Market Insights Report | Summer 2023

At Cornish Cottage Holidays, 2023 has been another fabulous season to date, despite the current economic climate. We have seen an incredible average occupancy of 89% throughout the peak summer period, and a fantastic average September occupancy of 87% – it is certainly a positive picture for holiday home owners across Cornwall.  
 
In the past 12 months we have seen some notable changes in the way customers book, their intentions and what they desire from their holidays. We are delighted to have created this insightful guide, using our own data and statistics from our parent company Sykes Cottages; we hope it provides useful information on booking trends from both a local and national perspective. 

An overview of the holiday letting market with Cornish Cottage Holidays 

First, here is an overview of how Cornish Cottage Holidays is performing and the agency’s key achievements for the season so far: 

• We now have 752 properties across Cornwall, including 37 new properties that have joined the agency in the last 12 months. 
• Last minute bookings have been key this year – 29% of our bookings taken so far for 2023 have been made within 4 weeks of the holiday start date.
• Over 18% of our bookings have been for short breaks so far in 2023. This is an increase from 16% last year.
• September and October 2023 occupancy rates were 4% up on 2019 figures – our last ‘normal’ trading year.
• Christmas 2023 is showing a year on year occupancy increase of 3.67%.
• Cornwall is currently the highest performing county in the UK for the 2024 season, with 8% more bookings secured than at the same point last year.  
• We are now part of a B Corp certified organisation!

2023 Top performing properties 

Booking stats as of 10th October 2023 

Optimising your property’s booking and income potential

Last minute bookings 

Last minute bookings are now the rule, rather than the exception. Many people are seemingly hesitant to commit early, preferring to be spontaneous and make the most of sunny weekends by the sea. 

Across the UK-wide Sykes Cottages Family, periods such as Easter and May half term saw up to 33% of bookings being made within the final 4 weeks before departure. 51% of all bookings taken in August were departing before the end of September.

At Cornish Cottage Holidays, 29% of our bookings taken so far for 2023 have been made within 4 weeks of the holiday start date.

Google searches for ‘last minute holidays Cornwall’ have increased by 10% year on year, with popular locations such as St Ives, Polperro and Newquay all receiving increased searches relating to last minute breaks.

Read our blog on how to prepare for last minute holiday let bookings.

Short breaks  

Although Cornwall as a county experiences a lower proportion of short breaks than some other regions across the Sykes family due to its longer drive time, we are seeing demand for short stays consistently growing each year.

At Cornish Cottage Holidays 18.81% of our bookings so far in 2023 have been for short breaks. This is a rise from 16.44% in 2022.

Our annual survey indicated that 37% of Brits planned to go on multiple short breaks this year.

DID YOU KNOW?

Two short breaks in place of one week long booking returns on average 160% of the weekly rental. Being flexible with the duration of a customer’s stay, and accepting bookings right up to the departure date will ensure more bookings in the long run. 

Dynamic pricing tools 

In addition to excellent marketing exposure, Cornish Cottage Holidays offers dynamic pricing tools, giving owners the ability to maximise their income as well as booking numbers. We automatically adjust prices in line with demand by analysing searches, booking trends and individual property performance.

Owners that take our advice and utilise our dynamic pricing tools, on average see 6 additional bookings and 24% more revenue, compared to properties that do not allow us to reduce their prices (based on 2019 performance).

Owners that take our advice on where their base price should sit, earn on average 16% more revenue than owners who set their own pricing.

Popular locations and property types 

Offering consistently strong occupancy rates, Cornwall is a fantastic location for those considering investing in a holiday home. In a survey of 2,000 UK adults, Cornwall was the 2nd most popular staycation destinations for 2023. 

In our experience, our top three property features to consider are: 

• A sea view. Although always popular, this year we have seen a 193% increase in clicks to pages on our website containing ‘sea views’. Popular searches include ‘sea view apartments Cornwall’. 
• Parking. The phrase ‘holiday cottages in Cornwall with parking’ gets an average of 110 Google searches per month! St Ives, Padstow and Looe all have particularly high search demand for holiday homes including parking. 
• Distance from a beach or St Ives town. In our recent study, 34% of people said they consider proximity to a beach when booking a property. Customers also consider their proximity to a shop or supermarket (33%) and pub (25%).  

Value Adding Property Features 

For property owners looking to optimise their holiday let income, here are our most popular search and booking features in 2023: 

Dog friendly 

We’ve seen a 60% increase in searches for pet friendly holidays since 2019. Properties accepting pets earn on average 4 extra bookings and 18% more revenue per year. We’ve also seen an increase in more specific property searches, such as ‘dog-friendly cottages with enclosed gardens in Cornwall’.  

Read our guide on how to make your holiday let dog-friendly.

Hot tubs 

Properties with a hot tub can earn an average of 37% more per year. 89% of our top 100 booked properties across the Sykes Cottages Family have a hot tub, and they are our second most searched-for feature after pet friendly.  

Technology 

27% of guests consider good WiFi or technology when booking a property, and having WiFi can earn owners 26% more per year. Google searches for holiday cottages with EV chargers have increased by 20% year on year. 

Garden/outdoor space  

32% of guests consider a property’s garden or outdoor space when booking a holiday.   

Marketing your holiday home 

Domestic tourism will have boosted the UK economy by an estimated £28bn this year. But in a competitive landscape, how do you ensure your holiday home stands out from the crowd? 

At Cornish Cottage Holidays, we are part of the national Sykes Cottages Family, giving us access to national, industry-leading marketing exposure.  

Here are some of our marketing insights for 2023, and ways we have secured bookings for our owners: 

• We plan to have spent £23m on marketing by the end of 2023. 
• We dominate in Google search results, with a 43.7% market share amongst the four largest competitors in the industry.  
• We had 19.83 million website visitors to our Sykes Cottages website, which features all of our Cornish Cottage Holidays properties, between December 2022 and May 2023.
• The Sykes Cottages brand is growing, with over 3.3 million searches for Sykes in the last 12 months.
• We’ve run several successful booking initiatives this year, such as our low deposit payment and flexible cancellation schemes. 
• We’re always expanding our wide network of partner sites, like Airbnb and Booking.com, giving owners the very best opportunity to be seen across multiple websites and platforms.

Do you own a holiday home in Cornwall, or are you thinking of letting your second home in the county? Read our blog on the benefits of using a local holiday let agency in Cornwall, such as Cornish Cottage Holidays, to find out about how you can reap the rewards of:

• Local knowledge and industry expertise
• Property management services
• National and local property marketing, and so much more

If you’d like to find out more about whether we’re a good fit for you and your holiday home, one of our New Property Consultants would love to visit your property and give an honest appraisal of its rental potential. Or, if you are thinking of investing in a property and would like some free advice, we can help.

Contact us on enquiry@cornishcottageholidays.co.uk, call 01326 336773 or visit our Let Your Cottage page on our website.

Request your free owners guide