Meet beach hut owner, Anna Davies, winner of Towergate's Beach Hut of the Year 2016. Dovercourt beach beauty, My Happy Hut, was booked out all summer this year - and bookings already in the diary for summer 2017! Anna clearly knows how to keep her customers happy, so we caught up with her to find out all you need to know when renting out a beach hut.
I have a website, www.myhappyhut.com, and all the details needed for booking it are on there, I've tried to make it as simple and as customer friendly as possible.
I made my website myself using a free WordPress template, I've never done anything like it before and just figured it out as I went along, I'm very happy with the way it's turned out and people seem to find it easy to use. I also have a Facebook page.
I provide tea, coffee and fruit squash, buckets and spades and toys for any children that come plus all the crockery and chairs etc. as you'd expect. I don't provide any towels as people usually bring their own.
I have a key safe on the outside of the hut and I give each new renter their own code number and then change it once they have left, that way people can arrive and leave whenever they want without feeling pressurised.
I don't book anybody in until payment has been made, so if they don't pay they don't get booked in. I'm about to put a refundable deposit in place to cover breakages, it will be refunded the same day once the hut has been checked over.
Yes, it's best to have beach hut insurance anyway and if you rent it out you need a specific insurance for that. For more information, view our guide to beach hut insurance.
In August 2016, Phil Spencer visited Anna to award My Happy Hut Towergate's Beach Hut of the Year accolade. Watch the day's highlights in the video below.
At Towergate we understand beach huts are by no means all the same. As such, the cover we provide is relevant to all different shapes and sizes of beach hut, so tell us about yours and we’ll get you covered.
If you need to make a claim, you won’t be passed from pillar to post. We have a dedicated in-house sales, customer services and claims team to guide you through the process from start to finish.
I'm sure if you had several huts which were booked out all year long you could make a profit, but one beach hut that only gets fully booked in peak season will take a long time to make a profit, I don't do it for profit anyway, I just do it to cover the insurance, ground rent and maintenance.
Date: October 10, 2016
Category: Home and Property