Even with obstacles facing South Wales and its holiday let industry, the holiday let market is continuing to thrive.
At Coast & Country Holidays, 2024 proved to be another strong season for bookings, despite the ongoing economic challenges.
We experienced slightly lower overall occupancy rates, primarily due to the difficult winter and spring months, which were marked by persistent wet weather. However, performance during the summer and autumn improved, with an average occupancy rate of 78% throughout the summer. Overall, bookings per property rose by 6%, and revenue per property increased by 5% compared to 2023, largely driven by a rise in customers making multiple short break bookings.
Over the past 12 months, we have observed significant changes in how customers book, their intentions, and what they seek from their holidays.
Read on to find out more about holiday letting in Mid, West and South Wales…
An Overview of the Holiday Letting Market
The holiday let market continues to boom, creating a need for expansion. Here at Coast and Country Holidays, that’s exactly what we’ve done. With 275 properties with us to date, we’re incredibly grateful and proud to say we’re always improving and growing; this year we saw an increase in properties coming on board and bookings, as well as more customers booking their holiday within four weeks of the start date.
Being able to notice changes and patterns in guest preferences is key to ensuring your property will have maximised book potential. Here’s a few things we noticed this year:
Short breaks: 48% of our bookings were for short breaks, this had a 6.5% increase from 2023.
Last minute bookings: 33% of bookings were made four weeks before the start date – a 4% increase from the previous year. 2% of bookings are made same day!
A diverse group of guests: Bookings were made up of 40% couples, 31% families, 27% adult groups and 2% solo travellers.
In 2024, we’re proud to announce we won GOLD at the 2024 British Travel Awards as a part of Sykes Holiday Cottages.
Top-Preforming Properties in 2024
In 2024 these properties achieved great successes, they are prime examples of how a well-presented property that’s managed to a high standard can excel.
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Tree House, Oakford, 65 bookings for 2024, 17 already for 2025
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Ty Melyn, Aberysrwyth, 54 bookings in 2024, 7 already in 2025
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Ty Marlyn, Crofty, 47 bookings in 2024, 12 already in 2025
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The Sail Loft, Milford Haven, 49 bookings in 2024, 8 already in 2025
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Gwndwn Gwyn, Goodwick, 38 bookings in 2024, 13 already in 2025
Top Tips for Maximising Your Property’s Potential
Let’s take a look at our top tips for ensuring your property can boost its bookings and revenue:
Optimise your pricing:
We offer dynamic pricing tools, giving owners the ability to maximise their income as well as booking numbers. We automatically adjust prices to match demand by analysing searches, booking trends, and individual property performance.
When utilising dynamic pricing, owners on average see 6 additional bookings and 21% more revenue, compared to properties that don’t take advantage of this.
Owners who take on our advice on where their base pricing should sit, on average earn 42% more revenue than owners who set their own pricing.
Accept short breaks:
Every year we see an increase in demand for short term stays.
48% of our bookings in Mid, West and South Wales were for short breaks of three, four or five nights – which is an increase from 42% in 2023. The average length of stay in 2024 was 5.68 nights, a decrease from 6.14 nights the previous year.
Two short breaks in the place of one weeklong booking returns on average 178% of a weekly rental.
Be flexible with last minute bookings
Last minute trips are becoming much more common than they have been in previous years, with a 4% increase in bookings that are made 4 weeks prior to the start date from 2023.
In August, 2% of bookings were made on the day prior to arrival or the morning of the arrival date. Searches for last minute holidays peaked in July and August.
If you decide to take last minute bookings, here at Coast and Country Holidays we can support you with facilitating last minute changeovers.
Accept pets:
Accepting pets can increase your revenue by 18% a year and bring in 2.5 extra bookings.
We’ve noticed a 60% increase in searches for pet-friendly holidays since 2019.
Features That Add Value to Your Property
There are certain features you can add to your property that will add extra value to guests, we like to keep an eye on the types of features our guests search for:
Hot tubs – hot tubs are our second most searched-for holiday criteria after pets. Installing a hot tub could boost your revenue by 37%.
Garden/outdoor space – 32% of guests consider a property’s garden or outdoor space when booking a holiday. Add some seating for people to enjoy the Welsh fresh air!
Wi-Fi/technology – 27% of guests consider good Wi-Fi to be important when booking a property.
Consider sustainability
As well as reducing your running costs and future proofing your business, improving your environmental impact can be a great way to accelerate your bookings.
When talking to the UK public, 74% of people say they’d want travel companies to offer more sustainable options.
When talking to the UK public, 74% of people say they’d want travel companies to offer more sustainable choices, 65% of people would prefer to stay in accommodation if they knew it had a sustainable certification, and 43% would pay more for sustainable options.
In recent years, we’ve noticed an increased demand for properties with EV charge points, holiday homes with EV charging facilities see 260 searches per month on Google. Only 5% of our properties currently have EV chargers, so installing one may be a chance for your home to stand out from the crowd.
Marketing Your Holiday Home
We’re proud to say here at Coast and Country Holidays that we’re able to offer a mixture of local expertise supported by national marketing reach, giving owners the ‘best of both worlds.’
Here are some of our marketing insights from last year, showing how we can support your home in its success:
We spent £35 million on marketing in 2024.
The Sykes Holiday Cottages website, which also features all the Coast and Country Holidays properties, had over 47 million website visitors in 2024.
We dominate in Google search results, with 30% market share amongst the four largest competitors in the industry.
More people searched for Sykes Cottages than any of our competitors, with over 3 million searches for ‘Sykes’ in the last 12 months.
Launched several successful booking initiatives this year, such as our free cancellation schemes and low deposit payment offer.
Partnered with 700+ travel platforms like Airbnb and Booking.com.
Developed the UK’s only holiday cottage booking app, with 60,000+ installs.
Thinking of Investing in a Holiday Home?
Mid, West and South Wales has strong occupancy rates between March and October, making it the perfect place to invest in a holiday cottage.
In our experience, the top three features you should consider are:
A sea view – sea views are one of the most common search terms on our website, as well as on Google when people are searching for holiday cottages.
Parking – Tenby and Aberdovey both have particularly high search demand for holiday homes with parking. Parking is another commonly searched filter on our website.
Distance from a beach or town – In our recent study, 34% of people saif they consider proximity to a beach when booking a property. Customers also consider the proximity to a supermarket or pub.
Find out more about letting with Coast and Country Holidays…
With over 30 years’ of experience marketing and managing over 275 holiday properties throughout West, Mid and South Wales, we strive to take care of every aspect of the letting process, so you don’t have to.
Thinking of letting your cottage? One of our New Property Consultants would love to visit your property and give an honest appraisal of its rental potential. Or, if you’re thinking of investing in a property and would like some free advice, we can help!
We are thrilled to provide:
24-hour support from our local office in Newport, plus a dedicated Account Manager for your property
Bespoke service options, with full property management available
Unrivalled national and local marketing coverage
Market leading pricing systems
Listings and partner sites include Airbnb, Snaptrip! And Booking.com
Staying informed about emerging trends is key to achieving long-term success, especially as the holiday let market continues to grow. At Coast and Country Holidays, we are committed to supporting owners with expert guidance, innovative pricing strategies and comprehensive marketing solutions.
Get in Touch
If you feel ready to get stuck into your holiday letting journey or would like to learn more, we’d love to talk to you. Contact us at newowners@welsh-cottages.co.uk or call 01239 801587 to book your visit or chat with a property expert.
Let us take care of the hard work while you enjoy the benefits of owning a successful holiday home in Mid, West or South Wales.
We have plenty of advice and top tips on our Owner Advice Guides for everything you need to know about holiday letting with Coast and Country Holidays.
Thinking of investing in a holiday let in South Wales? Check out our guide – Are holiday lets in South Wales a Good Investment?
