Business & Work

Camilla’s story: Starting a new business at the age of 49 was not on my list of priorities but rather borne from circumstance.

My husband and I ran a successful management consultancy business, Malachi, and had invested our money in property that lost an estimated £1.5million in value during the recession. Being a fairly resourceful character, I racked my brains to come up with a way of leveraging our assets, in a bid to claw back the deficit.

We are lucky enough to live in one of the most beautiful parts of England in a house that is nestled into a little valley on the edge of the Cotswolds. It sleeps 14 people, has a gym, pool and a summer house, and is ideal for family get-togethers. I decided to research ways to rent my house out to others looking to host parties and celebrations.

The steep curve of learning

And I soon realised that week-long holiday lets are not as lucrative as short rentals of two or three nights for special occasions, family reunions, weddings and accommodation for nearby events – particularly if you’re lucky enough to own a unique, high-end property. Short stays are also far more appealing for homeowners, who can much more easily make themselves scarce for the weekend, without too much upheaval. Guests, too, will be prepared to pay a higher price if there is an event going on nearby, be it the Edinburgh Festival, the London Olympics or Silverstone. But as far as I could see, there was no UK accommodation website that specialised in events and occasions. 

I had identified a niche but I knew it would take a lot of hard work to turn it into a lucrative business. I left Malachi in the capable hands of my husband and got to work. I had no experience of running a website, using a content management system, online marketing, blogging, tweeting or using Facebook – so I learnt as I went along. It was a steep learning curve and my team (all social media whizzkids) cheered when I posted my first tweet!

I keep overheads low by running my business from an office at home and hiring graduates on paid internships, giving them additional training for the business world, and guidance on how to write CVs and approach interviews.

Day to day we focus on building the portfolio of properties on the website and driving enquiries and bookings. My work could encompass anything from reviewing Google Analytics to giving press interviews on how to rent your property out, and visiting properties that we hope to feature on EventfulStays.

The website upgrade was paid for by selling my sports car  

The business has been live for nine months now, and I’ve never had to be quite so resourceful in my life. When we needed to pay for upgrades to the website I sold my sports car, and when we needed investment I decided to kill two birds with one stone, and get myself on Dragons’ Den to boost the company profile and secure some capital.

Good advice

It was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences of my life. I was grilled for about an hour by the Dragons, and didn’t receive any financial backing, but they liked the concept and gave me some good advice – to focus on the high-end, luxury market and to build on our marketing differential.

I have little time to miss my old job, but I do get pangs to revisit boardroom meetings where multimillion pound deals were struck. Once Eventful Stays is going great guns, then hopefully the discussions around the board table will start again as we seek to acquire, be acquired or form strategic alliances.

To rent your property for short stays or to book accommodation for short breaks, celebrations and special occasions, visit EventfulStays.com or call 0845 519 1140. International callers dial +44 (0) 1295 738 794.