Bookings in 2004
Bookings in 2004
My bookings this year have been a bit strange. Generally I've had fewer enquiries all year, but a lot of last-minute ones meant I wasn't badly down on last year's bookings. Made for a nail-biting time though not knowing what we were going to earn this year. Did anyone else notice this trend? The last five years have been very good so I am hoping it is a blip and not the norm. Do you think that the inevitable has happened and supply has simply overtaken demand?
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Christine Kenyon
- Posts: 623
- Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:58 am
- Location: Glenridding, Ullswater Valley, Lake District, UK
- Contact:
We have 2 cottages in the Lake District in England. One cottage we have been renting out for nearly 5 years; the other is new this year.
2004 has been a good year for us and bookings are up. Probably for a number of reasons:
1. We had superb weather last summer and this has encouraged people to book again this year.
2. We have been able to generate more repeat bookings by regular contact with people who have booked previously. Over the last 12 months we have invested quite a bit in our "oldest" cottage and have used this an opportunity to let former guests know what improvements we've made. Also having a new cottage, was the ideal opportunity to contact people yet again.
3. We read our emails very regularly which means we usually reply quickly to an enquiry. And if we have a "live" enquiry I am almost "glued" to our computer! I don't let them get away easily!!
Just hope we can keep this trend for next year!
Christine
www.stybarrowcottage.co.uk
www.troutbeckcottage.co.uk
2004 has been a good year for us and bookings are up. Probably for a number of reasons:
1. We had superb weather last summer and this has encouraged people to book again this year.
2. We have been able to generate more repeat bookings by regular contact with people who have booked previously. Over the last 12 months we have invested quite a bit in our "oldest" cottage and have used this an opportunity to let former guests know what improvements we've made. Also having a new cottage, was the ideal opportunity to contact people yet again.
3. We read our emails very regularly which means we usually reply quickly to an enquiry. And if we have a "live" enquiry I am almost "glued" to our computer! I don't let them get away easily!!
Just hope we can keep this trend for next year!
Christine
www.stybarrowcottage.co.uk
www.troutbeckcottage.co.uk
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Christine Kenyon
- Posts: 623
- Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:58 am
- Location: Glenridding, Ullswater Valley, Lake District, UK
- Contact:
re bookings. People seemed to have "discovered" Northumberland in the last couple of years. We've had visitors from all over, UK, europe, Canada, Oz -
We turn so many people away for July and August, everywhere in the county seems to fill up. (The canny ones book a year in advance for Aug BH week) I reckon you could rent out a garden shed in Northumberland in August!
We turn so many people away for July and August, everywhere in the county seems to fill up. (The canny ones book a year in advance for Aug BH week) I reckon you could rent out a garden shed in Northumberland in August!
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Chris Shaw
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sun Oct 03, 2004 4:20 pm
- Location: Tenerife & Central Florida
- Contact:
Bookings
For both Tenerife and Central Florida this year, bookings have been down.
Fortunately, most of our Florida bookings are UK residents so the extreme weakness of the US Dollar this year has pretty much saved the day otherwise it would have been very poor. I don't believe the $1.80 to the £ mark will last forever though and with the worst hurricane season in over a century now, people may be put off from going there next year. We'll see.
Tenerife and the Canary Islands generally have suffered quite badly from fewer bookings this year and I think one of the main problems is that airlines have cut the number of flights there so the few that remain are always full and hence really quite expensive compared with say, the Costa Blanca or Balaerics. We have friends who own a bar in Lanzarote and they've had a very quiet season. We're keeping our haeds above water in Tenerife but we're not making any money other than capital gains on the property.
I totally agree that lots of people are making their own travel plans on the internet and will ask for last minute reduced rates as opposed to booking months in advance.
Fortunately, most of our Florida bookings are UK residents so the extreme weakness of the US Dollar this year has pretty much saved the day otherwise it would have been very poor. I don't believe the $1.80 to the £ mark will last forever though and with the worst hurricane season in over a century now, people may be put off from going there next year. We'll see.
Tenerife and the Canary Islands generally have suffered quite badly from fewer bookings this year and I think one of the main problems is that airlines have cut the number of flights there so the few that remain are always full and hence really quite expensive compared with say, the Costa Blanca or Balaerics. We have friends who own a bar in Lanzarote and they've had a very quiet season. We're keeping our haeds above water in Tenerife but we're not making any money other than capital gains on the property.
I totally agree that lots of people are making their own travel plans on the internet and will ask for last minute reduced rates as opposed to booking months in advance.
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Beach House, Bolinas, CA
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 5:44 am
- Location: 1 hr west of San Francisco on the coast
- Contact:
strange bookings pattern in 04
04 was one of my best years..but it all came in at once--there were a few months in early spring where I was having absolutely a dead phone and email requests. Just when I started to panic that my bookings were washing out, by mid april they started rolling in. go figure !"life's a beach.......house"