Renting a cabin - anyone done it?

[richy3333]

Coming back to this, I'd ask what is your goal/reason for this?

Do you have a cabin and just think "hey, a bit extra pocket money to buy a few more knives would be great" or are you wanting/needing to supplement your income?

If its the latter then the reviews and subsequent work to maintain those is very important and require you to probably do a lot of behind the scenes work to (as I said before) make sure you're covered in case of damage etc etc...

If its the former, then I'd just try and keep it as small as you can, maybe rent it out like a bothy style, the user brings his/her own stuff.

One idea, maybe you could rent it out to people on here first then perhaps rent it out via word of mouth... for instance, I'd pay and stay and then recommend it to someone I trust, passing on your contact email, if they contact you, they might need to say "Scottie outdoors recommended you etc etc" then realistically you're almost only going to get safe guests.

Hi.
Its a bit of everything really. We are looking at diversification of the croft land (which we are allowed to do), to make some money and give people the potential for and enjoyable holiday in a beautiful location doing what we like to do without some of the restriction imposed by campsites.

It would be like a posh bothy (not glamping). Compost toilet, solar shower and clean cold water available close by. Off grid completely but there is 4G signal!

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

I think you'd do best advertising it as something along the lines of "Your own personal no frills bothy".

If there is no power then you definitely can't be hoovering around in your hands and knees which may be expected by some if there is any confusion/incorrect assumptions of glamping etc..

But equally I suppose you need to find that balance so that it's used respectfully, such as provide a dustpan and brush and broom so hopefully they'll take the initiative, but also giving it a quick once over yourself between guests will encourage most guests to be courteous. What you don't want to do (in my opinion) is run the risk of people smoking inside "because hey why not? No ones gonna care!" as A: tis illegal, B: if the next guest is a non smoker, It'll more than likely be obvious...

I appreciate its probably a lot of questions rather than answers, but all things I think are worth considering even for a fraction of a second.

 

[Broch]

I'm up on Ardnamurchan for two weeks at the end of March - a converted Bothy on a private estate but it's not off-grid. It's £1,000 for the two weeks out of season. I suspect people will pay that for the 'off-grid' experience.

There are some really good battery driven houshold tools now that would easily cope with cleaning a small bothy. Cleanliness is important to most people so I would do as much as possible.

Don't forget the insurance though!

As I said, I got quite a way down this route for the Shepherd's hut (no mains power, 12v solar only, water from a tank uphill, separate composting toilet) - in the end it was the hassle factor that put me off. I was told that I could expect £200 a weekend, £500 a week.

 

[richy3333]

I'm up on Ardnamurchan for two weeks at the end of March - a converted Bothy on a private estate but it's not off-grid. It's £1,000 for the two weeks out of season. I suspect people will pay that for the 'off-grid' experience.

There are some really good battery driven houshold tools now that would easily cope with cleaning a small bothy. Cleanliness is important to most people so I would do as much as possible.

Don't forget the insurance though!

As I said, I got quite a way down this route for the Shepherd's hut (no mains power, 12v solar only, water from a tank uphill, separate composting toilet) - in the end it was the hassle factor that put me off. I was told that I could expect £200 a weekend, £500 a week.

Thanks for that. I already have plenty of battery tools for cleaning so ‘mucking out‘ between guests isn’t a problem. Happy to clean as that’s how I’d want it and to be honest we use ourselves so wouldn’t want it turning into a dump.

id rather it stays off grid though I might need a wee bit of power for the wc composting. Just looking into it now.

We have insurance!

 

[grizzlyj]

I hadn't heard of pop up campsites until this last year, where for a few months you can have a few tents on your land/in your garden with no facilities at all but no planning required.
I quite fancy doing that but do question the no facilities bit. In the past I've paid for a week in a Lake District wood with a slit latrine but how would that work with the "public"? I've also got a fold up Separett composting loo which might not be up to uncaring guests.
Cleaning holiday houses near here is a reasonable paying job but what people leave behind can be a clean house or can be nasty.
People can be tricky