I have spent quite a bit of time this week reading various research into holiday homes and the challenges of renting them on the Internet. I think the most interesting thing I read was a survey on why people who rent a hotel room did not consider renting a holiday home.

• An amazing 39% of people did not consider a holiday rental property as they only travelled for 3 days. Their perception was that a minimum stay in a holiday rental is 1 week. So for any holiday home owner who wants to double the size of their market, adding a 3 day option is an absolute must. That message is loud and clear.

• 22% of people wanted the services and amenities of a hotel, in particular a maid service and convenient eating arrangements.  Of particular note is the check-in/check-out arrangements, with lack of clarity striking fear into the hearts of many people who are unfamiliar with holiday rentals.

• 21% of people felt that the extra space meant extra cost, and so went for a small hotel room to save money. In the majority of cases that is simply untrue. We have on Direct Holiday Bookings several well placed rental properties that cost 50% less to rent than a local hotel - and the rental properties look a lot nicer too.

• 18% of people were travelling alone or with a small party and felt that a holiday rental was not appropriate.

I think 2 things strike me here.

Firstly, there is a lot of misunderstanding about how easy and convenient renting a holiday home is, and that is a message we all need to keep pushing at potential customers.

Secondly, customers have a few key requirements in mind when they are beginning to consider staying away from home, and it is up to the holiday home owner to ensure that their listing on our site addresses these concerns quickly and concisely.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 13th, 2009 at 5:20 pm and is filed under Holiday chat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.