Many investors, who have purchased or are planning to purchase a holiday-home, will undoubtedly be concerned at the effects the current economic climate can have on their holiday home. More precisely, how this can affect the rate of bookings they can generate.
Nevertheless, despite the current challenging economic climate, there are huge opportunities to generate rental income both for established and new holiday-home owners.
All the widely advertised doom and gloom about the credit crunch is forcing many people to reconsider the way they spend. People are obviously more careful and are starting to establish priorities when shopping. Certainly a strong reduction in the use of credit cards is proof of this. Yet, almost everyone seems quite resilient about giving up their holidays.
Holiday-home owners have to realise that the credit crunch is opening a sea of opportunities to increase bookings, as more and more holidaymakers consider cheaper holiday alternatives.
While self-catering holidays have traditionally been cheaper than equivalent vacations taken in hotels, in times of economic booms these types of holidays have not always been considered as the first choice for some people. That is because while many consider a good holiday-home as a "home away from home" others prefer the idea of being pampered while on holiday. In other words, they don't want to be cleaning and cooking... Nevertheless, a self-catering holiday is fast becoming the only choice, even for these people, as they start tightening their belts.
It is a well known fact in the business world that in times of economic austerity some businesses keep prospering while others fail. Holiday-home investors follow the same behaviour. The current economic climate brings challenges. But those owners who detect the opportunities hidden by these challenges will prosper and attract more bookings, while those that only see the doom and gloom will sit on empty properties for most of the year.
Unfortunately, most owners maintain a passive approach towards their vacation property investment. At the same time this generates great opportunities for those owners that are willing to be more active. So, for some owners the effects of the credit crunch might not be that bad after all!
