A Place in the Sun expert offers holiday home rental tips

A speaker at this year's A Place in the Sun Live has offered his advice on how to make your holiday home pay for itself.

Ross Elder, a specialist in holiday home rentals and a speaker at this year’s A Place in the Sun Live says, with the right approach, your holiday home can pay for itself, while you can still enjoy it yourself.

Ross gives five top tips to help your overseas property survive the recession:

Buy with your head, not your heart

Most holiday homeowners spend an average of just four weeks a year at their holiday home.

If you know you are going to need rental income to help cover the costs of having the property, then what you buy must appeal to the demographic of the visitor to your chosen location.

For example, a two or three bedroom apartment or villa will appeal to families, but less so to couples, which is why one and two bedroom apartments work best in city locations and more spacious properties work better in resorts.

Try before you buy

Try holiday home letting for yourself, both to gain knowledge of the competition in your chosen destination and to gain an authentic perspective on the amenities and attractions in the area.

Think like a holidaymaker

Everyone has expectations of their holiday, but you need to be able to match or better those of your guests, by providing for their rudimentary everyday needs and adding a few extras.

For instance, equip the kitchen as you would expect to find it and leave a welcome hamper of basic groceries and maybe a bottle of local wine for each party on arrival - no one wants to have to head straight to the supermarket after a journey.

Be accessible

The ease with which holidaymakers can get to your property will hugely influence the performance of your rentals. Try and be within an hour of an airport that services the UK regularly and be aware whether or not your location is seasonal and has a closed winter season - if it does, this will restrict the number of weeks you will be able to let your property.

Find your wow factor

This could be the quality of decor and furnishings, the sun-drenched roof terrace, free airport transfers, private pool or that you are nearer to the beach than your neighbour. Whatever your unique selling points are sell, sell and sell them again when marketing your holiday home to potential guests.

You can hear Ross give advice on this topic in a seminar at A Place in the Sun Live; this takes place at Earl’s Court, London between April 3rd-5th 2009.

The show is based on the hit Channel 4 TV series, with Ross just one of the experts alongside TV presenters Amanda Lamb, Jonnie Irwin and Jasmine Harman. The show is being held alongside the EDF Energy Ideal Home Show, allowing visitors to attend both shows.