According to UK’s leading holiday rentals website, HomeAway.co.uk, contemporary travelers are becoming more willing to organize their own holidays in order to achieve desired results.
Photo courtesy Wikipedia
The era when travel agents were taking care of our vacations seems long gone. Nowadays, more and more holidaymakers prefer to do their own research, book accommodations directly from owners and assemble the holidays themselves. As expected, this savvy traveler behavior has led to extraordinary success for holiday rental websites like HomeAway.co.uk. Consequently, over the last years, the site has experienced a remarkable upturn in booking inquiries, especially in Europe and UK. An analysis on year-on-year growth in inquiries placed on HomeAway.co.uk revealed that 2012 was the year of Germans (+71%), Dutch (+44%) and Croatians (+24%).
As stated by Radius Global Market Research, the holiday rental market in Europe (UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy) is currently valued at £20.7bn, of which £4.7bn belong to the UK. With an experience of over 17 years in this sector, it’s no mistake in saying that HomeAway.co.uk has played an important role in the development of the UK’s holiday rental market .
“Holidaymakers have significantly decreased their dependency on the traditional travel agent for holiday bookings along with the no-research-required package holiday that they traditionally offer” […] HomeAway.co.uk caters for this by cutting out the middle man as holiday seekers can reference independent guest reviews and book directly with the property owner via our site.”, says Andy Cockburn, Regional Director of HomeAway UK.
A recent survey by HomeAway.co.uk on 500 UK respondents reveals that a third of people choose to pack up their holiday themselves. Moreover, this trend in holiday bookings is confirmed by further studies including Euromonitor’s New World Travel Market 2012 research and nVision’s 2012 survey, which has discovered that only 30% of people prefer hotels.
Personal Catering – The new travel buzzword for 2013
The “authenticity seekers”, how the leading consumer trend forecasters Future Foundation has branded the new type of holidaymakers give rise to a new tendency in the direct rental market: Personal Catering. Consequently, HomeAway.co.uk predicts this to become the travel buzzword for 2013.
“The desire for self-tailored holidays means holidaymakers seek properties that offer more luxurious hotel-style standards and bespoke services. This could be anything from a butler, private photographer or concierge to babysitting and housekeeping services. Today’s holidaymaker is very discerning. There’s much more focus on interior design within holiday properties, too, yet rental prices still remain competitive by comparison.”, says Andy Cockburn HomeAway UK Regional Director.
Boasting an amazing portfolio of over 320,000 holiday rentals worldwide, HomeAway.co.uk stands as an excellent option for travelers willing to replace the costly, old-fashioned vacation packages with the authentic experiences that come with a holiday rental.
According to the holiday rental specialist HomeAway.co.uk , Top 10 Emerging Destinations for 2013 include: Holland, with an increase of 245% year-on-year, Montenegro (150%), Sweden (100%), UK, Iceland, Germany, Croatia, Greece, Austria and Morocco.
Top 3 Destinations For 2013
1. Rhone-Alpes (January-March)
2. Florida (April-June)
3. Balearic Islands (July-September)
