Comments for Schofields Holiday Home Insurance News & Advice Blog

Comment on Holiday Rental Scams: Checking For Bogus Holiday Lets by Philip

Philip — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:19:33 +0000

Hi Carolyn,

It seems very harsh that a you haven’t received your deposit back, was a deduction made for the replacement pipe or the whole amount not refunded?

Although there are two sides to every story, I expect most holiday rental owners wouldn’t deduct for such damage.

In these situations one option is the small claims court, but for nominal amounts or when the owner lives in a different country, it’s usually not worth it. I would pursue an explanation from the owner for the deduction and the rental site for not putting the review up.

For future reference, if there is an incident, always take photos/gather evidence to prove your case in the event of disputes.

Comment on Holiday Rental Scams: Checking For Bogus Holiday Lets by Carolyn

Carolyn — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:16:56 +0000

We went to stay in a holiday villa in Sayalonga in Spain in June 2011. Beautiful villa and the property managers very friendly but they had placed a gas cylinder underneath the BBQ that was too big for it so after it had been lit for awhile the rubber pipe leading from the cylinder caught alight ! Luckily we were quick to act and got the fire out before the cylinder exploded. At the time we had 2 children on the patio near it so the outcome could have been very serious. The property manager took responsibility for this stating it needed a smaller cylinder and that he didn’t know anything about gas BBQ’s. All would have been ok except on our return we did not receive out deposit back so we contacted the owner, from here the correspondence from him was extremely rude and blamed us for the accident and he never gave us an apology. I contacted the rental website where we booked and they said complaints needed to be dealt with through the owner! Which of course was never going to happen. We wrote a review which never got put up or did I receive any response from when we asked what had happened to it. We feel completely helpless – we were not looking for anything but we didn’t expect to be treated such contempt.

Comment on What to do if your website photos or copy is stolen by Philip

Philip — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:38:08 +0000

Thanks for your tips Bob. I wasn’t aware of the Google Image Search, very useful.

Comment on What to do if your website photos or copy is stolen by Bob Croxford

Bob Croxford — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 12:28:25 +0000

Congratulations for spreading the word about copyright infringement. As a photographer this is a serious problem. Makes me glad I switched my holiday cottage insurance to you.

Since you wrote your article there is a new tool in Google Image Search. Just drag and drop your images into the search box and it will find other examples on the web. See http://www.petapixel.com/2011/06/14/google-adds-tineye-style-image-search/

And what to do about it can be found here http://www.epuk.org/Opinion/994/stolen-photographs-what-to-do

Thanks

Comment on Tree damage: Does insurance cover a fallen tree? by Philip

Philip — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:28:21 +0000

Thanks for commenting Steve. Generally speaking the insured would submit a claim on their own insurance if there was damage to buildings and the insurer would attempt to recover damages from the third party.

Comment on Tree damage: Does insurance cover a fallen tree? by Steve

Steve — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:19:51 +0000

Are there any additional insurance considerations where trees are on public highways or ‘common land’ and border the holiday home? Can separate insurance be taken out where the land ownership is unclear?

Comment on 35 top tips for buying a holiday home by Philip

Philip — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 09:06:10 +0000

Thanks for the comment Jo. I agree that there are many niches that can be targeted with some creative thinking/marketing.

Comment on 35 top tips for buying a holiday home by Jo Price

Jo Price — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 09:25:20 +0000

I enjoyed reading your blog. I have a holiday property in France that I decided to niche market to families with preschool children last year, with tremendous success. Bookings out of season have gone up as have my prices! But to niche really well we had to think much further than the cot and highchair basics. There are so many possible niches to target, the ones you mention but also what about cyclists, retired people (tap in to the grey pound), disabled people, multigenerational families, single sex parties (stag and hens, they’re not all wild!)……the list goes on.

Comment on How to rent your holiday home and get more bookings by Philip

Philip — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:52:43 +0000

Thanks for stopping by Graham, nice cottage. You seem to have a good understanding of what guests want. A welcome gift (local wine, cheese, cake etc.) is a nice gesture and a good way to make a first impression. Guests are becoming more demanding in what they want and owners need to stand out from the crowd. There are some great holiday letting learning resources listed above – check them out and good luck with the rentals.

Comment on How to rent your holiday home and get more bookings by Graham

Graham — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:25:56 +0000

Excellent article! I’m pretty new to renting my particular holiday home, but previous experience tells me that your comments on exceeding expectations are really important. And the best way to encourage repeat bookings is to offer an excellent service, right from taking that first phone call or online enquiry, to the follow up satisfaction questions. I find that providing guests with a small gift of local produce is always well received.