DUNEDIN: A stunning little city at the mouth of the Otago Harbour - known for its Scottish and Maori heritage, Victorian and Edwardian architecture, and a large student population.
Proudly opening doors to new experiences.
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WELCOME Welcome to Edinburgh Short Stays, Edinburgh Realty’s latest addition to our suite of Otago-wide real estate and property management services. Our helpful, friendly team is committed to providing the highest level of personalised service and communication - to ensure success for our property investors - and unique, memorable experiences for guests. The Short Stay accommodation business requires an exceptional product, with an outstanding level of service. That’s where we come in. We’re here to help 24/7. Any time you need answers relating to our service, call us on 021 676 211 or email shortstays@edinburgh.co.nz. Veronica Miller Edinburgh Short Stays – Group Manager
THE ESPLANADE: Only minutes from the city centre is St Clair esplanade with beach walks, restaurants, cafes and hot salt water pools.
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OTAGO HARBOUR: Separating the famous Otago Peninsula from the mainland is this natural harbour formed from an ancient volcano and known for its beautiful views and various rare wildlife.
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ABOUT US The Edinburgh Short Stays team is here to ensure guests enjoy a welcoming and memorable stay in Dunedin and Central Otago. Our region attracts visitors from all over the world, creating demand for quality holiday rentals.
Edinburgh Short Stays meets this growing demand, offering accommodation where you can relax and feel at home. We care for a range of properties, all self-contained, fully equipped, and ready for your arrival. As a guest, enjoy quality short-term accommodation in private homes, friendly, personalised service, an interactive app for staying in touch, and our commitment to an outstanding stay in our wee corner of the world. Property owners also enjoy our personalised approach – with full access to professional property management, marketing, and financial reporting services. Our marketing and design team is dedicated to showcasing your property at its best, over multiple websites and major booking portals, for maximum exposure. Most importantly, our team is dedicated to your success in this rapidly-growing market. Relax, leave everything to us, and enjoy the benefits of your investment. People are our highest priority – to discuss your personal accommodation or professional management needs, get in touch with our people today.
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OUR TEAM
THE LOCAL EXPERTS: We are passionate about our beautiful corner of the world.
Veronica Miller Group Manager I’m a great believer in Steve Jobs’ words – “the only way to do great work is to love what you do”. My career has spanned two industries that have given me every opportunity to love what I do on a daily basis – banking and real estate. While managing a large retail bank here in Dunedin, I was invited back ‘home’ to the team at Edinburgh Realty, with the opportunity to establish and manage Edinburgh Short Stays. I love the great work Edinburgh Short Stays allows me to do, opening new doors for our investment property owners, while creating memorable experiences for visitors to our region. For me, communication is key and people are my highest priority. Meeting the needs of our property owners and guests is at the forefront of everything I do. I love Dunedin and Central Otago – our wee slice of paradise. I’m so proud of the quality service we offer to the short stays market.
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Siobhan Dillon - Marketing I have a “glass half full” approach to everything I do, including my job. I ensure the properties are shown in the best possible light across the various platforms by lending my photography skills, marketing prowess and social media knowledge to the Short Stays business. I love the diversity of my role and the opportunity to work closely with owners and guests to ensure a memorable experience and unrivalled level of service and care.
Angela Meiklejohn - Central Otago I wanted to work at Edinburgh Realty because they are a local company with friendly staff and a great culture. These are all factors that make my job – as team leader – a pleasure. I love marketing our picturesque part of New Zealand to its many visitors and am thrilled that we are now able to assist them with their Short Stay accommodation needs.
Sue McLellan - Central Otago The real estate industry has always interested me, so I’m delighted to be hands-on in the property management and Short Stays space. Whatever job hat I have on, I enjoy the people and social aspect of my work and look forward to each and every opportunity to add a little magic for my property owners and the guests staying in their Short Stay properties.
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OUR SERVICES While guests enjoy the ‘home away from home’ experience we provide, you can also sit back and relax - the team at Edinburgh Short Stays will take care of everything.
Each property in our care is unique, so we’ll tailor and personalise our service, while ensuring your valuable property is treated with the utmost care and respect.
Our Short Stay management services include: •
An initial inspection, fully documenting and photographing the Property’s condition and chattels.
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A marketing photoshoot of the Property by our design team.
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An online listing to showcase the Property on a variety of online booking platforms.
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Professional cleaning after every check-out.
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Replacement of bed linen and towels after every check-out.
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Ingoing and outgoing checks and property inspections to ensure the Property is maintained to a high standard.
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Ongoing market reviews to ensure rates charged are relevant, reflect market capacity and demand, and maximise your occupancy and income. Restocking of guest amenities, where supplied.
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Full financial reporting on your property’s performance, payment processing and cost management, and monthly payment of net income to you.
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Arrangement of any necessary maintenance at the property.
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Screening of potential guests to the best of our ability using the host platforms’ resources.
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24/7 check-in options including personal check-in and self check-in.
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On-call Property Managers for emergency calls.
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Care of your guests with full instructions, a welcome pack, and an interactive app enabling communication with your guest during their stay.
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Ongoing personalised support for, and communication with, our owners.
THE OCTAGON: Centre point for Dunedin’s community activities and a vibrant cafe/restaurant scene - The Octagon is home to The Dunedin Public Art Gallery and (heritage listed) The Regent Theatre.
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OUR FEES From the outset, Edinburgh Short Stays has committed to an unrivalled level of service, delivered through quality systems and processes by professionals who genuinely care about your financial success - all at a competitive price.
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Annual marketing fee - covers photography, creation and maintenance of online listings across all booking platforms, regular reviews of pricing and market conditions, initial inspection, inventory and regular checking of chattels and overall property condition. $350 plus GST per annum per individual property.
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Management fee - equivalent to 18% plus GST of the rental charged to the guest (see below for clarification). • For Airbnb.com bookings, the owner will be charged 18% plus GST of the total booking price. • For Booking.com bookings, which incur additional charges that are passed on to guests, the owner will be charged 18% plus GST of the total booking price, plus the payment service charges.
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Cleaning fee – as invoiced. Note that cleaning is oncharged to guests and included in the total booking price from which we deduct our Management Fee. To ensure properties are priced for maximum occupancy and income, cleaning charges paid by guests may not cover the full clean necessary to return the property to the required “hotel standard”. In the event additional cleaning is required, the associated costs will be deducted from the Owner’s income after deduction of all other fees. No additional fees or commissions will be charged by Edinburgh Realty Limited on these costs.
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Maintenance fee – 5% plus GST of the costs incurred.
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Initial property spring clean to prepare the Property for renting, arranged upon signing our agreement – as invoiced.
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For any additional requests and services, fees will be as quoted and agreed between the Owner and Edinburgh Realty Limited.
THE LOOK OUT: Bike, drive or walk to this hilltop lookout at the pinnical of Signal Hill to admire the uninterrupted views over Dunedin’s Pacific Ocean coastline and Otago Harbour.
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TAIERI PLAINS: Enclosed to the west by the Maungatua and Silverpeaks Ranges, and to the south and east by a low range of coastal hills - the plains are an area of fertile agricultural land which houses the Dunedin Airport along with the township of Mosgiel.
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FAQS What are the insurance implications of becoming a short stay accommodation provider? Before we welcome your first guest, we recommend you contact your insurer to let them know your plans to rent out the property on a short stay basis. You can then check you have the right type of policy and level of cover. If your tenant has an accident in your property, they are covered by ACC even if they are a tourist visiting New Zealand. All Airbnb hosts are offered automatic Host Protection Insurance to cover guests getting hurt or causing property damage and there’s also a Host Guarantee to cover accidental damage to the property and its contents. As with all policies, there are exclusions and expectations, so it’s recommended you read the fine print. Airbnb’s insurance should not replace your general home and contents policies and simply serves to provide added protection.
use the property for residential purposes, your bank’s terms and conditions may include a requirement that you advise them if your use of the property changes to short term accommodation. If a bank were to discover that their terms and conditions had been breached in this way, they may choose to demand early repayment of the funds advanced or seek additional equity to meet their lending policy.
Are there tax implications? New Zealand’s tax laws require that income earned in a business which is carried-on for profit is subject to tax. Income earned by providing short term accommodation through platforms such as Airbnb is no exception. Additionally, providing short term accommodation is a taxable supply for New Zealand GST purposes. GST registration can occur either voluntarily or is required if taxable supplies exceed (or are expected to exceed) $60,000 in any 12 month period. You may wish to consult an accountant to discuss the full implications of GST registration.
Will my bank need to be advised? If you obtained finance from a bank to purchase a property and the original intention was to
FAQs continued on the next page...
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Will my Council rates rise under a short stay model? The Dunedin City Council is investigating the introduction of a new rating category for properties being rented out to visitors via portals such as Airbnb and Booking.com, however the proposed changes are yet to be refined and introduced. The possible changes may see properties categorised as either “residential”, “mixed use” (a new category) or “commercial” depending on the number of nights the property is booked per year. Other Councils, such as the Queenstown Lakes District Council, already have similar systems in place. At the time of writing, we are unaware of any plans by the Central Otago District Council to introduce such a system.
What kind of properties are best suited to the short stay market? A wide variety of properties will appeal to the wide variety of guests looking to visit our region, however those properties that have the edge in terms of location and presentation will always fare better than those in less desirable locations or those that are not presented to hotel standard. “Themed” properties or those with a point of difference can also attract more interest. Our free consultation and assessment includes our recommendations on any enhancements required to maximise the appeal of your property to the short stay market.
What kind of occupancy rate can I expect? Occupancy rates can vary seasonally and will be influenced by regional events and other factors. Seasonal fluctuations may see lower room rates requested in times of lower demand, although this will be very much dependent on the location of your property and the number of competing properties
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available via the various portals at any given time. We’ll maintain regular contact with you to ensure you remain fully informed of any changes in the market. Our aim is to achieve maximum occupancy across all of our short-stay properties and we acknowledge that achieving this will require ongoing communication with our owners and regular reviews of market conditions.
Is there a set-up fee to list my property? Our annual marketing fee of $350 plus GST covers our initial photo shoot, creation of online listings across all of our booking platforms, an appraisal of likely returns and current marketing conditions, our initial inspection and completion of the chattel list, completion of the compendium information for your property and all required advice and guidance during the set-up phase. Photos and listings are refreshed at least annually, and chattels, inventory, compendium information and all other details held for your property are checked on an ongoing basis for accuracy. Our property owners and guests are at the forefront of everything we do and we realise that our success as a brand is only measured through your success. So we focus on showing your valuable asset in the best light from the get-go.
Who pays for cleaning and linen changes? Cleaning and linen charges are on-charged to guests and included in the total booking price from which we deduct our Management Fee. To ensure properties are priced for maximum occupancy and income, cleaning charges paid by guests may not cover the full clean necessary to return the Property to the required “hotel standard”. In the event additional cleaning is required, the associated costs will be deducted from your income after deduction of all other fees.
What are the benefits of short stay rentals? In addition to the obvious opportunity to increase the income achieved for your investment property, offering it to the short stay market also ensures that regular inspections and cleaning take place and that any required maintenance is addressed on a timely basis. The regular turnover of guests means that you won’t be stuck with any nightmare tenants, and the use of portals enabling guests to be reviewed means that they really do want to maintain a good relationship, so are less likely to cause problems.
What if I have any other queries or concerns? We’re here to help 24/7. We know that the Short Stay accommodation business requires the provision of not only an exceptional product but also an outstanding level of service, and that’s what we’re here to provide. If at any time you need to seek answers to questions relating to our service or are concerned about your property or guests, call us on 021 676 211 or email shortstays@edinburgh.co.nz
TOMAHAWK BEACH: Only 15 minutes drive from Dunedin’s bustling town centre is this captivating golden beach. Dog-friendly, great surf - and even on a cold day - its rugged, windswept charm makes it fun to explore and photograph.
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