Della and her team in Bath are reporting buoyant feedback from villa and apartment owners booking space in Holiday Villas magazine and on www.villaseek.com. Bookings are looking good, despite – or perhaps because of – the financial downturn.
Many people seem to be turning their backs on expensive cruises, five star hotels and the like – too expensive in a recession. But in general they’re not abandoning their main holiday (as a report out today by PricewaterhouseCoopers makes clear). Instead they’re after better value – and flexibility. They are turning to villas and apartment.
Owners say they’re receiving more enquiries and, more importantly, firm bookings. And we’re upbeat, too, because we’ve always said that booking your holiday direct with the owner is the best way to get a fantastic holiday home at a brilliant price. There is no middle man to take a cut and you get to speak to the owners direct, which means more flexibility with dates and price. Sometimes an owner can fit a booking around a non weekend arrival – when cheap flights are more plentiful.
Also, increasingly, people are asking about things like washing machines, hair driers, books and toiletries. Well equipped villas and apartments can lead travellers to decide to take hand luggage only – because it’s checking in a suitcase that bumps up the cost of flying. Many owners will do their best to get in provisions like coffee and tea bags and even shampoo and soap so that their visitors can travel light.
Most of us are more savvy now about how to make sure the cheap flights advertised actually are cheap: no frills flights are at their cheapest – even free – if you check in on line and take only hand luggage.
We’ll be writing more about how to get the cheapest flights very soon.
*The survey for PricewaterhouseCoopers was carried out by ICM Research. For more information go to www.pwc.com
