15 May 2008

Further changes in accommodation sector predicted

TravelMole Guest Comment by Youtravel.com sales and marketing director Paul Riches

The nationââ¬â¢s money worries have polarised the accommodation-only sector with bookings for both self-catering and all-inclusive properties seeing significant rises, according to youtravel.com.

For us at youtravel.com bookings for self-catering properties have seen three-digit growth during March and April compared to September and October last year, while all-inclusive hotels bookings have risen by 70% in the same timeframe.

As nationwide financial fears continue and the mortgage and housing market both are cause for doom and gloom weââ¬â¢re seeing that people either want to have the most inclusive holiday possible, or go the other way completely and want to strip everything out.

Opting for self-catering of course means that people are able to choose what and when they want to eat so that there is no or little waste when it comes to holiday food and drink.

However with an all-inclusive property people have already committed to a set price and therefore can use this as a budgeting tool for the rest of the holiday spending.

We are seeing a definite polarising of this marketplace, there are fewer people going for half-board or bed and breakfast options than usual.

While no one can categorically say how the current economic uncertainties are going to play out in the long term I think that itââ¬â¢d be fair to expect further changes in the accommodation-only market.

This relatively young market has seen many twists and turns in the past five years.

In the short term I can see the number of accommodation providers diminishing ââ¬' the question is though by what means? Merger? Takeover? Failure?

Keep on watching, itââ¬â¢s going to be an interesting and eventful year.

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• Comparing like for like
  
  

  "We compared September and October to March April because as a young company of 18 months old to do it year-on-year would make the figures meaningless as they'd be skewed. Also this was about looking at the mix of business, self-catering versus all-inclusive, rather than overall sales increase or destination mix."

  By Paul Riches, Tuesday, May 20, 2008
• compare like for like please
  
  

  Why are you comparing march-april with september-oct? They're very different months - we're in the accommodation-only sector and typically sept-oct account for approx 6-7% of annual takings each, while march-april account for anywhere from 9-14% of annual takings, so you're going to see a growth comparing these months regardless of what's happening in the market! It makes your whole press release meaningless.

  By andrews doug, Thursday, May 15, 2008