Holiday Letting Shop today announced the launch of its new holiday resort rental business and website.

Developed by Sharon Jackson and Emily Collins, Holiday Letting Shop (HLS) has been created to bridge the gap between individual timeshare owners and resorts with inventory to rent and companies and holidaymakers looking for resort-based apartment accommodation.

The main focus of activity is the website, www.holidaylettingshop.com. This dual functioning site includes a live search, book and pay facility provided by Merlin Software and Barclaycard E-PDQ. Holidaymakers are able to search for accommodation by date range, country, region and resort name. The live search results can then be booked and the accommodation paid for by credit card after a simple registration process.

The other aspect of the site is encouraging timeshare owners who have weeks they are unable to use, cannot afford the annual maintenance charge or are wishing to sell to register to rent them through the Holiday Letting Shop site. HLS provides a rental valuation of each week which will then be deposited on the site and made available for rental.

Resorts with considerable amounts of stock to rent out will become holiday affiliates. HLS will work with them to select suitable stock and finalise rates that are beneficial to both parties. Again, once agreed, HLS will add all inventory to the site so there is no need for any involvement by the committee or management company.

Sharon Jackson, director explained “We believe that HLS offers a real alternative to timeshare owners who are currently thinking of selling their timeshare week because they cannot afford the maintenance charges, finance repayments or for other personal reasons. We understand that selling timeshare weeks is not an easy exercise, especially with the number of scammers in the market, so it may be better for the owner to maintain ownership and rent it out to pay the on going maintenance charges. In this way, they still have access to the week should their situation change in the future”.

Harry Taylor, TATOC CEO, which is in favour of initiatives that support resorts, added “the Holiday Letting Shop programme works for resorts too. If owners use this service, and at least get a contribution towards their management fees, the resort continues to have a fully paid-up member. It is also a great way for mature resorts to have a presence and distribution channel on the internet to support their own rental activity”.

Contact details
For more information about the services provided by Holiday Letting Shop please contact Sharon Jackson by e-mail at sharonj@holidaylettingshop.com or visit www.holidaylettingshop.com.

Background
The Holiday Letting Shop has been developed by Sharon Jackson and Emily Collins. Ms Jackson comes from a background in tour operating. She began her career in 1988, working initially as an overseas representative and ultimately as an overseas contracts manager. She has worked for the main UK Tour Operators including Airtours, Thomas Cook Group and Cosmos. 

Ms Collins has been involved in the timeshare industry since 1993, working with a number of resort developers. She set up her own business, TSS Marketing Ltd., ten years ago with partner Mike Ashton. More recently, Ms Collins has been providing marketing services to the industry.