Hard times for the holiday let industry in the UK?

[user1477391263]

Seems like the post-COVID recovery, crappy weather, COL and other factors have dampened the situation for people owning holiday lets in places like Cornwall. On the other hand, perhaps (as the article hints towards the end) there will be an increase in long term rental properties coming on to the market.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/apr/07/britains-staycation-boom-may-be-over-as-bookings-dry-up?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1712464698

Anecdata from talking to friends tells me that many people are fed up with the rising cost of holiday lets in these places, more and more demands being placed on guest re cleaning etc., and the fact that so many local places like restaurants are understaffed; of course, part of the issue may be that locals have to an extent been priced out of the local housing market, meaning there are fewer people available to clean, mow lawns or wait on tables. It may be a good thing if the local housing market self-corrects in this manner.

I’m back from a week in Cornwall, we visited St Ives for the first time in several years and walking down the back streets was staggered by the amount of properties with holiday let plaques on the front door, 1 company seemed to practically have the whole street! Plenty of adverts for restaurant staff wanted in windows and I thought it’s because local people can’t afford to live there. I’ll be glad if these greedy people have to sell their holiday lets due to low occupancy, the whole housing market is completely wrong and bringing in new reforms is too late, there’s nothing left to buy. I personally don't think that anyone needs to own more than 1 property. We have always tried to have 1 main holiday in the UK a year and post Covid, some of the prices have nearly doubled, again pure greed!

Why are people greedy because they look at a second property as an investment ? Surely its our duty to ourselves and our families to ensure the best possible return on our money. Many landlords or Air B and B owners are doing this as their living surely you don't think that they have a right to do this.

Do you not see the issue of hollowing out these towns so people can’t actually live in them full time?

Rather sad for the local communities to be displaced by someone living hundreds of miles away wanting an investment.

I appreciate we all are looking out for ourselves, but I think we can acknowledge that some forms of investment are actually destructive and should be discouraged.

I see it's a problem (and I am part of the problem because we much prefer to self cater when we go on holiday - ive only ever had 2 hotel holidays- both abroad) but I can't understand the mentality of no one should be allowed to own more than one property.
There is a need for rental property for all sorts of reasons (long term lets ) so I'm not sure how that would work if no one could own another property....but that's a different....but probably related, problem, to air bnbs and holiday lets

@kell4life yep- we've got some lovely villages here in Somerset but our first comment is would you want to live in them as when you look at the holiday let plaques it's obvious many will be dead in the week- it's bad for facilities too as it's hard to run a business on purely 3 day a week trade.

I live in a town with 1/20 properties short term let our economy relies on this handymen, cleaners, Resturant’s, pubs it’s a necessary evil to keep our town running. Remove the shirt term lets put the properties on the market no one can afford them as there is no work in the town. If a travel lodge is built to serve the tourist trade do you see this as the same as say 20 1 bed flats could be built there ? Second homers are far more of an issue than air b and n

Absolutely yes. I have 2 buildings in my garden that I rent out and bookings are down. It's our only income so things are difficult. We have this year spent £16 k adding to what we offer so that we stand out in a crowded market.

The main problem is market saturation. In my small Cornish village there are at least 15 new holiday let properties that have appeared in the last 18 months, mostly bought during lockdown and refurbished at great expense, now selling at very low prices ( e.g. £700 a week, 3 bedroom, beautifully furnished)

I actually agree with what the government are trying to do in limiting holiday lets. There are too many 2nd homeowners letting for 70 nights a year but getting all the benefits of being a business.

In my village there is a huge council estate, all sold off in the Thatcher years. The problem is that there is no social housing here for people to live in. Rentals have become holiday lets because rents are low. As a landlord with A mortgage on A property you don't break even

A few points from what I've read here-

Check out. I've been staying in holiday cottages for 30 years and checkout has always been 10 or 11 am. You need that time to clean to a high standard. If checkout was later you would need two cleaners and it's hard enough to get one, believe me. A deep clean is done every single time

Cleaners charge £20- £30. Bedding wash and iron is £20 per bedset. Electricity/ oil at least £20 per day in autumn/winter/ spring. Insurance has tripled this year. Private rubbish collection is £15 per bag. gardeners charge £25 an hour. Mortgage costs have obviously gone up. I don't know how owners are making any sort of profit or even covering their costs.I

Air bnb is just a booking portal for holiday lets. The same properties are on booking dot com, VRBO. There is no difference between Air bnb and any other holiday let site like Sykes, Classic Cottages etc.

The onerous cleaning rules seem to be an urban myth. I have never been asked to thoroughly clean, I've never seen a listing ask for this and I look at a lot. I saw someone on another thread say that being asked to take the rubbish out and put it in the bin was 'spending hours scrubbing and cleaning'!

I think that just because you haven't experienced something personally @Movinghouseatlast that does not make it an urban myth.

I have looked at literally thousands of listings ovrr the last 6 years, because I compare my listing with others. There are maybe 5 people here saying they've been asked to clean and a few saying they have 'heard' about cleaning being asked for.

@Movinghouseatlast they exist. I don't even think you should have to strip the bed tbh. But I've been to more than one where we had to make sure everything had been through the dishwasher, beds stripped, bathroom wiped/cleaned, floors hoovered l, bins emptied etc. I always whack the dishwasher on and leave a place tidy, but I don't like having to do loads of the actual cleaning jobs.

I’ve had to do all of these jobs in the last property I rented. Boy was I annoyed. Stripping the bed and emptying the bins I understand, but the vacuuming and mopping made me cross. Nowhere in the listing was this mentioned. It came via email the day before we vacated the property. This was with Sykes. Won’t book with them again.

I live in a small rural UK tourist town. There are not many well paid jobs locally (mainly in retail/farming/tourism and quite a few are seasonal) but up until about 15-20 years ago housing was relatively cheap so local people could afford to live locally. Now the house prices are insane and most of the smaller houses in nicer areas and/or closer to local amenities (parks, shops etc) are holiday lets. There seems to have been an influx of people from more expensive parts of the country who have sold their previous home and bought a large house in our area plus a small holiday let (eg. selling in London and commuting to the office one a week or so, or semi retired). Unfortunately this means that young local families can only afford to live in less desirable areas further out of town and often can't afford to live in walking distance of shops/schools etc. Unfortunately this also means that many have left the area, and a lot of independent hotels/cafes etc are struggling because they can't get enough staff.

I know some of the holiday let owners that I think have become quite greedy since lockdown. One rents out a 2 bed house in what was previously a residential street (now about 80% holiday lets) for £2k per week during peak season. When she was unable to let it during lockdown she cancelled her letting agent and cleaner, and when she opened up again she asked guests to clean/strip beds etc before they left. She has told me several times how much more efficient this is- all she needs to do is nip in to check everywhere, pop some bleach down the loo, do a quick clean of anywhere the guests have missed and change the bedding so no need for a cleaner and only takes her an hour between lettings. Personally, I'd be really annoyed to pay that much and find that a) the owner hasn't arranged a proper deep clean between guests and b) that I am expected to do the full clean before I leave. This person may just be a CF though, as she has also complained to anyone who will listen that she can't get a new cleaner because the old one doesn't want to know and the only people who applied when she advertised for a new one lived on the local ex-council estate (the horror!)

My Sykes didn’t ask for that - that must have been from the owner!

I also live in a small rural town that is very popular tourist destination. Around 16% of properties are estimated to be second homes, holiday lets or Airbnb. Young families can't afford to live here and it impacts our school which is undersubscribed and underfunded. Cleaners, gardeners, hotel staff, shop staff, tea room staff and the like are all commuting in from the bigger towns. It is a tough place to be poor with holiday makers loving the scenery and vibe and wealthy incomes buying up all the property and then whining that they can't get a cleaner or gardener.

The town benefits from tourism but it isn't necessarily an easy place to live.

Overpriced and crap weather. Way better options outside the UK.

Everyone forgot to price North Norfolk as North Norfolk and not Palma, Mallorca.

Cut your prices.

What has changed so much in the last 10 or 20 years? What did people do for work in small rural towns and villages back then? If I could understand more about this I'd feel better equipped to comment.

Also, we've had three dreadful summers in a row since covid! Perhaps that's turned people off UK holidays.

Summer 2022 was lovely (apart from the 40° day! 😳)

Yes the email came from Sykes. I
left a review of the house (which was beautiful) and added that I was annoyed that I was expected to clean through throughly. The owner contacted me directly (he lives abroad 9 months of the year and it’s his home he rents out). He didn’t realise that Sykes were asking this of holiday makers, he asked for the email that they sent me. I forwarded it on to him, he was annoyed that Sykes had sent this out without his permission. He offered me a 25% discount if I wanted to book again as a good will gesture.

I grew up in a rural area, although not a holiday destination.

It's been a steady decline. Move to online shopping and the supermarkets taking over shops/pubs. Plus more service orientated buildings like post offices,
building societies/banks and libraries closing. So a vicious circle of what was once a thriving small town or large village with a few independent shops, library, pubs, bus service, probably at least one bank, starts to lose those. Becomes a less enticing destination, people go elsewhere or online and then there's barely any amenities left open. So many villages once had their own post office and little shop. So money was spent locally and circulated in the local economy. Now it mostly leaves.

Agriculture has become more and more automated. Obviously it's been mechanised for decades but now you have large arable or dairy farms with far fewer employees because so much depends on IT and doing things at vast scale. Once upon a time you had to muck out and feed cows by hand, now it's an automatic process on many bigger farms.

When you can go to a hot country with guaranteed sunshine, swimming pools, and seas that aren't full of shit for half the price, it's a no-brainer, really.

I fundamentally disagree with the use of peoples homes for holiday lets.

This AirB&B type thing has sucked the youth and the community out of our lovely town and young people and young families don't have a hope in hell of renting, let alone buying, so they stay at home and don't progress to being independent very quickly, or they move away.

Therefore I refuse to use AirB&B or home lettings when I visit other areas of the UK. I much prefer the hospitality of a real B&B (where the breakfast is actually made for you) or a small hotel.
The people you meet and the local knowledge is unmatched by a holiday let.

I am not cooking or cleaning the bathroom and kitchen whilst on holiday. It's a holiday!!

This is us too!

I agree. And it's pretty common to have to leave at 10 from hotels too? Also, you might not be able to checkin till 3 or 4 in hotels. You might be able to leave your bags, or checkin earlier if the room is ready, but it's not guaranteed.

We nearly always go for a flat or house rather than hotels. For 4 people it is much more cost-effective. Food is an issue too if we stay in a hotel - it's expensive to eat out, and we have dietary requirements, and sometimes we are staying somewhere with only 1 pub nearby. I don't want to eat the same pub meal (which will often be pre-prepared and microwaved) for a week.

Additionally, if you're on a budget and staying at lower-end hotels there is rarely anywhere to sit and chill, except on your bed. OK for a night. Not for a week.