£27m generated for second home owners in January

£27m generated for second home owners in January

Wed 4 February 2009

Holidaylettings.co.uk, the UK’s busiest holiday home website for holiday home accommodation worldwide, experienced a record month in January, generating an estimated £27m for its holiday home advertisers in the first month of the year as website visitors and booking enquiries for the month rose 20 per cent year-on-year.

More than 100,000 booking enquiries for holiday home accommodation were sent through the site in January generating sales of over £27m in the first month of the year. Across the whole of 2009 this figure is forecast to exceed a quarter of a billion pounds and generate each private holiday home owner around £10,000 in additional income¹.

January facts & figures:
- Two million people visited the site in January – up 20 per cent year-on-year
- 107,824 booking enquiries sent through holidaylettings.co.uk – up 20 per cent year-on-year
- One third of those enquiries were for holiday dates in July and August
- Enquiries for UK holiday home accommodation up 77 per cent year-on-year
- One quarter of enquiries were for holidays in Spain

Ross Elder, managing director of holidaylettings.co.uk, comments: “Holiday home letting is the fastest growing sector of the travel industry. As the leading holiday home website Holiday Lettings has more than tripled in size in the last 18 months, as a reflection of the industry’s rapid growth. Holiday home letting is still a relatively fresh concept and so we dedicate huge resources towards supporting holiday home owners to maximise rental income and also in promoting the key benefits of renting a holiday home to the public. This year alone we are spending £1.5m on an integrated marketing campaign highlighting the benefits of staying in a holiday home. The value for money aspect is undeniable: as much as 50 per cent cheaper per person over a hotel stay² as well as more room to sleep relax and enjoy their holiday in a space of their own.”

The UK’s busiest holiday home website:
- Independently ranked as the UK’s busiest holiday home website³
- Holiday homes advertised on holidaylettings.co.uk are viewed three times more than adverts hosted on our closest UK rival
- The only British-owned major player in the holiday home letting marketplace
- Further growth of 50 per cent expected in 2009

-ends-

Notes to Editors
1. Based on one third of enquiries converting into bookings and an average value of each booking being £700
2. Source: Holidaylettings.co.uk Holidaymaker Survey, May 2008
3. Source: Hitwise ranking by UK visits to ‘book direct with owner’ holiday home websites, January 2009

About Holiday Lettings:

Holidaylettings.co.uk provides an effective means of online advertising for holiday homeowners and a user-friendly search tool for holidaymakers to book accommodation direct with owners. There are currently more than 30,000 holiday homes to choose from in 114 countries worldwide.

Established in 1999, holidaylettings.co.uk is the UK's most visited holiday home website attracting in excess of 1 million visitors each month; and is part of FTSE 250 company Rightmove.co.uk.

Contact details:
Public Relations Team
Kate Stinchcombe
+44 (0)1865 312010
Click here to email the PR Team