Putting you in direct contact with owners of private yachts and accommodation to let

Decorate and equip your property to a high standard with good quality fixtures and fittings which are well coordinated and will stand up well to normal wear and tear.

Set out your terms and conditions clearly and in advance. Be firm about timings for receipt of deposits and payments as people do change their minds after they've made a reservation and not everyone is decent enough to let you know.

Treat your clients as individuals and get to know them, this will increase their respect for you and your property.

Make sure your property is presented in spotlessly clean condition and is well maintained. People are most likely to leave a property as they find it.

Leave personal items lying around, keep them in a locked store room or cupboard to avoid any misunderstanding as to what is and isn't available for use by guests.

Create a clear inventory of everything in the property and ask guests to check through it on arrival and notify you immediately of anything that is missing or broken.

Provide good quality bedding and towels with enough sets to cope with back to back bookings. This adds real value for your clients as linen is heavy and bulky to carry, particularly by plane. Choose white, 100% cotton as it withstands hot washes and is better suited to professional laundering.

Make sure you have a reliable contact in the locality of your property to hand over keys, clean up when guests leave and deal with any minor maintenance problems.

Take some good photographs of the property and provide some useful information on the local area, such as distance to beaches, towns, sites of interest etc.

Advertise your property on the Internet and, if possible, create a web site. The web is the first place most people look for holiday properties. For certain types of property it's worth considering having the site translated into other European languages and using a multi-lingual booking agent; for example French in the case of ski property.

REMEMBER - A property which is clean, well maintained and well presented will be respected by your guests. There's nothing like a poor environment to bring out the worst in people. Equally, the more contact you have with them, whether by telephone, email or face to face, the less likely you will be to encounter problems.