Afternoon all,

Just wondering if anyone could share any experiences they have renting property in Spain short-term using Expedia / hotels.com, whilst living full-time in the UK?

Looking at buying a three bedroom / two bathroom apartment in Valencia once the dust has settled with/without Brexit. Not purchasing as an investment but as a second/holiday home, but exploring the possibility of using one of the big online platforms for the periods I'm not there. Any info on general experiences good or bad, how you handled check in/check out, cleaning etc.

(Did a quick search but wasn't overly helpful.)

I don't think sites such as Expedia etc actually manage the property, they're just an advertising platform. I think you'll need to get a local property management company (or a friend!) to check guests in, be on call for emergencies, cleaning, linen changes, etc.

Sorry, should have made that a bit more clear- yeah, I understand that. I was hoping for any good/bad experiences with the platform, and separately, any experiences/advice on how to handle check-in, cleaning etc. whilst being out of country. I've stayed in a couple of places where they've used those key boxes screwed to the wall which is nice and simple, I assume for cleaning between bookings they have a management company or local. Any experiences with that side would be great.

These companies are advertising brokers for individuals and letting agents. I have used air bnb a lot. You can only contact them and the host via the website for security. The landlords/hosts appear to use their own cleaners . Letting agencies appear to have their own people they use too. If it all goes pear-shaped on either side with Expedia etc, they will take nothing to do with it. just like travel broker websites. They claim that they are only advertising the product and not responsible for anything else.
I have been largely pleased with my experiences with Booking.com in terms of the choice and the process. Also the reviews are pretty accurate most of the time.
The lock boxes have to be provided by you as well as the changeover staff.
You could, as you are absent, hand the whole thing over to a letting and management agency. You will pay quite a price for this but may have piece of mind. A lot of customer complaints for some of these companies though as the rates can be confusing with add-ons for bed linen, cleaning bla bla. Also some folk find them uncaring compared with the personal touch. It is really individual choice for what meets your circumstances

I used Holiday Lettings as I found that there was a wider choice of locations. Air bnb is also good.

Booking.com in my experience tends to be hotels in the main.

Expedia and hotels.com don't offer that service.

The best is airbnb followed by homeaway, booking.com and trip advisor.

You would need a reliable trustworthy person to run it for you and it must be fully legal
and you will have to pay all your taxes.
You would need to comply with the laws of Valencia.

I actually run several properties in Granada and do everything, cleaning, marketing, key hand over etc.
The market is now very competitive and the rental would not last five minutes unless you offer a very high level of service to the public.

In Granada with a house worth about 160 000 you should be able to make 10 000 per year profit but only if you do everything right.

Thanks for the reply. I should probably edit my OP. I understand they don't offer that service and that they are a booking platform. What I was after was...

1. Advice / experiences with booking platforms ie. are they a pain in the arse with cancellations, ease of use etc.

2. Advice and experience with the non-booking side ie. how have people handled cleaning, check in and check out, experiences using locals, experiences using management firms, any risks, pros or cons etc.

As I said, I'm not looking at it as an investment and I don't need to let it out, let alone make a profit, I'm just looking into the feasibility of it.

I manage a number of properties here in Spain that are owned bu UK residents. In the main, they are rented out via HomeAway (as is my own).

HomeAway are excellend in my opinion.

Thanks for the reply. Any input on;

2. Advice and experience with the non-booking side ie. how have people handled cleaning, check in and check out, experiences using locals, experiences using management firms, any risks, pros or cons etc.

This would be a 2/3 bed apartment, very good condition in Valencia city, 10-15 mins walk to the city center / Plaza de la Reina / de la Virgen.

Most of the sites like homeaway airbnb have online forums with tons of information.
Talking about cancellations, prices, photos etc etc.

EG
This one from airbnb
https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/...409261#M101034

just google it.