Please make sure you have a good look through the FAQ section below, so that
you know how we work and what we are looking for. If, having read it thoroughly,
you would like to apply to join Special Escapes, please get in touch with us. Its important that you submit the right
photos for us to make a decision, and that you pop a cheque for the inspection
deposit in along with the form.
WHAT SORT OF PLACES WE LOOK FOR
How do you decide whether my holiday home is suitable?
We look at your web site (if you have one), your photos and the reason why
you think the place is special. If we like the look of the place, and have a
good feeling about you from what you write, you may well be what we are after.
We believe that a place can be special for a huge variety of reasons. It may
be in the most stunning position, or have a charming quirkiness or unusually
interesting architecture. These qualities are more important to us than whether
the place has all the right facilities, though we like these too. What
we mean by special »
I am in a popular, touristy area with several properties on the Special Escapes
web site already. Will I be rejected?
It's not in our interest to overcrowd an area and undercut traffic to our existing
owners. However, we will feature more properties in more popular areas of the
country, such as the honey pot areas of Cornwall, Devon or the Lake District.
Self-caterers look for such different qualities when searching for a place to
stay. Some need a house that's perfect for kids and wet dogs and that has a
large kitchen for family feasts. Others look for somewhere amazingly smart,
but don't mind about kitchen facilities, as they'll be eating out most of the
time. We would like to offer everyone the sort of place they're after,
but we will try to avoid having too many similar places in the same tiny area.
The essence of 'special' is incredibly difficult to define. Perhaps it's easier
to tell you what we love:
Beautiful buildings, original style, elegant simplicity.
Fine old things that, however dilapidated, carry their age and authenticity
with dignity.
A touch of fun with a touch of class. Quirkiness with seriousness, a light
touch, an easy style.
Good, old-fashioned writing with some panache.
Comfort - yes, but not at the expense of everything else.
And what we don't love:
Chain hotels, conference facilities and customer relations executives.
Pretension, pomposity and bad taste.
Most of the writing in typical 'accommodation' guides.
We choose places for a huge variety of reasons, and we don't pay much attention
to tourist board star ratings. We would reject a place that has 5 stars awarded
by the tourist board for all the right 'facilities', but which has no real soul.
Likewise, we might invite a place that has been awarded only a couple of Tourist Board stars because
its lacks officially-recognised facilities, but the location is sublime and
the place is wonderfully quirky.
What happens if you like the look of my holiday home?
If you have sent us the photos, details and the deposit we ask for, we will
usually get back to you within a week to let you know whether we like the
look of your place. We then mark you on our system as needing an inspection.
When an inspector is planning a trip in your area, you will be contacted to
be given a date and time.
When do you carry out inspections?
Our main inspection period runs from October until April each year, during the
off-peak season, though inspections outside the October - April season can sometimes be arranged. When an inspector is planning a trip in your area, they will
contact you to arrange a date and time for a visit. We like to give you at least
two weeks warning that we are coming, so that you can let your guests know in
advance. If you're applying between April and October, please contact the office on 01275 395 430 to find out when you can expect an inspection.
Can you carry out an inspection immediately?
We can't send out inspectors to do trips to visit a single property, unless
it's very close to where the inspector lives. In most cases, you will have to
wait until an inspector is planning a trip to your area. The inspection season tends to
run from October to April, and it is impossible to say, precisely, when your
area of the country will be covered.
If I have guests in my holiday property when an inspector wants to come, can
I arrange a different time?
No, unless you have powerful reasons. We'd love to see you at the best possible
time for you. However, the inspections are very costly and we need to organise
a trip that takes in several properties so that we keep our costs, and the fees
we charge you, down. Seeing as many places as possible during the same trip also means that we keep our carbon emissions as low as possible, which is a good thing! We can't arrange one-off visits to you ' other than in
exceptional circumstances ' so we ask that you agree to a visit when we have
someone in your area. We usually inspect from October to April, to avoid your busiest
periods. We will, as far as possible, try to arrange a time that is easy for
your guests. Our inspectors are very discreet and professional, and will be
as unobtrusive as possible.
What happens during an inspection?
Our inspectors will want to meet you, get a sense of the way in which you run
your holiday property and see whether we could work well together. They then
have a look around your place, looking for signs of real care and thought, and
getting a feel for how it would be to stay there. Of course, they squeeze the
pillows and sit on the beds, open the kitchen drawers and look in cupboards.
But they'll also spot extra little touches you've made. Our biggest question
to the inspector is: 'would you want to stay there yourself?' The visit shouldn't
take more than one and a half hours. The inspector then sends a report of their
visit to the editor of Special Escapes, who makes a decision.
If my inspection is successful, how long will it be before I appear on the
web site?
Once we have four usable photos from you (download our photo advice PDF), we will begin our write-up about
your place. Our copy is proof-read by other members of the Special Escapes team
and goes through several other checks. We then send you a copy of the write-up,
along with the photos as they'll appear on the web site, so that you can check
for inaccuracies. This should happen within two to three weeks of your inspection. Once
we have had your corrections and payment back, your entry should appear on the web site
within the next 5 working days.
We try to paint a colourful, genuine picture of your holiday home. We give
people a sense of what it's like to be staying there: what the space is like;
what the views hold; where there are luxurious, and not so luxurious, touches
etc. We are honest about the less wonderful sides of a place, but will celebrate
those aspects that a tourist board check-list cannot. Have a browse through
some entries to see how we write.
Will I get to see what you write before my entry goes online?
Yes. We will send you a copy of your write-up, along with your photos, contact
details, prices and room details.
Can I change the write-up about my property?
We allow you to check the write-up for errors before it goes online. You may
change factual inaccuracies (such as the size of beds or the age of the property
etc), but not any other comments that we make. If we mention that a carpet is
brown and patterned, we've done so for a reason. If the carpet is not brown,
then you may correct us. We are celebrated and well known for the honesty and
colour of our writing. We can't dilute this.
Sending inspectors out to see each property is an expensive business, but our
visitors know that each property on the site has been visited by us. This is
why they trust us. If we didn't ask for two years' fees upfront, we wouldn't
cover our costs and Special Escapes wouldn't exist.
What about Special Escapes' prices compared to others'?
We charge no more than many of the impersonal, mass-market online self-catering
directories. In most cases, you will cover the costs of appearing on the site
after your first booking through Special Escapes. And we're miles cheaper than agencies, who will typically take between 15% and 45% of your income as commission!
Sure, you could advertise your place on one of the many stack 'em high, sell
'em cheap accommodation directories for half the amount that we charge. But
we're doing something different and of a far higher quality. For visitors to
the site, we've created a fabulous selection of places that have been individually
inspected and written about by us. For owners, we offer access to an audience
who know our brand and trust our judgement. Many of our owners tell us that
they love the sort of guests that they get through Special Escapes. They tend
to be mature, respectful and considerate. For property owners, such a strong
brand is invaluable in the deeply confusing, cluttered online self-catering
market.
Why do you ask for a deposit?
Inspections are vital. Without them, our guides wouldn't - and shouldn't! -
exist. But they're expensive and time-consuming. We ask for a £90 deposit so
that, if you decide to pull out after we've visited you, we can still pay our
inspector. If you don't pull out, we will knock the deposit of your entry fee,
so there's no extra charge to you.
I have several properties at the same address. Should I have one web site entry
per property?
Each entry includes four photos and a 200-word write-up. If you have five identical
cottages next door to each other, you won't benefit from having a separate page
per cottage. The write-ups would be almost identical (it's hard to find four
different ways to describe four identical cottages!) and so would the photos.
However, if you have several cottages with different architecture, interior
design or location, you may want to have separate entries on the site, each
of which would have a dedicated write-up and its own photos. This will increase
the chances of being discovered by search engines.
Promotion throughout the site on our 'themed selections' and 'editor's choice'
promotions (to be launched later this year).
A regular position on the Special Escapes home page, via our revolving, random property selection.
Possible appearances in our dedicated Special Escapes newsletter, and in the broader Special Places to Stay newsletter, which goes out to over 9,000 subscribers.
Ongoing support, via email and telephone, from the Special Escapes team.
Strong brand: we have a widely trusted brand that is synonymous with authenticity,
integrity and genuinely special experiences.
Press coverage: Alastair Sawday Publishing receives huge amounts of publicity
from magazines and broadsheets, and is a favourite of journalists who find our
approach and content both refreshing and of unusually high quality.
Direct contact with guests: we allow owners to be contacted directly by potential
guests. Many other web sites prefer to withhold your web site address, forcing
guests to deal with an impersonal booking engine, and preventing you from knowing
who is booking your property.
Cross-promotion with Special Places to Stay: we have a strong brand both on
the internet and in the printed guide book market, so we reach a wider market
than most internet-only self-catering sites. We cross-promote, featuring the
Special Escapes properties on the Special Places to Stay site, which benefits
over 110k unique visitors and 18million page impressions per month. We feature
the Special Escapes web site in our regular newsletters, to which 9,000 committed
readers and users subscribe.
Can I make changes to my entry after it has been posted on the web site?
Yes. We send you a welcome email when we upload your entry onto the web site.
The email will contain a password and username that you will need to access
the members secure login area. Once you've logged in, you can change the following
details:
Your telephone and fax numbers, email and web site address
High and low season prices
Changeover day
Local points of interest
Key search terms
Photo captions
Your notice board (to post special offes, last minute deals etc)
We know that guests are far less likely to book a property when they can't
see pictures of the interior. They assume that the owner is trying to hide something.
Similarly, we can only make a decision about whether to send an inspector to
your property if we've seen photos of both the exterior and the interior.
How many pictures should I send with my application?
Please submit as many as you can. However, you must submit a picture of the
exterior, as well at least one picture for each of the following:
a bedroom (but one of each bedroom if possible)
kitchen
living room
garden (if you have one)
The more pictures we get from you, the easier it is to know whether your property
is special.
Digital photos via email: to
- Please enter your full name as the subject heading.
(At the application stage, you can send low-resolution images, but they must
be clear).
Digital images by post: send a CD or DVD, with your name and property name
marked on the disk, to the address below.
Prints by post: please stick a label on the back of each photo, with your name
and property name.
Slides and transparencies: in a clearly marked envelope, to the address below.
Please let us know if you would like us to return the photos to you.
Where do I send my pictures to?
By email: to
with your property name as the subject heading
By post: send prints, CDs, slides or transparencies to
Editor (Special Escapes)
Alastair Sawday Publishing
Old Farmyard
Yanley Lane
Long Ashton
Bristol
BS41 9LR
Can I get my photos back?
Only if you ask for them. In which case, please include a stamp-addressed envelope
when you submit your photos.
What plans do you have for new developments to the web site?
We're working on a variety of new developments at the moment. Some behind-the-scenes
work will be invisible to you and to visitors, others will be there for all
to see. Here are some of the areas that we're looking at:
Space for extra photos. You will be able to upload your own photographs to
your entry page.
Space on the home page for your special offers. Owners with special offers
will be randomly selected to appear on the home page, giving their property
greater prominence.
Themed collections of properties. We are creating special collections of place
that share similar qualities. For instance, 'coastal', 'walking', 'romantic', 'large groups'.
Improved searching. We'll improve the 'stickiness' of the site, giving more
ways of finding each property and more links between each entry.
The site will get a complete overhaul in mid-2007, to coincide with our new company branding. We're really excited about this.
“I have been very pleased with the responses to date, and I only advertise through your website”
owner, Devon
“We would love to be included again!! The site has generated many more bookings this last year and all the hard work from your team is paying off for us all!”
owner, Derbyshire
“We very much like our Special Escapes guests”
owner, Galloway, Scotland
Readers
“In this packaged, global world, what a joy it is to meet genuine people, to honestly benefit local economies and spend an entire week free from tourism and its trappings. We marvel again that the Alastair Sawday club has remained so loyal, and so true to its original ideals. We are, as ever, unsure whether to share our delight with friends, or to guard yet another collection of Alastair Sawday secret places.”
