The operational side of the business

Letting

Letting is something you have to learn first. It’s actually quite simple, but experience makes all the difference: our guests find out about us via various platforms on the internet: Booking.com, Airbnb.com etc. In addition, many also see our homepage and contact us via emails and WhatApp. A so-called “channel manager” helps you to synchronise the rates across the various platforms. It also enters all reservations in a shared (online) calendar , thus preventing overbooking.

“Hard edge” during the peak season

The Chilean summer runs from December to March. The summer holidays for all schools normally start from the end of December to the end of February.

What does that mean? They all start almost at the same time! As many Chileans see long-term bookings as an unnecessary activity, it regularly happens that during the 5-hour drive from Santiago to Guanaqueros, people phone around from the car asking “do you have anything available?”. And, if they have found something else,  chances are that they have taken a better offer … forgetting to cancel the  accommodation they first contacted…

In view of the above, what does really matter?:

1. Select customers

• Do not accept bookings for less than 5 days in high season.
• Be rigorous with the occupancy: Agree on the number of people (adults and children) and also set limits (“maximum 5 adults”). Failure to do this, may lead to having a holiday home originally designed to accomodating 5 people, suddenly being occupied by 10 or more….

      2. Have a 10% to 30% deposit paid. This guarantees that the holidaymakers will actually come , or contact you              in case of a change of plans, or not coming at all.

Once the holidaymakers have arrived, everything is fine.

Following these simple rules will contribute to prevent any possible setback.