Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2006 | Page 24

PROPERTY

A summer to remember
for new lettings business
It only launched in April, but the Island’s latest holiday lettings agency has already
made a big impact, both on property owners and holidaymakers. We’ve been
talking to some of them about what makes this service so different.
It’s been a great summer for the new Island
holiday lettings company, Holidays2Remember
– with satisfied customers on both sides of the
fence.
Owners have been delighted with their
booking levels, whilst holidaymakers have
been in raptures about the standard of their
accommodation.
Perhaps not surprisingly, holiday bookings are
already coming in for 2007 – and the number of
properties on the books has risen to 20 as new
owners come on board.
Josie
Gavoyannis,
who
launched
Holidays2Remember earlier this year with
her businessman husband Tacis, says: “We
have taken on several more properties over the
summer and have more viewings still to do”.
The positive response to the service so early on
makes it likely that Josie and Tacis will hit their
original target of having 100 properties on their
books in the longer term.
But the couple say their approach to the
business goes much further than just piling
volumes onto the books.
“”Our aim has always been to provide an equally
good service to both the holidaymaker and the
property owner, otherwise we feel we are not
really doing our job” says Josie.
As with all good businesses, this one sprang
from a personal need: the West Sussex-based
Gavoyannis family had bought their own
holiday home, The Mill House at Brighstone, and
struggled to manage lettings from the mainland.
They set up their service to take the strain for
other home-owners.
As Josie says, the service is certainly “doing
what it says on the tin”, if feedback from owners
and visitors is anything to go by.

24

We caught up with some of them:
Mrs Lynn Counsell of Portsmouth holidayed at
a four-bedroomed new-build house at Totland
Bay in August with husband Alex, son Connor,
11, one year-old baby Alfie and both sets of
grandparents.
“You’d normally expect to stay in an old cottage
on holiday, but we loved staying in this modern
house which was immaculately kept and had
absolutely everything you could want – right
down to stair gates” she said.
“The other impressive thing was that the owner
came straight over when we couldn’t find the
travel cot, arriving within half an hour to show
us where it was. Nothing seemed to be too much
trouble, either for him or for the company.
“We were so impressed by Holidays2Remember
and the accommodation that we have been
singing their praises and recommending them to
friends – and we would certainly be more than
happy to book with them again”.
Meanwhile the owner said: “I was a firsttime holiday letter when I decided to let the
house in April. It was important to choose the
right people to market it and I have been very
pleased with the service. In fact, I have had
nine bookings already over the summer. Josie
is very efficient and I’d have no hesitation in
recommending the service”.
Mrs Lucie Graham of Haywards Heath enjoyed
a family holiday with husband John and children
Martha 5, James 2 and seven-week-old baby
Angus in August, and chose a two-bedroomed
former fisherman’s cottage at St Helens.
“People said I must be mad going away with

such a young baby” said Lucie, “but it was easy
because the cottage had absolutely everything
– right down to a bib, which I had forgotten to
take. There was also a high chair and even toys
and DVDs, which delighted the children
“The location was perfect for a family holiday,
with the beautiful beach, a funfair nearby and a
carnival one night. And because my mother was
staying on the Island we had a babysitter one
night and even managed to get to a pub!”
Lucie says that whilst the fisherman’s cottage
will not be big enough for her family next year,
she’d definitely consider booking another
property through Holidays2Remember.
The owner of the 17th century cottage, Iain
Henstridge, who also lives on the mainland, says
he and his wife Justine bought the cottage as a
retreat for themselves and children Fergus 4, and
Ophelia 2, and then after doing some renovation
work, decided to let it when they couldn’t be
there.
“It was a bit of a harrowing prospect as I had
never let a holiday property before” he says, “but
we have been amazed at how easily it has let –
much better than we expected”.
Iain says he approached two or three local

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