Organiser's notes
New Year is short, expensive and booked early. Three or four nights over the 31st is the normal let, and many houses price it as a fixed break rather than by the night. The from-price on the card is the low-season weekly rate; the New Year price will be different, so click through before you tell anyone a number.
Say it is New Year with a group of friends. Houses that welcome celebrations will be fine with a midnight toast and music indoors. Most still have a quiet rule for outside after 11pm or midnight, and fireworks are almost always banned; farms have animals and thatched roofs burn.
Hot tub at midnight is the thing everyone pictures. Check the tub takes more than four people, whether there is a heating charge, and whether it is switched off overnight. Houses with a hot tub and a games room are at the top of the grid.
Getting there on the 30th. Trains are thin and roads are busy between Christmas and New Year. A house near a city (see the party houses pages by city) is easier for people coming from different directions. Check the drive on the agency page postcode, not just the region.
Food and drink for four days for 14 is a lot of shopping. Plan one big delivery to the house on arrival day; most supermarkets deliver to holiday lets if you add the house name and a phone number.
Noise and neighbours. A detached house with land is worth paying for at New Year. A terrace of cottages with other guests next door is not.
Deposit and split. A security deposit of several hundred pounds is standard. Agree the per-head figure before you book and decide now what happens if someone drops out at Christmas, because someone will.
Sorted hot tub and games room first, then by size. Dates and the New Year price are on the agency page.
