HOW TO OPEN AN ACCOUNT TO BEGIN YOUR FREE ADVERT

If you have just discovered that you can advertise with us... It couldnt be easier. Firstly click here and make an account.
Once you have completed the form, please allow upto a maximum of 48 hours for your account to be activated. (Although usually it will be active within a few hours).

Once your account has been activated (you will be notified by email) click the Owner Login on the main page. Enter your login details, you will then be taken to a new page. From Here you can Add Property and also Edit current properties. If you are having any trouble feel free to check out our FAQ, or email us by clicking contact at the bottom of the page.

If your still unsure visit our FAQ and watch the video guides we have created for you.

INTRODUCTION

Producing a good quality property advert is critical to the success of your listing on www.cheapholidayapartments.info. It needs to be eye catching, informative and easy to read. Ultimately, it's the quality of the text you write and the photos you use that will "sell" your property, with photographs being the single most important element. It's an old cliché but in this case, a picture really is worth a thousand words!
We realise it takes time and effort to put together a good advertisement, but we can't overstate the importance of doing it properly. Look on it as an investment - one that will hopefully repay you handsomely with maximised rental income over many years to come!
Below, we have put together a mini guide to help you get the most from your listing:


GENERAL

As much as possible we try to keep a consistent "house style" to all the listings on the site. Keeping to this standard look and feel makes it much easier for Users to navigate their way around the site. With this in mind, there are a few rules we ask you to follow when creating your advert.

Firstly, we ask you not to capitalise whole words. We do not permit this practice and will remove instances of this prior to approval of the advert. Similarly, we do not permit the use of any HTML code within the free text areas.

Finally, the Advert Builder is really only designed to promote one rental unit per advert. You should not attempt to advertise multiple units on a single advert.


LINKS TO THIS / YOUR SITE
If you want a link to your site then please get in touch but you must be prepared to link to ours in return.

We'll start by taking you step by step through the process of adding a property:

PROPERTY DETAIL

Property Name & Summary: These should be kept nice and short and only focus on the property's most important selling point. Try to think of the key words a holidaymaker would use when searching for your property and include them.

For Example; Villa Lorna - Stunning Villa with Sea Views

Property Description 1: This should consist of just a few sentences introducing your property. We all know Internet users don't have the patience to read long passages of text when they first click on an advertisement. At this stage, having just opened the page, people are still trying to get an overall impression of your property and it's the photos they are looking for. With that in mind, keep this text block nice and short.

Property description 2: Here is where you will describe your property and facilities in more detail.

Holidaymakers have seen the photos, like the property and are now studying the detail. Remember, you have space to talk about your rates below, so just focus on your property itself. Write clear, complete sentences, and avoid abbreviations. Remember that your advertisement will be read by people of all nationalities, whose mother tongue may not be English, so try not to use colloquialisms or abbreviations they may not understand.

Location: It sounds daft, but make sure your property is listed in the right location. Choose the closest reasonable size town to where your property is located and state it on your advert.

High/Low Rental Rates: Here you can show your minimum (Low season) and maximum (High season) price and select your currency. These prices will appear in the search results along with your thumbnail photo and property summary, so, it is important that you include them. It gives Holidaymakers a quick and easy way of comparing prices. However, you can also add further detailed rates by clicking the 'Add/Edit Rental Rates' link from your Owner's area.

Location Type Tick Boxes: Please make sure you tick all of the boxes that are relevant to your property. However, equally important is not to misrepresent your property so please do not tick the boxes if they are not relevant.

Golf: Only tick this box if the local course is within a 15-minute drive from your property
Ski: Only tick this box if the local piste is within a 15-minute drive from your property
Beach: Only tick this box if the local beach is within a 15-minute walk from your property

Nearest Airport: Many holidaymakers choose to holiday within a certain radius of an airport or ferry port. Here you can specify in miles or in time the distances.

Nearest Bar and Restaurant: Again, many people like to know there are facilities nearby or within walking distance of their chosen holiday home. This is all good information which holidaymakers need to make an informed decision. Try and imagine yourself as the holidaymaker and think about what information you would want to know. It also differentiates your property from all the others out there on the internet.

Yearly Availability: Make it clear when your property is available for rental. If it is all year round then select January to December. If you only rent for certain months of the year then please make it clear on your advert.

Sleeps: Be certain about the number of sleeps for your property. You can only choose one number. So, if your property sleeps 4-6, think about which number you want to be categorised in. You can write into your bedroom and/or rental notes that you can sleep an extra 2 people etc.

General Information: Make sure you fill out the Bedroom, Bathroom, Dining, Kitchen, General, Outside and Entertainment boxes with all the relevant information. Holidaymakers can then see, quickly and clearly what your property offers.

Local Activities: Here is where you can let the holidaymaker know what local attractions and activities there are in your area. Things to cover include historic towns, beaches, museums, day trips, theme parks, golf courses etc. Remember, you are "selling" your property and the holidaymaker will want to know there's plenty to do in the area, especially on a rainy day!

Suitability: This covers Children, Wheelchairs, Elderly, Pets and Smokers. Again, tick only the relevant boxes.


PHOTOGRAPHS


Your advert cannot be made live on the site without a summary photo and at least two detail pages.
The Internet is a visual medium, and it is your photographs that will "sell" your property. For maximum effect it may be worth considering the services of a professional photographer. However, the majority of our Owners take their own photographs. Make sure you use well-lit, bright, clear photographs that show your property in the best possible manner. A good tip is to take them on a sunny day with the sun on the swimming pool.

Summary Photo: This is the most important photograph. Your summary photo appears in the search results and is the first picture the holidaymaker will see of your property. This is the photo that will determine whether or not a holidaymaker clicks through to take a detailed look at your advert.

Detail Page Photos: We allow you up to 4 photographs and we recommend that you use at least 2. It's a good idea to include both exterior and interior shots covering the main living room, kitchen and at least one bedroom - people want to see the quality of the furnishing and style of decoration. If you have a pool, garden or a beautiful view, include those too. It's also worth including a larger version of the thumbnail photo used for the summary.

A standard landscape/horizontal format fits best. If you have a great portrait format shot, we can show that - but try to have two portrait shots so they line up evenly on your advertisement. Remember, if you are adding a portrait shot, you will need to add white borders to either side or else the photo will look stretched. Your photos need to be in .jpg format and under 0.5Mb in size for them to be accepted.

 

We will not make a property live if there are fewer than 2 detailed shots and/or we consider the quality to be insufficient to do the property justice.


Keep your rental rates clear, simple and realistic. Try not to have too many different rate bands - six or seven should cover the different seasons.

Not surprisingly, the cheaper of two apparently similar properties tends to get booked first. So, if getting your bookings early is important to you, consider quoting competitive rates. Alternatively, you may decide to start higher and if needs be use the Late Offers section of the site to fill any unsold weeks later in the season. If your property is of a higher than average rate for the area, make sure the photos and text justify the extra cost, in terms of location, facilities, quality of furnishing or other special features. Ultimately, you are the best people to decide what strategy is best for your property.


AVAILABILITY CALENDAR


Updating your availability calendar on a regular basis is a bit of a pain but nonetheless important.

Firstly, each time you update your calendar, the system recognises this and pushes your property higher in the search results performed by the holidaymaker. Positioning on the site is very important. If there are a lot of properties in your area, it's easy to get lost amongst them all. However, if you update your calendar regularly, you will ensure that your property is listed towards the top of the search results.

Secondly, by updating the calendar regularly, the holidaymaker will view your property and advert as well maintained and professionally run and therefore more likely to make a booking.

Thirdly, feedback from the site tells us that holidaymakers hate wasting time enquiring about properties that are already booked. It really detracts from the User experience and it will ultimately put people off using the site. We want the opposite i.e. for more people to use the site. The more contented users we have, the more holiday bookings you will have, so please, please, please, do keep your charts up to date.