Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / Your Rental's Biggest Money Mistake? Not Allowing Pets

Transcript

Your Rental's Biggest Money Mistake? Not Allowing Pets · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

• 0:00
  Pet bookings are so valuable in in a few different ways.
• 0:03
  Properties that accept pets earn 8% more bookings per year and
• 0:07
  16% higher revenue. If we're looking at the market,
• 0:09
  it's it's huge. So more than 1/4 of CYCS
• 0:11
  bookings accept pets, which is a is a lot of bookings.
• 0:14
  Everyone wants more bookings, but most hosts are still
• 0:17
  guessing where demand is coming from, when guests are travelling
• 0:22
  and what actually makes a property stand out.
• 0:24
  The data tells a very different story.
• 0:27
  In this episode, you'll learn which locations and dates to
• 0:30
  driving the most demand right now, why pet friendly properties
• 0:33
  are outperforming the market, and how guest behaviour is
• 0:36
  changing in 2026. This is holiday let insider from
• 0:41
  host planet and Sykes Holiday Cottages.
• 0:43
  Welcome to Holiday Let Insider, where we breakdown what's really
• 0:46
  happening in the short term rental market.
• 0:48
  I'm your host, James Farley, and today I'm joined by Owen Burt
• 0:51
  from Sykes Holiday Cottages. We'll be diving into the data,
• 0:54
  looking at where bookings are coming from, what guests
• 0:57
  actually want, and how hosts like you can and take advantage.
• 1:01
  Let's get straight into it. Hi, Wayne.
• 1:07
  Thank you for joining us on holiday.
• 1:09
  Let Insider. Let's start with the big
• 1:11
  picture. Which locations are seeing the
• 1:13
  strongest demand this year? Yeah, it's interesting actually.
• 1:18
  I think locations are one of the things that that really are
• 1:20
  staying stable in in, you know, the past 12 to 18 months, we've
• 1:23
  seen a lot of sort of changes in behaviours and trends and that
• 1:26
  sort of thing. Locations don't tend to change
• 1:28
  too much. I was looking at the the most
• 1:30
  booked regions in in the UK for 2026 so far compared to to 2025
• 1:35
  and the top 11 regions were in exactly the same order as as
• 1:38
  they were last year. And there wasn't too much
• 1:40
  movement for the others as well. So yeah, again, I think that's
• 1:42
  interesting that we're seeing sort of shifts in patterns in
• 1:46
  terms of how late people are bucking and how long they're
• 1:48
  staying. But one thing that seems to stay
• 1:49
  the same is, is locations people seem to, to like to they, they,
• 1:53
  they like where they like and, and they're sticking with that,
• 1:55
  which is is good to see, I suppose.
• 1:58
  But I'll run through them anyway.
• 1:59
  So the, the top 10 most booked places in the, in the UK this
• 2:03
  year #1 is North Wales, which is consistently #1 I think for a
• 2:06
  few reasons. I think firstly, it's really
• 2:08
  accessible to, to some key locations like Liverpool,
• 2:10
  Manchester, Birmingham, even within North Wales, there's a
• 2:13
  lot of demand for North Wales and there's so much that you can
• 2:16
  do as well. It's very, very varied.
• 2:17
  You can, you can have pretty much any, any holiday in, in
• 2:20
  North Wales. And I think it's a little bit
• 2:21
  more kind of on the more affordable side, I think
• 2:25
  compared to some of the other, other locations that we we think
• 2:27
  about in terms of Cornwall and Devon, maybe a little bit more
• 2:30
  more expensive. So that's potentially why it
• 2:31
  gets gets more, more bookings and there's just a lot of
• 2:33
  properties in, in North Wales as well, I suppose, which which
• 2:35
  helps. Number 2 is, is the Lake
• 2:37
  District, again, probably similar reasons, very
• 2:39
  accessible, very varied. It can attract any, any sort of
• 2:43
  holiday maker and, and those two are really far clear ahead of
• 2:47
  the rest as well, which which is interesting.
• 2:50
  I, I think #3 sorry, is Cornwall.
• 2:54
  And I think the reason why it's, it's a little bit further down
• 2:57
  than the others is because of that accessibility point.
• 2:59
  But again, really popular as it always is.
• 3:01
  And before North York Moors and Coast, I'll, I'll move on into a
• 3:04
  minute, in a minute about how, why I think that that is Devon
• 3:09
  is, is number 5. And then we've got Peak District
• 3:12
  in 6th, 7th is East Anglia, 8 Yorkshire Dales, 9
• 3:16
  Northumberland and, and 10 is Dorset.
• 3:18
  So a real array of, of different places, rural, coastal, all that
• 3:21
  sort of stuff, which is, yeah, nice to see a, a range of
• 3:25
  locations, I suppose. So I started looking at the sort
• 3:27
  of more specific actual locations within them to see
• 3:30
  where I was driving this demand. And this is where I think the,
• 3:32
  the sort of North York Moors and coast area really came into,
• 3:37
  came into play because Whitby, as it always is, was, is the
• 3:40
  most booked place in the UK. I've worked at sites for nearly
• 3:42
  nine years and I've never known anything different.
• 3:44
  Whitby is always #1 which yeah, is, is interesting to see.
• 3:48
  And like I say, I think that's probably where a lot of the
• 3:49
  demand for that North York Moors and coast area, sort of that's
• 3:53
  where that comes from. The other, the, the rest of the
• 3:57
  top 4, again, were very consistent with last year.
• 3:59
  So we've just got some Lake District hotspots, Ambleside
• 4:02
  Bonus and Windermere, Keswick are all up there.
• 4:04
  Again. I think it might have been in a
• 4:05
  slightly different order last year, but yeah, very consistent.
• 4:08
  Below that is is where the sort of coastal resorts start coming
• 4:11
  in. Like I said, maybe a little bit
• 4:12
  less accessible than some of the other places, but so popular
• 4:15
  that still means that they're right near the top of that list.
• 4:18
  So Weymouth in Dorset, Carways Bay in Cornwall and Salcombe in
• 4:22
  Devon, three of the, the real gems in, in those sorts of
• 4:25
  hotspots in, in the southwest of England there.
• 4:28
  And #81I I don't think you really hear too much about, I
• 4:32
  don't think. But Scarborough is, is in #8 and
• 4:34
  that was in, in the top ten last year as well.
• 4:36
  So still very consistent. Again, potentially where the the
• 4:39
  demand for the North York Moors and, and coast area comes from,
• 4:43
  making up the top ten was Dartmouth in Devon and Lyme
• 4:46
  Regis in Dorset as well. So yeah, those, those coastal
• 4:49
  regions really, really coming strong towards the end there as
• 4:52
  well. And there was actually 2
• 4:52
  locations just outside the top 10.
• 4:54
  But I'd noticed it really increased on on last year, which
• 4:58
  is Beadnall, which is actually a village in Northumberland.
• 5:00
  So it's interesting to see that creeping up even even I'm
• 5:03
  assuming that the stock is lower there than some of these other
• 5:05
  real hotspots. And then Grasmere in the Lake
• 5:07
  District as well, which in the recent holiday, like an Outlook
• 5:10
  report that we published was it came out as the highest earning
• 5:15
  location in the UK. So yeah, interesting to see that
• 5:18
  people are potentially picking up on that maybe, I guess.
• 5:20
  So, yeah, interesting. A lot of familiar staycation
• 5:24
  hotspots there in in the report. No surprise to see a lot of them
• 5:28
  on the list. Yeah.
• 5:30
  Interesting that North Wales is is at the top there like you
• 5:32
  said. Yeah, I think yeah, with the
• 5:34
  affordability and close to some some major cities it it can make
• 5:39
  all the difference that that's the locations then, Owen.
• 5:42
  So which dates are most in demand in 2026?
• 5:47
  As owners are, we'll be fully aware of booking focus is still
• 5:52
  very last minute. I I think is probably a, a key
• 5:55
  thing that people are noticing. So if we're looking at 2026 as a
• 5:58
  whole so far Easter has taken up the majority of demand.
• 6:01
  It's by far the most book period makes complete sense.
• 6:04
  It's obviously an extended school holiday and it's an
• 6:07
  extended bank holiday as well. So, so you're getting demand
• 6:09
  from from all booking groups. Obviously that's not the most
• 6:13
  useful because it's been and gone.
• 6:14
  So looking forward, it seems that people are really just
• 6:17
  looking towards the next big day in the calendar rather than
• 6:20
  looking too far ahead. As I kind of mentioned before,
• 6:25
  people are booking a lot closer to when they're when they're
• 6:27
  going away. That is a, a trend that we've
• 6:28
  seen over the past 12 months or so and seems to be continuing.
• 6:32
  So, so May is very popular at the minute.
• 6:34
  Obviously we've got two bank holidays in May.
• 6:36
  We've got half term in May and May's also very popular with
• 6:38
  with couples as well, which is a a very significant kind of
• 6:42
  booking group as well. So May, May's taken a lot of the
• 6:45
  demand at the minute and and people do still seem to be
• 6:47
  holding off on on summer. Maybe that will will come more
• 6:50
  as April and May sort of progress.
• 6:52
  I can't imagine it being too much longer, but we're getting
• 6:54
  close to it now, even though it's just started raining here.
• 6:57
  So it doesn't quite seem like it yet.
• 6:59
  So, yeah, it's it's still very, very last minute.
• 7:02
  I think that the message that I would probably relay to owners
• 7:05
  is that be patient and, and kind of understand that it's, it's
• 7:09
  likely not you, it's just kind of the market.
• 7:11
  There's so much uncertainty far outside of Harley and far
• 7:15
  outside of our control that that is causing this.
• 7:18
  I think the best advice is to accept that this just is the way
• 7:21
  the market is at the minute and just try and adapt to it in in
• 7:24
  your favour, I suppose. I think the best way to do that
• 7:27
  is to set up as, as flexibly as possible.
• 7:29
  And I think removing potential obstacles that's for people that
• 7:33
  are booking. And, and what I mean by that is
• 7:35
  I think because people are booking later, there's
• 7:36
  essentially more competition in a, in a shorter time frame.
• 7:39
  So I think you want to the, the sort of less flexible you are
• 7:45
  in, in some of the, in some of your set up, the sort of more
• 7:47
  you're rolling yourself out in those last minute decisions.
• 7:49
  So, so things like being able to handle those last minute
• 7:52
  bookings operationally. Can you, can you, can you
• 7:56
  complete those change overs last minute and, and deal with those
• 7:58
  last minute bookings and opening your calendar up as as much as
• 8:01
  possible? I think like, as we say, there's
• 8:03
  more competition in a, in a sort of shorter bucking window, I
• 8:07
  suppose. And, and I think also
• 8:09
  considering how to realistically widen your audience, I don't
• 8:12
  think you want to be completely trying to appeal to everyone
• 8:16
  because then you'll probably end up appealing to no one.
• 8:17
  But I think if you do have that niche audience that you're
• 8:20
  looking at, I think that there's certain things that you can
• 8:22
  think about and see how you can cast your net wider within that
• 8:26
  certain audience. Things like popular features,
• 8:28
  pets and hot tubs. They're always two of the most
• 8:30
  popular search features on, on the site's website.
• 8:32
  So if if you're if you don't accept pets, if you don't have a
• 8:35
  hot tub, that's always a way to like I say, all types of holiday
• 8:39
  maker want pets, they want hot tubs.
• 8:41
  So you just cash your cash, your net a little bit wider.
• 8:45
  Short breaks is another thing as well.
• 8:46
  I think some people may be a little bit hesitant to accept
• 8:49
  them because they obviously are that sort of lower value.
• 8:51
  But what we've seen in the data is that when people do book
• 8:54
  later, their stays generally are shorter.
• 8:58
  I was looking at 2025 data. The, the average time between
• 9:01
  booking and going on holiday for a 7 to 14 day stay was twice as
• 9:07
  long as it was for a A1 to six day stay.
• 9:10
  So people generally for those week to two weeks stays are
• 9:13
  booking around 150 days in advance for less than a week.
• 9:16
  It's 70 days. So it's just over 2 months
• 9:18
  compared to like 5 months. It's, it's a huge difference.
• 9:22
  And yeah, those, those bookings that are more last minute, they
• 9:26
  they generally are shorter. So appealing to that audience.
• 9:29
  It's, it's yeah, it just is the the way that the market is
• 9:32
  going. So yeah, some some interesting
• 9:34
  numbers there. Yeah, very good advice and it's
• 9:37
  something we've all had to get used to over the last few years.
• 9:39
  Is is last minute booking. So if you can be as flexible as
• 9:43
  possible, it's definitely going to help.
• 9:45
  Quick pause. This episode is powered by Sykes
• 9:47
  Holiday Cottages. Sykes works with thousands of
• 9:50
  holiday let owners across the UK, providing the data, insights
• 9:53
  and support needed to maximize bookings and revenue.
• 9:57
  From pricing and marketing to guest management and compliance,
• 10:00
  they help turn properties into high performing holiday.
• 10:03
  Let's If you want to understand your market better and grow your
• 10:06
  bookings, get in touch with Sykes today.
• 10:08
  Simply scan the QR code if you're watching on YouTube or
• 10:11
  hit the link in the show notes to find out more.
• 10:14
  All right, back to it. You mentioned pets there.
• 10:18
  What does the data tell us about pet friendly properties when it
• 10:23
  comes to revenue and bookings? Pet bookings are so valuable in
• 10:28
  in a few different ways. I think the top line is
• 10:31
  properties that accept pets earn 8% more bookings per year and
• 10:35
  16% higher revenue as well. So not only are you open up to a
• 10:40
  wider audience and getting more bookings, those bookings are
• 10:42
  actually higher value. I think the, the first cover
• 10:45
  that we can, we can make is potentially some of that is the,
• 10:48
  the price of bookings being increased because of the extra
• 10:50
  sort of costs and, and efforts that there are associated with
• 10:52
  pets. But I think that the, the sort
• 10:54
  of uplift of accepting pets sort of outweighs that.
• 10:57
  Anyway, if we're looking at the market, it's, it's huge.
• 11:00
  So more than 1/4 of Sykes bookings accept pets, which is a
• 11:03
  is a lot of bookings. And even looking at sort of who
• 11:07
  accepts bookings within Sykes, 60% of properties accept
• 11:10
  bookings. So straight away when I'm, when
• 11:12
  I'm talking about kind of casting your net wide enough in
• 11:15
  appealing to these wider audiences, if you don't accept
• 11:16
  pets, that's already a huge sort of slice of the market.
• 11:19
  That's, that's already gone. So it's a, it's, it's a huge,
• 11:22
  yeah, significant segment of, of the market.
• 11:24
  And when I was looking at it, I was kind of thinking, I
• 11:26
  completely understand how it generates more bookings, but how
• 11:28
  does accepting pets actually drive more value?
• 11:31
  Because it's not, it's not adding a feature to your
• 11:33
  property, it's not improving quality or anything like that.
• 11:35
  But it's when I started looking to the data, it's kind of just
• 11:38
  more the nature of of bookings that include pets that they just
• 11:42
  generally are like kind of naturally higher in value.
• 11:44
  So picked out some some really interesting numbers when I was
• 11:47
  talking about lead times before the average pet booking is made
• 11:51
  35 days further in advance than a non pet booking.
• 11:54
  So just over a month. And I think it's, it's safe to
• 11:59
  say that the more far in advance that you can drive those
• 12:02
  bookings that the sort of the higher in value they tend to be
• 12:05
  because there's not the last minute discounts and that sort
• 12:07
  of thing. So appealing to, to that, that
• 12:09
  sort of booking would, would help drive a bit of value that
• 12:11
  way. I think the reason reason for
• 12:13
  that is probably just a little bit more planning.
• 12:15
  You're kind of trying to find a property that's suitable for
• 12:17
  your pets and suitable for, for you as well.
• 12:20
  And it's also that the people that are taking pets along with
• 12:23
  them, like I say, over 1/4 of bookings in general is a big
• 12:26
  number. But when we're looking at
• 12:27
  families, 30% of family bookings include pets, which again, is a
• 12:31
  huge number. And just over 1/4 of kind of
• 12:34
  large group bookings as well. They take pets.
• 12:36
  And those are the groups that kind of book a little bit more
• 12:38
  in advance as well, because they're large groups, a lot more
• 12:40
  organizing to do that sort of thing.
• 12:41
  So like I say, it's nothing to do with actually having a pet in
• 12:44
  your property. It's just the nature of the
• 12:46
  sorts of the people that book those properties and obviously
• 12:49
  the families in large groups, they're, they're booking larger
• 12:52
  properties because it's a, it's a larger party.
• 12:54
  So that kind of naturally again, just drives the value up.
• 12:57
  But I've mentioned them, but couples as well.
• 12:59
  Couples, 30% of their bookings also include pets.
• 13:01
  So you get in demand from from all areas.
• 13:04
  So there's a, yeah, a few reasons there.
• 13:05
  And another thing that I kind of picked up on was that pet
• 13:08
  bookings are slightly longer as well, around half a day longer
• 13:11
  than non pet bookings, which doesn't sound much, but when,
• 13:13
  you know, look, last year, 2025, the, the average booking was
• 13:16
  around about 5 1/2 days. So half a day is actually pretty
• 13:19
  significant. It's around about 10% longer or
• 13:21
  or shorter either way. So yeah, it's, yeah, really
• 13:25
  interesting. It's, it's like I say, not
• 13:26
  necessarily anything to do with pets, but it's just kind of the,
• 13:29
  yeah, the, the nature of, of those bookings.
• 13:31
  And yeah, I think it's, it's almost a little bit of an open
• 13:34
  goal to, to accept them really, if you can, if you can deal with
• 13:37
  with what comes with it, I guess.
• 13:39
  Yeah, it's really interesting to dig into the data and I hadn't
• 13:41
  thought about that before, the fact that your calendar is going
• 13:45
  to get booked up a little bit further in advance if you accept
• 13:48
  pets, because as you rightly say, generally it might be
• 13:51
  bigger groups, it might be families, and they're just going
• 13:53
  to be a bit more organised. So yeah, really, really
• 13:56
  interesting point to know is if you do want to fill up your
• 13:59
  calendar a little bit earlier, if you start accepting pets,
• 14:01
  then you've got a chance of doing it just just staying on
• 14:04
  pets then. I mean, what are the best tips
• 14:05
  that you can share with people who want to pet proof their
• 14:09
  whole quality layer and really take advantage of this demand?
• 14:12
  You know what do pet owners want to see at their rentals?
• 14:17
  I think the main thing generally really is, like with any guests,
• 14:21
  just understanding what a pet booking comes with and also just
• 14:25
  kind of accepting what comes with having pets in your
• 14:27
  property. You know, you can't expect to,
• 14:30
  you know, kind of pet hairs on the carpets and sodas and things
• 14:33
  and potentially muddy, muddy paw prints.
• 14:36
  And, and kind of, I think I just need to considering when you're,
• 14:38
  when you're setting things up and, and how you're sort of
• 14:40
  going to deal with that. So when you're setting up things
• 14:44
  like thinking about materials, particularly furnishings like
• 14:47
  sofas and floors, what materials are you going to use for them
• 14:49
  that are more durable, easier to clean, that sort of thing.
• 14:52
  Having throws on your sofas will probably just make that clean up
• 14:55
  a little bit easier. And also when you're kind of
• 14:58
  thinking about the, the the experience of people coming to
• 15:01
  to your property, maybe politely setting those expectations if
• 15:05
  you don't want pets on sofas and beds and things like that,
• 15:07
  people, people do request that. As long as you make that make
• 15:10
  that clear from the start. Cleaning is a huge cleaning is
• 15:13
  always a massive thing, obviously.
• 15:14
  But when you're accepting pets, I think it's even bigger.
• 15:16
  Like I say, it's just a few more things that you probably have to
• 15:19
  be even more thorough than than it already does.
• 15:21
  I think if even though we're talking about so many bookings
• 15:24
  accepting pets, the majority of bookings don't don't come with
• 15:27
  pets. So I think if you, if you were
• 15:29
  on holiday and you didn't have a pet and you, there was kind of
• 15:31
  traces of, of pets being left about, then that would not be a,
• 15:35
  a very nice thing. So just, yeah, making sure that
• 15:37
  that I think whoever's doing the cleaning yourself or, or your or
• 15:41
  your cleaners are sort of prepared for that.
• 15:43
  And yeah, are able to deal with that.
• 15:46
  Safety is a big one as well, again, which is in general.
• 15:49
  And I think a big thing with pets is, is the outdoor area
• 15:52
  having somewhere that's safe and fully enclosed.
• 15:53
  Obviously no holes in fences, no, no potential hazards and
• 15:57
  even things like the types of plants that are in your garden,
• 16:01
  that sort of thing, nothing that's hazardous to animals and
• 16:03
  things like that. So and then internally kind of
• 16:06
  similar to children, I guess, thinking about exposed wires and
• 16:10
  moving breakables out of harm's way, that sort of thing.
• 16:12
  So really just thinking about it from a guest experience
• 16:14
  perspective and almost pre empting it and seeing what you
• 16:18
  can do to sort of help things along and help yourself in the
• 16:22
  long run as well. And then I suppose when you're
• 16:23
  thinking about the guest experience, just what you can
• 16:25
  sort of offer, like you say, pet owners, even just little things
• 16:29
  in a, in a welcome hamper and some treats and some spare waste
• 16:31
  bags, that sort of thing that just show that you've taken
• 16:34
  notice that there's a pet going with you and you're showing that
• 16:36
  you're kind of thinking about them.
• 16:37
  And even little touches like maybe put on a towel by the door
• 16:41
  so they can wipe their feet on, wipe the paws on the way in.
• 16:44
  You know, that sort of thing will probably encourage guests
• 16:48
  to do that rather than if, if it's nothing there, then they'll
• 16:50
  probably think, oh, they'll, they'll just clean it up and
• 16:51
  they're fine with it. Whereas if you just put that
• 16:53
  there, it might encourage them to, to help you out a little bit
• 16:55
  more as well. I guess.
• 16:57
  And I think the other thing I was thinking about before is
• 16:59
  maybe consider all the things pets other than dogs, because we
• 17:02
  kind of just straight away things of dogs, but people do
• 17:04
  like taking their cats away. And even we have numerous
• 17:07
  properties on our website that actually are, are horse
• 17:09
  friendly. Well, obviously they're not in
• 17:10
  the properties, but they have, they kind of have have stables
• 17:13
  that the horses can stay in and things like that.
• 17:15
  So again, when I'm kind of speaking about just thinking
• 17:17
  about how you can cast, cast your net a little bit wider, is
• 17:20
  there any other pets that people might want to take away with
• 17:22
  them? I don't have any data on that to
• 17:24
  handle, unfortunately. I think that'll be interesting
• 17:26
  to see what other pets people take away.
• 17:27
  But yeah, that's something that's interesting to to
• 17:30
  consider, I suppose. Yeah, there's a fun top ten list
• 17:33
  maybe for next year, the top 10 most popular pets that people
• 17:36
  are taking on on a holiday. I'm sure maybe we'll find some
• 17:39
  exotic, exotic creatures somewhere.
• 17:43
  You've mentioned kind of the types of travellers as well.
• 17:46
  A few times you focused on couples a little bit.
• 17:49
  What type of properties are they booking and when are they
• 17:53
  travelling? I imagine couples are travelling
• 17:56
  a little bit different to families who are probably more
• 17:58
  focused on school holidays and that kind of stuff.
• 18:01
  Yeah, couples are a really interesting segment of the
• 18:03
  market. I found out a lot of interesting
• 18:05
  things when I was looking into it.
• 18:06
  And, and when I was looking into the data, I was kind of thinking
• 18:08
  if, if I was to set up a holiday that I think couples would would
• 18:11
  be the the sort of audience that I go after.
• 18:13
  And there's a few reasons for that.
• 18:14
  I think that the the first thing is when when you kind of think
• 18:17
  of the UK staycations, I kind of automatically think of families
• 18:21
  and groups of friends going away.
• 18:22
  But couples actually make up the largest segment of our market.
• 18:25
  They're the biggest booking group.
• 18:26
  Over 40% of of sites bookings are are from couples and they
• 18:30
  also stay on average longer than than kind of large groups and
• 18:34
  families as well. So couples have the the second
• 18:36
  longest average stay length behind solo travellers, which I
• 18:40
  also found interesting. I thought especially those two
• 18:42
  groups and maybe maybe just quite often going for long
• 18:45
  weekends, that sort of thing. So yeah, couples are a really
• 18:48
  significant segment of the market when you talk about
• 18:52
  dates. Yeah, that they, they
• 18:56
  essentially the opposite to to families.
• 18:58
  Obviously families are very restricted, a lot less flexible
• 19:01
  in terms of school holidays that sort of thing.
• 19:03
  I think couples are sort of tactically just avoiding those
• 19:05
  periods obviously with the, the, the, the busier locations and
• 19:12
  and the potentially the higher prices as well.
• 19:14
  So September is, is the month that couples book the most by
• 19:17
  far, just after the kids go back to school, obviously.
• 19:20
  And then that's followed by June and May.
• 19:22
  So obviously taking, taking advantage of that warmer
• 19:24
  weather, but outside of the, of the school holiday periods,
• 19:27
  which, which is interesting. Obviously it kind of makes
• 19:29
  sense, but it's interesting kind of looking at, looking at the
• 19:31
  graphics, literally couples and families sort of swapping over
• 19:35
  in terms of when they're, when they're booking the most
• 19:37
  throughout the year. I mentioned that couples might
• 19:40
  kind of drop off during the, the school holiday periods, but
• 19:43
  their demand is actually still really high.
• 19:45
  They're, they are by far the most consistent booking group.
• 19:47
  I would say in 2025 there was only two months where couples
• 19:52
  were kind of out booked by another group.
• 19:54
  The, the main one was August, which makes sense because
• 19:56
  obviously the schools are off for the whole month.
• 19:58
  And the other one was Easter, which was only just slightly
• 20:01
  more booked by, by families, which again, makes sense.
• 20:04
  But Easter is still very popular with couples because of the the
• 20:06
  long bank holiday. So yeah, you've got the, the
• 20:09
  biggest booking group, the the most consistent demand.
• 20:13
  I think it's yeah, really interesting.
• 20:15
  And when you mentioned property types as well.
• 20:18
  Traditional properties are tend to be the most popular.
• 20:21
  Maybe that's just with Sykes because that's a large kind of
• 20:24
  amount of our stock is kind of traditional cottages, but kind
• 20:28
  of unique quirky properties are really popular with couples as
• 20:31
  well. I think partly because there's
• 20:33
  only obviously only two people you can, there's some really
• 20:36
  creative quirky kind of types of accommodation that you can kind
• 20:39
  of target them with. Looking at some data properties
• 20:44
  like apartments, lodges, glamping pods and shepherds
• 20:46
  huts, they make up just under 1/4 of all couples bookings,
• 20:50
  which is quite a lot, especially compared to 14% for non couples.
• 20:54
  So considerably more than your average Booker outside of
• 20:57
  couples. So a real opportunity to offer
• 20:59
  something different I think. And because of the nature of
• 21:03
  these properties and like I said, couples being a smaller
• 21:06
  party that these, these types of properties are cheaper to buy
• 21:09
  and build and cheaper to run as well.
• 21:11
  So when I'm saying that that's probably the segment I would
• 21:14
  target with the holiday let, it's because of that the
• 21:17
  biggest, the biggest group, the most consistent demand and the
• 21:20
  cheapest properties to run. Obviously, there's a caveat of
• 21:23
  them generating less value potentially from bookings.
• 21:27
  But yeah, I think it's a real opportunity, especially if
• 21:30
  you're maybe looking to get into the market for a little bit
• 21:32
  less. But I think it's still a real
• 21:34
  viable option, option to go down.
• 21:36
  So yeah, I thought it was really interesting to dive into that
• 21:38
  data. Yeah, makes sense.
• 21:40
  And I think as well, you know, knowing who your target guest is
• 21:43
  and setting your property up accordingly can be, you know,
• 21:47
  really helpful and really set you up for for success.
• 21:49
  So if you know that you're targeting couples, then, you
• 21:51
  know, get your photos right, get your amenities right, get your
• 21:54
  hot tub, you know, romantic hot tub if you if you can.
• 21:58
  OK. Then finally, Owen, if people
• 22:00
  want to find out more about holiday let data from Sykes,
• 22:03
  where should they go? Head to
• 22:05
  sykescottages.co.uk/letyourcottage/advice. That's all sort of information
• 22:10
  area of the website for owners. You'll be able to find some
• 22:13
  reports on there that the data that I've been talking about
• 22:16
  today is our monthly pulse report, which is just a kind of
• 22:18
  consistent view on the market kind of month by month.
• 22:21
  We also do an annual holiday letting outlook report, which
• 22:24
  is, yeah, more of a long term view over how the market's
• 22:27
  performing over time. I guess you'll be able to find
• 22:30
  all that on, on that area of the website and as well as other,
• 22:34
  other resources as well. We try and we've got access to
• 22:37
  so much data and sites. We've got obviously a lot of
• 22:39
  properties over a lot of years. So yeah, we just try and use it
• 22:42
  as much as possible to to help people and give people a bit
• 22:44
  more insight into the market. So we try and use it as as many
• 22:46
  places as possible. So yeah, that area of our
• 22:49
  website will will hopefully give you some answers or if you're
• 22:52
  interested in letting with sites then then get in touch and
• 22:54
  someone will will guide you to those resources as well.
• 22:57
  Superb. Yeah.
• 22:58
  And we'll put all those links in the show notes.
• 23:00
  There's, as Owen says, an absolute wealth of data and
• 23:03
  information and really, really useful if you're interested in
• 23:06
  holiday letting or already in the markets.
• 23:09
  Owen, it's been a real pleasure. Thank you for joining us on the
• 23:11
  latest Holiday Let Insider. Thanks very much for having me,
• 23:14
  it's been great. Now over to you, is your rental
• 23:17
  pet friendly and if not, is that something you're considering?
• 23:21
  Drop your answer in the comments if you found this useful, hit
• 23:24
  like, subscribe and share it with another host or property
• 23:27
  manager who needs to see it. And don't forget to check out
• 23:30
  Sykes Holiday Cottages. Simply scan the QR code on
• 23:33
  screen if you're watching on YouTube or hit the link in the
• 23:36
  show notes to find out more. This is holiday let insider from
• 23:39
  House Planet and Sykes Holiday Cottages.
• 23:42
  Until next time, happy hosting.