Hi my name is Malcolm Gargan. I've been a holiday property owner in France for 2 years and (and also run a successful French holiday rentals site at myfrenchescape.com ). The idea of this blog is to share some of our top tips for renting out your holiday home based on our own experience with our own property and what we're learning from working with hundreds of other holiday home owners in France too!
We're having great sucess renting out our home. I'm often asked how we manage to be 'booked out' 18 weeks per year when there's so much competition in the holiday home market. Now I know some of it is because we're in a gorgeous region of France (Sarlat) in the Dordogne, and the house itself is great.
But there's more to it than that! We've learnt over this time the things that make all the difference in renting our house out all year round (and in making sure guests come back!) and we think you might find it helpful to try what's worked for us.
How to maximize your rental opportunities:
It is a fact that we convert well over 95% of our enquiries to Rentals if we are not pre booked for the period.
We have a 5 bed roomed Perigord style House in the Dordogne which we have had for 2 seasons now.
I am delighted to say that we are one of the most rented houses in the region and we believe it is for the following reasons.
1. Friendly personal contact matters! When we get an enquiry for our house La Fougasse, I immediately phone the potential guest.
2. I ask the potential guest if they have Broadband which really is an excuse to make contact.
All except on one occasion did the potential client have Broadband and I got that rental as well.
3. Without delay I send a very detailed email of all the facilities in the house and activities in the area and I attach up to 15 photographs of the house which are not on the website and I also send a slide show of the villages,towns, and activities around the area.
In the case of the person who had not got Broadband I took the trouble to post a set of Photographs.
4. After 2 to 3 days I make contact again, this time by email and ask the potential guest if they had any questions regarding the house or the area. I also give a route map by car and/or Airport choices from where they live to our place in France. This always brings a positive response.
5. I then send a confirmation email asking for 25% deposit and giving the actual date of when the final payment is due and make sure to follow up with them to ensure everyone's happy.
We're having great sucess renting out our home. I'm often asked how we manage to be 'booked out' 18 weeks per year when there's so much competition in the holiday home market. Now I know some of it is because we're in a gorgeous region of France (Sarlat) in the Dordogne, and the house itself is great.
But there's more to it than that! We've learnt over this time the things that make all the difference in renting our house out all year round (and in making sure guests come back!) and we think you might find it helpful to try what's worked for us.
How to maximize your rental opportunities:
It is a fact that we convert well over 95% of our enquiries to Rentals if we are not pre booked for the period.
We have a 5 bed roomed Perigord style House in the Dordogne which we have had for 2 seasons now.
I am delighted to say that we are one of the most rented houses in the region and we believe it is for the following reasons.
1. Friendly personal contact matters! When we get an enquiry for our house La Fougasse, I immediately phone the potential guest.
2. I ask the potential guest if they have Broadband which really is an excuse to make contact.
All except on one occasion did the potential client have Broadband and I got that rental as well.
3. Without delay I send a very detailed email of all the facilities in the house and activities in the area and I attach up to 15 photographs of the house which are not on the website and I also send a slide show of the villages,towns, and activities around the area.
In the case of the person who had not got Broadband I took the trouble to post a set of Photographs.
4. After 2 to 3 days I make contact again, this time by email and ask the potential guest if they had any questions regarding the house or the area. I also give a route map by car and/or Airport choices from where they live to our place in France. This always brings a positive response.
5. I then send a confirmation email asking for 25% deposit and giving the actual date of when the final payment is due and make sure to follow up with them to ensure everyone's happy.
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