I agree with the optimist. It seems to go in waves. As soon as the sun comes out, the phone starts ringing. We had a thunderous silence over two rainy weekends in a row, then last weekend was beautifully sunny and I received 3 calls and a few emails.............sending you lots of sun......
The listing sites just aren't producing anything for September/ October, so I have an ad coming out May 24th in The Lady, (cheap at 27 pounds), also hoping to fill my July 4th week, otherwise I'm fully booked from next Thursday thru Sept 3rd.
Alexia,
Thanks, I thought a lot of property owners must do this! Do you specify this on your website? I mus try and be braver next year and not worry so much about trying to fully booked in August by the end of January - I'm still getting inquiries for 2 week bookings in August even now!
Sue
Well, I am a little late to this conversation, but yes, our inquiries have slowed down too. I'm still getting one a week or so, but that's fine since we're booked from now until September. We'd be booked through September too, but we had a cancellation and the first two weeks are now free. So I can't complain!
We don't require a two-week stay -- in fact the majority of our clients only stay for one week. This year we had a week in June and another in July that seemed to take ages to fill, but they did eventually!
It was me that mentioned the slow down ... last week.
Though since then we recieved only one enquiry and it converted ... three weeks in September, but believe it, that when it came in we really put on the full five star service to convert it !!!!
I also figure that since we are now full booked until late September I dont expect to hear to much as all our sites have calendars which probably means our villa doesn't come up.
On this, we actually considered showing availability so we could get enquires and put them in our database for the promotional rollouts for next year ... but after much debate we didnt think this was right and dropped the idea. Dont be too tough in your judgement ... We really miss the rush from getting the enquiries ... its addictive.
Wow, it's really picked up here. I have been playing message catch-up for two days. Anybody else notice this? How about Europe?
My July 4th week is now booked, and a couple of others in reserve in case the check doesn't arrive.
Now, about that add in the Lady that I paid for last week and is not hitting the newstands until next Tuesday....ooops...well, I'm hoping it achieves it's second objective at least, boosting the September/ October bookings, although one of those went today as well.
well funnily enough the dreaded last week of August has finally gone....yesterday - so all I have now between the 2 houses is 1 week in June - 1 week in July (all non school holidays) and 3 weeks in September.So fingers crossed they will go.
But I was advised that ATOL & ABTA are saying bookings for France are down 10% this year...is that the package holiday down 10% as most folk now do their own thing - I don't understand these sweeping figures - anyone else know?
Brittany Ferries suggest that the French market has suffered a down turn of as much as 18% in 2005 whereas the Eastern Europe, Scandinavian and long-haul markets have increased significantly.
So many items are bought these days because people are told they are being "trendy" and "fashionable" by doing so. Maybe people are buying their holidays on the same basis?
I have found bookings slightly slower this year especially for May for some reason. A lot of owners in my area had a problem getting bookings for May which is strange as it is a gorgeous month and is usually fully booked.
I still have 1 week in August and had a cancellation too which I am now having to re-advertise. Luckily I ask for a non-refundable deposit so I can drop the price if I have to re-advertise it and get rid of the week that way.
I also have a couple of weeks in june left which will probably stay un-booked.
Like you say the enquiries do go in waves and it is strange how everyone suddenly thinks about holidays at the same time - spooky.
For me it's gone dead again....I really don't know what is happening...but the weather here has not been exactly stable - so is this what could be happening? We get all our bookings from the optomists in January - it's going to good no matter what attitude - and then the odd weeks are filled by those on spec and looking for a bargain?
Well, I'm a bit late to the debate, but found it interesting as I have yet to fathom out the logic of cottage letting. If you take a week's booking, you can almost guarantee you'll get an enquiry for a two week booking!
I also wonder why there's been no UK input into the debate? I ask because we're having our best year to date and wonder if this is the picture elsewhere in the UK
Tansy, your description is pretty much exactly how we get bookings. A huge rush in January and February, with the odd weeks that are left being booked by April.
At least, that's how it's been so far... next year, who knows?
Bookings have almost ground to a halt the last month or so. After a very busy few months it seems that I have hardy any booking for July, September and November!
Cyprus is usually extremely busy during these months but things have really slowed down.
My website has also dropped from a rank 4 to a 3 so its really worrying!
Dont be too tough in your judgement ... We really miss the rush from getting the enquiries ... its addictive.
