Former enfant terrible of the publishing world, James Brown, has revealed his tips for successful holiday lets after years of renting out a small cottage near Rye.
Brown, who founded the lads’ mag Loaded, sold his publishing business in the mid Noughties and used some of the cash to invest in property.
Writing in Good Housekeeping, Brown reckons the key to making holiday lets work is sensible pricing, being ‘always on’, having good communication with guests, and most importantly, support staff such as a reliable, hardworking cleaner.
“By far the most challenging scenario is when you have bad things happening in your own life, and there’s no buffer… if people have booked, you can’t take a few days off,” he explains.
“When my former father-in-law was dying, I had to leave his hospital bedside to take a call about ‘a cracked glass, the side gate hanging off and bird poo on the deck’.
“But the biggest problem I’ve ever faced was when my ex-girlfriend and I were splitting up. I was all over the place, and I managed to book three different families in for the same Bank Holiday weekend.”
Brown says the best guests are ones who book quickly, stay a long time, look after the place and return regularly.
But the worst ask loads of questions, sound like they’re a bank transfer away from booking, then say they’ll check with their husbands or partners – and are then unlikely to stay. He’s also suffered a number of thefts.
“There’s a suggestion in the media that some locals don’t like holiday lets but there’s a big difference between rarely visited second homes and 90% occupied places offering people breaks and holidays,” adds Brown.
“Every week my guests use the local shops, galleries, coffee shops, gift shops, cafes, vineyards, pubs and restaurants, while we have year-round work for local tradespeople from gardeners to carpenters and beyond.”
Rent the property via Brown's Facebook page.
Pic credit: BBC/James Brown
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