Before setting up a Short Term Rental business you need to do some direct research before spending money. Experience properties and make a list of what you like or do not like about a property or offering. Book in different ways, directly, with local agent, with an online travel agent, a national booking site or international travel agents. The travel agents will need to you to be Quality Assured as want to make sure are up to an international standard.
Before renting a property make sure you have worked out the nightly rate for the property and the minimum number of nights your are willing for guests to stay. For people who stay 1 night the cleaning fee has to be included in your costing and this makes short stays more expensive. We will explain in another blog how to work our the nightly rate for the year. Look at other properties in your area, and base costs on what they many be charging initially. But be aware – you can have a high occupancy rate, but if the cleaning and maintenance fees are also high due to short occupancy this will eat into the margin you make on bookings. Each of the booking systems has a cost included directly or indirectly so be aware that this is included in the nightly rate you charge
Listing Site – will list your property with all correspondence from guests going directly to the owner. There is a minimal fee for being on a listing site.
Booking site – Needs to have a live calendar of availablity, so guests can book on the site. In many cases bookings have to be accepted automatically. Make sure to be clear with the minimum number of nights a person can stay for. The bookings site charges the property owner for the service and also the guest for the booking. To be on multiple booking sites you need to have a booking calendar which will synch all bookings which come in. Dynamic pricing can be added to the rates based on availability, though the Marketing company or OTA will take this extra fee rather than pass on to the property owner
Direct Bookings
The best bookings are those you get direct, as there is no cost to you for this booking as all money come directly to your bank account. You need a website with professionally taken photos, a map and clear details on where your property is in the country. Tell the Story of your business to guests on your own website – your USP.
Return bookings are also much easier to deal with, so give them a discount to use within a specific period of time. Make a list or data base of guests, and get their permission to add details onto this list- so if you have a cancellation at short notice, if want to get bookings in for next season by sending Christmas wishes!
Cost – building a website with a booking calendar and PMS system. There is a grant available for this for all businesses from the LEO so worth having. It is called a Trading online Voucher. Photography and marketing can make up 30% of the cost of the build. Details on photography in another blog post.
Marketing Companies
Irish Marketing Companies can take on properties and do all the marketing for you. They either pay a flat fee for the units or add a mark-up to the nightly rate you quote them. Various marketing companies are focused on certain market – region, domestic, international, luxury, heritage, and you need to choose the correct marketing company for your property. This can be worked with direct bookings and an OTA if you have a system to manage the bookings.
Cost – as the Marketing company is spending time selling your rental there is a cost, which may be taken off the bottom line or added to the base figure you charge. You cannot change the pricing during the season, and all rates are agreed 18 months in advance.
Online Travel Agents
OTA’s will take 15-30% margin and mark-up of the fees you quote them. Ask what they charge and argue based on your offering, before signing up with them. There is also a transition fee on each booking received and tax is payable on all money received by the STR owner. These companies are now obliged to give details of all owners to Revenue nationally and at EU Level- where they pay tax on income earned.
Cost – The Online Travel Agent will take a fee from the owners of 10-30% , a deduction from the rate you quote per night for the property. There is also a booking fee for administration on each booking.
National Booking Agency
The Irish Self-Catering Federation has a listing site for members with booking via the site with owners. They also offer a travel agents/Ferry company booking systems, when a booking calendar is in place on the owners website,
Discover Ireland is the Failte Ireland booking system for all Registered properties and it is the owners responsibility to list on this site for direct bookings. Tourism Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland will market properties approved by the National Register.
Travel Agents
In the 1990-2015 Travel Agents made deals with owners to of groups of properties market directly to their customers. As there are less groups schemes of holiday homes in Ireland available in 2025, due to Government contracts the agents have not been booking direct. If an owner has multiple units of houses or glamping there are much easier to rent to groups, if all look similar. Travel agents expect to get a discount similar to that of OTA’s. If you have a group of units a travel agent can be a great friend to have as can book the whole site a few time during the season. Make sure to have your minimum stay clearly stated, as a 1 night booking costs a lot of money in extra cleaning costs.