Owners Information Pack

With over twenty years experience in the holiday cottage market in both letting our own holiday cottages and as former owners of Cumbrian Cottages we have now formed a new company, Lakes Cottage Holidays. Our aim is to market a select number of holiday cottages and apartments throughout Cumbria. We intend to limit our range of properties to enable us to offer a personal service to both the cottage owner and the holiday maker.

As native Cumbria's, we pride ourselves on living and working in one of the most beautiful areas of the British Isles. Our staff share our aims in providing a high level of customer service and are dedicated to help manage your property to achieve its full letting potential.

As part of Lakes Cottage Holidays we are now venturing further a field to Europe, we now have many holiday villas and apartments for let throughout Lanzarote, Tenerife and Spain. We are currently seeking holiday apartments and villas to add to our portfolio. For as little as £50.00 plus VAT we can advertise your property on our website.




Find A Suitable Investment


Our sister company, Cumbrian Properties Estate Agents, have offices throughout Cumbria and North Lancashire.

We started Cumbrian Properties 15 years ago, initially specialising in holiday cottages and properties suitable to be utilised for holiday letting. Over this period our business has grown to cover all aspects of the property market but still retains an avid interest in the holiday cottage sector, Our website www.cumbrian-properties.co.uk has a feature "Holiday cottages for sale". We would be pleased to help you find a suitable property for holiday letting, either through Cumbrian Properties or through our other contacts with estate agents in the area. Additionally, we know of some owners that may be considering selling their investment as a going concern. If this is of interest to you, we can discuss your requirements or enter you on our e-mailing list.

Alternatively, if you are purchasing a property through another agent, we will be happy to give you an estimate of its potential earnings, either from the sales particulars or where ever possible, we can arrange to meet you at the property to advise you on its suitability and help in setting up of the cottage.

We are often asked which areas and which properties let best, this is easy to generalise but we realise we must take into account the owners personal requirements for the property.

It is however true, holiday makers are looking for the traditional stone properties with an abundance of beams and open fire. A garden and barbeque for the summer bookings, and more often requested now is private parking and the closeness to a pub.

Hoever, modern, purpose built apartments can often prove to be a very worthwhile investment if proactive marketing and competitive pricing policies are used.

Standards & Grading

We find that the holiday makers each year are becoming more and more discerning and their expectations of the standards of furnichure, decoration and equipment is continually rising.

We encourage our owners to continually upgrade their properties. The benefits can be seen by those cottages that have undergone a refurbishment by the star grading they have achieved.

Visit Britain is the official grading authority, formally the English Tourist Board. The inspections are carried out annually and organised by ourselves on behalf of you the cottage owner. We would be delighted to meet you at the cottage to advise you on the requirements needed for each star rating. To achieve our minimum entry requirement of three stars which is recognised by Visit Britain.

We also operate our own star grading for those cottages without a Visit Britain grade. We grade the cottages without a Visit Britain. We grade the cottages with a very similar criteria, although we view the standards on a more general basis with the holiday makers requirements in mind.

3 Stars


4 Star


5 Star



Getting Your Property Noticed

Marketing & Advertising

We have an ever increasing advertising and marketing budget which we are adding to as we take on additional cottages. Our advertising is placed in the National newspapers on a Saturday and Sunday and in addition we are in all of the local tourism "Where to stay guides". We also have colour adverts featured in the relevant publications, walking, climbing and country living style magazines. We also register every cottage free of charge on to www.lastminutelakeland.co.uk

We actively market your cottage on the website using Google and Yahoo, and we also e-mail monthly "Newsletters" highlighting new cottages and special offers to our subscribers.

Brochure

We produce a colour brochure twice a year with regular supplements and each property is given at least a third of a page brochure entry.


Website - www.lakescottageholiday.co.uk

Increasingly important to the marketing of your property is its inclusion on our website which can be done within three or four days of the initial meeting. Our website is continually being added to, both with new cottages and in the content and layout. As previously mentioned we place your cottage on "Last Minute Lakeland" and other sites we feel would increase the marketing of your cottage.

We have properties featured by their location, their size and whether they are pet friendly.

We also list the properties with late availability and special offers and we can add to your properties requirements on a daily basis. We offer the customer the opportunity to check availability online and to place provisional bookings.

Sales Offices - Keswick & Carlisle

We have an office on Station Street, Keswick which is within a 100 yards of the Keswick Tourist Information office and is used both as a Sales and as a Management office. It has been extremely well received from visitors to the area both in booking properties on a last minute basis or booking ahead for the following years holiday. In addition, it is good to meet our customers on a "face to face" basis to offer advise on both location and individual cottages.

Our Carlisle office, which we share with Cumbrian Properties Estate Agent is used as a Sales and Administration office, it is there that any owners enquiries and payment details will be looked after.




Management

We offer a full management service to include the cleaning and maintenance of the cottages in the Keswick, Ambleside and Grasmere areas. In addition, we can introduce the owner to people who offer a cleaning service in the Ullswater, Cockermouth, Kendal and Windermere areas.

Why Choose Lakes Cottage Holidays?

Benefits of Using Lakes Cottage Holidays

• We are a new, although experienced company who offer a personal service to both the owners and holiday makers.
• Unlike other agents we are happy to work alongside the owner who can continue to take their own bookings if required.
• We can offer a full management service or cleaning service on the owners behalf.
• An excellent website and pro-active marketing campaign to market your property to its full potential.
• We offer a streamlined, easy to use administration system. With the exception of last minute bookings, payment to the owner is in advance of the holiday.
• Monthly payments are made directly into your bank account.
• We are a well respected company registered with Visit Britain and Lakes Hospitality Association.
• We have sales offices in Carlisle and Keswick.
• Excellent website to enable us to market and advertise your cottage to a larger audience. In addition, we enter your property on other websites to enhance the individual entry on Lakes Cottage Holidays website.

Commissions

Attractive competitive commissions from 15% plus VAT. For the full management service including supervising the cleaning our rates are 20% plus VAT. We believe our commissions to be the most competitive in the area with national companies charging up to 28%.

Registration Fee

We charge an annual registration fee of £50 plus VAT per property, total £58.75 this includes your entry onto our website and brochure.

Owner Bookings

We are prepared to work alongside you to market your property to its full potential although most of our cottages have found that we are able to keep them fulfilled with a high level of bookings. We initially take a note of your forward bookings and thereafter you keep us up to date by telephone, e-mail or fax to ensure there are no double bookings. There is no charge made for any owner bookings.

Brochure

The brochure entry would include several colour photographs of your property, a description of both the cottage and the main information that the holiday maker requires.

Price

We can advise you on the price band that is best suited to your property due to its standard of furnishings and appliances and location however, the final decision is with yourself.

Short Breaks

We encourages owners to take short breaks, either out of seasons or at short notice if there is a vacancy during the season. Again, we will advise on the best price category and as ever the final decision is with the owners.

Pets

There are some properties more suitable for accepting a pet than others and the decision needs to be made by the owner. The statistics from the tourist board are that 40% of the holiday makers choose self catering as an option as they intend to bring their dog. If a dog is accepted we would charge an additional £15 per dog per week on your behalf.

Cots

Travel cots charged on your behalf £10 per booking. No bed linen is to be provided.

Smokers

There are more and more cottages restricting smokers and this is becoming generally accepted as a policy to be adherd to.

Changeover Day

There is a move from the traditional Saturday changeover day to a Friday which allows the properties to be booked for a short break from the Friday night without ruining a two week booking. THis is particularly important for the one bedroom cottages and is becoming more popular with owners who often visit their own cottages at short notice for the weekend.

Insurance

We have negotiated an extremely favourable rate with our insurance brokers who have a policy that specialises for holiday cottage owners which includes the loss of income and public liability. Our broker provides a very efficient and extremely competitive service and has a strong understanding of the types of claims that have been made. We are happy to provide a free quotation.

We look forward to hearing from you.

David and Julia Hogarth
Lakes Cottage Holidays
01228 591555
e-mail: info@lakescottageholidays.co.uk