Alastair Sawday's Special Escapes: Self-catering in the UK

New owner FAQs

Your questions answered

• What sort of places we look for »
• How the selection system works »
• What we mean by 'special' »
• How we carry out inspections »
• How long it all takes »
• How we do our write-ups »
• Our prices explained »
• What you get for your money »
• How you can make changes to your entry »
• How you can view your entry's statistics »
• Everything you need to know about photos »

APPLYING TO JOIN SPECIAL ESCAPES

How do I apply?

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 joining fee 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 website (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 »

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HOW THE SELECTION SYSTEM WORKS

There are several stages to our process, and they go a little something like this:

1. We decide, from your application form and website, whether we would like to inspect your places.
2. If we think you're special, we'll instruct an inspector to include you in his/her inspection trip of the area.
3. The inspector sends back a report of his/her visit, and we decide from this whether to include you in the website.
4. If we invite you to join the website, we'll press ahead with producing a write-up and processing your photos.
5. We send you a copy of your entry so that you can check it for accuracy.
6. When you've signed off and paid for your entry, we post it online.

More details on how the inspections work »

I am in a popular, touristy area with several properties on the Special Escapes website 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.

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WHAT WE MEAN BY 'SPECIAL'

What do you mean by 'special'?

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.

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HOW WE CARRY OUT INSPECTIONS

What happens if you like the look of my holiday home?

If you have sent us the photos, details and the joining fee 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.

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.

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 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 (if possible), 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.

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HOW LONG IT ALL TAKES

If my inspection is successful, how long will it be before I appear on the website?

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 the editor of the site and by our copy editor. We then send you a copy of the write-up, along with the photos as they'll appear on the website, so that you can check for inaccuracies. This should happen within three weeks of your inspection. Once we have had your corrections and payment back, your entry should appear on the website within the next five working days.

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HOW WE DO OUR WRITE-UPS

What do you write about?

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.

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Why do you ask for two years upfront?

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. It may also take a couple of months for regular traffic to your entry page to build, so we feel that a two year stint on our website will give you a better indication of how you will fare in the long-term. This should make your decision to renew easier as you will have a more accurate picture of how the site works for you. And in many cases, 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 with 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!

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 joining fee?

Inspections are vital. Without them, our guides wouldn't - and shouldn't! - exist. But they're expensive and time-consuming. We ask for a £100 plus VAT joining fee so that, if you decide to pull out after we've visited you, we can still pay our inspector. If we decide, after inspection, not to invite you onto the Special Escapes site, we will refund you your joining fee, so there's no extra charge to you.

Our pricing details »

I have several properties at the same address. Should I have one website entry per property?

Each entry includes four photos and a 200-word write-up. If you have four 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.

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WHAT YOU GET FOR YOUR MONEY

What do I get for my money?

• Strong brand: we have a widely trusted brand that is synonymous with authenticity, integrity and genuinely special experiences
• Full inspection by the Special Escapes team
• Descriptive copy written by our experienced writers
• Processing and hosting of four high resolution photos
• The opportunity to appear on the Special Escapes homepage as a 'Latest escape' or an 'Editor's pick
• A regular position on the Special Escapes homepage via our revolving, random property selection
• Promotion of www.specialescapes.co.uk to 55,000 monthly e-newsletter subscribers, and the chance to appear as a selected property
• Entry detailed on the Special Escapes maps as well as on the map pages of www.sawdays.co.uk (130,000 unique visitors per month)
• Press coverage: Alastair Sawday 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: our owners manage bookings themselves. Many other websites withhold your website address, forcing guests to deal with an impersonal booking engine, and preventing you from knowing who is booking your property
• 85% of our owners renew their entries after two years
• Ongoing support by email and telephone from the Special Escapes team

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HOW YOU CAN MAKE CHANGES TO YOUR ENTRY

Can I make changes to my entry after it has been posted on the website?

Yes. We send you a welcome email when we upload your entry onto the website. 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 website address
• High and low season prices
• Changeover day
• Owner highlights
• Key search terms
• Photo captions
• Your notice board (to post special offes, last minute deals etc)

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HOW YOU CAN VIEW YOUR ENTRY’S STATISTICS

Can I view how many people visit my entry page each month?

Yes. In your owner login area you will be able to monitor how many people have visited your property’s page in a month. You will also be able to see how many people have sent an email enquiry via your Special Escapes page, and how many visitors have clicked through your own website (if you have one).

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EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PHOTOS

What pictures do I need to submit?

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 of a bedroom (but one of each bedroom if possible), the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom, and the garden (if you have one). The more pictures we get from you, the easier it is to know whether your property is special.

Click here for our Guide to taking good photos PDF

What formats do you accept?

We accept:

• 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 name and property name as the subject heading
• By post: send prints, CDs, DVDs, slides or transparencies to

• Editor (Special Escapes)
• Alastair Sawday Publishing
• The 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.

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PDF documents may require Adobe Acrobat Reader »