Romantic Weddings and Proposals in Luxury Villas Across Croatia
In recent years, Croatia has become one of the most sought-after destinations in Europe for organizing luxury weddings and romantic proposals.
The typical villa owners in Croatia are people who invest their surplus money earned from other jobs in building a villa or people who inherited land or a house that they converted for rent. Whichever type of owner you are, below we bring you a few useful things that you need to think about before starting construction, adapting an existing house or buying a ready-made house.
Expectations in terms of return on investment
We believe that the first and basic step is to define your own expectations from the villa in terms of return on investment. By this, we consider that you determine whether you are perhaps the type of person who operates the villa primarily for your own pleasure and you are not burdened by the speed of return on the investment, and therefore not by the number of occupancy days. Another type of person would be a person who financed part of the investment through debt and their main goal is to achieve the fastest possible return, or are you the type of person somewhere between the two examples mentioned. The reason why we think it is important to define this at the beginning is that, you should plan all important things like the location itself, the level of decoration, contents, house rules, cooperation with agencies and so on according to your expectations.
What type of guests you want to attract
This is one of the things that few people think about in advance, and we think it's also an important issue. Depending on the type of guests you want to attract, you should also plan the location itself, the level of decoration and equipment. For example, if you would prefer guests from Slovenia and Austria who mostly come to the sea by car, you should look for a location for the villa in Istria or Kvarner in order to have the shortest possible distance from the home of that type of guests. If you want to attract younger generations, then it would be preferable to plan a location near the rich nightlife and various festivals, such as Novalja or Split. If you prefer families with children, then it would be best for the house to have a completely fenced property and a playground for children. Also, a large number of guests have pets with whom they plan to vacation, and if you want to attract as many guests as possible, it would be advisable to allow pets to stay. If you want to attract wealthy guests and achieve high rental prices, then in addition to the decoration itself, you should also take care of the proximity of the airport, because such guests mostly travel by plane. In addition, it would be desirable to have a concierge service ready so that guests can organize private transfers, boat rentals, private chefs, excursions, groceries, nanny services, etc. for an additional fee...
Location and micro location
The choice of location itself and micro location should be chosen after you have defined the previous two points from this article. So, for example, if you have defined that you are primarily building a house for your own pleasure, and everything you rent along the way comes in handy, then you will choose the location according to your personal preferences. If you are building or buying a house in order to achieve the fastest possible return on your investment, then you need to thoroughly research the area itself and the competition in that area. Research how much demand there is for homes in the area, and how much supply there is. Check how the houses in the area are decorated, what they have in terms of contents, what prices they achieve and what their average occupancy rate is. Generally speaking, Istria definitely has the largest offer of holiday homes, but also the highest demand due to the proximity of the residences of the most frequent guests from Slovenia, Austria and Germany. In addition to the aforementioned guests, Istria also attracts a large number of domestic guests and certainly has the longest tourist season of all other regions. If we compare the average realized prices among similar villas in Istria, they are lower than in Dalmatia and Dubrovnik. The same rules apply to the Kvarner region as to Istria, because of its proximity it is always attractive and has a long season, and compared to Istria, the supply of villas is smaller, but so is the demand for them. Dubrovnik definitely achieves the highest rental prices due to wealthy guests who arrive on vacation by plane. The offer of houses for rent in the area of Dubrovnik is very small compared to all other regions, primarily due to limited space, and almost all luxury villas in the area of Dubrovnik have a concierge service. Thus, the guests of these villas can have organized private transfers, a private chef, boat rentals and the like for an additional fee. On the other hand, villas located on the islands primarily attract families and guests who want a vacation with as much peace and privacy as possible. On average, such villas record longer average guest stays, but also a shorter season, i.e. less occupancy in the off-season compared to the villas on the coast.
As for micro locations, foreign tourists mostly prefer villas that are close to the sea so that they can walk to the beach without using a car. As a rule, villas near the sea always obtain higher prices than similar villas inland. Villas at seafront get even higher prices than those close to the sea and most often have direct access to the sea, which allows guests to swim and refresh themselves in the sea whenever they want without prior preparation. If you are planning to build or buy a house for rent in the interior, then we definitely suggest that the house has a nice panoramic view or that you equip the house with as many additional facilities as possible in order to provide guests with additional activities and "compensate for the lack of proximity to the sea".
Facilities
In general, every additional facility raises the quality of the house's offer, and thus the price it can achieve. An additional feature that is certainly the most desirable and has already become standard in over 90% of houses is a swimming pool. In the vast majority of holiday homes you will find an outdoor pool, and it is definitely recommended that the pool has the option of heating so that it can be in operation for as long as possible. In addition to the heating function, some pools have the option of massage and counter-current swimming. After the swimming pool, an additional facility that is in great demand is the Jacuzzi. Most of the villas have outdoor Jacuzzis, and if you want to position the Jacuzzi inside the villa, it is recommended that it be next to a glass wall through which you can see the outside. Also, it would be desirable if the glass wall could be opened so that guests could enjoy fresh air while bathing. In addition to swimming pools and Jacuzzis, the following amenities that are most common in luxury villas are saunas and exercise equipment. If you plan to attract younger guests and those with a sporty spirit, exercise equipment is definitely recommended. The sauna is a sought-after additional facility that is still used more in the off-season than in the high-season itself. If you want to attract guests even in the off-season, the Spa area with an indoor pool, sauna and Jacuzzi will definitely help you with that. If you want to attract families with children, it would be useful to make a playground for children and a trampoline. Additional facilities such as billiards, table tennis, darts, PlayStation and the like are always welcome to provide guests with additional entertainment. Looking at today's trends in the form of an increase in the number of electric vehicles, it is recommended that you install a charger for electric vehicles on your property, which the owners of such vehicles will greatly appreciate. Also, considering that currently a relatively small number of houses have this option, it will certainly be an additional advantage for you when choosing. If you have a large property, stand out from the crowd and make a tennis court or mini golf course.
As far as bedrooms are concerned, it is always recommended that each bedroom has its own bathroom, and if you plan to achieve higher rental prices, then this is mandatory. In all luxury villas with 5 stars, bathrooms are located within the bedrooms themselves, as in hotels, so-called En Suite bathrooms. If you want to further increase the level of equipment, it is recommended to put a bathtub in the bathroom in addition to the shower. Many people enjoy taking a bath and reading their favorite books before going to bed, especially when they are on vacation and have enough time to relax.
As for the equipment of the villa, the coffee machine is a device that almost 99% of the villas have available to the guests, and if you plan to have a family with children, a cot is a very useful thing. Bicycles are convenient and practical if the house is located in a place with less traffic, especially if there are various trails nearby, which will be appreciated by guests who like to spend their vacation actively. If you have a vacation home that is mostly occupied by families or couples who usually prepare their own meals, then it would be useful to have a well-equipped kitchen. So, in addition to basic things such as an oven, a baking plate and a refrigerator, we also suggest a dishwasher, microwave, toaster, blender, kettle and certainly a quality set of dishes. Barbecue and equipment for using the barbecue is almost the standard that the vast majority of houses have in their offer. Every house should also have a laundry room so that guests can always have clean clothes without worry. A washing machine and an iron are a must, and a dryer is definitely recommended. It is definitely necessary to provide guests with a sufficient number of hand towels, bath towels and bed linen, and in addition, it is necessary to provide a change of bed linen and towels at least once a week for stays longer than a week.
Decoration
The style and level of decoration are very important issues, especially if you plan to decorate a luxury villa and want to achieve high rental prices, in which case we definitely recommend hiring professional architects and designers. Unless you are an architect or designer yourself, it is not realistic to expect that you arrange the interior yourself, mostly with furniture from Ikea and similar stores, and then expect to achieve high rental prices. Before hiring a professional designer, it is definitely necessary to have a clear vision of what you want or at least some idea of what you would like so that you can give clear guidelines to the designer. As far as the decoration style is concerned, younger guests generally prefer modern design, while older generations appreciate rustic style with antique furniture, although there are no rules. Keep in mind that the interior design should be harmonized with the exterior design, so if you are adapting an existing old stone house, it would be desirable for the interior to follow the rustic style. Most of the villas today are built in a modern style, which in most cases is easier to implement because of the furniture and other details. What is certainly a potential disadvantage of modern design is that it is mostly done according to some trends, and therefore there is a great possibility that in 10 years such a design will look outdated.
More useful tipps in the next article…
