Would you stay?
Discussion
Thinking of starting a business venture in the next year or so and looking for a bit of market research.
I might be buying a house in an area very popular with tourists, which we will be living in, which has a kind of self contained area which is ideal for holiday rental.
The room is decent size (its the master bedroom), has a good size en suite and also a utility room which we would set up as a small area with kettle/coffee machine, microwave etc.
There is a patio directly outside the room so access to garden and also parking for guests. (its a reverse level house)
It would be aimed at couples, short stay - i.e 2-3 nights. Would probably be going for the higher end of the market, which is where the market research comes in. I would provide good quality linens and towels / toiletries etc. Good quality table and chairs outside, nice lighting etc.
However, we would also be there. Thats the catch - would that put you off? We dont have kids so its just us and other than us coming and going via the front door guests would not actually have to interact with us.
The positives are, 60 second walk to beach, 20 second walk to shops, pubs and restaurants and free parking (it can be difficult to park in the area). Also the property is new, so would have that new property feel.
Thoughts, good idea? Might it be annoying having people roll in at 3am drunk? (us or them LOL)
Any suggestions welcome.
I might be buying a house in an area very popular with tourists, which we will be living in, which has a kind of self contained area which is ideal for holiday rental.
The room is decent size (its the master bedroom), has a good size en suite and also a utility room which we would set up as a small area with kettle/coffee machine, microwave etc.
There is a patio directly outside the room so access to garden and also parking for guests. (its a reverse level house)
It would be aimed at couples, short stay - i.e 2-3 nights. Would probably be going for the higher end of the market, which is where the market research comes in. I would provide good quality linens and towels / toiletries etc. Good quality table and chairs outside, nice lighting etc.
However, we would also be there. Thats the catch - would that put you off? We dont have kids so its just us and other than us coming and going via the front door guests would not actually have to interact with us.
The positives are, 60 second walk to beach, 20 second walk to shops, pubs and restaurants and free parking (it can be difficult to park in the area). Also the property is new, so would have that new property feel.
Thoughts, good idea? Might it be annoying having people roll in at 3am drunk? (us or them LOL)
Any suggestions welcome.
leyorkie said:
If you are on site then expect the usual questions and interruptions from your guests. What ever you do and how much information you supply you will still get requests. It can range from people who can’t leave you alone to those who will completely ignore you.
Thanks, yes I am kind of expecting this could be one of the (many) little issues we might have to try and iron out!I guess at the end of the day if it does not work out we have not lost anything. We are planning to HL the entire property anyway, just not all year round so if the one room thing does not work out then no big deal it will just become our bedroom.
gregs656 said:
red_slr said:
ok not the responses I was expecting so thats good. I was expecting people to say they would want to be the only people in the property.
Considering you have thought about doing this you don't seem too familiar with AirBnB. Set ups like you are describing are common, and not uncommon for them to offer breakfast options etc.There are no hotels, well none that I know of. Quite a few B&Bs but mostly HLs.
I am fairly up to speed on the holiday let market in the area, as I have been a customer for quite a few years.
We have an agent lined up and I think it will do well as a whole property.
I was more just wondering about the single room aspect.
One of the things we can use to our advantage is most of the HLs only do 7 days at a time. So doing 1-2-3 night stays might work well. Looking on AirBNB there are maybe 30-40 providers in the area. So a bit of competition for short stays but not much.
I think having the free parking is a big advantage as so many of the AirBNB places dont have any and you would have to find on street parking which is virtually impossible or pay and walk to the property which is not ideal.
As for the kitchen, its a utility room. I was thinking kettle and microwave at the most tbh as there is not space for anything else. The other option would be just a kettle / coffee machine in the room. Perhaps that would be better as not to encourage people to try making a 3 course meal in a microwave?
Locally, as in within 100m walk there are many places to eat during the day and a very good selection at night for "proper" food so perhaps kitchen is not needed?
The other thing I was thinking is perhaps an outside shower is a good idea? Or a shoe washing area just for the sand?
Where we stay there is an outside shower and we use it for shoes / boots.
Making it "premium" should not be too much of an issue. Its a nice large room, we would have bottled water, tea and coffee. Wifi is a given. Maybe robes and slippers? Small welcome gift, maybe some chocolates and some local alcohol, gin and tonic or something. However that would need a fridge. So plenty to think about.
I am fairly up to speed on the holiday let market in the area, as I have been a customer for quite a few years.
We have an agent lined up and I think it will do well as a whole property.
I was more just wondering about the single room aspect.
One of the things we can use to our advantage is most of the HLs only do 7 days at a time. So doing 1-2-3 night stays might work well. Looking on AirBNB there are maybe 30-40 providers in the area. So a bit of competition for short stays but not much.
I think having the free parking is a big advantage as so many of the AirBNB places dont have any and you would have to find on street parking which is virtually impossible or pay and walk to the property which is not ideal.
As for the kitchen, its a utility room. I was thinking kettle and microwave at the most tbh as there is not space for anything else. The other option would be just a kettle / coffee machine in the room. Perhaps that would be better as not to encourage people to try making a 3 course meal in a microwave?
Locally, as in within 100m walk there are many places to eat during the day and a very good selection at night for "proper" food so perhaps kitchen is not needed?
The other thing I was thinking is perhaps an outside shower is a good idea? Or a shoe washing area just for the sand?
Where we stay there is an outside shower and we use it for shoes / boots.
Making it "premium" should not be too much of an issue. Its a nice large room, we would have bottled water, tea and coffee. Wifi is a given. Maybe robes and slippers? Small welcome gift, maybe some chocolates and some local alcohol, gin and tonic or something. However that would need a fridge. So plenty to think about.
Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff