Short Term Holiday lets in Spain have the potential for high income with well-chosen properties in good locations achieving a better return on your investment than long term letting. The issues you must address in order to maximise income are:

Unlike Long Term Lets, where you only need to actively market your property when a tenant vacates the property – normally once every year or two – Short Term Letting you must continually market your property – remember you will need a new customer for every week (or two) in the year.

You must have an advertising plan – newspapers, magazines, the Internet, or just use your Letting Agent do the advertising. We strongly advise you to use all avenues available to you.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Click here to find the new way to make long-term money online in your spare time
-------------------------------------------------------------

You will need a Letting Agent to organise client entry, deposits, full payment, cleaning and any other the day-to-day issues.

The Letting Agent must be local to your property and have a good track-record of short term letting.

The percentage payable to the Letting Agent ranges from 15% to 40% depending on the services they offer. Remember, short-term letting requires more work than long term so you pay more for this service. In general, the more you pay the more advertising you should expect. At the top end of the scale the agent will offer a full package including active marketing of your property in UK newspapers, brochures and the Internet.

The most cost effective approach is market your property yourself and use a good quality Short-Term Agent for property management etc.

Furnish your property well, using robust, clean equipment and good quality furniture. Keep in mind that short term let customers may not treat your furniture as well as you would.

Ensure that a breakage deposit is taken by your letting agent and only refunded once the agent has checked for breakages and stolen items.

As with Long-term letting the most important factor in the level of returns is the Location of the property. However, unlike long-term lets where the property should be in a good commuter location, holiday lets must be in a good holiday location. The best approach is to put yourself in the position of a potential holidaymaker. The most important factor to take into account is year-round occupancy. The ideal location will have features that attract holidaymakers for the entire year – not just the summer.

Checklist:

Beach, walking distance to the beach carries a large premium

Swimming Pool

Local shops and restaurants

Activities for children

Activities for adults

Snow Ski resorts nearby

Within 1 hour taxi ride from the local airport

Golf courses within a short drive of your property can dramatically increase the occupancy rates. As an example, the low season for golf in the South of Spain is the Summer (too hot to play) and the high season is the Autumn and Spring. This has the effect of prolonging the high season. Areas around Marbella (where there are over 50 golf courses) attract a large number of golfers, many of which are prepared to pay a premium to stay in a nice location with high quality furnishings.

Buy-to-Let Property Investment in Spain | Legal Check List for Buying a Property in Spain |
Choosing a holiday let property | Tax on UK holiday lettings | Expenses and allowances on income from property |
Tax Efficient UK Furnished Holiday Lets