Why has Brighton Holiday Homes ceased trading?
UK: ShortTermRentalz this week spoke to vacation rental and SEO expert, Damian Sheridan, about the recent collapse of short-term letting company Brighton Holiday Homes.
The former Brighton resident offered a key insight into the possible reasons behind why the firm may have closed down and into the general rental scene in the city at this moment in time.
He said:
“I firmly believe that this is little to with any ‘challenging economic conditions’ in the local holiday rental industry but more about a poor, outdated and irresponsible management approach.
“It may be that the company was too reliant on a high Google Ad spend and you also need to embrace modern technology. Consequently, internal processing was very manual and operational/staffing costs had reportedly been too high. Some owners may have gone months without payment.
“Whilst there are now a few thousand rental properties available in the local area, average occupancy rates stand at around 70 per cent with daily rental rates of nearly £130 per night. The demand is certainly there.
“Like many other UK cities, weekend bookings still dominate and visitor numbers do fall significantly from November to March. However, demand is still consistent in these months from hen/stag groups and university student visitors.
“There are several major providers in the area (e.g. Brighton Getaways, City Pad, Crown Gardens) who continue to deliver an outstanding service in an increasingly evolving space.
“The short-term rental industry in Brighton and Hove is thriving but companies that fail to embrace technology and the changing nature of the short-term rental industry will ultimately fail.
“Sadly, in this case, it led to scores of guests and owners significantly out-of-pocket.”
Damian can be found on Twitter at the following link here.
