Making a business out of holidays

After selling their real estate agency, Martin Blencowe and Rebecca Cribbin were looking for a new challenge. That's when they noticed a gap in the holiday rental management market.

In three years, Martin Blencowe and Rebecca Cribbin have gone from managing twenty holiday rental properties, to nearly 300 in the NSW Southern Highlands and South Coast.

"We look after the advertising, the marketing, the bookings, the guests, the cleaning, the maintenance," Rebecca explains.

Its a big change from her previous business, a real estate agency. "It's not selling now, it's hospitality."

She says when she and her partner started in the holiday home sector, it was a fledgling industry. That's no longer the case.

"Holiday rentals are set to grow 28 per cent over the next 12 months. That's massive growth."

One of the nearly 300 holiday homes managed by Rebecca Cribbin's business. Source: Supplied

Sixty per cent of the bookings for properties managed by her business come through sites like Airbnb and booking.com, while the other 40 per cent comes directly from her website.

But she says the biggest challenge her business faces are the various regulatory rules that need to be adhered to.

 

"So [for example] is the property approved to be a holiday rental?

"I think the rules need to be the same for an owner managing the property for themselves, as they are for a manager. But they're not at the moment."

For now, Rebecca is focused on growing the business. "We have a clear strategy of how we're going to [do that] and that's been through natural growth, organic growth - but also also through acquisition."

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