Dorset Holiday Letting Review and Predictions

Over 60 owners and guests attended Dream Cottages’ sold-out information evening in February based on Dorset holiday letting, which saw a staycation review and predictions.

With an action-packed evening of guest speakers, evening guests also heard holiday let insights from 2024 and predictions for 2025. Last year, Dream Cottages alone brought 30,000 guests to Dorset on holiday (plus some of their pets), with a summer occupancy rate of 83%.

An overview of the holiday letting market

The Dream Cottages and Lyme Bay Holidays team revealed they are collectively the first holiday let agencies in the industry to offer flexible cancellation terms at no cost to their owners, thanks to Sykes Cottages new terms.

Guests to the evening enjoyed learning about booking trends including how 29% of bookings were made within 4 weeks of travel and 40% of bookings were for short breaks.

2024 bookings were made up of 40% couples, 31% families, 27% adult groups and 2% solo travellers.

Most booked locations for staycations in Dorset

According to the Sykes Cottages 2024 Staycation Index, Dorset was he 9th most popular staycation destinations in 2024, according to consumer research of 2,000 UK adults.

Following this, Weymouth was the number 1 most popular locations for summer 2024 bookings with Lyme Regis ranking 6th out of 10.

Bookings review and predictions

In the past 12 months, we at Dream Cottages have seen some notable changes in the way that customers book, their intentions and what they desire from their holiday.

Dream Cottages, part of Sykes Cottages, data showed that top three most desirable features when looking to stay in Dorset and Devon were:

1. A sea view

Although always popular, we received a 6% increase in clicks to pages on our website for properties containing “sea views.” Searches for “luxury sea views” also grew by 140% in 2023.

2. Parking

Off-road parking is one of the most popular features on our website. The phrase “self-catering in Weymouth with Parking” gets an average of 90 Google searches per month.

3. Close distance to a beach or town

In our recent study, 34% of people said they consider proximity to a beach when booking a property. Customers also consider proximity to a supermarket or shop (33%) and pub (25%).

Holiday Letting in Dorset

Domestic tourism currently boosts the UK economy by £28 billion each year, with over £7 billion of this spend in the South West – predominately in rural areas which outweighs other regions.

To find out more about Dorset’s leading holiday let agencies Dream Cottages and Lyme Bay Holidays, download your free owner pack to get your free pricing appraisal and book a no-obligation free property visit.