New to sub letting- any tips?

[littlestar]

Now removed

[Teakbank12]

Hi all,
me and hubby have just bought our own static on haven's presthaven site.We have decided to sublet to help with the site fee's and being new to this,was wondering if anyone could give us any tips?
I am in the process of buying new matresses,duvets and pillows and was wondering,is there a special type i should go for? cheap and cheerful or something that might last?as i know that they would need replacing regularly due to dampness.We had the option to sub let via haven but have chosen to do it privately as we feel that people will take a bit more care of our van.

thanks sarah

Hi Sarah
We buy duvets & pillows from either Asda or Tesco, dont go for the very cheap (J-Cloth type) but try to get the grade above. Pillows the same & supply at least 8.
Mattresses we steam clean ours whenever we can on a short visit, its easy to do. We purchased our steam machine online (K'archer) but there are many types.
As for letting out, use someone like directholidayhomes for good response from customers enquiry.
I would advise you to put your prices on the advert to stop mass enquiries & keep the advert up to date.
You can of course also create your own website easily enough using freewebs or similar & advertising on preloved, ukclassifieds etc...
By letting yourselves you get to speak with prospective customers & can try to vet them & build a rapport.
Try to kit van out in all homely comforts..you will soon realise what is required everytime you visit & miss from home!!! ie small veg knife, decent mugs, toaster, slo cooker...the list is endless BUT customers appreciate these small items that are not supplied in fleet vans.
In the 3 seasons we have had our van we've lost a couple of pillows.
Give us a call if you want any more tips.

[Darren]

Hi Sarah,

You've probably made the right choice not letting Haven let your van. I have heard way to many horror stories and seen the state of many of the vans that have been lent out through them.

As Dave or Chris said above there are many websites where you can advertise your van for hire like http://www.gocaravanrentals.com and we have always seen some enquiries by adding adverts in newsagents and free ad style papers.

Many people I know have tried Daltons but the responce is quite varied.

When taking a booking track where they saw your advert so you know what works and what dosnt.

Make sure you take a deposit at the time of booking as you will be amazed at how many just don't bother turning up or never send payment.

Have clear terms and conditions (such as when full payments needs to be made etc) and send them a copy to sign.

Also take a damage fee as it is amazing the length that people will go to cover up a damaged van. Always make sure you check the van in detail before you give back any deposits.

For last minute booking look at setting up a PayPal account as although you lose around £1 of your deposit in fees, you do atleast get something in they don't turn up.

Try to use a mobile for accepting phone calls of people as you'll find that you have people phoning at stupid hours (our latest has been 11:30 on a sunday), you can turn a mobile off.

At last but no means least try to enjoy it, you meet good people and get to make them happy (most of the time)

Darren

[littlestar]

Dave & Chris-Thanks for the advice on the pillows etc,i will definately be investing in a steam cleaner,what a great idea!We are trying to make our van as child friendly as poss-highchair,travel cot,bed guard,small amount of toys etc and a few board games for the adults!

Darren-cheers mate.The people who we bought the van off,kindly passed on their free web website,and we have just tinkered around with it.Will definately think about advertising on the website you mentioned,as we were going to advertise on direct caravan holidays for 50 pound a year.Most of what you've said we've already done too.

Thanks again
Sarah x

[Darren]

it sounds like you are well prepared and just should (hopefully) lead to a succesful letting season.

£50 must be one of the highest for website advertising but as everit all depends on the amount of bookings you recieve.

Good luck with the season ahead and if you have any questions about GoCaravanRentals.com (http://www.gocaravanrentals.com/add.php) please feel free to give me a pm.

Darren

[Teakbank12]

Dave & Chris-Thanks for the advice on the pillows etc,i will definately be investing in a steam cleaner,what a great idea!We are trying to make our van as child friendly as poss-highchair,travel cot,bed guard,small amount of toys etc and a few board games for the adults!

Darren-cheers mate.The people who we bought the van off,kindly passed on their free web website,and we have just tinkered around with it.Will definately think about advertising on the website you mentioned,as we were going to advertise on direct caravan holidays for 50 pound a year.Most of what you've said we've already done too.

Thanks again
Sarah x

To be honest directholidayhomes would be worth paying £100 annually for as it brings in 99% of bookings & most other people will vouch for this.
Why pay for local newsagents adverts at 50p+ per week??

[Darren]

Why pay for local newsagents adverts at 50p+ per week??

There are plenty out there that let you do it for free, also the big supermarkets all let you do it.

I was even asked by the sales manager at Blue Dolphin to do it for them last year. (For sales)

[Andy]

There are several good websites around where you can advertise your caravan and gain a good response direct holiday homes just happens to be one of many.
That said some people may not want to advertise on a website and may prefer to advertise in a shop window, it's all about choice and what works best for you!

[Macarw]

We have a paypal account, but have only ever used it on e-bay. I hadn't thought about using it for the caravan lets. How do you go about doing that?:confused:

[Darren]

You can get people to just send you the money to your email if they have a aypal account if not take alook at merchant tools in your paypal account.

All you will probably need is to set up a buy now button and add it to your website

[littlestar]

Obviously paypal will charge a fee for this,unless they make a personal payment out of their bank a/c.
If you send them a invoice, paypal will charge their fee, however if they pay you to your email address given,out of their bank a.c (not credit card)
as a personal payment there won't be a fee charged,as this is how i paid for a holiday last year,so i didn't have to pay the 4% charge the van owner was charging for paypal payments.:p

God I hate paypal and ebay fees!

[Darren]

Hi Sarah,

Just wondering how you are getting on?

[littlestar]

Hi Darren,

Doing really well at the moment.I've got someone booked in the caravan at the moment for 2 weeks and most of the school holidays are booked.A few more bookings and i will have made the site fee's:)

Best decision I ever made! Even thinking about getting another caravan on the same site,but one with C/H and double glazed!It was very cold when we stayed a few weeks ago.

Got some good tips from people on here:)

Hope you are keeping well

Sarah x

[Darren]

I'm not too bad.

Great to hear its going so well.

Most of my owners are doing well this year and the website hits are going through the roof.

Its amazing how many people ending catching the bug and ending up with a fleet of vans.

Good luck for the future and hopefully you'll be able to help others soon.

Darren

[www.cmtcleaning.webs.com]

To help with the damp inexpensively is to place little bowls of salt throughout your van, put them out of sight. They draw in moisture.

[www.cmtcleaning.webs.com]

To help rid damp put bowls of salt out as they draw in moisture.