SHORT TERM LET LICENCE UPDATE September 2023 - this effects you!

The new Short Term Licence is a legal obligation

There is a new section in your login:

>Edit price information - you will see:

Short term licence status

You can select one of the following options:
This property is an Aparthotel and does not require a short term licence
My property has a licence (registration) number
My property has an exemption
My licence application is pending
My licence application has been rejected

The next field asks for your licence number

The next field is for your EPC rating
Please select letter A-G if you have this.

This information will then be displayed on the enquiry page of your property, under the summary.

The Scottish Government has now announced their intention to extend the short-term let licence application deadline for existing Hosts from 31 March 2023 to 30 September 2023.

All short-term let properties in Scotland will be required to have a licence.

Allowing paying guests to stay without a licence will be deemed unlawful after this date.

The Short Term Let Licensing Scheme will apply to the whole of Scotland but will be implemented differently by each individual local authority.

VisitScotland has published a Short-Term Let landing page:


Short term lets legislation >>

It is likely that this WILL affect YOU if you have a holiday property!

Our Terms and conditions have been updated - you need to apply for a licence by April 1, (*now extended by 6 months) 2023, and to display your licence number in your property login page on our website - we will then display this with your property listing.
This is required by the The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 Scotland, which applies to accommodations suitable for residential purposes that are provided as short-term or vacation rentals. You may also need to fulfil other obligations under these regulations.

You may also be obligated to display your Energy Certificate Rating, in addition to the maximum occupancy of your property, as provided by the licencing authority. If this applies to you, please provide us with this information via your login.

Any problems whatsoever - Contact us - we are here for you :-)

SCAMS

***Please be cautious*** of anyone who won’t do a bank transfer and wants to send an International cheque - which whilest may appear in your account once cashed - are not actually cleared for 30 days.

SPECIAL OFFERS

Make your property stand out in the results:
Add up to 3 Special Offers via the link in your admin panel and your property will stand out in the dynamic search and get syndicated elsewhere on the site.
See all Special Offers

Help us send you MORE enquiries:

Update prices to include 2024 + 2025 rates!

Check your calendar is up to date and use Calendar Sync with other sites.

Send in new and more photos - ones of the area around - lookers love these.

Update testimonials - add a few fresh ones, it makes all the difference.

Want more exposure?

We are not in the business of driving prices down - but Special offers do get more exposure - because lookers love them. Try adding one and let us know what you think!

Search refinements

New search enhancements are being rolled out - you may see a cached page and need to refresh your page to draw the latest version from the server.

More goodies in the pipeline for you!

Cottage Search

Privacy

We’ve made some updates to our Privacy Policy to make it easier for you to understand what information we collect and why we collect it.
Nothing has changed about your current settings or how your information is processed. We’ve simply improved the way we describe our practices with the options you have to update, manage and delete your data.

We’ve made these changes as new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) come into effect in the European Union from 25 May 2018.

If you’d like to discuss the new Privacy Policy or have any other questions, feel free to Contact us - we are here for you ~ 24/7 :-)

Special Offers

Special Offers - added through your login are highlighted in red in the dynamic search and appear under your availability calendar. They will naturally expire if the date passes. They may also appear on our mailings to lookers and social media.

Take advantage of the extra exposure if you have any gaps to fill.

We synchronise our availability calendars both ways

We synchronise our availability calendars both ways - and ongoing with your own website, (do use our free calendar to display on your own site) and many other third party accommodation booking sources including Anytime Booking, Bookalet, Freetobook, Google calendars, Home and Away, Airbnb, Owners Direct, Super Control, Booking.com, Trip Advisor.

You therefore only need add links from other booking sources once - and they will automatically update ongoing and this will ensure that you are always up-to-date, in control and can avoid double bookings.

Please update the which Cottage link that you have with third party booking sites - this only needs to be done once, and can be found in your login. If you hold Which Cottage iCal on your own website - please also change the link to the new one published in your login - the old link will work in tandem while everyone changes over.

Multiple calendars and shared calendars (in the case of two cottages together) will also be published, making it easier to book either one of your properties or them both together!

For 100% clarity our iCal feed sync shows closed/open dates only - no other data is on the feed.

Please be sure that your prices are up to date and Do NOT forget the ’Special Offers’ section which allows you to list last minute cancellations and highlight special discounted rates. Booking patterns show that people do love an offer :-) and these will be pushed via social media.

If you need help with any of the above - please contact us.

IMPORTANT - reminders!

Help your entry attract more bookings by:
1) Refresh your testimonials via your login - this will enhance your entry and encourage bookings
2)Keep your calendars up to date to increase conversion.
2) Make sure your prices are up to date
3) Refresh photographs on your entry
4) Follow us on Facebook and Twitter - interact and share posts.


*******************************

We would like to thank you for your ongoing support - we know how important every booking is to you and are committed to constantly improving our service to you, through technological enhancements and through the very personal service that we offer to cottage owners and to your guests. We received a record number of ’thank-you messages’ for helping guests get cottages booked - this personal human service is not offered by many holiday letting websites.

Help your entry attract more bookings by:
1) Refresh your testimonials via your login - this will enhance your entry a great deal
2) Make sure your prices are up to date for more than a year ahead.
3) Email fresh photographs to us so we can add them to your entry
4) Follow us on Facebook and Twitter - interact and share posts.


*******************************


Availability search
Keeping your calendars up to date has never been more important.

To update your properties availability - please login and go to update availability calendar. You will see a year view calendar;
Dark grey is historic bookings for your reference
Red is booked dates
White is available dates
To update availability you need to click the white dates (to make them red) and then click the update button which is under the calendar, this will make them appear on the public side.
If you have a cancellation, click the red date to make it white - and then click the update button.


You can import / export your whichcottage availability calendar to other sites such as Tripadvisor, holidaylettings, airbnb, owners direct etc.. if you wish. . Simply login - go to calendar update page and scroll down.

Always periodically check your login here - to make sure that all enquiries have reached you - we know how valuable they are!


If you have multiple cottages, please log out after updating the first cottage, and close all browsers. Then open a new browser window before updating the next - and so on.