Cheap flights, better value accommodation, greater flexibility and more personal customer service are driving enormous growth in the private villa rental marketplace, according to Ross Elder managing director of holidaylettings.co.uk: “There’s no doubt the ‘staycation’ has been huge this year, but the popularity of the UK has not been to the detriment of other destinations. Accommodation enquiries are up 40 per cent year on year across the board, demonstrating growth in the ‘book direct with owner’ market where space, privacy, freedom and value prevail.”…
Cheap flights, better value accommodation, greater flexibility and more personal customer service are driving enormous growth in the private villa rental marketplace, according to Ross Elder managing director of holidaylettings.co.uk: “There’s no doubt the ‘staycation’ has been huge this year, but the popularity of the UK has not been to the detriment of other destinations. Accommodation enquiries are up 40 per cent year on year across the board, demonstrating growth in the ‘book direct with owner’ market where space, privacy, freedom and value prevail.”
Demand for UK breaks has almost doubled this year with over 150,000 enquiries sent for ‘staycation’ accommodation. However, Spain remains the most popular country for renting a private holiday home attracting a third more enquiries than the UK; while France, Portugal and Italy fall in behind the UK also demonstrating stellar year on year increases. Fresh favourites climbing the popularity ladder in 2009 include Turkey (70% growth), Croatia (120%), Egypt (74%) and Malta (74%).
The last minute market has kept home owners on their toes until later in the season this year but it has proven to be a reliable source of bookings in the long run. During the peak periods of June, July and August there were 150,000 searches a week for special offers, with an average 600 homes offering last minute discounts at any one time throughout the period.
Despite the last minute rush experienced this summer, advance enquiries for holidays next summer are up 43 per cent. In the race for securing early deposits, homes in Turkey lead the way with two thirds of enquiries about the country in September being for 2010 dates. Homes in Florida, Portugal and Cyprus follow in 2010 popularity stakes so far.
The explosion in popularity of self-catering holidays across the globe is well timed for the thousands of second home owners who need to earn an income from the holiday homes they make little use of or are unable to sell. In a recent survey of its holiday home advertisers, Holiday Lettings discovered that 45 per cent of owners are paying off mortgages on their second homes, a fifth of which have loans exceeding 75 per cent LTV. Many do, however, make a reasonable profit.
Holiday Lettings estimates that its 20,000 private advertisers will earn in excess of £300m in rental income from enquiries generated through the website in 2009. Not only does this demonstrate the value of this marketplace to private holiday home owners, it also highlights the growing significance of this marketplace within the travel industry as a whole.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
