Sprucing Up your Holiday Let on a Budget

admin | December 20, 2013

Property in Europe (Photo credit: Images_of_Money)

Much as you may wish to decorate your holiday let property to the highest possible standards, the realities are that you will probably be constrained by your budget.

However, from a marketing viewpoint you will want your property to appear to be in the best possible decorative order in photographs and also in the flesh when your customers arrive. It might also be worth keeping in mind that some holiday let mortgages may contain obligations for you to keep your property in good well-maintained condition.

So, here are a few budget-conscious tips as to how you can inject a note of freshness into your property:

concentrate on the externals first. Most customers will be sold (or turned off) based upon their initial first glance at the photograph of the outside of your property. So, make sure that paintwork, woodwork and garden areas are visually attractive;

if you have a garden, work to keep colour in it all through your peak letting periods. Having only early spring flowering shrubs might mean that your garden is nothing more than green leaves and sticks during the summer period. That won’t look great for your customers upon arrival;

use plant pots liberally. These are relatively low cost and with a few cheap flowering annuals in them, your garden will look completely different;

assuming a combination of good taste and local planning regulations permit, try to paint the externals of your property in relatively bright and vibrant colours. Greys and muddy browns can be depressing and won’t look good in your advertisements;

when moving inside, look first at your internal walls. Old, dirty and tatty wallpaper will be a guaranteed turn-off to people entering your property for the first time or looking at photographs in the ad. Wallpaper is relatively cheap but if it’s too difficult for you to contemplate, consider painting the walls instead;

whether you are using cheap wallpaper or paint, once again go for vibrant or at least neutral colours. Nobody wants to be surrounded by the dour look on holiday;

if your furniture looks tatty or is cheap and nasty (e.g. badly-assembled flat pack varieties) then get yourself to a public auction. It is typically possible to purchase very good quality furniture for next to nothing;
make sure that your curtains look clean and bright. You might be amazed at how much cheaper it is to buy certain types of fabric online than through your local high street retailer. Shop around and you might be able to improve your curtaining for a much smaller sum than you might fear;

if you have even a few extra pounds to spare, try to replace any lamps that are dirty or falling to pieces. Apart from the fact they may be dangerous, they won’t create the right impression. New ones can be obtained for very small amounts of money online or again try your local public auctions;

however old and quaint your property is, almost everybody wants a functional and well-equipped modern toilet and bathroom. Cracked and chipped WCs can be a hygiene issue and hugely worrying to holidaymakers upon arrival. The same is true of stained and unsavoury-looking toilet seats. Replace these as a priority – the costs are relatively low;

finally, have a quick look around the kitchen. Make sure that things such as cutlery and crockery are in plentiful supply and are not cracked or broken. Yet again, huge sets of cheerful cutlery and crockery can be picked up for almost nothing at public auctions – so there’s no excuse!