What to expect when you holiday let

What to expect when you holiday let

Setting up your home

Choosing a name for your home

For the name of your home, choose something that is meaningful to you. Once you choose a name, google it and check to ensure there isn’t already a home in the area with the same or similar name. Whilst names aren’t a significant factor in where most guests choose to book, all our homes have them to help differentiate on various booking platforms without giving strangers the address of your home. Keep it relatively short and simple – long names often can’t fit in the parameters on various websites.

Registering your home with the council

All homes must be registered with the local council (if your home is in Bass Coast shire). If your home is not in this shire, we can provide advice on specific requirements. You will need to register – instructions are provided in the paperwork we provide. 

Linen

Linen should be purchased by the home owner (we have a wholesale linen supplier with details available upon request) and labelled prior to being stored on site in a locked location that is not accessible to guests. There should be enough for all the bedding/bathrooms present, plus one set extra. Certain types of linen cupboard locks are more secure & effective than others – please check with us if you would like more details. See Linen for more information

Where possible, we recommend supplying doona’s that are one size bigger than the actual beds, with the exception of the single beds. E.g. A queen bed has a King doona & cover, a double bed has a Queen doona and cover, etc.

BBQ

All homes should provide a BBQ – not too expensive but big enough for your home, and get two BBQ gas bottles.

Keysafe & keys

We recommend the Kidde S7 brand and model of keysafe based on many years' experience of working with multiple types which we can supply and install if required. Other brands that provide a rubber cover to assist with preventing salt corrosion are also suitable. If installing yourself, the keysafe should be installed as close as possible to the front door/main access point – ideally within 2 metres.

Three sets of keys are required; one set for guests (which lives in the keysafe) and two sets of complete keys (including the locked linen cupboard and any other locked area) – one set for the cleaner and one set for us. Wherever the keys are cut, please personally check all keys in all locks before holiday letting commences.

Wifi

We highly recommend installing unlimited internet for guests. This has become the no. 1 request for bookings and it only takes securing one reasonable booking per year that you wouldn’t have otherwise, to make it cost neutral. Some providers offer a discount on their internet packages if you have a mobile phone with them. Please talk to us for more details.

We need the wifi router and password details sent to us to include in guest communication, and please provide a copy at the home in a visible location (eg on the door of the fridge). The router must be accessible to guests as the number one fixit for internet issues is to restart the router – you don’t want to be paying someone to come and access the router when the guest can do it.

Pet friendly

On average, about 30% of holiday homes are listed as pet friendly. What this means is that guests searching for accommodation where they can bring their pet(s) have a smaller pool of homes to choose from. Therefore, homes that list as pet friendly (compared to those that don’t) attract more enquiries and bookings leading to an increase in gross rental returns. Accepting guests who travel with pets also allows us to list your home on additional websites to attract more enquiries. See Pet Friendly Homes for more information.

Homes can be listed as:
  1. Pet friendly (inside & out)
  1. Pet friendly (outside only)
If you are considering this for your home, you may have questions about whether listing a home as pet friendly brings a different level of wear and tear. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this further as we have a strong amount of data regarding changes to income and expenses related to this issue.

Crockery & cutlery

We recommend providing reasonable quality (but not expensive) cutlery and crockery. There should be 1.5x the sleeping capacity of your home. E.g. if your home sleeps 10 people, provide 15 of each cutlery, small & dinner plates, bowls, coffee cups etc. Any glasses/bowls etc that are chipped should not be left at the home.

Invariably over time there will be minor breakages/loss of these items which is to be expected as part of holiday letting. It is good to provide some spares in the locked cupboard at the home for the cleaner to replenish. Alternatively, whenever you’re at your home, do a quick inventory and replace items as required.

Rental insurance

We recommend that you arrange holiday rental insurance for your home. We know a local insurance broker that offers holiday rental insurance, not just typical landlord insurance. Contact us if you would like their details.

Consumables

Your home will require some basic consumables as part of holiday letting. This will include toilet paper, aluminum foil, cling wrap, paper towel, dishwashing detergent and/or tablets, sponges/wipes, coffee (pods/ground beans), tea, sugar, spray oil, salt & pepper, etc. It is recommended that a good supply of all these items is available in the locked cupboard at the home so the cleaner can replenish them as needed. Our preference is for a combination lock rather than a keyed lock for the Consumable & linen cupboard. You can either purchase these items yourself and put them in the cupboard, or we can request that the cleaner does this for you. See Consumables for more information.

If you have a fireplace (coonara, open fire, etc) it is standard practice to provide firewood, kindling, fire starters and matches/lighter.

Digital Guidebook

We subscribe to Orana Stay - a digital guidebook that provides detailed information about your home and the local area to guests. We have gone to considerable effort and cost to make this available for guests, and will require details from you (when joining our group) to make this a valuable tool to increase guest satisfaction and reduce costs for you (something that can happen if Troubleshooting with Guests is not successful). 

Lawns, gardens and maintenance

It is important to keep the lawns and garden in a clean and neat state. You may wish to do this yourself. Alternatively, we are more than happy to arrange this on your behalf on an as-needs or regular basis.

As with lawns and gardens, the home itself will benefit from ongoing care, maintenance and attention. We find that the best performing homes (over many years) receive guest feedback commenting on how well looked after and presented those homes are.

Rubbish removal

Council rubbish collection in the region is less regular than many metropolitan areas. We have negotiated a lower rate with a local 3rd party contractor based on our own size and scale of operations which provides a flexible and inexpensive solution to an otherwise difficult situation. When we are informed of bins requiring to be emptied, it may be up to 2 weeks until a bin is due for council pickup and new guests may arrive before then, the bins may have mixed rubbish in them or particularly smelly contents. Therefore, from time to time we will arrange for the bins at your home to be emptied by a 3rd party contractor. See Rubbish for more information.

Guest Bookings

The way that people book holiday homes has evolved markedly in the last few years. The vast majority of bookings now come through websites. 

Example of websites we advertise on

We list on the market leading websites such as our own (phillipislandholidayhomes.com.au), Airbnb, Stayz/HomeAway, Booking.com, Agoda, Aabode, visitphillipisland.com, CTrip, Visit Victoria, etc. We also list on some market driven websites that cater to specific groups of travelers, such as The Weekender, Beach Stayz, and pet related websites (where appropriate) such as Dogs on Holiday, Holidays Paws, etc. We also list on International affiliated websites for overseas visitors.

We don’t currently list on some websites where we feel that the value for homeowners justifies the margins they seek. For example, some websites charge 15% to homeowners which is significantly higher than the industry standard. Other sites provide no opportunity for vetting/declining bookings from groups of guests that we (and most owners) don’t want in their home (eg Schoolies / Bucks parties, etc). Whilst we would earn commission on these bookings, we understand our role is to look after the long-term interest of you and your home.

Advertising Fees for bookings

All websites charge fees for connecting guests to homes; how those fees are applied, is different for each site. For example, some sites charge a % of each booking, split between the guest and the homeowner (eg Airbnb, Booking.com and Stayz/HomeAway), some sites charge annual fees (eg Dogs on Holidays) and others pass all costs onto guests (eg HolidayPaws). Most bookings typically come through the larger sites where the costs are shared. See Understanding Booking Earnings and Expected Running Costs for more information.

Cleaning

Our approach to cleaning

Finding reliable, honest, thorough and reasonably priced cleaners in a regional setting is one of the biggest challenges in the holiday rental industry. We ensure that our cleaners are all insured and provide police checks. Their service is provided at fixed rates per clean, not per hour, so you always know your fixed cleaning costs before we take a booking. 

We allocate a cleaner (or team – eg husband and wife) to your home. Having the same people come through your home after each guest means they are more likely to notice any small issues and provides a continuity of quality which is more easily addressed if any issues arise.

What to expect from your cleaner

We spend a lot of time working closely with our cleaners , especially any new ones, to ensure they provide the level of service that we expect. As a home owner, you do need to be aware that a professional clean at a fixed rate covers some duties, but not others. For example, our cleaners will mop, vacuum, clean bathrooms thoroughly, sanitise toilets, conduct a condition report, etc. Examples of things they are unlikley to be able to do (as part of a regular clean) would include checking inside drawers and cupboards, shifting heavy furniture and appliances (eg beds, fridges, couches etc). If you have further questions regarding this please let us know.

Another consideration regarding the scope of work a cleaner can/can’t do, is related to how busy they are. Cleaners typically look after a good number of properties and at certain times of year they can be exceptionally busy. This may mean that some tasks that they would do for each clean at other times of the year, may be done less regularly (eg skirting boards). Often this will depend on the number of cleans in a given day which is further impacted by ‘same day’ turn arounds. Conversely, at quieter times, cleaners are often able to attend to additional tasks. See Holiday Home Cleaning for more information and also 

Spring Cleaning

Many tasks that cleaners won’t be able to do as part of their regular clean can be addressed via a thorough Spring Clean. This is something that we arrange as needed and can include tasks such as going through drawers and cupboards to check each individual item of crockery, cutlery, etc, cleaning fan vents as well as shifting and cleaning behind / under heavy household items. The necessity / frequency of Spring Cleans will, to some degree, depend on your own capacity and availability to attend to such tasks. See Owner - Deep Cleaning Checklist at the end of this article

Cleaners & Linen

All bookings at your home have a component of ‘fixed’ linen and bedding as well as optional linen. The cleaner will prepare your home with doonas, doona covers, pillows (without covers), tea towels, hand towels and bath mats. The optional linen component of all guest bookings are sheets, towels and pillow cases. If guests would like this optional linen provided, they pay an additional fee which is added to the gross rental of your booking, and more than offsets the cleaners linen related charges.  See Linen for more information.

After a booking where the guest has arranged optional linen, the cleaners will take the linen home to launder it. The linen will then be returned on their next planned visit to your home. You may therefore find occasions that not all your linen is at the home.

Occasionally the doona covers, mattress protectors etc will need to be laundered between bookings. You may therefore see ‘laundry’ charges on your statement from time to time (typically for small amounts) that reflect this additional work the cleaner does.

Contractors (tradies)

We have an extensive branch of reliable contacts and contractors who know we always pay them on time, every time. This means jobs that come up at our houses are prioritized – especially important in the busy periods.

This can include tasks fairly straight forward handyman/repair jobs or qualified trades services such as electricians, plumbers, locksmiths, etc. We even have contacts for tasks as diverse as pest control, native wildlife removal, etc. Some service/repair work requires an immediate response, while others are less time dependent. As stated in our T&C’s:

“From time to time, we may be required to arrange handymen or tradespeople to deal with a wide range of situations that can require urgent attention. Likewise, we may need to urgently replace appliances or furnishings that have failed or become unusable. In these situations, our interest is ensuring that reasonable guest requests are addressed and services and amenities are provided as advertised. Our aim is to ensure that your guests have a good experience, and at the same time to minimise the likelihood of subsequent requests for refunds or compensation. 

In order to deal with these issues in an efficient and timely manner, we won’t seek your authority for small or minor repairs or replacements. We will however, consult with you where the cost for such work is likely to be substantial. For the most part, we will procure these goods or services on your behalf at no extra charge to you. However, when there is a significant amount of negotiation and/or organisation involved, we reserve the right to charge an administration fee to cover our time and expenses.”

For example, if your hot water system dies, you’ll hear from us! If there are some light globes out, or rubbish in need of removal, you won’t.

Owners Bookings

What is an Owner booking?

We refer to some stays as “Owner Bookings”. These are not limited to just yourself but may include family or friends where there is no payment made for the booking. If you would like to offer your home at a discounted rate to family or friends, please just let us know and we can arrange it (at the discounted rate) with all the usual support and communication that goes with a paid guest booking. 


Checking availability & the Owners Portal

There are several sites where you can view the calendar for your home to check availability, however we would recommend using the owner’s portal application we have – to view, and especially to make your own bookings.  The portal allows you to check and book in real time.  You can email us bookings as well – but just be aware that booking yourself via the portal ensures the dates are secured immediately.

Please ask us about the Owner Portal to get access and instructions on how to use it.

Default assumptions for owner bookings

  1. A clean is assumed to be required after every owner booking. Please let us know if NO CLEAN is required for any owner booking, at the time you book it in. You will need to note this manually as a comment when making your own owner bookings.
  1. 2pm check in and 10am check out. Please let us know when making an owner booking if you’re planning on arriving/departing at different times so we can ensure the home is blocked accordingly.
  1. Linen is assumed to NOT be required for all owner bookings (owners usually bring their own linen from home or use and return linen from the locked cupboard). Please let us know if you’d like the cleaner to prepare the linen at your home for any owner bookings.
  1. Please modify bookings if you wish to extend or change an existing owner booking, rather than adding on a new separate one immediately before or after.  This ensures that cleaners know it’s one stay, rather than assuming a clean is needed before (or after) a new one.  If the cleaner has (for example) 2 stays, one from 18 – 20, and another from 20 – 22 in a month, they will assume a clean is needed on the 20th.  If one isn’t needed, the stay should be noted as 18 – 22 instead.

Cleaning after your stay

If you opt not to have the cleaner come in after your stay, please see below some notes to help you prepare the home ready for guests:
  1. Please clean the home thoroughly (guests expect a professional level of clean)
  1. Remove any personal items & empty the fridge
  1. Ensure the guests keys are in the keysafe
  1. Ensure there are at least 2 x full rolls of toilet paper per toilet, some coffee for the coffee machine (if appropriate) and that the BBQ gas bottles are full
  1. For linen, please ensure the guests have:
    1. Doona and Doona cover
    2. Mattress protector
    3. Pillows
    4. Pillow protectors
    5. Tea towels
    6. Hand towels (in bathroom & kitchen)
    7. Bath mats
So therefore, don't provide/leave out:
  1. Sheets (flat or fitted)
  2. Pillow cases
  3. Towels

    Pricing

    Why we price the way we do

    You pay us to use our expertise. This is particularly true in relation to pricing.  It is of course in the best interest of both owners and ourselves to generate as much rental revenue as possible for the dates that you’re not using the home yourself.

    We do this with a combination of pricing and minimum night stays to maximise returns when interest is high and to help generate demand when guest numbers are low. To help achieve this, when a home is listed, our approach is to come in slightly under market in order to generate strong initial bookings for you. This is done with a specific strategy in mind that capitalises on how major listing sites prioritise search results.  There is a lot of detail and moving parts behind how this works and how we use our knowledge to maximise the visibility and performance of your home – please let us know if you’d like more detail about how this all works.

    We closely monitor the performance and pricing of all homes in our group - particularly for new ones. Once a home has established itself on listing sites, we then review the pricing to see if price changes are justified. See Pricing Your Home and Minimum Night Stays for more information.

    Tariffs

    Your home will also be listed with different pricing bands to capitalise on demand.  This means that prices for peak times, many long weekends and warmer months will be higher than shoulder or winter periods.  Whilst many letting agents focus on only 3 tariffs, we run significantly more in order to capture the demand more closely.  The same applies to minimum night stays where we leverage higher demand with longer stay requirements.  This in turn reduces overheads for you and further improves your profitability per stay over those times.

    Different approaches to pricing

    Whilst our default approach is to price your home in a manner that generates solid numbers of bookings, we can discuss alternative approaches to more specifically fit your needs if required.  This can include setting parameters around pricing (eg a minimum amount) or discounted rates to generate even more bookings.

    Guests have expectations on the value for money of homes compared to other homes in the market.  What this means is that there are limits on what pricing we will list a home for to ensure that we balance the expectations of all parties.

    The benefit of taking winter bookings

    Winter bookings are typically shorter stays over weekends.  They attract a lower rate and are therefore less profitable per booking than longer peak stays.  There is however a strong rationale to take bookings for lower rates.  Shoulder and off-peak stays will generate the majority of a home's annual gross revenue (typically around 60-70%).  More than that, taking a higher number of bookings across the year will directly improve your homes ranking in search results across the most important listing websites.  This in turn puts your home in a stronger position to be visible for and attract more of the higher value stays at peak times.

    Guest bookings

    Taking Bookings

    The ways in which prospective guests look to book short term accommodation has evolved.  Responsiveness, flexibility and convenience are key factors in whether guests choose to book or not.  Notably, guests now overwhelmingly book through websites (Airbnb, HomeAway/Stayz, our own site, etc.) rather than making phone calls or searching print media.

    The flow on effect of these changes is that we now interact with guests through messaging systems and emails more so than via phone calls.  Whilst booking sources do shift, the general trend is also for more bookings and enquiries to occur outside standard business hours.

    The owners APP is the best source to check the bookings at your home. Our system will send you an email when we create a new booking or cancel one, but there are other processes that won’t create an email. Please don’t rely on emails but refer to the owners APP.

    Vetting 

    Our general approach is to not let someone into your home, that we would not let into our own home.  The short-term value of certain bookings doesn’t outweigh potential problems.  However, the changes to how guests book also impacts how we can vet.  Conversations and interactions through third party websites are via message only (contact details like email addresses and phone numbers are redacted/removed until a booking is confirmed).

    We take thousands of bookings per year and understand when bookings are likely to be higher risk and what the flags and warning signs are for potentially problematic groups.  We use this knowledge and other sources (eg social media, prior reviews, blacklisting sites, etc) to make the best decision we can about the suitability of guests.  Whilst no system is foolproof, what this does mean is that the overwhelmingly majority of guests that book through us do the right thing.  So even though the way guests' book has changed, the likelihood of issues has not increased.

    There are many reasons to vet guests thoroughly as we do – including of course the key requirement of protecting your home, together with maintaining positive relationships with neighbours, the local council, the cleaner, etc.  Problem guests also mean much more work for us, so we do our best to prevent these groups from staying. See Vetting Guests for more information.
    Australian Consumer Law (as detailed in Equal Opportunity legislation and guidelines) has specific requirements about how short-term rental properties can (or cannot) exclude certain groups.  It goes without saying that we do not discriminate based on protected factors such as ethnicity, religion, age, etc.

    Specifically, many listing agents advertise homes as not available for guests under the age of 25 (which is not legally enforceable).  It is however legal to restrict accommodation on some provisions, as noted on all our listings and as copied in below:
    1. Functions, Celebrations and Schoolies
    1. Please note that the home is not suitable for celebrations, parties or large events. The home also does not take bookings over Schoolies.

    Damages/additional costs

    While is it extremely unlikely that there will be the need to recover costs from guests due to damages, missing items, etc, we do have processes in place to protect you. Depending on how guests' book, this can either be in the form of a security payment we take, or a third-party booking site independent arbitration process.  For example, any claims for costs made from a guest who books via Airbnb are handled by (and determined by) Airbnb, based on submitted evidence including photos, invoices, etc.

    We understand how these processes work and can provide more detailed advice if required. The following is noted in our Terms and Conditions:
    “We provide security of up to $500 to cover any loss or damage to your home caused by a guest. In the unlikely event that the value of such loss or damage should exceed that amount, we will do all in our power to recover the outstanding amount from the guest, but we can accept no responsibility for any losses incurred over and above the $500 limit. Such amounts should, in any event be claimable on your Landlord’s Insurance policy.”
    On some occasions additional costs are incurred for more innocuous reasons – such as guests leaving behind personal items. In such situations we often post these back (or arrange delivery of them to the guest). See Claiming Funds from Guests and Unrecoverable Expenses for more information.

    Moto GP

    One of the most profitable times of the year to let your home is for the Moto GP event, typically held in October each year. The Moto GP corporation and Phillip Island Racetrack Management insist that all bookings for Moto GP should include linen hire. We therefore factor this into our pricing approach for Moto GP.  Further to this, we also add other small touches such as leaving beers in the fridge.  This is done in order to better generate positive experiences and assists in repeat bookings.  Some owners also like to add further touches (food, hampers, etc). See Moto GP for more information.

    GP Pricing is also designed with the unique demand patterns in mind. This includes things like a flat price (guests will pay a specific amount regardless of whether they stay 1 to 7 nights).  Depending on the changes to demand, you will see pricing vary as we aim to get the best rate for your home. See Pricing Your Home for more information.

    You may also note that due to the extremely heavy workloads of cleaners before and after Moto GP, your home may be made unavailable for several days either side of the actual guest booking. This helps cleaners manage a particularly hectic schedule and assists in accommodating the larger number of interstate and international guests who may have irregular check in and check out times relating to flights, etc.

    Monthly statements

    Any monthly earnings, (total rent less expenses) will be paid into your bank account on or before the 15th of the month following the date of departure. For example, a booking that ends in the month of June will be settled on or before the 15th of July. We will send you a Tax Invoice/Statement each month, detailing the previous month's transactions in full.  In addition to this, we will provide an annual statement every financial year providing an overview for tax purposes, usually within a day or two of the June Statement being issued (in mid-July).

    Contacting us

    We operate office hours from 9am – 5pm, 365 days per year (albeit with a reduced capacity and presence on some Public Holidays, e.g. Christmas Day). We are of course contactable outside these hours (until 7pm), but we would request that any non-urgent communication be during office hours, or via email. Please email us any question/request and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

    Please do not send text messages where possible. The best email address for all correspondence is:
    Email:  info@pihh.com.au 
    Phone: 03 9443 7538
    We do respond to many inquiries, bookings and urgent requests from guests outside of these hours (the office number diverts to our mobile phones for this purpose). We know that this responsiveness leads to more bookings for your home. 


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