Category: Owner Information

Want more winter bookings in your holiday cottage?

Lady sitting in front of fire with book and glass of wine with feet up

Does your cottage have winter appeal?

With the summer 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 want an extra break away; and others who prefer to avoid the crowds and take a holiday in the quieter, cheaper months.

Holidaying in the quieter months not only provides holiday makers with a financial saving, but also a much larger selection of holiday accommodation from which to choose. With this in mind, this is the ideal time to review your advert and make it as appealing as possible for Autumn and Winter self-catering breaks.

Tips to help you get your fair share of winter bookings

Here are some handy tips to make your holiday cottage stand out from the rest.

Who is your winter customer? Give consideration to who your property is most likely to attract during the winter months. It may well be desirable to families during the school holidays but outside of the peak weeks, couples may be your bread and butter and help to fill the chilly gaps in your calendar. Couples often have greater flexibility to getaway spontaneously and are a good source of bookings during the winter months. You may want to think about giving your cottage some extra cosy romantic appeal or offering an under-occupancy discount if you have a larger property, to attract couples. Mid-week reductions (or offers like 4 nights for the price of 3) are a good way of attracting retired couples or those with flexibility to getaway during the week.

Friends in Christmas hats celebrating over a festive meal

Winter is often a good time for friends to getaway and catch up

At the opposite end of the spectrum, large group bookings (particularly adult focussed ones such as milestone celebrations, pre/post festive get togethers, friends reunions etc) are also popular out of peak months when prices are cheaper and diaries are clearer. You will need to offer weekend short breaks, but could also up the appeal and offer some extras that will make it special and stress free for large groups like a private chef, bubbly on arrival, activities (clay shooting for the boys, pamper treatments for the girls or cookery courses for everyone) and food/wine deliveries. Even if you cannot offer these facilities yourself, there may well be someone locally who will only be too happy to help and may even offer discounted rates for your guests.

Pet-friendly appeal is another way of boosting out of season rentals if your property lends itself well to four legged guests.

Encourage guests to return and reward the ones who do: If people are only away for a couple of nights, make sure they hit the ground running and enjoy every minute of their break from the moment they arrive until the point they leave. People are often looking for a little bolt-hole where they can escape away and recharge, and when they find the perfect place, they are likely to return time and time again and in all likelihood, out of season. Read our tips to help holiday home owners make their property desirable to short breakers and also consider a reward scheme for guests who regularly visit or recommend your property to others.

Make photographs appealing for winter breaks: You can change your photos on your advert at any time via the owners area so as winter approaches, why not upload some appealing photographs such as: a woodland walk showing the change in colours; the sun rising across a misty field; waves breaking on the beach; a snow scene, crisp frosty morning or a hot tub bubbling on a chilly night? Paint the appeal in pictures and show potential bookers just how magical a winter break away could be.Thatched cottage covered in a sprinkling of frost

Highlight local attractions with appeal for winter breaks: Give consideration to the sort of activities and attractions that guests can enjoy locally during the colder wetter months and make sure these are highlighted in your advert. A beach holiday needs no introduction in the summer.  However, if marketed appropriately, a beach can be equally as appealing during the winter months – who can resist an invigorating walk along the beach before coming home to a heart warming seafood supper in front of a roaring log fire?

‘City’ type breaks are very popular during the winter with many people looking for self catering accommodation where they can stroll out and have a nice meal or do some early Christmas shopping. You may not be in a city but you can still highlight places where people can eat out, local towns and places to shop and entertainment venues like theatres for taking in a show. Mention special festive events approaching Christmas and New Year and post last minute offers highlighting them.

Shout about your winter facilities: Emphasis is often put on summer focussed attributes but don’t forget to mention why your cottage is a good choice for a winter break. If it has central heating, a log fire, a drying room for coats and walking boots, heated towel rails, underfloor heating, hot tub, indoor all-year round swimming pool and under-cover storage for outdoor gear (to name just a few!), make sure your advert mentions it. Also make sure you show photos of appealing winter facilities like log burners (make sure they are roaring so people can see the flames!), open fires, fire pits, hot tubs etc.

Pair of walking boots in front of a roaring log burner

Show appealing winter facilities on adverts

Be flexible: Try to be as flexible and competitive as possible. Holidaymakers have a huge selection of holiday homes to choose from, as well as a diverse range of accommodation readily available to browse on the internet so make sure yours stands out. If you want to gain a good level of winter bookings, try to keep your changeover day fully flexible, keep the minimum number of rental nights as low as possible (two nights are particularly popular for weekend breaks) and prices keen. That said, it is more about value for money these days than cheap prices and those extra special caring touches go a long way. Who doesn’t love to receive a welcome hamper of local goodies for their first breakfast, marshmallows to roast by the fire, a complimentary bottle of bubbly chilling or even theatre tickets? All things we regularly see owners adding to their last minute offers to give extra appeal.

Give short-breakers what they want: Winter short breaks are often more impulsive and last minute so try to provide as much as possible to make their stay relaxing from start to finish. Who wants to have to pack bed linen and towels when they are nipping off for a weekend away? They want to arrive and instantly start enjoying themselves so the easier you can make it for them, the more likely they are to have a good time and return or recommend. If you have a fire, make it up so it is ready to be lit (and leave matches!); make sure hot-tubs are to temperature for arrival; provide some basic essentials (toilet/kitchen roll, hand soap, foil, bin bags, dishwasher tablets etc); consider having a ‘convenience cupboard’ with a good range of herbs, spices, cooking oils etc to make cooking the odd meal easy; and provide a welcome drink to enjoy whilst unpacking (a bottle chilling in the fridge or a tea tray is always gratefully received).

Respond quickly to enquiries: We have noticed holiday makers sending out higher numbers of enquiries when searching for a last minute break. Make sure you have regular access to your email and respond quickly. He who gets back first with a desirable offering is much more likely to get the booking!

Suitcase made of sand on a beach

Make sure you tap into the last minute market and post offers

Promote last minute offers: As an owner listed on Independent Cottages, there is no additional charge for using our Late Availability facility and it really can help to fill up those winter gaps in the calendar. Don’t be put off if you tried it once and did not have any success, keep using it because if it gets you just an extra couple of bookings, it is worth it and will cover the yearly advertising fee. When you are posting offers, try to make them as tempting as possible; highlight any genuine discounts you are offering and mention any local events running at the same time (e.g. Christmas markets, festivals, fire work displays, sporting events). It may well just swing it and tempt someone to book.

Be social: Share your last minute offers on social networks and make sure you copy us in as we are always looking for good deals to share. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram are all great ways of sharing your offers and photos. They may be time consuming but they provide a great way of highlighting your holiday home to a wider audience.

Managing the quieter winter months

We have provided a few tips to help you gain more winter bookings but the winter is also a great time to catch up on admin and maintenance after the busy summer season. Here are a few tips to help you manage the quieter winter months.

  • Use the quieter less frantic months to catch up on some cottage maintenance. It’s the perfect time to spring clean, redecorate, fix and fancy-up.
    Cleaner holding a bucket of cleaning products

    Use the quieter months to spring clean, redecorate, fix and fancy-up

  • When you have done this, review your adverts and make sure they reflect any changes to the decor or facilities.
  • We have already mentioned photos, but will again as they really do sell cottages. Your holiday home is likely to have some time during the winter months when it is not booked so use the opportunity to get some great new photos. Read our article that will show you how to get photos to really work for you.
  • If you have added photos of guest book comments, make sure you are showing up to date ones.
  • Use the quieter time to prepare for next year. Set your prices (and add them to your advertisements!) and use this opportunity to review what your competitors are charging to make sure your offering is appealing.
  • Book a stay yourself – we always recommend that owners stay in their own cottage. Even if you live on-site, it is really useful to live like a holiday maker for a couple of nights. It really helps you see all the good bits and highlights tiny little things for improvement that are so often overlooked when doing the regular changeovers.

The UK holiday market an incredibly buoyant one. You may need to work a little harder, smarter and be a little more creative, but the UK is an exceptionally popular holiday destination and there are lots of people out there looking for a break. Make sure you are doing all you can to attract them to your property!

One thought on “Want more winter bookings in your holiday cottage?

  1. The Chauffeur's Flat, Snape

    I have used the quiet period to replace the windows and front door in The Chauffeur’s Flat, and to have extra insulation put in the roof so it is all cosy and warm for winter bookings.

    Reply

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