Marketing and Rental Management Services

Short Let Space (SLS) is one of the few Furnished Holiday Let companies to offer a full end to end Rental Management service. We currently manage over 90 properties in the Oxfordshire and Cotswolds area with a team of three full time property managers and a small army of housekeepers and tradespeople.

Furnished Holiday Rentals management is a challenging activity, especially in recent years in the Oxfordshire area where face a prolonged shortage of hospitality staff and trades. However, with over 15 years experience management Furnished Holiday Lets we have built up a vast array of experience which we now bring to our management services. This includes staff expertise as well as using latest technologies to help reporting and development of robust processes.

Rental Management is a very different activity to marketing your property and we run our services under a different company called Keys In Our Hands. There are four main requirements in providing a comprehensive Rental Management service

1. Guest communications
2. Housekeeping and linen
3. Property care for damages and wear and tear
4. Property maintenance

We offer the following two service options:

Option 1 Marketing only with Short Let Space

Marketing fee:15% + VAT charged on each booking

After a booking is taken the owner is responsible for guest communications, check in, housekeeping, property management and being available to help with any guest queries during the stay.

What’s included:

• Guest bookings are taken 7 days a week.
• All guest communications relating to their booking
• Bookings taken through our own Short Let Space web site.
• Distributed through 10+ Online travel agents including Booking.com, Airbnb, VRBO, Trip Advisor etc
• Distributed through our network of UK and Global Travel Management companies.
• Distribution through our direct mailing campaign to some 5000 previous bookers.
• Social media campaigns.
• Use of 3D walking tours which integrate with google business listings (annual hosting fee of £50.00 + VAT)
• Management of the guests damage deposit or damage waiver.
• Managing all guest payments.

Option 2 Marketing + Rentals Management with Keys In Our Hands

We offer full end to end rental management services through our sister company Keys In Our Hands. These charges are separated in 5 main areas:

• Management of services are charged as a fixed monthly fee.
• Housekeeping.
• Linen provision.
• Repairs and maintenance.
• Periodic inspecting to ensure standards are maintained.

Management of services

KIOH charge a monthly to fee to cover the cost of managing the following services

• Guest communications before, during and after the guests stay
• 24/7 Emergency point of contact
• Housekeeping services
• Linen provision
• Periodic inspections to check on condition and maintenance
• Management of contractor services
• Management of landlords requirements such as EICR, smoke detectors etc

Monthly subscription charge

• Studio/One bedroom property rental management fee: £100 + VAT
• Two bedroom property rental management fee: £150 + VAT
• Three bedroom rental management fee: £170 + VAT
• Four bedroom rental management fee: £200 + VAT

This fee allows us to employ sufficient property management team to help look after our portfolio of properties, and includes the following:

Housekeeping support

• SLS will recruit and manage your housekeeper and property on your behalf as well as negotiating cleaning and laundry rates to provide the best possible service to you and your guests;
• A property cleaning checklist will be tailored to your property prior to your first booking and provided to the housekeeper to ensure standards are maintained. Within this we can also include any of your own specific requests;
• A housekeeping/maintenance log will be kept to ensure issues are dealt with quickly.
• We will pay the housekeeper for changeover costs from your homeowner account;
• Initial and seasonal deep cleans will be organised on your behalf upon request;
• SLS  will oversee the delivery and replenishment of kitchen and bathroom sundries in conjunction with the housekeeper, to ensure toiletries and basic kitchen provisions are provided for the guests. These will be agreed with you and purchased at trade prices, where possible, and charged back as such. These sundries are likely to include hand soaps, toilet rolls, dishcloths, scouring pads, dishwasher tablets and rinse aid, aluminium foil, cling film, bin bags, multi-surface cleaner; washing up liquid; floor cleaner and bathroom cleaner plus spare light bulbs and batteries;.
• If your property is empty consecutively for four weeks, the housekeeper will check your property, in order to help you comply with insurance requirements. As well as checking fuel levels (including oil/gas and firewood) and order top-ups as and when required, the costs of which will be passed on at cost and billed through your owner’s account unless otherwise specified.

Property support

SLS will arrange for all regular maintenance and any additional services required for the property including:

• Window cleaning;
• Health and Safety Compliance (fire risk assessment, PAT tests, Aga and boiler annual services);
• Testing of smoke/carbon monoxide alarms, the changing of batteries;
• Replacement and/or repair of existing appliances and ordering/taking delivery of new appliances as and when the need arises;
• Annual chimney sweep;
• Emergency works;
• Attending the property to respond to guest issues, if and when required;
• As part of the Marketing and Managed Service, Short Let Space has a comprehensive list of tradespeople throughout Oxford and the Cotswolds offering all the services required to maintain your property for holiday letting. In the event of issues arising during a guest stay, we will have a comprehensive list of local trades: electricians, plumbers, builders, roofers, window cleaners, gardeners, oil and log suppliers, pest control companies and carpet and upholstery cleaners.

Guest communication

Rather than you undertake guest communication and resolution, SLS  takes on full guest liaison and mediation on your behalf;

• SLS becomes the first point of contact to guests 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with our 24-hour emergency call out service;
• For emergencies outside ‘office hours’ (9am – 5:00pm Monday to Saturday), there is an initial call out charge of £35 + VAT for the first hour or part thereof, should the housekeeper have to visit your property to resolve an issue. For each hour or part thereafter, there is a further charge of £25:00 + VAT. Any materials required are charged at 110% of cost plus VAT;
• For support within ‘office hours’ when we have to send our housekeeper, there is an initial call out charge of £35 + VAT for the first hour or part thereof, should the housekeeper have to visit your property to resolve an issue. For each hour or part thereafter, there is a further charge of £25:00 + VAT. Any materials required are charged at 110% of cost plus VAT;
• If we engage a tradesperson to attend to an issue/problem, then their invoice would incur a 10% mark-up plus VAT.

On-Boarding one off charge

Getting your property ready for rental marketing takes around 3 days of work.This includes photography; carefully composed property description for our web platform and other online booking platforms; 3D tour creation; development of a detailed online guest property guide; property manager’s guide to help solve any guest or maintenance issues remotely.

As a contribution to the set up cost we charge the following

• One bedroom: £200.00 + VAT
• Two Bedroom: £250.00 + VAT
• Three bedroom: £300.00 + VAT
• Four bedroom plus: cost based on property size

Additional charges

There is an annual disbursement of the hosting charge of the Matterport 3D tours which is £50 + VAT per annum. The 3D tours have shown to add between  7 to 14 days of additional occupancy compared against properties where they are not used.