When we think about those who have had the biggest impact on our work, life and play, we often think about inspirational authors, motivational speakers, friends and colleagues in our workplace or industry. Rarely, do we acknowledge the fundamental skills we have acquired from the people closest to us, such as our mothers. Mums are the people in your life who often ingrain all the skills you will need in life and it takes a motivated hard worker to run a high commitment sideline business like a holiday rental property.
On Mother’s Day, acknowledge all the skills mums have taught us over the years and how they have helped in our lives. Here are 10 lessons your mother taught you about hard work:
1) Multitasking
Mums are supremely good at multitasking. Feeding one child while helping with homework, cooking dinner while organizing doctor’s appointments – it’s this ability to manage multiple tasks at once that makes mothers the perfect role model for how to achieve results under pressure. Multitasking is an essential tool required as a holiday rental owner or manager.
2) Diplomacy
How many times have you seen mothers tactfully negotiate an outcome that would otherwise fall to pieces if diplomacy weren’t applied? Putting this skill to good use in the workplace helps us drive the results we need – and watching mums in action is the best way to learn. Whether dealing with guests, neighbours, local government or even holiday rental listing platforms, diplomacy is required almost daily as a holiday rental owner or manager.
3) Efficiency
Managers often observe that hiring mothers is a great way to see productivity rise. Why? Mums know how to get things done, and quickly. Not a minute is wasted on a mother’s watch and being efficient is one of the most useful skills they can pass on to their children. It goes without saying that efficiency in managing a holiday rental is vital. Turning over from one holiday house guest to another and still delivering a quality holiday experience, requires the utmost efficiency.
4) Work-life balance
Working hard and playing hard, mums know that maintaining a good work-life balance is a must in order to be part of their children’s, and their partner’s life. Other the reason you chose to have a holiday rental is to provide some additional income to allow a better work-life balance.
5) Diversity of skills
Mums need to have a swag of skills across many different level of expertise to raise a family. Adapting from a pre-child career through to managing work with young kids often sees mums acquire a comprehensive suite of skills. The lesson? There’s no need to stand still in one job – move on and learn new proficiencies as you go. From changing a bed to changing a fuse, diversity of skills is requisit in managing a holiday rental is vital. Ongoing maintenance and upkeep of your holiday house require a very very long list of skills.
6) Conflict management
Is there a better adjudicator of conflict than your mum? Just think of the scores of sibling fights she’s resolved over the years. Mums have certainly taught us how to manage conflict and be diplomatic when it comes to settling disputes. Like diplomacy, conflict management is often needed as a holiday rental owner or manager. As a holiday rental owner or manager conflict management is a great skill to have.
7) Persistence
Mothers don’t give up. They keep on striving to achieve their goals, support their family and deliver the unconditional love they yearn to give. And persistence is key to being successful in the workplace, so if you want an example of how to do it, look no further than your mother. Nothing comes easy when managing a holiday rental and this requires persistence. Search and Stay is working to return the reward to the owner with no owner costs or charges.
8) Kindness
Business can be a hard-edged environment where political games dominate. But one of the first lessons our mums taught us as children was to be kind to others. In order to be productive and get people on side, being kind is one of the first places to start.
9) Attention to detail
Dotting your “i”s and crossing your “t”s is a skill that does not go unnoticed at work. And it’s often our mums who have taught us it’s the little things that count. From gluing the final pieces of bark onto our volcano school project to checking essays for spelling mistakes, mums teach us the importance of attention to detail. Nothing will encourage a positive review or feedback more than attention to detail. Guests may not even be aware of all the little things you do as a holiday rental owner but it will definitely impact their holiday experience.
10) Don’t expect rewards
Finally, the role of a mother is hard work and often a thankless profession, so if anyone’s going to teach us how to be circumspect about the (lack of) praise we receive in the workplace, it has to be mums. That said, all mums deserve recognition for their hard work and sacrifice. A simple 'thank you mum' is usually all they need. Why not surprise your mum this Mother’s Day and let her know that you recognize all the great skills she has taught you over the years. After all, gratitude is surely one of the best lessons she taught you, and one that you can show in return. We know that holiday rental owners don't often get rewarded for their hard work. And even though you may not expect it (thanks to mum) at Search and Stay we believe that holiday property owners should be rewarded with no owner commissions, costs or charges. At Search and Stay the rewards stay with you.
If you list your holiday home on other sites, you expect to pay either commissions or fees-per-booking when a guest chooses to stay at your property. Some sites also have a subscription option, where you pay a set amount per year or month instead of per-booking-payment.
The commission and fees charged to owners on many of the holiday listing platforms and Online Travel Agencies (OTA) is generally between 3% and about 17% of the full cost of the booking. This charge generally comes straight off your bottom line and eats into your profits.
There is zero cost to advertising and taking bookings for your holiday home on Search and Stay. Holiday property owners who self-manage their accommodation put an enormous amount of effort into managing their holiday house, cleaning and maintaining their holiday property, decorating their holiday house and creating a fantastic holiday guest experience around the rental of their holiday accommodation.
Some holiday rental property owners may add this commission to the cost of the booking or include it in the rates of their holiday home, this is a completely acceptable way of reducing your loss however, it does inflate the cost of your property and could be off-putting to guests booking your holiday property on Search and Stay.
Essentially, the multinational holiday rental booking sites are taking significant revenue at the expense of either holiday homeowners or both holiday rental guests and owners.
Search and Stay charge a very small booking fee to the guest per booking depending on the value of the booking.
Source: Robert Half