Maintaining The Property Yourself

Cleaning and maintaining the property yourself will only be a feasible option if you live locally. Be realistic about the distance between your own home and that of your holiday let, and consider how much spare time you have available. There is little point in trying to save a few pounds, if you are running yourself ragged doing, so and cutting corners with regard to the service you are providing.

In my opinion, it is not a good idea to try to clean and maintain the property if it is not within easy reach of your home. Think about how you would get to the property in the middle of winter when there is snow on the ground. You may well have numerous bookings at this time of year, but if you can’t get to the property to prepare it for guests, there is little point in trying to secure these bookings.

If you are intending to clean the property yourself, you should choose the changeover day to suit your own personal circumstances. There is no point in taking Saturday to Saturday booking if you are not available to clean the property and change the bedding on this day. However, bear in mind that the changeover day you choose must also appeal to holidaymakers. Wednesday may be a good day for you to clean the property, but is it realistic to expect guests to plan their holiday to start in the middle of the week? Friday, Saturday and Sunday are the most popular days for holiday let changeovers.

Being on hand to clean and maintain the property personally can have both advantages and disadvantages, and you must weigh each of these up before making your decision.

Employing The Service Of A Housekeeper

If you choose to place your property in the hands of a reputable letting agency, they may well be able to assist you with the cleaning and maintenance of your property. Many large, established agencies operate their own cleaning and caretaking service and, although not compulsory, they can be invaluable for the odd clean, perhaps when you or your housekeeper are ill or away on holiday or if you have simply been let down.

Although agency cleaning and caretaking services are helpful in emergencies, it may not be advisable to employ them all the time as they are usually much more expensive than employing a personal cleaner or housekeeper. Depending on the size and location of your property, it is usually more cost-effective to take the time to source a personal housekeeper for the property yourself. Using the agency services will of course guarantee reliability, as they have many employees, but they can often cost twice as much as a personal housekeeper.

If you do not intend to clean the property yourself nor want the trouble of finding your own housekeeper, check that the agency you choose actually has a cleaning and caretaking service, as not all agencies offer this service.

Advantage Of Using An Agency Cleaning Service

Disadvantages Of Using An Agency Cleaning Service

In my experience the best method by far, if you are not able to clean the property yourself, is to employ the services of a personal housekeeper. Admittedly in the first instance you will incorporate a little more work in finding the right person but, when you have done this, the rewards will be worth the effort.

Firstly, you must decide what kind of staff your property will require. If you have a small yard or patio garden, there is little point in paying out for the services of a gardener. It, however, one of the features of your property is a large, well maintained garden, it is vital that you enlist the help of a gardener, if you are unable to do the gardening yourself. Lawns need mowing at least once a week, sometimes more in the summer months, if they are to remain looking good and to prevent them from turning into a jungle overnight.

When deciding who to employ to clean and maintain your property it is best to use the services of someone who is local. You will hopefully manage to find someone in the same village but, if not, make sure they live in close proximity to your property.

The best way of finding the right person is to advertise for the staff you require. If you are well known in the area where you have your property, and you have managed to make friends already, then you may be able to find a housekeeper simply by asking around. If, however, as in many cases, you do not know lots of people, you would be advised to place an advert in the local newspaper under the heading ‘situations vacant’ or perhaps put a card in the window of the local newsagents or post office. Newspaper adverts are usually the fastest way of generating interest and can reach a wide audience. Keep your advert short; this will save you money, as you will be charged for the lineage. Something along the lines of the following will suffice:

Never put the address of the property in the advert and do not give out too much information. There is no need to advertise how much you are offering to pay, as this can be negotiated if the right person is interested.

It is probably a good idea to place the advert in the local paper a couple of times in order to generate enough interest. Make a list of the people who reply to your advert and set a date, at the holiday property, to conduct your interviews. I cannot stress how important it is to carry out interviews before employing anyone. It may be a bind having to travel to the property and perhaps giving up a day or two of your time to conduct your interviews, particularly if you have quite a distance to travel. However, remember that not only are you trusting this person with the keys to your property, you are also placing the responsibility of keeping your guests happy firmly on their shoulders. Quite often people can sound ideal over the telephone but when you meet them in person they are simply not what you expected. The person you choose as your housekeeper not only has to be a brilliant cleaner with high personal standards, they must also be fit and able to clean a house from top to bottom and to a high standard in a limited. number of hours. In addition to being a competent cleaner, they must also be pleasant, polite and approachable as they will probably be the person greeting your guests.

When making a list of the people you are looking to interview, try to ask a few questions while they are on the telephone so that neither you nor they are wasting each other’s time. Inform them of your changeover days, so that they can immediately tell you if this is acceptable to them. Even if you state this in your advertisement, people may still apply in the hope of changing your mind or because they intend to fit the cleaning around existing commitments. This is not a good idea. Avoid at all costs employing someone who already cleans a property on the same day as you are intending to do your own changeovers. An experienced housekeeper would not contemplate cleaning two properties on the same day, as they know only too well how much work is involved. If you are expecting to employ someone from 10am until 3pm, it will be impossible for them to be at two properties on the same day. If your changeover day is Saturday and the person answering the advertisement already works on that day, there is little point making an appointment to meet them.

If possible, ask potential housekeepers to bring along a reference and a CV to the interview. Make your appointments with a gap of approximately 30 minutes between. Some people may turn up late, even though this is not how to make a good impression. You will be surprised how quickly the 30 minutes passes, particularly if you have a lot of questions to ask. Avoid showing everyone you interview around your property. Instead, tell each potential housekeeper that you are interviewing several people and, should you choose to employ them, you will request that they return at a later time or date so that you can show them the ropes and explain in detail what is expected of them.

Have a list of questions prepared to ask the people you are interviewing, such as:

You will invariable be asked how much you are willing to pay, but avoid employing anyone who asks this question immediately, even before the job has been outlined. Holiday let cleans can sometimes be seen as ‘easy money’. Prospective employees may assume that, because the owner may live some distance away, they will not be on hand to check the work, and they will therefore be able to get away with the bare minimum. This is simply not the case as, even if you cannot see a housekeeper’s shabby work, guests certainly will and a dirty property will not be tolerated. It is often not enough to clean a property well – it has simply to be cleaned to perfection!

The number of housekeepers you have to choose from will, of course, depend on the number of replies your advertisement attracts. You may be, as I was, inundated with replies, in which case you will be spoilt for choice, or you may have only one or two replies, in which case you may feel you are picking the best from a bad bunch. Never feel pressurised into employing someone just because there is no other choice. If you do not feel that the person is right for the job, avoid making a mistake. Place another advert in the paper and, in the meantime, consider using the services of your agency or clean the property yourself. Delaying a decision of who to employ as your housekeeper may cause you a little inconvenience and expense but, in the long run, it will be better than employing someone who is simply not up to the job, as you will then have the added problem of having to dispense with their services, re-advertise and conduct more interviews.

If you have plenty of choice, try to select about 10 to 15 hopefuls to interview. Be honest and inform any other candidates that you have been inundated with replies and that you have sufficient people to interview. It is a good idea to take their details and tell them that, should the people you are initially interviewing not be suitable, you will telephone them to discuss the position further. If the worst comes to the worst and you do not find anyone suitable, you then have the added bonus of being able to go back to the other candidates, rather than having to re-advertise.

You may think that a cleaner does not have to be a mastermind and that the job is menial. However, thinking along these lines could seriously damage your holiday let business. Your housekeeper is the single most important person. They are the key to the success of your property and whether or not your guests return. It will be their responsibility to impress your guests, to ensure that the property is welcoming and spotless on their arrival and that any problems are dealt with professionally and efficiently.