A changing booking pattern – what does it mean?

Renting a holiday home by the seaside for a fortnight’s holiday sounds very old fashioned, right? But that was the fashionable thing to do back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s, even into the 80’s! Back then, we rented a caravan or camped in the dunes on the beach and in the woods. And not forgetting a chalet in Butlin’s Holiday Camp in Mosney in County Meath.

However nowadays the list and choices are endless. Choose from a holiday home, modern barn, a cosy cottage by the sea, glamorous camping aka glamping, tepee, shepherds hut, tree houses, pods, yurts, and motor homes to name but a few!

But it doesn’t really matter what we call it. All these types of holiday properties have one thing in common – they are now and always were ‘self-catering accommodation’.

A changing booking pattern

In 2018 families still holiday in Ireland in their droves every summer. Many go back to the same seaside resort year after year. We love to bring our kids and grandchildren back to where we made happy holiday memories. Most go for a fortnight but more and more just book a short break when they have free time.

The standards of self-catering holiday homes have risen over the years. This is because the standards in holidaymaker’s own homes are so high.  No one will tolerate the lack of en-suite showers, dishwashers and flat screen TVs. And Wi-Fi is nearly considered an essential. Although there are many who book a holiday cottage or home without Wi-Fi, just so they can get away from it all.

The thing is, nowadays there is so much choice! You can book on-line 24/7, for as long as you like, in the destination and type of holiday property of your choice.

Going with the big agencies

This is nothing new for those of us who have been letting cottages and holiday homes to tourists in Ireland for over 30 years and more. But the concept has now achieved global acclaim and popularity since the advent of Airbnb in particular.

Now you ’Airbnb it’ and it is extremely fashionable to be a host, rather than be an owner.

Airbnb, HomeAway, Booking.com are all here to stay. Holiday home owners and providers of self-catering accommodation in all its guises worry about being swallowed up by the likes of Airbnb and booking.com. But why not embrace their ability to reach a larger, global audience and grab a piece of the action!

It would be foolhardy to think an individual holiday home website, featuring one property or a small complex could reach such audiences. Your budget simply could not compete!  Many holiday property owners believe if they have a website that they are ‘on sale’. They don’t fully understand that the website is simply a brochure. If you don’t advertise its existence, keep content fresh and new, you simply have no chance of being found.

For example, if you put ‘holiday homes in Ireland’ into a search engine like google you will get about ‘27,900,000 results’!  And you can bet your bottom dollar that Airbnb and Booking.com will appear on the top with a paid Ad – and pay they do.  With advertising budgets in the millions, property owners cannot compete with these global portals.

Trident Holiday Homes a one-stop shop

That is why Trident Holiday Homes has invested in a booking system. Our booking system can seamlessly integrate with booking.com, Airbnb, HomeAway, TripAdvisor and many other channels. We have the tools that will allow you to simply and effectively ‘let your property’ via our website.

We feed into a whole range of platforms and display live availability to a global market. Our live calendars integrate and give instant availability of properties to these big engines and their audience.

Owners must understand that Airbnb and booking.com are portals, with listings of properties to rent. They are not vacation rental managers which is what an owner is.  If you understand this you can clearly understand why working, rather than trying to compete with these portals is hugely beneficial.  With our expert team we can personally help you active results with our integrated  booking engine.

Trident Holiday Homes can help you let your property

Need help letting your holiday home or cottage?

Our friendly and face-to-face service will help you let your property to holidaymakers. We have an Irish based owner support team and call centre offering expert advice for holidaymakers and individual property owners.

We can tailor a package to suit your specific needs and you can get help and advice when you need it. You can avail of a free listing on our easy to navigate website that will give you a wider reach. Plus depending on your booking engine, we can pull live availability from your website and display it on multiple channels.

We can also provide an on-site management team for groups of holiday homes. We offer advice and help for new owners who wish to enter the market quickly and effectively for the first time.

Whether you have a little cottage or a cluster of modern holiday homes we can help you target a new and global audience. Our 31 years’ experience gives us in-depth knowledge of the sector, a proven track record and a real passion for the self – catering sector.

We would love to hear from you, visit our ‘let your property‘ page to learn more about our services and expert knowledge.