Owner ServicesQuality Management for Holiday Lettings

across the South and South East of England

www.amberleyhousecottages.co.uk

Welcome to Amberley House Cottage Holidays

Our service to second homeowners across the south and south east of England is designed to be as practical and useful as possible. We do not tie you to a yearly contract and do not charge any set up or administration fees for being listed with us.

We are happy for you to use your second home on your own terms and to accept your own bookings. All we ask is that you keep us informed. We will keep you fully up to date and confirm all bookings we take for you as they happen.

We aim to be always accessible to help our customers at any time, and as we are lucky enough to have lived here most of our lives we know the area well. Our business has been built on the principle of providing a ‘local’ personal service where there is always a clear point of contact for owners, which means they feel the benefit of dealing with a tight knit team. We believe in getting to know our owners well, understanding their requirements and making them feel they are also part of that team.

When marketing holiday properties we are on the lookout for those that not only have the promise to satisfy every customer, but properties that will delight 100% of visitors who walk through the door.

Take a moment to read this small sample from the many messages we receive from visitors who have booked with Amberley House Cottages.

Our holiday let has been in the hands of Amberley House Cottage Holidays for

over three years now, and we have been delighted both by the level of

service received from our agent, and the high level of occupancy that we have enjoyed.

From our point of view, flexibility, personal service, and enthusiasm are the key factors

that we would look for when choosing an agent. We have no hesitation in awarding

these folk top marks on all counts. They are just so pleasant to work with, and our guests

agree, having given us good positive feedback to this effect.

The team is very professional, as the

website and brochure give testament to. We are very happy on all counts.

Ricky & Marilyn Cuss - Rosemead Cottage

I had spent a long time looking for the ‘right’ place on other websites. One quick phone call to Amberley House Cottages and I had the perfect solution.

A Rosenberg

Well done to all at Amberley House Cottage Holidays, your service in all aspects in finding us such wonderful holiday accommodation was superb!

Mrs J Imber

Staff were helpful and knowledgeable. There was no waiting for the call to be answered, someone picked up straightaway and when they did they were very helpful

Mrs S Martin

How We Can Help You

As a Homeowner

If you are considering purchasing a second home whether partly for your own enjoyment or solely as a business opportunity, we can offer advice on what you need to consider in order to find that perfect property and what the likely potential income could be. With the right location, visual appearance, facilities and correct presentation your home should command good rental income throughout the year. Ask yourself the simple question: “Would I want to stay here on holiday myself?”

When you have found your ideal property we can assist you with ideas around presentation. We will advise you on the current legislation, health and safety, insurance, and we can provide information on whether to operate within the Furnished Holiday Let rules. If you do not live near your property we can also assist you by offering a fuller management service.

Converting Farm Buildings

Rural tourism can provide a valuable income stream for farm businesses. Converting barns and outhouses into a furnished holiday let has become a popular way for farmers to diversify their business especially as there is unsatisfied demand for holiday accommodation in the south and south east of England.

If you have disused buildings on your farm, converting them into lettable properties can be an excellent way of bringing in a new income. It also provides the added bonus of the potential capital gain if you were to sell the property, so financially it can be a wise move to make.

We are seeing an increase in converted farm properties joining our portfolio, and those that capture the style and feature any unusual characteristics of the building prove extremely popular. There is always strong demand amongst our guests to stay on a working farm.

Ten Reasons to Let with Amberley House Cottage Holidays

1 Advice when you need it. We can advise and keep you up-to-date with current and incoming legislation and how it affects you. We can also advise you how to present your property correctly to maximise your income opportunities and, if you are considering buying a cottage as a holiday let, we can share our knowledge of the most sought after areas, the most popular style of properties and facilities you should look for.

2 Local Knowledge. Living in the area means we can talk with confidence about your property to your guests. It also means we are totally accessible – either by phone or by dropping in to see us. We pride ourselves on delivering a friendly, professional and local service.

3 No Strings Attached. Unlike a lot of agencies, we are contract free. We do not put restrictions on you regarding your own use of your property or any bookings you might take yourself. We never forget that it is your home.

4 A Working Partnership We work with you on your terms to promote your property and, through our activities, we help to build tourism in the area and in turn help support the local businesses that benefit as a result.

5 Your Property Marketed for Free Your property appears on our website for free so we don’t charge you money for advertising. The only fee you will incur is for bookings that you accept. There are no upfront set-up costs or on-going administration charges. Our incentive is to work hard through both our online and offline activity to secure you bookings and earn you money.

6 Free High Quality Photography We comprehensively photograph and describe your property and the surrounding area. We want guests to know why they should be booking your home.

7 A Website localised to your Property The Amberley House Cottages website is dedicated to your area and will not only display your property but provide lots of useful information promoting local attractions and amenities, all relevant to you. In addition we will also feature your property on our second website South of England Cottages.com to help maximise its exposure and find guests from the widest possible search area.

8 Leave the Paperwork to us We will handle all the enquiries and bookings for you and your guests abide by our booking terms and conditions.

9 Transparent Accounting We pay you your rental income monthly, providing a detailed, comprehensive statement as well as providing you with online access to our systems.

10 High quality annual brochure There is still no substitute for a high quality annul brochure to showcase your property along with providing supporting editorial content to highlight the leading visitor attractions in the south of England.

How We Market Your Property

Understanding where guests reside and what they want from their holiday is essential to effective marketing.

We carefully target property and price together, to ensure we attract the segment of the market where guests value and appreciate the quality of accommodation on offer. Our predominant age range is between 35 and 70 years of age and whenever we can we will always fit the guest to a particular property.

What We Do Online

The Amberley House Cottage Holidays website attracts thousands of UK and international visitors every week and acts as our digital shop window. Maintaining a strong, online presence is of paramount importance so we keep our pages interesting by allowing customers to plan their holiday in detail - from what they want to visit to where they would like to eat.

Our website contains a wealth of information for potential guests yet remains easy to navigate, providing relevant, helpful information.Every property listed is allocated an entire page and features:n High quality photographs that show both the property and the surrounding area. We aim to show at least twenty pictures per propertyn A detailed property description that not only promotes the property but also the local area nInteractive mapsnTestimonials received from guests nLive availability calendars and an online booking facility

South of England Cottages.com

South of England Cottages.com is an exciting and immediately recognisable brand. We feature all

property in a slick and smart format, displaying a different choice of photographs and text that is intended to be short

and concise bringing important information at a glance. South of England Cottages compliments the Amberley House brand and allows us to fully exploit those wanting accommodation in southern England.

Associated Websites

We work closely with a collective of portal websites, integrating their online booking facility into our systems. Our experience is that more than half of our customers prefer to book directly online. By adding the collective marketing power of additional portal websites to our own campaigns, we are able to extend our marketing reach far beyond any one stand-alone activity. Our owners benefit from greatly increased booking levels as a result.

Email Offers

Working hard to encourage our customers to return is very important. We segment our guests into age bands which means not only can we ensure that your property is right for them, we can also target specific holiday themes that match your property to their needs, such as; family holidays, beach side retreats, or cottages for keen walkers for example. Our regular email banner adverts prove an effective way of getting our customers to book again.

What We Do Offline

The Amberley House Cottage Holidays Brochure Our high quality full colour brochure is an essential part of our marketing campaign. It is posted to everyone in the UK who has booked with us, while an online ‘book version’ is emailed to our overseas customer base. Since the majority of our customers deal with us online, the brochure is an excellent way of re-presenting our business to them in a completely different and tangible format. A supplement showcasing new properties is issued in July so that those joining the portfolio after publication don’t have to wait a year for inclusion.

Magazine and Newspaper Advertising We repeat advertise in both the National Trust Magazine and RSPB Bird Magazine. We also regularly advertise in the BBC Countryfile Magazine to coincide with their ‘pet friendly’ holiday features and regional features. We also selectively use the travel sections of the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and the Independent where we target specific times of the year that are likely to generate enquiries.

Mailing Flyers We post a personalised mail card to our customers twice a year focusing around a seasonal topic or idea. As emailing is becoming increasingly common this is an alternative that generates good response.

How We Work With You

We Are Contract Free

We view working with our owners as team work. We recognise that we are marketing your home and that it is yours to use on your terms. We do not put constraints on you regarding availability or occupancy. We will market your property during the periods you would like us to which is especially important when the property is your second home purchased for your own use and enjoyment.

How We Handle Your Bookings

Our owners are as individual as their properties so we tailor our method of taking bookings to meet their needs. Many prefer us to simply accept bookings and notify them accordingly but, for others, we confirm bookings with the owner first to ensure they can be accommodated. Our only stipulation is that we are kept appraised of any dates when the property is not available – this avoids disappointment all round. Our owners have full access to our calendar and can simply mark off any days or weeks in advance when it is not available – alternatively they call us and we do it for them.

We will process all acceptable bookings as part of our service. We accept debit and credit cards and request deposit and balance payments at the appropriate times. Owners are kept fully up to date throughout the whole booking process.

Guests agree to comply with our booking terms and conditions from outset giving owners a layer of extra protection. In particular guests agree to be subject to our security deposit scheme so owners have a financial recompense against damage or breakages.

Quality in Tourism

The Quality in Tourism Assessment Scheme in association with Visit England is an important and integral part of our marketing strategy. A property assessment and grading officially recognises the quality of appointment and finish at the property in

line with a nationally accredited standard, and it confirms a level of professionalism within the industry. It also gives the guests peace of mind at the time of making their booking.

Guest Questionnaires

We are keen to obtain feedback from all our customers so will email a questionnaire after their stay. Guest comments are helpful in allowing us to maintain standards as they enable us to react quickly to any identified issues. We also post selective positive comments as testimonials on our website so that other customers can benefit from reading the reviews.

Owner Newsletters

We issue an owner newsletter whenever we have information to impart to you. It is an effective way of keeping you appraised about changes within the industry, what we are doing and information of interest in our part of the country.

When we moved from our existing agent to Amberley House Cottages it was

a huge difference. We found them to be extremely flexible, courteous and

knowledgeable. With Andrew’s guidance we made a few changes and achieved

a 4* Grading for our cottage - we were absolutely delighted.

We would never have moved to a company where we would be forced to sign a contract

that gave us limited access to our own property but luckily, with Amberley House Cottages, you

don’t need to. The only restriction we have is due to our high booking levels and,

this summer, we have been absolutely back-to-back.

Greg Hausmann - Little Timbers

What Are Our Fees?

Your property is listed on our two websites for free. We do not charge set up fees or administration charges. Our incentive is to work hard to find you bookings. We only levy a fee against the bookings that are acceptable to you.

Our fee when we market exclusively for you is 17% plus VAT of the rental income.

Where your property is also advertised elsewhere we apply a joint agency fee which is 20% plus VAT of the rental income.

Optional Management Support Services

To reflect the varying needs of owners we have introduced a range of optional management services to provide additional support where needed.

Where required we can source housekeeping, concierge services, gardening and window cleaning services – particularly useful for owners who do not live close to their property or are busy with other things.

In addition where you want us to be more “hands on” regarding the ongoing presentation of your property we can provide the following management service when we market exclusively for you:

The Gold Service

– a monthly inspection of your property to ensure it is presented to the right standard for holiday letting.

Display a wealth of current tourist information in your property of events, amenities and what’s on in the area.

Advise you of any maintenance issues.

Our fee for the Gold Service is 22% plus VAT of the rental income for sole agency.

When Do We Pay You Your Rental Income?

Payments are made to owners on the last working Friday of the month or the day before when it is a public holiday. The deposit payment which is 30% of the rental is paid to you in full on the last working Friday of the month it is received *

The balance payment is paid to you on the last working Friday of the month after the start date of the booking. Our fee will be deducted from the rental income when the balance is paid to you. We believe this approach gives you the best opportunity to receive a steady income stream from the bookings made on your property.

* Balance and deposit payments are paid together when bookings are made within eight weeks of arrival.

Amberley House Cottages has made it really easy for us to get up and running as new owners. Andrew

advised us on exactly what would be expected by our guests before

we bought our furniture and made us aware of any health & safety requirements. He was

even there to advise on insurance when we were refused because of our woodburner.

Amberley House Cottages deal with all the money, even the security deposit, and liaise

with the cleaning company. When we’re away – and that’s quite often – they keep everything running smoothly in our absence, liaising with

guests where necessary.

Also important is knowing we can use The Stables whenever we need it – without

restrictions. Amberley House Cottages always remember that it is our property and not theirs.

Vivian Lillywhite - The Stables

When we converted our double garage into a holiday cottage we had no way of knowing just how successful it was

going to be – we are unbelievably busy.

I think it was very lucky that we chose Amberley House Cottages because they have supported us all the way – I can’t speak highly enough of them. They always have time for you and are just professional and charming people – we really couldn’t have found anywhere nicer.

Although this is the first time we have had a holiday cottage, the process has been so easy. Andrew and the team look after everything – all I do is keep the place

Eileen Nutley - Beacon Cottage

www.amberleyhousecottages.co.uk

e: enquiries@amberleyhousecottages.co.uk

Amberley House Cottage Holidays Limited Registered Office: The Old Stables, 17 High Street, Storrington, West Sussex RH20 4DR

t: 01798 877336 (Hampshire & Sussex)Pulborough House

91 Lower StreetPulboroughWest Sussex

RH20 2BP

t: 01797 222707 (Kent)47-49 Cinque Ports Street

Rye East Sussex TN31 7AN