Kingston, Jamaica, August 2009
Dear holiday maker,
Thankyou for taking the time to review my online advert. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Michael and I am the landlord / owner of Villa 'Poinciana' at Latchi. I am English but live and work in Jamaica and travel a lot for work around the Caribbean and Latin America. Lucky me !!
Back in early 2007 when I was still living in the UK, I was looking at investment opportunities and had always been interested in Cyprus. Cyprus had just joined the EU and was going to move to the Euro soon. As I had for many years been a successful landlord in the UK I thaught it would be a wise opportunity as well as 'a bit of fun' to buy a place here and let out for holiday lets. I believe there is a lot of unrealised potential purely because Cyprus is situated very close to a lot of Eastern European markets that have still to expand as well as Russia/Ukraine. Remember folks that places like Bratislava, Sofia and Moscow are only a 2 hour flight from Cyprus and so its an ideal destination for a holiday. As well as the fact that they were building and expanding the infrastructure including the airports at Larnaca and Paphos.
The particular area of Latchi appealed to me purely becuase it is not as overdeveloped as Paphos and the other large tourist areas like Ayia Napa, Larnaca and Limassol which to me looked boring. The views and scenery in this area are fantastic, the villa I chose has all the views, pool, garden, sea and mountains. And when a local farmer walked his herd of goats behind the land where my villa was going to be built I was sold !!
I have not been wrong. Despite the significant problems in the global economy, the first year 2009 was a better year than I had expected with 16 weeks rental when I had only expected 10 weeks. And that was only for a part year 24 May to 31 Dec 2009. 2010 is the first full year and I am expecting better numbers as the world economy recovers and the Euro is expected to weaken further.
Make no Mistake, my number 1 aim BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE is to make sure people enjoy the villa and it lives up to and even exceeds their expectations. Again I have not been wrong as ALL my guests last year had a good time....well with the exception of 1 and that was due to a very unexpected stormy week that his family was in the villa. Sorry folks I cannot control the weather, freaky heatwaves and storms included !!! I believe in this approach because if not I cannot rely on guest's repeat business. Even if they decide not to return people will have confidence in suggesting my villa to their friends/family. My villa is marketed at rates which aim to have it let out throughout most of the tourist season in Cyprus April to November. Long term lets will be considered.
So I hope you will consider my villa for your holiday destination. There are two sets of people who I would love to thank for helping me because when I bought this villa I wasn't expecting to be posted to the Caribbean for 3+ years. My parents and my sister Lisa who helped very much last April in getting things ready for letting. And also my agents Paul and Andrea who have been very helpful in their advise and looking after the property and preparing it for my guests. They are always on hand if anything goes wrong.
Wherever you are, wherever you may go I wish you a prosperous 2010 and a happy well deserved holiday this season.
Michael
