Lay My Hat

Hello everyone

We are new to the Holiday let business. We will be up and running just before Christmas.

We've had lots of enquiries to book between Christmas & New year. As a rule of thumb how much extra do you charge fro the festive period?

Thanks in advance

Michelle

Hi MichelleB
Welcome to the forum and good luck with your new venture. Christmas and New year are generally considered as peak weeks, although you may find locally there there are some small reductions you need to make to attract bookings eg New Year is always good in my area, but not so much Christmas. I now have a minimum 4 night stay for Christmas but look to get a full week booking for New Year.

Where about are you?
Be careful not to accept a short break too quickly and I vary the date that New Year bookings go in at to accommodate school holidays and the fact that many people don’t work between Christmas and New Year.

Often the best thing to do is a search for properties in your area to see how popular those weeks are and what prices are charged in relation to a peak week booking.
Hope this helps.

It does depend where you are. We charge peak rates for our Chester house & have a minimum booking of 4 or 5 nights depending on how Christmas falls - we're off site so our cleaners availability is a consideration. Chester is a very popular place at Christmas with lots going on.

Our Devon house would be more of a mid season rate because there's not so much going on there - lots of cafes & restaurants close over Christmas and New Year. In fact we usually go there ourselves for Christmas because we've got family nearby.

It really depends where you are and what others in your area are charging. Like Joanna, we charge a mid-season rate (about the same as for May and October half terms) in our Cornwall apartment. We usually advertise full weeks only for both Xmas and New Year but haven't yet achieved a full week booking for both - usually Xmas week books, and I end up accepting a shorter break for New Year, as often the dates fall such that people would have to take time off the first week of Jan for the full week, which people are reluctant to do. I'm happy with this as the short break price is sufficiently elevated to make it worth my while.

Thanks everyone.

We are based in Sherwood Forest - a lodge surrounded by pine trees, so it's a pretty special place in winter and Christmas. Other lodges are booked up around here during the festive period so I think definitely charge slightly more than the peak season - will give it a whirl anyway!

Thanks

Sounds lovely - have you got some Christmassy photos you can put on your website/listing pages? If it's your first year it might be worth staging some shots - table laid for Christmas dinner and so on.

As it’s your first year, I wouldn’t charge more than a peak week as it is difficult to know when people would book for that time of year.
It’s easier to get a little less this year, with an actual confirmed booking then try a higher price next year (which you can always lower if you don’t get the interest).

Thanks Joanna that's a great idea!