ACHIEVEMENTS, CHANGES & REMINDERS
Whichever way you look at it, 2025-26 has been a ‘stand out’ year for Holiday Caloundra. More bookings, higher earnings and more properties than ever before! With some great innovations and plenty of opportunities ahead, enjoy the read and let us know if you need any additional advice:
THE YEAR THAT WAS:
2025-26 was an extremely busy and rewarding year that resulted in more bookings, longer bookings, higher value bookings, and more forward bookings than any previous year. With more than 3000 linen deliveries, 5000+ beds made, loads of maintenance jobs and tonnes of laundry – the team has been very busy indeed. While not everything goes to plan 100% of the time, the efforts of team members working 7 days a week certainly pays dividends. These great results are a combination of Special Discounts for direct bookings, Winter specials, Last Minute deals, staff members manually changing the booking algorithms every evening, plus changes to bonds and refunds that align closer to online booking agency expectations. With July, August and September 2026 all breaking previous records, 2026-27 is already off to a great start!
TOP 10 AMENITIES GUESTS WANT IN A HOLIDAY PROPERTY
Homhero recently collated the search results of more than 20,000 guests and found the following are the top 10 things that guests consistently searched for when booking a QLD holiday property:
No 1 Wi-Fi
No 2 Air Conditioning / Heating
No 3 Swimming Pool
No 4 TV & Streaming
No 5 Fully Equipped Kitchen
No 6 Secure Parking
No 7 Washer & Dryer
No 8 Pet Friendly Property
No 9 BBQ
No 10 Hair Dryer & Clothes Iron with Board
Properties that have all or most of these amenities will consistently out-perform properties that don’t. Air Conditioning and Wi-Fi are seen as absolute ‘must haves’ by most guests.
TOP 5 THINGS THAT SECURE BOOKINGS
Major travel and booking platforms agree on the top five things that encourage guests to book properties:
No 1 Professional Photos
No 2 Quality Amenities (see above)
No 3 Easy Cancellation Policies
No 4 Local Attractions
No 5 Price
While many owners believe price is the most important factor – it isn’t. Guests want quality accommodation and are happy to pay for it.
BLIND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS
It is a mandatory legal requirement in holiday and rental properties that blind and curtain cords that hang less than 1600mm from the floor display Warning tags, and the chains or cords must be held in place against the wall by cleats or tensioners. Low-hanging blind and curtain cords are a strangulation risk to young children. While many owners have already ensured their properties comply with these laws, it has become apparent that many other properties have not been made compliant by their owners. Therefore, we are currently inspecting each property and making sure all window coverings comply. If missing or damaged, compliant Warning tags will be installed at a cost of $5.50 each, cleats will be installed at $16.50 each, and broken, missing or ill-fitting chains or cords will be made compliant at a cost that reflects the work required. This will take a while as there are quite a few to do.
SUNNY COAST PLATTERS
A growing number of owners provide guests with treats when they arrive. Popular options are wine, aerated waters and chocolates etc. Of course, property owners simply increase their tariffs marginally to offset the costs. Some owners are now offering small platters as welcome gifts for guests of longer bookings. Sunny Coast Platters offer a wide variety of savoury platters starting at $44 each. Platters typically contain a variety of cheeses, deli meats, crackers, dips and fruits etc. If you would like your guests to discover a delicious Sunny Coast Platter in the fridge when they arrive, just let us know and we’ll make all of the arrangements for you.
LINEN, LAUNDRY, BEDS, BEDMAKING & CLEANING
LINEN refers to the sheets, bath towels, bathmats, hand towels, pillow cases and tea towels that are supplied for each booking. We hire linen from a commercial laundry, deliver it to each property and collect it at the end of the booking. Almost like clockwork, on 1 July each year, the laundry increases its hire and delivery rates. As a result, during September we will be increasing our linen costs for all bookings. This increase will be built into the guest’s booking price and is therefore paid by the guest. Our prices will still be marginally less than Caloundra’s other main linen providers for short holiday bookings, and will be about 50% cheaper for bookings 12 days or longer. The increase will also apply to owners who have linen supplied. PLEASE NOTE: Some new owners have historically paid very low linen rates with previous onsite managers. In some cases, the amount paid does not even cover the commercial laundry hire costs. All owners who wish to have linen supplied for their own bookings (optional) after 1 October 2026 will pay the same rates as guests – eg: 1 Queen bed & 2 Single beds will cost $112, 2 Queens & 2 Singles will cost $152
LAUNDRY refers to the laundering of soiled items such as doona covers, mattress protectors, pillow cases etc. They are typically taken off-site, sprayed with stain remover and/or soaked overnight, washed, dried, ironed if necessary and returned. Larger items such as doonas and mattress toppers etc may need to be laundered at commercial laundromats and cost more. It can be an annoying cost, but it is unacceptable for guests not to have clean, fresh and pleasant smelling bedding. All owners will be charged for laundry after 1 October 2026. The rates we charge for laundry have not increased since 2013 and are detailed below:
Doonas – Single $22 Double $27.50
Doona Covers – Single $16.50 Double $22
Mattress Protectors – Single $11 Double $16.50
Blankets – Single $16.50 Double $22
Pillow Cases, Protectors, Cushion Covers etc – $5.50 first item + $2.20 each other item
BEDS and bathrooms are the things that guests expect to be clean, fresh and comfortable. Owners are encouraged to always ensure bed coverings and pillows are regularly replaced and looking clean and fresh. Old and tired doona covers, flat, lumpy or stained pillows, and worn, discoloured mattress protectors are simply not acceptable. We will endeavour to inspect all bedding between now and Christmas and replace items that are clearly past their ‘use by date’. This is to ensure all bedding is up to scratch and there are the required replacement items at each property for every bed. Please see MAINTENANCE article below.
BED MAKING costs are paid by guests as part of their booking. The bed making charge ($15 for single beds and $20 for double beds) is not changing. As of 1 October 2026, all owners who elect to have the beds made for their bookings (optional) will pay the bedmaking rate. Owners will always have the option to bring their own linen. or have the linen supplied, or have the linen supplied and the beds made. The choice is the owner’s.
CLEANING costs charged by many cleaning contractors increased in July. Cleaning costs are built into all guest bookings and guests therefore pay the costs. Owners requiring cleaning after their own bookings will also see the annual increase applied to their cleaning costs (which will vary according to the contractor used). PLEASE NOTE: Some owners who have transferred from various management rights businesses may see a significant increase in cleaning costs for their own bookings as of 1 October 2026. This is because contract cleaners do not live onsite, do not get paid body corporate salaries and don’t get paid unless they are actually cleaning. In some cases, the costs owners are currently paying to cleaners do not meet minimum payment standards – particularly when weekend or public holiday rates and superannuation are taken into account. While increases will vary, it is worth noting contract cleaners typically charge somewhere around $120 to clean a 2 bedroom apartment.
REFERRALS
Local Agent enjoys high levels of support from our property owners, who clearly value the service that we provide. Many of our owners have been with us for more than 20 years, and others have moved multiple properties into our portfolios. We love it when owners recommend Local Agent to their friends and associates, and we like to say ‘Thanks’ to landlords who bring business our way. We have recently sent a number of $500 Gift Cards to owners who have referred new business to us. It’s pretty simple – if you are happy with our service and recommend new clients to Local Agent, we are more than happy to thank you for your support – just ask your friend to mention your name when they list their property with us, and a gift card will be on the way!
MAINTENANCE
Our agency manages more than 300 properties and maintenance is a never ending challenge. The team coordinates literally thousands of maintenance jobs each year, ranging from changing light globes and replacing worn pillows, to major flooding events, severe storm damage and major renovations. Because holiday properties are fully furnished, we replace items such as toasters, kettles, microwaves, televisions, cutlery, pillows, mattress protectors and bedding etc on a daily basis. If items are less that $200 we will simply replace them and charge at the end of the month. If items are more than $200 but not urgent – we will endeavour to contact you for advice. If it is an urgent item eg: burst internal water pipe or faulty electrical circuit, we will arrange someone to fix it straight away then update owners with the details as quickly as possible. Please understand that we can’t contact and negotiate with owners about every little thing – and the other property owners don’t want us to spend our time doing so. If we did, our staff members’ time would be needlessly consumed by a small number of owners, and bookings for everybody would slow down. Rest assured – you are in good hands!
DEPOSITS, BONDS & CANCELLATIONS
DEPOSITS are the amount of money a guest is required to secure a forward booking. Traditionally, this has been 50% of the booking costs. Unfortunately, many guests abort their online bookings at this point because the size of the deposit is seen as excessive, particularly for bookings 12 months away. After considering advice from Homhero and online platforms such as Booking.com and AirBnB, we are reducing the deposit amounts to 30%. It doesn’t make any real difference as cancellation policies still exist, but guests don’t have to commit to large amounts of their hard earned money sitting in our trust account for ages before every holiday.
BONDS have traditionally been taken as credit card pre-authorisations and guests have provided written authority for us to remove funds from the credit card if costs such as damage or excessive cleaning were encountered. Fortunately, we rarely need to make a claim against a bond, however, in recent years bonds have become almost worthless. Credit card providers such as Mastercard and Visa simply don’t uphold disputed bond charges. Guests who don’t want to have funds deducted from their bond simply complain to their bank, and the bank reverses any bond transaction we have made against the card. Good guests will always pay for any costs they caused, and bad guests will always refuse. The payment of large bonds is also a significant deterrent to many guests. Sometimes the bond is more expensive than the booking. We will therefore be reducing the size of bonds for guests, and monitor the effect this has on booking numbers.
CANCELLATIONS are becoming much more complex to manage. Only a few years ago, agents and owners set their own cancellation policies and booking agencies such as Booking.com or AirBnB etc simply enforced those policies. This is not the case any more. As online booking agencies compete against one another for guest bookings, they offer their own cancellation policies which are typically far more favourable to guests. To make the matter more confusing, the booking agencies will often change their policies without prior warning, or apply a ‘case by case’ method to deal with individual cancellation requests from guests. Our own current Cancellation Policy is that guests can cancel bookings up to 30 days before their booking, and receive a full refund less the booking fee and credit card fees (which will be non-existent in October this year), but the booking agencies have all sorts of variations they use. So to answer the question …. ‘What is the cancellation policy for a guest booking? ….. the answer is ‘It depends on how, when and with whom the guest made the booking’.
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE (ATO)
There have been a number of articles published recently relating to the ATO’s data-matching and subsequent crackdown on holiday property owners who are claiming tax deductions for their properties. In essence, the ATO is using data from sources such as banks, the taxation department and online booking agencies such as Booking.com and AirBnB to determine whether or not a holiday property is a true ‘arms length’ investment property, or really a family holiday home. To be classed as a genuine investment property and eligible for maximum tax deductions, the ATO expects the owner to be taking all the necessary actions to maximise occupancy and income. If not, owners can expect the ATO will have some questions for owners to answer in relation to their tax returns. We have already had owners contacting us following ATO involvement. The things that are ‘red flags’ to the ATO and suggest that properties are not true ‘arms length’ investments include:
** Owners or their family/friends booking the property – especially over peak periods. The ATO indicates a week or a few weekends in the off-season where there was no booking, or very low chance of a booking may be acceptable, but more frequent private use, particularly use over holiday periods is a major red flag.
** Owners blocking out private bookings which suggest they are being paid directly by their guests.
** Suspicious ‘maintenance’ bookings.
** Properties not advertised on the main online agencies (Booking.com or AirBnB).
** Owners not running ‘Specials’ or similar strategies to maximise bookings.
** Properties with suspiciously higher tariffs and less bookings than similar properties in the area.
In light of the ATO’s crackdown, some holiday property owners may need to reconsider their strategies, and seek financial advice from a suitably qualified accountant.
