Why is my Jedburgh holiday let full in summer and empty in winter?
Carlton Scott | Scottish Borders Business | 15 October 2026
Because Jedburgh’s visitor trade is tidal and most listings are not. The Abbey and Mary Queen of Scots’ House run a season of roughly April to October, and after that the summer rate and the three-night minimum are often still showing while the visitors have gone. Scotland’s self-catering average is 41% occupancy, so a winter at 20% is not failure. It is an off-season that has never been priced as one.
The town gives you plenty to sell in both halves of the year. Jedburgh Abbey and the Mary Queen of Scots’ House anchor the summer, the Borders Abbeys Way brings walkers through on its 109km circuit in every season, and the A68 puts you within an easy drive of Northumberland and Edinburgh. Walkers and off-season drivers book late, stay two nights and care far more about a drying room than a view.
What occupancy should a self-catering property in Scotland expect?
Around 41%. Savills’ May 2026 research puts average self-catering occupancy in Scotland at 41% for 2025, down slightly from 41.6% the year before, so a property at 41% is doing nothing remarkable and one at 55% is doing well. Occupancy on its own misleads, though: a let at 60% on a low nightly rate can earn less than one at 45% priced properly. Track occupancy and average nightly rate together, month by month, because the pair decides the year and either one alone flatters or frightens.
How much does it cost to renew a short-term let licence?
In the Scottish Borders the same as a new one: £417 for up to three guests, £465 for four to six and £537 for seven or more, each covering three years, on the council’s current fee list. That is well below the Scotland-wide average of over £1,000 the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers found in 2023. Apply before the licence expires rather than after, because the council is clear that a late renewal has consequences for trading.
What we see in Borders holiday lets is that owners watch occupancy and not the rate, so a full calendar can hide a poor year. The profitable lets charge properly for the weeks people fight over, cost the changeover in full, and stop paying platform commission on guests who would have booked direct.
How profitable is a holiday let really?
Less than the gross suggests. Sykes Holiday Cottages’ 2026 Holiday Letting Outlook puts the average owner’s gross income at £25,600 for 2025, and its own cost lines take roughly £7,400 of that before any mortgage: bills £2,140, changeovers £1,190, maintenance £1,580, tax and licensing £1,450 and marketing £1,000. What is left is decided by three numbers you control: the nightly rate, the shoulder-month occupancy, and what the booking platforms keep. Know all three for your own property before believing any average.
Why has my rates bill jumped so much in 2026?
Because the 2026 revaluation hit self-catering harder than any other trade: rateable values for self-catering rose 88% overall, on the Association of Scotland’s Self-Caterers’ January 2026 analysis, far more than pubs, cafés or shops, and unmetered water charges rose alongside them. Check the new rateable value against your actual income, appeal it if it is wrong, claim the Small Business Bonus if you qualify, and then price the nights to carry whatever is left.
How much does a business coach cost in the Scottish Borders?
Between £500 and £3,500 a month plus VAT for one-to-one coaching, depending on the coach’s experience, according to Alan Wick’s May 2026 guide to UK coaching fees, and the bill runs for as long as the coaching does. What moves the price of any advice is how much of the work the adviser does for you: coaching talks you through it, and a fixed-fee diagnose-and-fix piece of work goes through the numbers with you and makes the changes. The Profit Clarity Framework is the second kind: a fixed £1,495 + VAT for 30 days on your property’s real numbers, and nothing after that.
For a Jedburgh let the 30 days usually start with the winter rate, because the season was never the part that needed fixing.
Where can a Jedburgh holiday let owner get help with the numbers?
That’s exactly what the Profit Clarity Framework™ does: a 30-day diagnose-and-fix process on your real numbers at the fixed fee above, built for owners who do their own changeovers, and it leaves you with a more profitable let. We’ve set out how it works for the town’s properties on our Jedburgh holiday let page, including how little of your time it takes and what we’d need to start. There’s also an overview of the framework for holiday lets, and the same numbers at work in a commuter town in our Galashiels café article, and the same numbers across the street in our Jedburgh hair salon article. Most clients who commit to the framework and follow our recommendations see a full return on the fee within 90 days.
Photo © Adrian Taylor, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph (geograph.org.uk/photo/8384561)