Do You Own a Holiday Property?

If the answer to this question is "yes", or if you are perhaps thinking of buying a holiday home, there are two possible areas in which I may be able to help you:-

• Website Design

• Letting Agency

Website Design

It is generally accepted nowadays that the most popular way of researching and booking holidays and travel accommodation is via the Internet. A substantial percentage of the homes in the UK now have Internet access and the number is constantly growing, and the same can be said of a number of other countries whose citizens regularly enjoy visiting the Scottish Highlands. In addition, large numbers of people have Internet access at their places of work.

If we consider the old-fashioned "brochure" system of arranging holidays and compare it with browsing the Internet, it's hardly surprising that the latter is so popular. First of all, you had to send off for your holiday brochures, having previously scoured newspaper and magazine adverts to find out which ones might be appropriate. Then you had to plough through all the brochures, make a shortlist of the places where you might want to stay, and then start phoning around - or possibly even writing letters! Eventually, you might narrow it down to one or two holiday venues which were available for the dates you required.

What a long-winded process, especially if you happened to be enquiring from abroad! It's little wonder that people prefer something quicker and easier nowadays. Type in a simple search on a search engine such as Google and you can come up with a list of suitable holiday properties within a matter of seconds! Then you can view them online, probably with photos of the interior and exterior of the property, and possibly, if it's a reasonable website, also find out some information about the local area.

The net result is that, if you are not using a website to promote your holiday business, whether it be self catering accommodation, a bed and breakfast, a guest house or a hotel, you are almost certainly losing business to your competitors.

The cost of having a good, search engine friendly website designed is probably less than you think and will almost certainly prove to be a wise investment which will very quickly pay for itself in terms of additional bookings and business.

In designing websites for holiday businesses and other small businesses, my objectives are to make them:-

• Simple and straightforward

• Easy to use and to navigate

• Search engine friendly

• Informative about the local area

• Linked to as many other relevant websites as possible - links help to improve search engine rankings

The cost of designing a website depends very much on individual requirements. I am very happy to discuss those with you, without obligation, and to provide a firm written quotation. Please enquire for more details. There's no charge for asking!

Letting Agency

If you already have a holiday property, or are perhaps thinking of buying one, it's quite likely that you may fall into one of the following categories:-

• You would like to let your property but are uncertain as to the best way to go about it

• Your level of bookings is falling below expectations

• You dislike paperwork & administration

• You object to paying the high rates of commission (up to 44%!) charged by the big letting agencies

If any of the above strikes a chord, there's a distinct possibility that I may be able to help you! My holiday letting agency provides the following services and benefits to my clients:-