommodate 10 people. Finally, find out not only about current travel trends, on the most popular tourist destinations, but also on the real estate economyand on the areas where it is interesting to invest.
Whatever Whatever happens, start small, invest in one property to start with, or two, but not more. Test your business over several months before thinking about think about a new investment.
These tips should be considered for a first investment.
Setting up your accommodation
The second step after having made your investment is to fit out your accommodation. Whether your property is furnished or not, the layout and decoration of your accommodation is very important and is based on details. With the increased competition and number of properties for rent, design and decoration can sometimes make the difference.
First of all, avoid overloading the space. If you don't know anything about decorating, go for a pure decorationthat will please everyone. Go to the essentials: in the living room, a sofa, a coffee table and a TV stand, basta. In order to make the whole harmonious, bet on a rather neutral furnishing (grey or white for example), add some elements of color (cushions, candles, carpet...), 2 or 3 plants, and it's done! It is not necessarily necessary to call on a professional to furnish your property.
Next, put yourself in your tenant's shoes and add all the amenities you would like to have in your rented apartment. Coffee machine, bottle opener, ironing board... These are items that we don't necessarily think about, but which are very much appreciated by travellers.
If you are buying a property that needs work and you want to do some renovations, think about ecology! There are many solutions currently available to offer an environmentally friendly property. This is an argument that is becoming increasingly popular and attractive.
If your property is suitable, provide a place to unpack and store your suitcase. 90% of your tenants will probably be on holiday and therefore overloaded with suitcases. And it's true that it's not very practical to have to step over your suitcase every time...
Of course, don't forget the Wi-Fi connectionThis is a major element in our society today!
Create your ads
It your property is ready to be rented, it is fitted out, decorated, and ready to welcome to welcome your first tenants. Now it's time to create your ad!
The creation of your ad will surely take you some time. And this is normal. Your will be the reflection of your rental. It must be as complete as possible possible, and attract travellers. First, write a quick description of your property description of your property and its location. Then, list all of the equipment available in your accommodation, room by room. And be precise! If you advertise an apartment for 4 people, but it is a double bed + a sofa a double bed + a sofa bed to be unfolded, specify it. Be completely transparent with your tenants. Otherwise, you risk to make some disappointed.
In order to put your property in the spotlight even more, name the places, districts, businesses and activities in the area. Be careful, don't advertise a Do not advertise a "beach at two steps" if you have to walk 20 minutes.
After writing the content of your ad, comes the most important thing: the photos. Travelers spend an average of 59 seconds on all your photos. They have to be eye-catching, but above all they have to be well taken, so as to highlight your apartment, with the right light, the right angle, etc. To do this, call on a professional photographer specialized in (if you are not already). On the one hand, he or she will have the dedicated equipment, but also the experience of showcasing an accommodation. According to AirBnb, hiring a professional can increase your revenue by 40%.
Setting the right price
During your ad creation, you will have to choose a rental price. For set your price, make a searchas if you were a traveller, by applying similar filters to your hosting (number of number of people, location, equipment, etc.). Analyze the prices offered by the competition, and set a similar price. But be careful, you must first calculate how much the rental will cost you for one night (if you use an external company for company for the cleaning or the delivery of the keys for example), to be to be profitable.
Moreover, your rental price will not be the same depending on the day of the week, the time of the year, the seasons or the local events. The management of these prices is called Yield Management, or Revenue Management. You can find a lot of information on the web, and there are even specialized companies to help you manage this dynamic pricing.
Register on the different OTA's
Even if direct bookings are to be preferred, as they do not generate any commission on the price of your rentals, OTA's (Online Travel Agency) represent on average 60% of your bookings. Logical when you see the budget of Booking.com on Google referencing... It is therefore essential to publish your ads on these booking platforms in order to have a minimum of visibility. If you rely solely on your website, even with good word of mouth and a large community, it will surely not be enough.
Your rating, the quality of your ad and your speed of response will have a huge impact on your ranking on these OTA's. And on the thousands of ads available online, it is better to do everything possible to improve your ranking.
Create a Swikly account
In order to protect your property and avoid tenants who are a bit too festive or unruly unruly, it is imperative to ask for a deposit. This may not please to some travellers who don't have a checkbook or a bank card, and who don't want to deposit their deposit in cash... Unless you use Swikly to request your deposits! Swikly allows your tenants to deposit their deposit without any debit or impact on their credit card limit. It's convenient, simple and secure. And what's more, in case of problems, we offer a guaranteed a guaranteed offer to be sure to be reimbursed for any damage caused.
It is also possible to automate your guarantee requests. A considerable saving of time!
Choosing a PMS
As you will have understood, the management of your business is multi-faceted, there are many tasks to manage: welcoming your guests, cleaning, managing your accounting, communication with your tenants, etc. And often, a few weeks are enough to realize that you will not be able to manage everything alone, and you can't afford to waste time on repetitive and tedious tasks that could be automated. For that, no problem! Online solutionscalled PMS (Property Management System) or management software, allow you to manage your business from A to Z by automating your processes as much as possible. Most of these PMS are not free but there are also free versions, limited but sufficient for a start-up.
Choose a PMS with Swikly integrated, like Smoobu, BookingSync, Beds24 or Avantio, you can also automate the management of your guarantees.
Create your website
The most PMS's offer "Website Builder", which are easy to use and that are easy to use and do not require any skills in website creation. in website creation. But, if your PMS does not offer this functionality, there are also CMS (Content Management System), which allow you to create your website online, easily. WordPress for example exampleDoes this speak to you?
Whatever Whatever happens, creating your website will not be difficult and will allow you to take direct bookings, which will not be commissioned.
On average, it is estimated that 40% of bookings are taken directly. It is therefore necessary to maximize them !
Check the regulations in force
Of course, you must find out about the laws in force. First of all, I don't have to tell you, the income generated by your rentals will have to be declared. You are obliged to declare your rental property as "furnished tourist accommodation" (except if it is your main residence) to the town hall so that it can collect a tourist tax. Furthermore, in some cities, you must request an authorization to declare your property as a furnished tourist accommodation. Click here to learn more
The growth of the seasonal rental market has also given rise to new laws, notably on the maximum rental periods when renting in one's main residence, in Paris and in cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants for example. There is also the Hoguet law, which specifies the laws on the payment of the balance, the payment of deposits, the security deposit, etc. Click here to learn more
Whatever happens, get the information you need to be perfectly legal.
Maximize your bookings
That's it, absolutely everything is in place to start your holiday rental business. Now, you must do everything to maximize your bookings and promote your ads : highlighting your kitchen, allowing pets, optimizing social networks...
Keep in mind that this new activity may take up a lot of your time. Either you decide to dedicate yourself only to this activity of seasonal rental, or you start this business with a lot of free time on a daily basis.
All these tips are important to consider when starting a business. If you are already rent 5 or 6 apartments, and you want to outsource this activity, turn to a outsource this activity, turn to a concierge management company like Welkeys or CheckMyGuest. like Welkeys or CheckMyGuest.
You now have the keys to start your holiday rental business. So what are you waiting for?
