Holiday bookings down considerably

BungalowBel

Pennylane said:

DiamondLil said:

@Pennylane - whereabouts in the country is your holiday let ?

We've been searching for B&B and/or holiday lets in the UK and can't find anywhere not fully booked.

North Norfolk.  

We are staying in central Norwich from this  Saturday to Wednesday in a 'deluxe room with private entrance and garden view'. It has ensuite bathroom, kitchenette, TV with  satellite channels and Netflix, free parking.  We have paid £300.  Don't know how that compares to yours.

I agree holidaying in the UK is expensive compared to going to (e.g.) Spain.  We have booked a house in central Granada for next September (2024) and it has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a swimming pool, parking, all mod cons, is full of antiques and overlooks the Alhambra Palace.  For a week it is around £1000.  Sunshine guaranteed.

I love North Norfolk.

RelievedSheff

Noneforit999 said:

Pennylane said:

Update, received two bookings this morning. 1 x 7 nights (July) and 1 x 4 nights (Aug).  Sept is already full.  Hopefully we’ll get a few more.

To the person who suggested not taking dogs, we considered this carefully when we started out.  We mainly get couples and I should think half bring a small-medium dog which we charge extra for. They are usually keen walkers and are out and about with their dog every day.  I think if we didn’t take dogs we would lose a lot of business.  The vast majority you would not know there has been a dog in the house.  I leave a dog bowl in case they forget, dog towels in the shed, dog treats and dog poo bags.  The garden is completely secure. 

I agree on the dog front, many people have dogs and that is the reason they holiday in the UK. Ours can't be put in a kennel so our alternative would be to pay someone to house sit while we are away which we do when we go abroad but its £45 per night so having the ability to holiday in the UK and take the dog is a huge benefit for us.

I don't actually know many dog owners who are prepared to use kennels and we have several friends who book UK trips because they can take their dogs. Sure, its not the bigger market but there is a market for it so if you are not near maximum capacity now, not allowing dogs is not going to help. 

We would never leave our dog in kennels, he is part of the family so comes on holiday with us. But that needn't mean you have to stay in the UK.

Our dog is coming to France with us in the not too distant future. We were at the vets last night sorting out the relevant paperwork. He will travel with us in the motorhome on the tunnel and for him there will be very little difference from if he was in the UK.

GDB2222

RelievedSheff said:

Noneforit999 said:

Pennylane said:

Update, received two bookings this morning. 1 x 7 nights (July) and 1 x 4 nights (Aug).  Sept is already full.  Hopefully we’ll get a few more.

To the person who suggested not taking dogs, we considered this carefully when we started out.  We mainly get couples and I should think half bring a small-medium dog which we charge extra for. They are usually keen walkers and are out and about with their dog every day.  I think if we didn’t take dogs we would lose a lot of business.  The vast majority you would not know there has been a dog in the house.  I leave a dog bowl in case they forget, dog towels in the shed, dog treats and dog poo bags.  The garden is completely secure. 

I agree on the dog front, many people have dogs and that is the reason they holiday in the UK. Ours can't be put in a kennel so our alternative would be to pay someone to house sit while we are away which we do when we go abroad but its £45 per night so having the ability to holiday in the UK and take the dog is a huge benefit for us.

I don't actually know many dog owners who are prepared to use kennels and we have several friends who book UK trips because they can take their dogs. Sure, its not the bigger market but there is a market for it so if you are not near maximum capacity now, not allowing dogs is not going to help. 

We would never leave our dog in kennels, he is part of the family so comes on holiday with us. But that needn't mean you have to stay in the UK.

Our dog is coming to France with us in the not too distant future. We were at the vets last night sorting out the relevant paperwork. He will travel with us in the motorhome on the tunnel and for him there will be very little difference from if he was in the UK.

Unless you've taught your dog to speak French, I'm struggling to think of any differences?

lookstraightahead

RelievedSheff said:

lookstraightahead said:

RelievedSheff said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

RelievedSheff said:

We have just returned home from a 9 night trip to Norfolk and Suffolk with our motorhome and there was certainly no signs of staying at home and not spending. 

Everywhere we visited was busy and thriving. Sites were busy, pubs and restaurants were busy.

If people are cutting back we certainly didn't see any evidence of it!

Some people definitely still have money to spend. It would interesting to see what the percentage of 🇬🇧 was struggling with bills v those who have cash to spend.

From what we have seen I really do think that the media is over hyping (not like them at all) the percentage of people who are struggling. 

They are trying to talk down the economy.

People are likely getting into more debt. Gone are the days of everyone cutting their cloth to fit.

I'm not so sure that is the case.

Yes I'm sure there are some people who are struggling at the extreme end of the scale. But for the vast majority life just carries on.

What's the extreme end of the scale? 

Bonniepurple

I have just booked our October half term holiday, which is when we usually go away (out of season therefore cheaper!).  A few years ago to get the week we wanted in the cottage that we wanted we had to book 12 months in advance - I can remember calling to book it as we left one year.  This year, both properties were available.  It’s nothing special- a cottage in West Wales, but we love the place and have holidayed there for 20 years.

Divorcing_Dad

p00hsticks said:

Pennylane said:

Update, received two bookings this morning. 1 x 7 nights (July) and 1 x 4 nights (Aug).  Sept is already full.  Hopefully we’ll get a few more.

That's another point when your target market is generally retired. 
Once we've finished work and don't need to book time off months in advance. we're more flexible on where and when we go and so can wait until the last minute to see what bargains might crop up. 

I've just had details of a friend of a friends South Somerset holiday let come up on Facebook - they have availability for all but one week in July and August, and have dropped their prices in an effort to get people in.     

I'm not sure all the target market is retired folk.
We're far from retired, but are empty nesters. Many of our friends (some younger), don't have kids at all and have no plans to.

We make the most of the cheaper rates and usually take our holidays in early March, late June / early July and then early September.

We also have a dog.

For those saying about kennels, I agree the dog is part of our family and we take her wherever possible. But we do have usually a week a year where that just isn't possible. Ours has never ever been in a kennel and I'd never consider this. We found with sitters that they're often not there all day.

We use a dog walker (well, it's actually a company - she was 3 employees) who has a "hotel" type service (so the dog lives in their house with them and their dogs). Frankly, our dog has has a way better time than we do - last time we did this, I got 75 pictures back, each one of them, you could just tell she was loving life.

I does help that we live in the New Forest and because our walker does this full time, our dog gets about 8 hours a day jumping in puddles and gets some doggy friends to play with in the evening.

Costs are £25 a day.

MobileSaver

BobT36 said:

MobileSaver said:
has resulted in my monthly bill more than halving to £500 a month.

The heck, mate. TO £500? Mine is only £170 on a bad month, and that's with two beasty gaming PCs, monitors, dishwasher and all the usual household appliances... 

Do you have the heating on full blast all day everyday in a mansion, or what? 
How were you paying 1.1k a month before? O_O

It's a big house with pretty much double of everything that a standard house has. So for example we have two kitchens with two dishwashers, two fridge freezers (as @lookstraightahead correctly remembered we actually have 9 fridges/freezers in total), two washing machines and 26 (!) TVs...

Sadly the main central heating is by oil, not electric, so the large electric bill only includes a couple of heated loo seats and two ensuite underfloor heating systems.

Interestingly we are just back from staying at friends in their five bedroom house and they also mentioned their monthly bill has just halved to I think they said £300 ish so halving of utility bills does seem to be a thing this month.

MobileSaver

RelievedSheff said:

lookstraightahead said:

RelievedSheff said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

RelievedSheff said:

We have just returned home from a 9 night trip to Norfolk and Suffolk with our motorhome and there was certainly no signs of staying at home and not spending. 

Everywhere we visited was busy and thriving. Sites were busy, pubs and restaurants were busy.

If people are cutting back we certainly didn't see any evidence of it!

Some people definitely still have money to spend. It would interesting to see what the percentage of 🇬🇧 was struggling with bills v those who have cash to spend.

From what we have seen I really do think that the media is over hyping (not like them at all) the percentage of people who are struggling. 

They are trying to talk down the economy.

People are likely getting into more debt. Gone are the days of everyone cutting their cloth to fit.

But for the vast majority life just carries on.

I agree. We stayed with friends in Somerset earlier in the week and my anecdotal experiences continue to be extremely positive.

We had a meal at a large village restaurant and at 6pm mid-week the place was literally packed to the extent that we actually left early after a delicious main course and just one drink as it was simply too busy and noisy to be able to have a proper conversation.

Similarly on the way back we stopped for a coffee at services on the M4 and the place was chock-a-block with people hunting for a parking space and every single one of the numerous eateries had queues. 

The doom-mongers can complain all they want but the simple fact is that a huge number of people are still spending and I just don't believe that the majority are racking up unaffordable debt on expensive non-essential lunches and dinners out.

Nebulous2

MobileSaver said:

RelievedSheff said:

lookstraightahead said:

RelievedSheff said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

RelievedSheff said:

We have just returned home from a 9 night trip to Norfolk and Suffolk with our motorhome and there was certainly no signs of staying at home and not spending. 

Everywhere we visited was busy and thriving. Sites were busy, pubs and restaurants were busy.

If people are cutting back we certainly didn't see any evidence of it!

Some people definitely still have money to spend. It would interesting to see what the percentage of 🇬🇧 was struggling with bills v those who have cash to spend.

From what we have seen I really do think that the media is over hyping (not like them at all) the percentage of people who are struggling. 

They are trying to talk down the economy.

People are likely getting into more debt. Gone are the days of everyone cutting their cloth to fit.

But for the vast majority life just carries on.

I agree. We stayed with friends in Somerset earlier in the week and my anecdotal experiences continue to be extremely positive.

We had a meal at a large village restaurant and at 6pm mid-week the place was literally packed to the extent that we actually left early after a delicious main course and just one drink as it was simply too busy and noisy to be able to have a proper conversation.

Similarly on the way back we stopped for a coffee at services on the M4 and the place was chock-a-block with people hunting for a parking space and every single one of the numerous eateries had queues. 

The doom-mongers can complain all they want but the simple fact is that a huge number of people are still spending and I just don't believe that the majority are racking up unaffordable debt on expensive non-essential lunches and dinners out.

I've been posting similar stuff about my surprise at how busy restaurants and tourist attractions are. Everywhere I go it seems difficult to get a seat. 

That doesn't mean that there aren't many people struggling. 

Economists have been surprised at how resilient spending has been. Many people were able to save a lot during the pandemic, and it appears a lot of that money is still there and still available. 

In many ways that is making things worse, as demand isn't damping down, meaning interest rates keep going up. 

For the OP, competition is getting worse with more variety of accommodation, all the pods and novelty places, and people who are giving up on traditional letting. If you let your holiday home, which is for your own family use,  you don't need to make a profit, and you may be more able to reduce costs than a professional owner. 

I was in the South of Spain in May and was surprised how busy it was. People there were saying it still wasn't back to 'normal' and they were estimating it would take another year to 18 months for that to happen. So foreign competition is ramping up. 

Often tinkering and good service will make a difference, but there are times where there is a sea change that you will have very little influence over. 

The interest rate rises will work eventually, as more and more people with mortgages are caught in their embrace. Hopefully that will mean a gradual slowdown, rather than a shuddering halt. 

jonnydeppiwish!

I’m in a pretty affluent town in the south coast. Went to the pub last night at 6 and it was quiet. The other 7 in town were quiet as well, easy to get a table and minimal queues at the bar. 

This has changed massively over the last 6 months though not entirely certain why. Money may be an options but so might be holidays, staying at home with friends etc. also the price of beer and food has gone up almost 40% since this time last year.