International Real Estate Investment | Eye on Worldwide

Where to advertise your property for rentals

Posted on 26. Jan, 2009 by Jane Sait in Investing Abroad, Owning a Property Abroad, Renting Your Property

After posting my blog ‘how to rent your property’ I have been asked by a few people where is the best place to advertise their holiday homes for rentals. When it’s costing you money to advertise you want to make sure you actually get some bookings. Sylvia Juan made a good point in the comment that she left on my last blog about being inundated with offers from new sites that you don’t actually appear to get any bookings from. This can be annoying and frustrating particularly if you have paid a set up fee.

So how do you know who to advertise with?

I believe that the trick is to use companies that are a) well established and b) advertise to holiday makers. Of course nothing is guaranteed with these sites but some people do find that they can be effective for them. To make the most out of your advert always use top quality photos and include a detailed and informative description including any property highlights e.g. Swimming Pool, TV and DVD player, air conditioning, etc.

So why should you use these companies to advertise with?

According to www.holidaylettings.co.uk the number of self-catering holidays taken continues to rise year on year and they have found from a recent survey of their 17,000 advertisers, that the average income generated by homeowners from holiday bookings was £8,000.

Many of these companies, especially the established ones, rely on repeat business therefore it is vital for them to create bookings for you. If after a year of advertising you have achieved no rentals from them there will be no reason for you to renew your advert, meaning it is in their best interest to get holiday makers to their sites.

So who should you advertise with?

I believe that each holiday home owner should do their own research. Like I mentioned previously often good companies are the ones that place plenty of adverts, attracting not just the holiday home owners but, and most importantly of all, holiday makers to their site. To find out who these companies are you have to picture yourself as the tourist, someone who is looking for a self catering holiday. How would you book? What would you type into a search engine to find a place to stay? Try this out and see what websites come up. This should give you a good indication of who is paying for internet advertising and therefore directing tourists to their sites. Also try to find out where else, if anywhere, these companies advertise to attract tourists.

Some popular holiday home owner websites that you may want to check out include:

http://www.eyeonworldwide.com/

Yes that’s right you can advertise your property on this website! It’s easy to do and the service is currently free. To upload your property select ‘Discussions’ under the forum tab, sign into your account (if you haven’t got an account it’s easy to register) and start a new discussion. Make sure you select the ‘For Rent’ category and then enter your property details and upload images. Once you have done this your property will appear on the ‘For Rent’ section of the website which can be accessed via the homepage.

http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/

Prices from £185 plus VAT for your advert to run for 12 months on their site. Quote reference 45755 to get an additional 3 months advertising for the same price (total of 15 months). Even if you choose not to place an advert with them it is worth looking at their website for the quality advice they offer to home owners.

http://www.villarenters.com

No annual fee. A 10% commission is charged on each booking that they achieve.

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/

Standard subscription for 12 months advertising from £189. Holiday-rentals.co.uk state on their website that they reach over 40 million travellers a year.

I hope that this blog has been helpful to you. Let me know how you get on and who you have found effective for you in the past. Good luck with your rentals!

Jane Sait

cyprusholidaylet@yahoo.co.uk

Tags: advertisers, advertising, advertising holiday homes, holiday bookings, holiday home, holiday home owner, holiday home owners, holiday lettings, holiday makers, holiday rentals, repeat business, top quality