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Welcome to our Lakelovers Client Newsletter THE RISE OF STAYCATIONS
DOG FRIENDLY BOOKING SURGE
SHORT BREAK POPULARITY
LAST MINUTE BOOKING INCREASE
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HELLO! As the year starts to draw to a close and we are already well under way with bookings for 2020 we wanted to say a big thank you for another successful year with Lakelovers. 2019 has been a busy year with over 10,000 arrivals to date across the portfolio of Lakelovers properties and your delightful property has played a very important part in that. Whilst the weather has not always been on our side it hasn’t stopped guests travelling from near and far to enjoy a wonderful break in the heart of the great British countryside. In fact our research shows that staycations are on the increase in 2019 and starting to reach new audiences all the time. Paul Liddell CEO
You’re In Good Hands With Pure Cottages As you may well be aware Lakelovers is now part of the Pure Cottages group where we join four other brands in coming together to deliver greater efficiencies, an international reach, and streamlined marketing - resulting in a bigger and better service for owners and customers alike. It doesn’t change the fact that at Lakelovers we are still run independently by a friendly, local and dedicated team, all with one thing in common: the desire to give owners the bespoke support and service you won’t find anywhere else, and holidaymakers a break that they’re going to remember forever. It might sound like a tall order, but with our wealth of experience and in-depth local knowledge, supported by the large results focused team at the Pure Cottages Group, these aren’t just empty promises.
OVER 1 0, 000 a rr i va ls s o fa r t h i s y ea r
New National Marketing Hub And under the Pure Cottages ownership we have seen our marketing team go from strength to strength with the recruitment of a Sales and Marketing Director – Tracy Archer. Since joining earlier this year she has built a team of thirteen marketing professionals who, collectively, bring experience from our partner companies as well as leading marketing agencies across the country. Based out of Windermere, this marketing hub is expertly placed to take learnings from across the group, drive increasingly more traffic to our booking website and engage with holidaymakers across a mix of digital and print channels. 10% Exclusive Discount Across the Group As a valued owner you are able to enjoy 10% off any booking you make across the Pure cottages group of brands when you book before the end of 2019. Simply select a property from our portfolios across the Lake District, Cornwall and the Cotswolds, and then call the relevant office to book.
Paul Liddell Paul Liddell CEO
Pure Cottages Marketing Hub
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See Your Property In A National Promotion Here at Lakelovers we work hard to build strong relationships with partners we feel can benefit our owners and help us to reach more and more guests every year. Over the last year we have worked with our partners to deliver bespoke promotions that not only highlight our property portfolio but also deliver added value to our partner’s customers too. Earlier this year we worked with Lakeland Ltd to offer one of our wonderful properties as a competition prize in a promotion that they delivered to their entire customer database. Not only did our property act as an incredible prize for one lucky winner, but that property then went on to see bookings soar to full occupancy in 2019 and forward into 2020! We are always happy to support local charities and are often asked to offer a property as a competition prize or a treat for someone helped by the charity in question. Recently we were honoured to work with The Kids Village at their fundraising event - The Ball of Courage. Around
230 guests enjoyed a wonderful time partaking in several fundraising initiatives on the night itself with the star attraction being the auction. We were lucky enough to be able to offer one property - Jaspers Retreat - as a prize for the auction and went for a staggering £1,300. The night itself raised £51,000 for the charity, money that will support their continuing good work and will go towards the building of a lodge retreat for the families they support. We were overwhelmed last time by the volume of owners excited at the prospect of being involved in our partner promotions and we’re delighted to say we have utilised all the properties that were so kindly offered to us. With this in mind we would again like to open up the opportunity to all of our owners to include their property in a relevant future promotion. If this is something that would be of interest to you then do please get in touch with your Lakelovers contact and they will be delighted to add you to our partner promotions planner.
Younger Visitors Looking for Lake District Stays
We know how trends in the holiday market can impact on the number of visitors to the Lake District and the number of bookings we take. So we were delighted to read a recent piece of research by Barclay’s which revealed some interesting facts around the growth of the “Staycation”, which in 2017 stood at 59 million breaks. One such fact was the changing habits of the younger audience - with over half of all 25 - 34 year olds planning to increase the amount of time they spend holidaying in the UK and, along with the 35 - 44 age group, they see the UK as the destination for their main annual holiday. Here in the Lake District, with breath-taking views at every turn, enviable fell walks right from the door and hundreds of activities & experiences across the National Park, we are well placed for satisfying the needs of
these consumers. As the younger audience look for the opportunity to ‘get away from it all’ with a digital detox there really is no better place than the Lakes. With our presence across social media channels we are well placed to engage with the younger audience who are always on the lookout for Instagramable moments. From a jar of freshly picked flowers from the garden and stunning bathrooms, to open fires and local gastronomic delights we know the little touches that can entice the younger audience to book that Lake District experience. We will continue to work closely with you, our owners, to ensure your properties appeal to guests young and old.
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Rise in Dog Friendly Breaks
Add Wow Factor With A Hot Tub Properties with hot tubs book on average 9 more weeks per year.
We’ve all heard of the saying “a dog is a man’s best friend”, well we can confirm that our booking figures would tend to agree. In the last 12 months we have seen 1/3 of all guests here at Lakelovers only book a property if they can bring their dog with them. As we approach the quieter months, now is a good time for you to consider if pets, and dogs in particular, could be accommodated in your property. It can certainly help with bookings, and as dog friendly is one of the most popular search terms on our website, you could be missing out on bookings from 1/3 of our guests. If this is something you think you might be interested in then do please get in touch with your Lakelovers contact who will ensure your property listing is updated appropriately.
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Fell walking in the Lake District is popular all year round and there is nothing better for easing those aching muscles than a soak in a hot tub! We’ve found that our hot tub property section is within our top 5 most visited pages on our whole website and those properties always book up early right throughout the year. Adding a hot tub to a property is seen as a real wow factor amongst guests and does enable our owners to charge more of a premium for stays. So whilst there might be the initial outlay for the hot tub installation, in the long run it does bring in more income on each individual booking and does lift occupancy levels over the whole year. If you’re interested in maximising your income by adding a hot tub to your property then feel free to get in touch to discuss just what it could mean for your property. We’ve worked with Cumbria Spas in the past and as a Lakelovers owner you can receive free installation of a new hot tub at your holiday cottage. Additionally we work closely with a hot tub services team who can ensure that your hot tub is fresh for every new guest arrival.
“House was fabulous and had everything you could need, and the hot tub was an added bonus after all the walking.”
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Short Breaks Drive Increased Revenues
As a holiday letting agent we always have our eye on the market, looking out for any trends and changes to the way guests are booking and the types of holidays that are proving more popular. Recent research has shown that just under 2/3 of English holidays are short breaks, and as the staycation market continues to boom that’s over 29 million short breaks a year.
perception amongst some owners of short breaks is that they do not deliver the same returns and can lead to empty periods. Here at Lakelovers we work hard to ensure that this is not the case and on average a property that achieves a 4 night and a 3 night break within the same week can expect to deliver just over 150% of the normal 7 night fee. Many properties, in fact, can achieve two short breaks a week - weekend and midweek - and can therefore see an increase in revenue.
Despite this growing trend we still have many owners who are not yet offering short breaks - since January of this year we Get in touch with us today if you would like to better have seen that only 15% of our bookings have been for less understand how we can help you market your property to than 7 days which is being driven by availability. We know the our short break customers.
Last Minute Holiday Bookings On The Rise The Lake District is as popular as ever with guests young and old and with 59 million staycations taken back in 2017 there is no sign of that popularity diminishing. In 2018 over 6.6 million visitors stayed in the Lake District which equalled 22.35 million nights in local accommodation.
month but was also the period in which we saw 28% of all holidaymakers booking and arriving in the same month. We understand that this can be unnerving for owners - it can see us biting our nails at times too - however it also means we can start to tailor our guest communications to take advantage of last minute bookings. Owners who allow us to promote last We have also noticed through our continual research and minute offers for their properties do see an increase in both experience within the holiday letting business that whilst occupancy levels and income. so do get in touch if this would guests do spend more time researching their holidays online be of interest to you. they are leaving it much later to book in 2019 and they are looking for last minute offers. September has been a bumper
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Marketing Delivers Great Results Feel Good News
Despite being an experienced holiday letting agency we are always looking at ways to challenge ourselves to ensure we are delivering the best possible service to our owners and 2019 has been no different. We’ve invested heavily in our systems and our people to ensure we reach the right potential guests at the right time and through the right channels. Earlier this year we tested some new activity across both online advertising and paid social media and together this activity delivered a spike in bookings. As we continue to test different marketing combinations we are consistently seeing that our campaigns across all media are delivering results. From emails direct to previous guests to social media content highlighting specific activities and attractions to blog posts on the Lakelovers website, we are contually driving greater efficiencies and driving bookings year round.
We pride ourselves on being a local company with over 40 years knowledge and experience in the Lake District so it’s always fantastic when we get feedback from our guests. And whilst we always look to secure feedback on the individual property it came as a lovely surprise when a recent guest was so delighted in the customer service support that our very own Vanessa Dautry received a beautiful bunch of flowers.
Strengthening the quality within our team We wanted to take this opportunity to introduce you to Julian Cottell, our Quality and Compliance Manager for Pure Cottages Group in the Lake District. A former Visit England inspector Julian has worked with Heart of the Lakes for almost 8 years overseeing quality and H&S standards.
We expect to make some changes to our inspection regime and reporting framework for H&S compliance in 2020 which we believe will benefit you as an owner help differentiate your property from the competition. We also remain committed to ensuring that all the brands we operate through in the Lakes continue to enjoy Quality Accredited His passion for ensuring that our properties represent a agency status through Visit England, providing further safe, accredited environment for our guests to enjoy, and comfort to you as an Owner that you are in the hands of a commitment to best practice is something we know our a reputable expert. owners are equally committed to. And whilst our guests may take quality and safety for granted, we know it can set us apart In the meantime if you have any quality / compliance from the competition who don’t always deliver on what they related query please do not hesitate to contact Julian on promise. 015394 32321.
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Getting Ready For 2020
MAINTENANCE CHECKLIST PAT Testing Internal Redecoration De-Moulding and Stain Blocking Areas Cleaning of patio and any patio furniture (prior to storage) Clearing of leaves at ground level and from gutters Drain Rodding
We understand that holiday rentals can take their toll on a property and our maintenance team work around the clock to ensure your guests have a seamless stay, reacting to and resolving any minor issues as and when they arrive. One thing our maintenance team do advise is an annual property check at which point any snags can be picked up and the relevant maintenance work undertaken during a convenient guest free period. We asked Andrew Levitt, our dedicated Maintenance Manager, to pull together a checklist to help owners keep their property in tip top condition year on year. And all of the items on our checklist are tasks that our very own in-house maintenance team can manage on behalf of our owners. To find out more please contact your local office 015394 88855.
Inspection and repairs of decking and any fencing where necessary Central heating checks – topping up of boiler pressure and bleeding of radiators, pipe lagging Thermostatic radiator valve installation for greater energy efficiency and reduced heating bills Fixtures and fitting checks renewing silicone, dripping taps, loose toilet seats, clearing waste traps, loose drawers and door handles etc. Lighting Checks Smoke and carbon monoxide alarm checks – date of expiry and batteries Furniture Integrity – wobbly chairs, loose bed frames, wear and tear etc. Appliance Installation Removal / Disposal
CONTACT US If you are interested in finding out more about anything you have read, from installing a hot tub to accepting dogs in your property then please do get in touch. Our owner management team can be reached on 015394 88855, by email on owners @lakelovers.co.uk or pop into our Windermere, Keswick or Ambleside office.
Head Office: The Pure Cottages Group, Lakelovers House, 2 Victoria Street, Windermere, LA23 1AB Tel: 015394 88855 | Website: www.purecottages.co.uk