Owners
Professional holiday letting services with the personal touch – Relaxaway take care of everything. From targeted advertising and marketing of your valuable asset to co-ordinating bookings and full financial reporting, we’ve got it covered.
We appreciate that you own a holiday home in Queenstown to allow you to enjoy it! We’ll work with you to ensure that your home is available whenever you want it, and presented just as you like it.
Taking holidays at times to suit you is a significant drawcard when comparing the advantages of holiday letting to the income security of long-term letting. Pure Property Rentals is our sister company offering long-term letting so we are able to maximise your income and flexibility through the use of a combined letting strategy - please let us know if this is something which interests you.
You’ll find below a little more information on our property management services – if you’d like more detail on exactly what Relaxaway can offer, the elements of our service which set us apart, and how we could help out with your Queenstown investment property, please just get in touch.
Letting your property
Before letting your property on a short term basis you need to meet the council regulatory requirements around Queenstown Visitor Accommodation.
Registration and consent requirements for your property depend on where it is and how it is zoned, and also how you intend to use it. If your property has consent or was registered as a holiday home prior to April 2019 then it can continue to operate, provided the scale of the activity remains the same. If however you decide to operate as a holiday let, the basic rules around registration and consent are as follows:
Low & Medium Density Zones
Up to 90 nights per year – resource consent may no longer be required if all relevant standards are met. Standards can include maximum guest numbers, parking and vehicle access, no guest use of outdoor living areas during certain night-time hours and related signage installed on the property. The registration/application process also requires the details of the locally appointed property manager and neighbours must be serviced formal notice of the activity.
More than 90 nights per year legally requires a resource consent to be granted by QLDC and often requires written approval from neighbours. Council will consider a number of factors such as the location and scale of the activity, parking and vehicle access, rubbish and recycling management and guest management.
High Density Zones
Up to 90 nights per year – resource consent may no longer be required if all relevant standards are met. Standards can include maximum guest numbers, parking and vehicle access, no guest use of outdoor living areas during certain night-time hours and related signage installed on the property. The registration/application process also requires the details of the locally appointed property manager and neighbours must be serviced formal notice of the activity.
More than 90 nights per year legally requires a resource consent to be granted by QLDC. Council will consider a number of factors such as the location and scale of the activity, parking and vehicle access, rubbish and recycling management and guest management.
Jacks Point Zone (Including Willowpond & Hanley’s Farm)
Up to 42 nights per year - resource consent may no longer be required if all relevant standards are met. Standards can include maximum guest numbers, parking and vehicle access, no guest use of outdoor living areas during certain night-time hours and related signage installed on the property. The registration/application process also requires the details of the locally appointed property manager and neighbours must be serviced formal notice of the activity.
More than 42 nights per year legally requires a resource consent to be granted by QLDC and often requires written approval from neighbours. Council will consider a number of factors such as the location and scale of the activity, parking and vehicle access, rubbish and recycling management and guest management.
Rates
Both forms of registration will result in a rates increase. If you are letting your property for 0-180 nights each year it’s likely to be a 25-35% increase. If you are letting your property for 180-365 nights each year it’s likely to be in the range of a 50-80% increase.
The team at Relaxaway are happy to talk through the registration process with you and discuss what your options are regarding Queenstown visitor accommodation – contact us for more information.
Your Marketing & Advertising
Online marketing is the single most important component of maximising the income on your holiday rental.
We deliver comprehensive web marketing across all of the major portals including our own site. We’re constantly monitoring web booking activity to ensure the most traffic possible, meaning more people adding your property to their shortlist.
If bookings are slower, we’ll talk to you about your priorities, and work to pro-actively to look at other opportunities to generate bookings, such as special offers.
All reservations are carefully managed to avoid double bookings and ensure rates are being maximised at busy vacation times.
Below are outlined the national and international websites which we are currently working with – this list will change from time to time to make sure your holiday home is where it needs to be.
Relaxaway services
It’s all taken care of! Relaxaway are here to make your life as a holiday home owner easier.
We’ll look after every aspect of managing your property. Our services are too numerous to list, but the basics are summarised below:
- Initial inspection, documenting and photographing your home and chattels
- Ingoing and outgoing checks to make sure it’s perfect both for you and for the next guests
- Full financial reporting on your home’s performance – we handle all payment processing and cost management to make the process as easy and stress-free for you as possible
- Monthly payment schedule to make your cashflow readily available
- Constant market reviews to ensure the rates charged are appropriate for the time of year, market capacity and demand, maximising your occupancy and income
- Organisation of any maintenance necessary – timely maintenance at competitive market prices. Our contractors must always meet our exacting Relaxaway standards
- Professional cleaning after every guest departs. If requested by the guests we can also provide in-stay cleaning services
- On-call property managers available for emergency calls – our dedicated staff live locally and are on call at all times
- Care of your guests – full instructions and a welcome pack will await every guest
- Taking care of the little extras – providing those extra services that make your guests’ stays more enjoyable. We provide complementary soaps and toiletries, laundry and washing powders and liquids. It’s all part of the service they can expect from Relaxaway holiday homes and is part of the reason guests keep coming back to our properties and recommending us to others
- Flexibility - if at any stage you wish to change to long term accommodation we work closely with a local long-term letting agency who can assist to suit your needs
Professional fees
No one likes to talk about money, but we believe it’s important to be up-front with costs to ensure we’re all on the same page.
The good news for owners is that the start-up costs outlined below will be deducted from your first letting – that means that if we don’t let your property, you pay nothing.
If you’d like to talk more about the costs and how they relate to your property, or to receive a complimentary appraisal of the nightly rates and projected income for your investment property, please just get in touch.
Start-up costs:
|
Initial property inspection, chattel inventory and photographic documentation |
$150 |
|
Marketing photography & website loading or user-controlled 3D walk-through tour |
From $350 |
|
Twilight photography (optional - 6-10 images) |
From $350 |
|
Provision for alternative secure key storage or digital keypad (if required) |
POA |
Ongoing costs:
|
Management fee (negotiable dependant on services required) |
20-25% of booking income |
|
Credit card fees (guests are charged these fees) |
2.5% |
|
Portal website commissions for optional sites (rate based on individual websites – paid by guests) |
6-20% |
|
Six monthly inspection report |
$80 |
|
Managing private bookings |
$50 per booking |
|
External maintenance services |
Cost + 10% management fee |
|
In-house maintenance |
$75 per hour plus vehicle fee |
|
Management time for special owner requests |
$65 per hour |
|
Cleaning hourly rate |
$50-60 per hour |
|
Custodial services for vacant properties |
Quoted rate |
|
Annual marketing fee |
$500 |
|
Digital Guest Compendiums annual fee |
$100 + GST |
All fees quoted exclude GST
