Consumer Choice

Faced with an ever-growing choice of rental products to choose from, how do owners know that their property is desirable to tenants and how do they go about renting it out? And of course, the burning question – how can the owner ensure maximum return from the rental? There are many agents in Spain who will advertise property, there are many tour operators who would like to rent out a property too, but the owner may choose to market it personally, thus cutting out the middleman.

A good exercise is to search the Internet under the heading of ‘villa and apartment rentals’ – followed by the name of a village, town, city, region or island in Spain. This will lead to some advertised rental properties in the chosen search area. In some cases there may be considerable competition but do not be overwhelmed by the deluge of information.

This simple search will show that the market for holiday villas in Spain encompasses low rated houses, middle of the range and a few select exclusive properties. The majority of tour operators – who pay high rental rates – cater to the middle market of mass tourism and no longer accept a property that is below average. The standard is getting higher.

Remember, whatever letting method is utilised, it has to be someone you can trust. It may be trust in your own judgement in going it alone, or trust in a letting agent or a tour operator or trust that your property will be returned in good condition. Whatever it is, look for this feeling of trust.

Do It Yourself

Doing it yourself simply means spending time and money advertising, preparing brochures, making contacts and utilising the internet. Sounds simple but unless you let people know about the property the business will never materialise.

The trend in letting is away from traditional advertising, such as newspapers and magazines, towards the internet and although this new technology is cheaper, totally abandoning conventional advertising is unwise (see Figure 11).

Advertising In Newspapers

UK national newspapers, particularly those with weekend holiday sections, can gain access to a high readership at short notice with regularly placed, small advertisements.

It can however be an expensive form of advertising. An information pack is usually available from the newspaper, which includes readership profiles, making it possible to deduce if the people reading the newspaper match the profile of potential tenants. Combining a small advertisement with a reference to a web address is often the most cost effective advertising method for a small buy-to-let investor.

English language, weekly Spanish newspapers have a role to play in finding tenants who are already in Spain, wishing to rent while looking for a property to buy or waiting for one to be built.

Magazines

Special interest magazines, targeted at customers who undertake golfing, sailing, hiking and other activities are often a better media than newspapers. They have a longer shelf life than newspapers but they also have longer publication lead times.

There are also companies producing directories of properties let directly by owners. The owner pays for the advertisement and handles the bookings personally. Some directories have changed from producing brochures to being web based.

Brochures

An advert, or even a website, should be backed up by a brochure. Personal computers, colour printers and good software have revolutionised ‘do it yourself’ brochure design. Think carefully about the design and the quality of printing that can be achieved. Use photographs of the interior, the exterior and local area tourist spots. Use a logo on letterheads and envelopes.

The professional brochure includes important details such as the exact location, local attractions, details of how to get there with a map and the name, address and telephone number of a local contact.