Renting out a holiday home in Belgium: practical tips for hosts

Getting started with renting out

Renting out a holiday home in Belgium sounds simple. You have a lovely property, you put it on Airbnb, and the guests come by themselves. In practice it does not quite work like that. There are more aspects to take into account: administration, communication, maintenance, pricing and availability management. Those who handle that well have less stress and more satisfied guests.

Administration and regulations

In Belgium the rules for holiday rentals are arranged at regional level. Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels each have their own legislation. It is wise to keep track of what applies in your region.

In Flanders you can register your property as tourist accommodation. That is not always compulsory, but it gives your property an official framework and can add to guests' trust. Check the website of Toerisme Vlaanderen for the current conditions.

Tax rules apply to rental income. Income from private rental to individuals is taxed in Belgium on the basis of the cadastral income, not on the actual rental income, provided you do not rent out professionally. With professional rental (regular, several properties, high income) the tax authorities may assess this differently. If in doubt, get advice from an accountant.

Do not forget the tourist tax either. Many Belgian municipalities levy an overnight tax per night per person. Airbnb often handles that for you, but with direct rental you have to collect and pay it yourself.

Putting your property on the market

Good photos are the single most important thing when advertising a holiday home. People decide on the basis of images. Invest in a photo session on a sunny day, or take your own photos with a wide angle and good lighting. Show the bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, living room and the garden or terrace.

Write a description that conveys the atmosphere of the property. Tell people what there is to do nearby, how far it is to the nearest supermarket, what you can do as a guest on a rainy day. Concrete, honest information works better than a list of superlatives.

Put your property on several platforms: Airbnb, Booking.com and possibly a Belgian platform such as Vakantiewoningen-in-belgie.be. More visibility increases your chance of enough bookings, certainly in the early stage.

Communication with guests

A quick response to enquiries makes a big difference. Guests who are searching in several places choose the host who responds fastest and communicates clearly. Aim for a response time of less than two hours during office hours.

Send a confirmation as soon as a booking is final. Include in it: arrival date and time, departure date, key instructions, your phone number for emergencies, and house rules. Send a reminder a week before arrival with practical information: parking options, the nearest shop, how the heating works.

After the stay, a short thank-you message and a request to leave a review is a good habit. Reviews are worth their weight in gold on platforms like Airbnb.

Pricing

Set your prices based on the season. Summer and school holidays justify a higher price. Off-seasons and midweek periods are often less in demand and call for a lower price or a discount incentive. Also look at what comparable properties in your region are asking.

Consider setting a minimum length of stay. A minimum of two or three nights avoids a lot of administration for short stays that bring in relatively little but give as much work as a week.

Last-minute discounts can work too. If a week is not yet booked and the departure date is approaching, you can lower the price to get occupancy anyway. Do that with restraint though: too many last-minute discounts undermine your standard rate.

Availability management

One of the most underestimated aspects of holiday rentals is keeping track of availability. If you are on several platforms, you run the risk of double bookings if you do not organise this well.

Use a central calendar to keep track of all bookings, no matter which platform they come from. Synchronise that calendar with all platforms through iCal. That way a booking on Airbnb is automatically reflected on Booking.com and the other way around.

Also block the cleaning days between guests. If a guest leaves on Sunday and the next arrives on Monday, you need time in between for cleaning and preparation. If that day is not blocked in your calendar, a booking can be made on it.

Cleaning and maintenance

Cleaning is the aspect that has the most influence on reviews. Guests expect a clean property, and if that is not the case, they write it down.

If you clean yourself, schedule it right after the guests leave. If you use a cleaning company, make sure they know exactly what time the previous guest leaves and what time the next one arrives. The margin in between is sometimes narrow.

Also do a maintenance inspection regularly: check that everything works, top up consumables (soap, toilet paper, washing-up liquid) and see whether any small repairs are needed. Small problems quickly grow into bigger complaints if you do not deal with them in time.

Tools that help

An availability calendar is the most basic aid. Rentiplanner gives you an overview of all bookings in one calendar, with iCal synchronisation for external platforms and an embed feature for your own website.

For communication it helps to have fixed templates for the most common messages: booking confirmation, arrival information, departure instructions, thank-you message. That saves time and provides a consistent experience for your guests.

For your bookkeeping you can already get a long way with a simple overview in Excel or an accounting program. Note per booking: the income, the cleaning costs, and any other costs. That makes filing your return a lot easier.

What most hosts do not expect

Renting out takes more time than you think. Not only the cleaning and the communication, but also keeping the calendar up to date, managing the profiles on platforms, answering questions and carrying out small repairs. Count on a few hours a week in season, more during busy periods.

Guests are generally friendly and respectful. But sometimes there is damage, things break, or guests complain about something you did not expect. Make sure you are covered for that: check whether your insurance covers holiday rentals, and set out the house rules clearly in the booking confirmation.

Finally: ask other hosts for advice. Belgian host communities on Facebook or forums are a good source of practical tips from people who know the situation in your region.