Homeowners, we started Beside the Sea Holidays in 2009 because we wanted our own guests to have the very best experience and to feel genuinely cared for when staying in our coastal holiday home. We knew that if guests felt looked after – from their very first enquiry to the moment they (reluctantly!) handed the keys back – they’d be inclined to leave rave reviews, book again and tell their friends.

Owning a home in Camber Sands is a privilege, but managing one is a challenge. The salt, the sand and the seasons demand a level of attention that remote agencies simply cannot provide.

At Beside The Sea Holidays, we are not a faceless national aggregator or a distant tech franchise. We are Sophie and Richard, your neighbours. We founded this agency in 2009 with a simple mission: to treat every property on our portfolio with the same love, care and obsession for detail as we do our own.

That is still our mission today, whether it’s our home or yours in the frame. The only difference is that, alongside our family-run approach, we now use powerful AI tools and specialist dynamic pricing technology behind the scenes to help your property perform at its best all year round.

We’re now looking for more high-quality coastal properties in East Sussex and Kent – especially around Camber Sands – to join our carefully curated portfolio.

Why join Beside the Sea Holidays?

Letting your coastal holiday cottage through Beside the Sea Holidays means joining a family-run business founded on a passion for guest experience and a modern, data-driven approach to marketing and pricing.

We live and breathe life by the sea, appreciating its role in shaping the kind of holiday memories people want to repeat time and again. We’ve also been a part of the holiday rental industry long enough to understand its nuts, bolts and nuances, as well as what guests really expect when choosing holiday lettings.

Add to that our investment in AI and dynamic pricing, and you have a team that knows exactly how each coastal holiday home can do more to attract and delight guests – while delivering market-leading occupancy and revenue for our owners in the Camber area and along the Kent and East Sussex coast.

What makes us different

For starters, we care. And we’re not just saying that. Our own Camber Sands holiday cottages are part of the Beside the Sea Holidays portfolio, which means we treat you and your holiday property like one of our own.

We know that for many of you, this isn’t just an investment asset – it’s a cherished second home. Our Complete Care Cottage Company model is designed to protect that asset while maximising your revenue.

1. Boots on the Ground (Literally)

Camber is unique. The sand and salty air that draws visitors is also the enemy of your drainage and flooring. Because we live in the village, we catch issues before they become disasters. If a boiler breaks in January or a storm hits in February, we are there in minutes, not hours.

2. Quality Over Quantity

We are intentionally exclusive. We don’t want 500 properties; we want the right properties. By keeping our portfolio curated, we ensure that your home receives specific, hands-on attention. We know every quirk of your house, from the way the back door locks to the specific setting on the heating.

3. High-Value Guests for High-Value Homes

We target the “Design Seeker” and the “Lifestyle Family” – guests who book with us because they want a boutique hotel experience in a self-catering home. By positioning your property as a premium *home* rather than a commodity *rental*, we achieve higher Average Daily Rates (ADR) and attract guests who respect your furniture.

Coastal cottages and nothing else

We do what it says on the tin: our portfolio focuses on coastal cottages and beachside accommodation. If your Kent cottage is on the seafront or your East Sussex holiday home is just a short stroll from the sea, it will feel perfectly at home with us.

Kent and Sussex experts

We live in Camber Sands – East Sussex and Kent is our home. Our son Arthur goes to school in the local village, Sophie runs her way around the area almost every day, and we make a point of walking Dougal, our dog (and exhausting Arthur!) on the weekends amidst the vast open spaces on our doorstep.

We know the local wineries, publicans, café and restaurant owners, and we make a point of being part of the community personally and as a business.

Whatever your guests want to know. Wherever they want to go. However adventurous or solitary they wish to be, we’ll know where to point them for an experience to remember as part of their stay.

Guest experience

We believe that guest communication and guest experience are two of the most important parts of how much people enjoy their stay.

Our digital guest welcome books ensure guests’ questions are answered before they even think of them – and that they can plan their stay and book restaurants or venue tickets well in advance.

“4.9/5 Google Rating | Family Run Since 2009”

Smarter tech, same personal touch

Behind the scenes, we lean heavily on advanced AI tools and specialist revenue-management software to support the decisions we make for your property.

These tools help us to:

– Analyse booking patterns, demand and pacing through the year

– React quickly to changes driven by weather, events, school holidays and travel disruption

– Continually refine pricing, discounts and minimum-stay rules

– Fine-tune listing titles, descriptions and content so your cottage stands out and converts more searches into bookings

The tech is clever, but the way we use it is simple: to support the same warm, personal service our guests and owners have always enjoyed.

Our help and guidance

Many of our homeowners live far from the East Sussex and Kent coast, which further emphasises the importance of communication and their trust in us to look after their second homes and holiday lets.

We’re on the doorstep and we only work with the highest-quality partners to clean, maintain and present your home in its greatest light. We can advise you on all the requirements – from fire risk assessments to PAT testing and public liability insurance – and action them for you too.

Our Complete Care Cottage Company ticks all the necessary and nice-to-have boxes, so you don’t have to lift a finger or even a thought.

Marketing your holiday home

Simply by joining our portfolio, you increase the visibility of your coastal holiday cottage. But why stop there?

We combine a strong online presence with AI-driven insight and dynamic pricing to ensure your property is seen – and booked – by the right guests at the right times.

Our online presence

Starting with our own website, our Google-approved partner ensures we’re always aligned with updates and committed to on-page best practice, so we reach your ideal guests with the right messages.

We layer this with blogs, local guides, email marketing and social media, all focused on Camber Sands and coastal escapes in Kent and East Sussex. AI tools help us understand which search terms, pages and pieces of content perform best, so we’re constantly refining and improving how and where your cottage appears online.

AI-powered dynamic pricing & revenue management

Pricing a holiday cottage well is no longer as simple as “high in summer, low in winter”. Demand in Camber and along the Kent & East Sussex coast can change day by day based on weather, school holidays, rail strikes, local events and even airline prices.

To stay ahead, we use specialist dynamic pricing technology, combined with our on-the-ground knowledge of Camber Sands and the surrounding area. This allows us to adjust prices, discounts and minimum-stay rules automatically in response to real-world demand, rather than setting rates once a year and hoping for the best.

This approach helps to:

– Capture higher nightly rates when demand spikes – without putting off the right guests

– Offer attractive value in quieter periods to keep occupancy strong

– Avoid under-pricing key peak dates or over-pricing off-peak stays

– Continuously optimise performance instead of relying on “set and forget” pricing

This blend of smart tech and local insight is a big part of why our owners enjoy strong occupancy and revenue, not just in peak school-holiday weeks but across the whole year.

How we promote Beside the Sea Holidays

We do very little paid advertising. Credit for that goes to the optimisation of our site, the quality of our portfolio and the positive word of mouth it generates.

We also secure coverage in the right newspapers, magazines and online publications through our relationships with journalists and bloggers, and we occasionally run competitions and giveaways to reach niche audiences who are a perfect fit for our coastal cottages.

Listing on third party websites

We are long-time supporters of booking direct, which is why we invest heavily in our own online presence. But we also know that many guests begin their search on the major Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), so we maintain a strong, well-managed presence across leading platforms including Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and Plum Guide, as well as other carefully selected sites where they add value for your property.

Our dynamic pricing approach ensures your property is consistently and competitively priced on these platforms too, helping us capture high-intent guests who might not otherwise have discovered Beside The Sea Holidays – while still encouraging repeat guests to book directly with us in future.

Services built around you

We handle the “boring stuff” so you can enjoy the revenue.

Compliance shield

We organise your Fire Risk Assessments, PAT testing and Gas Safety certificates, ensuring you are always legal in a changing regulatory landscape. We can advise you on all the requirements – from fire risk assessments to public liability insurance – and action them for you too.

In-house housekeeping and maintenance

We don’t rely on the lowest bidder. Our “posse” of housekeepers and tradespeople are loyal, trusted and know our standards inside out.

Our Complete Care Cottage Company ticks all the necessary and nice-to-have boxes, so you don’t have to lift a finger or even a thought.

Owner flexibility

It’s your home. We offer flexible owner booking allowances so you can enjoy the summer sun or a winter Christmas in your own property. We even prepare the house for your arrival just as we would for a paying guest.

For Camber Sands holiday home owners

Owners in Camber have more choice than ever when it comes to letting agents. What sets Beside The Sea Holidays apart is the combination of three things: we live here, we invest heavily in AI and dynamic pricing technology, and we have a proven track record of strong occupancy and revenue for our owners.

– Local, lived experience – we know Camber Sands, the beach, the weather patterns and the quirks of travelling here because we experience them ourselves every day.

– Data-driven decisions – we use AI and advanced reporting to track performance, refine pricing and spot opportunities to increase your income.

– Clear, friendly communication – we’re on first-name terms with our owners and we share performance insights in a way that’s transparent and easy to understand.

If you already let through another Camber agent and are wondering whether your property could be performing better, we’d be delighted to take a confidential look at your current occupancy and revenue and share how our approach compares.

What our owners say

Our owners consistently tell us that they value our combination of local knowledge, hands-on care and strong financial performance. You can also explore many more independent guest and owner reviews through our review partners.

Holiday letting management local expertise national coverage

How to become a part of Beside the Sea Holidays

We are currently looking for distinctive coastal properties in Camber Sands, Rye and the immediate coast to join our portfolio.

If you are looking for an agent who will protect your asset like it’s their own, maximise your yield through smart dynamic pricing, and communicate with you as a person rather than a number, we would love to chat.

If you have a holiday home along the Kent and East Sussex coast that you would like to rent out with Beside The Sea Holidays, we (Sophie and Richard) would love to hear from you. Of course, if you simply have questions in the first instance, we’re happy to answer those too.

When you get in touch, we can provide a no-obligation review of your property’s current pricing and performance, and talk you through how our AI-powered, locally run approach could work for you. Whether you’re buying your first coastal holiday home, switching from another agent or moving from self-management, we’re here to make things simple and reassuring.