In our new guide, we talk through setting up your holiday cottage ready for guests. Part 1 covers some hand tips around furnishing your property. Part 1: Fixtures, fittings, fabrics and furnishings Ultimately the choice of decor will be yours, but do think of your target market when making decisions. It is difficult to be [...]
A good year for UK self catering holidays. The continuing economic struggle with its loss of high street brands and reports of struggling tour operators and travel agents, may well drive more people to holiday in the UK. Uncertainty with the Euro and perceived instability of Eurozone countries may compound this further. Bad news for [...]
Are you looking for that all important gift for someone special, stressed about what to buy the person who has everything or want to treat your loved one to a special gift? So often we find ourselves struggling to know what to buy that someone who ‘has everything’ and spend hours trawling the high street [...]
We get a number of phone calls from people who are considering holiday letting for the first time. It can be a minefield, but if you are considering buying a property for holiday letting here are 5 questions to think about before putting the offer in. 1 – Profit or pleasure? In our view, this [...]
The Lake District is an incredibly popular holiday destination in the UK with over 15 million people visiting each year. With its reputation for rain, many visit during the summer months. However, it has so much to offer outside the peak times, as we discovered during our recent October visit to the South Lakes. With [...]
If you are reasonably new to the holiday letting business then using a smartphone could really help boost bookings. The phrase “The early bird catches the worm” once refered to the holiday maker looking for next years deal. Nowadays however, the phrase could equally relate to the holiday property owner too. Conversion of enquiries into bookings is key [...]
With more people choosing to holiday at home over the past two years, UK tourism and the self-catering accommodation market has received a considerable boost. The UK holiday market has seen a change in consumer booking habits. More people are putting together independently arranged ‘DIY holidays’; there has been a considerable increase in people looking [...]
Short breaks have become more and more popular and this year has seen significantly more holiday makers looking to get away for just a few days. Historically, many owners have only offered short breaks during the winter months, but the demand for greater flexibility has seen more and more owners offering short breaks all year [...]
With the summer nearly behind us, now is the ideal time for us cottage owners to be thinking about how we can maximise bookings over the quieter winter months. There are still plenty of people who are looking for a holiday or short break away: some who have gone without a summer holiday; those who [...]
Many people want to take their dogs on holiday with them and Independent Cottages has over 500 dog friendly holiday cottages throughout the UK to choose from. Taking your dog away on holiday can help to reduce any anguish and costs associated with putting your loved one in a kennel and it often makes for [...]
