General feedback from various members indicate a ‘good’ season in 2018, with particular challenges – demand for short breaks even in Summer peak weeks; very late booking pattern and a slower demand for July/August. Clearly feedback also indicates the need to be as available as possible on the global booking channels who are bringing in more European and worldwide travelers.
Ever wondered how self catering figures compare with Hotels and B&Bs? The following graphs have been generated from CSO statistical reports. The first graph shows the ‘000s of bednights sold for hotels, self catering holiday rental and B&Bs. Of the 2018 recorded figures, it shows an increase for all accommodation types from Quarter 1 2017 with hotels achieving 47%, self catering rentals 35% and B&Bs 18% of those 3 accommodation types.
When looking to see the breakdown of origin of overseas visitors, we can see in the second graph that there were increases from all international markets including the UK, although these represent the least significant increases. There is an increased popularity in self catering holiday rental across the rest of Europe and from the rest of the world which proved to be more popular than hotels in both cases.
Quarter 1 in 2018 saw an increase in the number of nights spent in Ireland by overseas travelers has increased by 12.0% in Quarter 1 2018 compared with the same period in the previous year, up from 11.1 million to 12.5 million. The average length of stay in hotels is 1.9 nights and for self catering its 4.4 nights. Offering short breaks often represents significant problems for self-caterers especially when trying to synchronise across multiple booking platforms. However, given the changing trends over the last 3 years you may want to review your policy around this if you are not getting the level of bookings you want for high season. Many members have found that the global booking platforms have helped them address the problem.
Challenges to self catering
- Competitive pricing
- Offering short breaks & pricing this right
- Increased volume of competitors
- Negative publicity for self catering in major cities