DIY 3-4 26/1/10 12:36 Page 50
knowledge diy & add-ons
ttglive.com
Self-catering
Including the
kitchen sink...
For many clients, self-catering apartments and villas
can help stretch a holiday budget further than hotels.
Peter Ellegard talks to accommodation-only suppliers
about the state of play in this thriving sector
W
ith holiday costs increasingly Lowcostbeds’ lead-in prices include the
under scrutiny by cash- Grand Villa Sol Apartments in Turkey’s
strapped Brits, self-catering Marmaris from £26 per room, and the Club
apartments and villas booked Cala d’Or Park Apartments in Cala d’Or, for money in these cash-strapped times.”
as part of a DIY deal are fast becoming a pre- Majorca, from £133 – both for seven nights The three-bedroom Villa Ocean in Gale on
ferred option to packaged holidays in hotels. in May, based on four sharing. the Algarve works out even cheaper, leading
All-inclusive may be the current buzz At Somewhere2stay, product manager in at £239 per week, or £30 per person based
phrase, but accommodation-only providers Jill Marshall says the Algarve, Menorca and on the maximum eight sharing.
say they are also seeing a big move towards Majorca remain the best-selling villa and Villa clients have a representative to meet
cook-it-yourself breaks in many of the top self-catering destinations. them on arrival and give them a 24-hour
holiday destinations. “Self-catering sales for the Algarve alone emergency number, says Marshall.
Lowcostbeds sales director Tim Buckman are showing year-on-year increases for
says around 30% of bookings are for self- summer 2010 of 32%, while hotel bookings Booming hotspots
catering accommodation, up 5% on last are more or less on par. This could indicate The Algarve is one of Youtravel’s top self-
year. Favourite locations are Tenerife, that in certain destinations, due to the catering destinations, according to national
Lanzarote, Majorca, the Costa Blanca and the current climate, self-catering is coming out sales manager Liz Garfield. She says sales
Algarve, with strongest rises for Crete (100% on top for those who can’t or don’t wish there are up 140% year-on-year for summer
up year on year), the Algarve (up 75%), to go the extra mile and book a hotel on 2010, with other hotspots being Gran
Majorca (up 65%) and Turkey (up 50%). all-inclusive or otherwise,” she says. Canaria (up 30%), Tenerife (up 25%) and
Buckman cites key reasons for the increase Marshall says while destinations such as Fuerteventura (up a massive 150% thanks
as costs and flexibility, particularly for Majorca are seeing more all-inclusive offer- to added flight capacity) in the Canaries, as
families. He says the company has increased ings, self-catering options are also increasing. well as Majorca and mainland Spain.
product in key areas such as the Balearics, She adds: “We have villas in Majorca this “We have added a number of self-catering
Canaries, mainland Spain, Turkey and year priced at just £149 per villa per week properties for this winter and summer 2010
Greece “to cater for those wanting a value which, based on four sharing, equates to as purse strings tighten and some people opt
for money holiday but not wanting to spend £37.25 per person per week. for cheaper accommodation,” she says.
the money on an all-inclusive option”. “These rates offer families excellent value “The abundance of flights to these
50 29.01.2010
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