booking patterns/cycles during the year?

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mel_t
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booking patterns/cycles during the year?

Post by mel_t »

wondering if anyone can point me to some resources on typical booking patterns - i.e. when are the more busy times that people are searching for/inquiring and booking for future vacations. Our property is in Costa Rica.

I'm not sure if my question is clear, so I'll give an example. I listed our home on vrbo/airbnb/flipkey etc in early may. I had a lot of views and had several inquiries among the sites, had 3 bookings (a couple for july, one for next Dec) up until the end of june. since my last booking, I haven't heard a peep. In Canada/US (and assuming most of the rest of the western world) it's summer holidays etc. I'm hypothesizing that people are busy doing their summer holiday thing and not focusing on planning winter vacations.

Are there any resources that discuss that type of analytics on booking patterns?

thanks in advance!
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Casscat
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Post by Casscat »

I cannot help with pointing you towards a formal resource, but because my property is principally a summer rental I find that most of my enquires and bookings come during the summer months for booking the following year, i.e. while people are basking in the sunshine of their 2015 holiday they are searching on line for their 2016 holiday. I think it's only following experience that you can start to build a profile on trends for your own property.
SandyBeaches
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Post by SandyBeaches »

I can't help with Costa Rica booking patterns - although I would like to go there!

Here in the UK I find people are booking already for next year, but that January is the busiest month by far for taking bookings.
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charles cawley
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Post by charles cawley »

Good question mel_t

The location and type of holiday will have a major influence. As we serve a radically different market I can only tell of our experience but it might help you get an idea of the type of patterns that could apply.

From figures of the total value of the number of bookings taken in any one month for short notice stays and for any month to come we have found:

Jan: Busy month for bookings
Feb: Busy. Similar to Jan.
Mar: Busy for first week like Jan and Feb. Then average
Apr: Average with a burst for Easter
May: A little stronger than April
Jun: Can be busy for bookings but, this year, was not so good
July. Busy
Aug: Busy. Like July
Sep: Average
Oct: Less than average
Nov: Average but less than June (brought up by bookings for the following year)
Dec: Low

The occupancy of holiday lets is high in September although the number of bookings taken in that month is not high. This is because a large number of September bookings are habitually made in July and August.

Average number of visits to the web site to book, we think, is around 5. Larger holiday lets this rises to 8 or more and smaller ones are often less. The numbers may well be greater but the proportions appear to apply.
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Beachcondo
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Post by Beachcondo »

Can't say anything specific about Costa Rica, but for our Florida condos, Jan-Mar are the busiest months for booking.
Last edited by Beachcondo on Thu Jul 09, 2015 11:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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mel_t
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Post by mel_t »

thanks for the feedback. charles, that's really helpful info - thanks for all the detail! I'm going to keep searching elsewhere for info and articles and will post back here if I find anything useful.
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booboo
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Post by booboo »

Jan to March/April is the busiest time for us here in Slovenia.

Cant help with anywhere else. This year January was as quite as a mouse.
jenboyle1959
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Post by jenboyle1959 »

As I'm in Scotland, I imagine my busiest time for enquiries ( January till March) is not going to be much use to you- however it's perhaps worth noting that I receive a lot of last minute enquiries, clearly from people who have seen the weather forecast, thought the weather in Isle of Cumbrae looked promising ,and thought they'd get a last minute weekend break. I would guess this is unlikely to happen in your case, Mel-t .
In view of this, you might need to see how late people enquire for dates, before putting on any "special offers" if you were considering this? Of course, you'd need to have been renting for a few more months to give you a feel for this.
Also think about any special festivals, events etc, in your area as this can sometimes give you a guide as to when people might want to be booking? Perhaps highlight these on your site?
rosebud
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Post by rosebud »

I am in the south of England.
The months where the value of the bookings is greatest are Jan, Feb & March then Sept to Nov.
April to July were very quiet last year. I had no bookings in Apr & May this year.
A lot depends on how booked up I am ...
rosebud
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Post by rosebud »

I am in the south of England.
The months where the value of my bookings are greatest have been Jan, Feb & March then Sept to Nov since Jan 14.
April to July were very quiet last year. I had no bookings in Apr & May this year.
A lot depends on how booked up I am ... At present I more of less booked until early Nov.
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mel_t
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Post by mel_t »

This is going to be my "education" year, I think.

I figured out that on vrbo, the terrible Cdn/US $ exchange rate might have been affecting my response rate. our dollar has dropped to just 77 cents US. :( Because my bank is in Canada, my rates show in CAD, which means if my rate is $120USD/night, it's showing to viewers as $145 CAD. If someone isn't aware of the exchange rate, or doesn't notice the CAD, it appears at a glance as if our house costs way more than all the others. I'm in the process of trying to set up a bank account in the US so I can switch over and display USD. I have also added a note to the title of my listing to draw attention to the USD equivalent.
Toronto, Canada
Future home in Samara, Costa Rica
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