January 2016 Happy New Year!

January 2016

Welcome to the first My Favourite Newsletter of 2016. We’ve got lots of news for cottage owners, from interior design to how the advertising market is changing.

This Newsletter is published every month, and we think it is essential reading for anyone interested in holiday cottages - especially their owners. Please click here to subscribe to the Newsletter (free).

For all you long-time subscribers – our new format includes a title and a short snippet that conveys the purpose of the article and the benefits in store should you choose to read the full article. To read the rest, click on the link.

Good News for Holiday Cottage owners – occupancy rates are on the up! Boshers Insurance looks at the latest tourism trends forecast from the experts at Visit England. Especially useful if you want to know which aspects of the market are on the increase so you can adjust your advertising accordingly.

Advertising

And more good news from the ASS for our Scottish subscribers. Join the Association of Scottish Self-Caterers (ASSC) to get an exclusive low-cost web booking engine and availability calendar which automatically updates your EmbraceScotland and VisitScotland listings. Click the link to see how this benefit could drive more enquiries and save you time having to repeatedly update calendars every time you get a booking. The ASSC also holds a great annual conference in December that is well worth attending. We went last year and planned to return.

Marketing

Reasons Why Customer Reviews Are Important

If you have ever wondered whether it is worth the fuss chasing guests for reviews and updating your sites - this article should answer those questions. Read more: TrekkSoft.

And having read it – upload some of your testimonials to your advert on My Favourite Holiday Cottages. It just makes sense!

13 Proven Ways To Get Low-Season Holiday Let Bookings

Not to be outdone by Boshers, that other reputable purveyor of holiday property insurance, Schofields, offers some helpful tips to increase business in, er… around about now, in fact.

Copywriters

If content is king, it needs to look the part. The only thing worse than no content at all is poorly written content. If you baulked at paying someone else to write your website content, this article might encourage you to reconsider.

Vacation Rentals in 2016 – Be Prepared

It’s advertising Jim – but not as we know it! Things are changing fast in the world of holiday cottage advertising as the likes of Expedia seek to dominate the market (and set charges accordingly). Published by Rentivo.com, this is an interesting think piece that looks at how we might be forced to dance to new tunes in striving to get more bookings for our cottages. This a heavyweight article worth reading over a cup of coffee a couple of times (to get around the jargon). When you get to the ‘Lean-Mean Enquiry Machine’ bit, think of My Favourite Holiday Cottages. However, if you want to know how the big guns are trying to dictate how we advertise our properties in the near future, give it some serious thought.

Property Management

Pet-Friendly Cottages

Far too many cottages are labelled ‘pet friendly’ simply because they allow visitors with four paws over the threshold. But to create a true pet-friendly cottage that will attract repeat bookings and encourage word of mouth from past guests, it’s necessary to add a few canines (or feline) home comforts to delight owners and their pets alike. Please read our blog written to help potential bookers identify truly pet-friendly cottages. If you like the suggestion about providing temporary collar tags with cottage contact details (in case a pet wanders off while on holiday), here’s a handy link: amazon

Interior design

A little light goes a long way – gorgeous strings of illuminated fluffy pom-poms can bring a room to life. They look great in photos. Laugh if you like – but if you are looking at ways to add a touch of sparkle to your cottage, you might just find some inspiration here!

Fire Safety Law

Have you got a Fire Safety plan? Does your cottage comply with Fire Safety Law? Here’s the skinny from Boshers. By the way, go to the Visit England website for a Fire Safety template for your accommodation. It will make life a lot easier and go a long way to ensure your insurance policy is not invalid due to non-compliance.

Social Media

A Cheatsheet for Image Sizes

For those of you regularly posting images on your Facebook-Twitter-Linkedin-Pinterest-etc. Social media pages, here’s a great Infographic which sets out the image sizes you should be using for each social media platform to achieve maximum impact. Learn the exact sizes to display your image at its best. If your image size is too large, it may not upload. Too small, and it can look blurred, grainy and just dreadful.

Thanks

That’s it for January! Thanks for reading! Just click here if you’d prefer to get your next copies of the Newsletter sent to your mailbox. Subscription is free of charge.

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