Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2006 | Page 69

Sponsored by - www.holidays2remember.co.uk - FOOD - DRINK - ACCOMMODATION

of 12.5%, as compared to the rate of up to 49%
from some of the big national operators, and in
the first few months it has attracted 16 properties
to its books.
To ensure they are doing a good job for the
holidaymaker, the couple are choosy about the
standard of property they will take on.
“We only want properties that are nicely up
together, and we are also quite selective about
the owner attitude,” says Tacis.

“Some owners simply do not want to invest in
their properties, and we wouldn’t really want to
work with them.
“Our aim is to be very pro-active in promoting
our properties and to offer a good experience for
the holidaymaker, rather than just piling in the
bookings”.
To this end, Holidays2Remember asks all
owners to have their properties assessed by the
Tourist Board, and several have come out with

What: An award winning, 4 bedroom home with
glazed living area overlooking Wootton Creek
Where: Wootton Bridge
How much: £1295 PW - July/August

What: A four star, 5 bedroom detached Mill
House in an area of outstanding natural beauty
Where: Brighstone
How much: £1650 PW - July/August

Island Life - www.islandlifemagazine.net

four or five star ratings. Not that it’s all about
stars, though – the company is more interested
in potential and owner attitude, with the aim
of offering excellent customer experience every
time.
It’s a formula that seems to be working, as
the company is currently scoring over 1000
hits a day on its website, and Josie was fielding
calls as late as July for summer 2006 bookings.
Meanwhile, some of the earliest satisfied
customers have already made forward bookings
to 2008!
One owner who placed her property with the
agency “just to try it out” found herself with 12
weeks worth of lettings within a week.
Tacis,
whose
background
is
in
telecommunications and marketing, has
worked for big names including Cable and
Wireless, Motorola, Microsoft and Orange,
says: “The world has changed and there is a lot
of online activity out there now, which we are
tapping into with our marketing”.
Josie whose parents were teachers on the Isle
of Wight, moved to the mainland when she
was only four – but it left her with a lingering
fondness for the place of her birth.
“When we went back for a family holiday it
was wonderful” she says, “and we just wanted
to spend as much time there as possible. That
was the only reason we bought Mill House
– we really didn’t know it would lead to this
business!”
To make the business work, Josie and
Tacis have teamed up with Island Property
Management, a Shanklin-based company
headed up by Mandy Bolwell, who is on the
spot to look after the properties in terms of
maintenance and security.
Island Property Management has solid
experience of the holiday lettings business – in
fact Tacis and Josie first approached them to
look after their own holiday home.
“The strength of our service” says Josie, “is
that we can identify with both the owners and
the holidaymakers because we have been there
ourselves”.
Long-term, she and Tacis hope to build a
portfolio of around 100 holiday lets to offer
holidaymakers the best possible choice.
For the time being, however, they intend
to concentrate on building a service based on
quality rather than quantity.
“We want to offer a good, hassle-free
experience for both the holidaymakers and
the owners” says Josie, “and ultimately to
keep encouraging people to come back to this
beautiful island, because it has s