Popular Irish self-catering spots hold up well Sunday, July 05, 2009 By Emma Kennedy Mary Power, the founder and chief executive of Selfcatering.ie, knows the importance of attracting customers in a tough market and says the company updates its offers daily.
She said constantly reviewing the offers available was part and parcel of a very changed tourism market.
‘‘The industry as a whole really has to be more creative about attracting customers,” she said.
Power’s firm, which she set up in 1998, rents holiday homes in ten countries, including Greece, Portugal, Spain and Canada. The company also has more than 2,500 Irish self catering properties on its books.
She has two sets of customers – the people who rent the properties and the holiday home owners who are offering their properties for rent.
‘‘Business is definitely down on last year,” said Power, though she added that the number of self-catering properties being rented was broadly similar to last year.
However, the difference is a drastically different rent. Prices are being cut by up to 50 per cent in some areas of the country, particularly those with an over-supply of holiday cottages, in a bid to attract customers.
For example, a standard three-bed house, with capacity to sleep five people, would typically have cost about €800 to rent for a week last summer. This year prices for the same type of property have fallen to between €550 and €600.
‘‘Certain areas are still holding up well, depending on demand,” she said. Popular holiday spots, such as Kilkee, Rosslare and parts of Galway, were performing better than other locations.
However some areas were not faring so well. Power cited one example, a four-bed house in Courtown, Co Wexford, that sleeps up to six people, that was now available to rent for €450 a week. This compares with €600 last year.
In Power’s view, a lot more Irish people are opting to holiday at home this year. She has also noticed a trend towards shorter holidays, with many people preferring to take a three-day break as opposed to the popular option of a week last year.
There is also a trend towards later bookings this year. ‘‘Two years ago, I would have known my July and August business by the end of April,” she said. Now however, some customers are leaving it until the week before to arrange their holiday.
Self catering businesses, like other tourism companies, are having to design more attractive holiday options to win business. Power said offers like two weeks for the price of one or extra nights for free were becoming increasingly common. She also said tourism businesses were more inclined to work together to attract business to a region, such as local restaurants offering special deals to people who rent nearby properties.
On the plus side, Power sees the self-catering market as more resilient than the hotel sector in a downturn.
‘‘In the worst case scenario, the house is empty and the property owner has to cover the mortgage,” she said.
Hoteliers, she added, were faced with much higher overheads and must meet staff costs and other basic running costs regardless of occupancy levels.
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