Holidu and Bookiply expand offerings into Greece
Greece: Munich-based travel tech company Holidu and its subsidiary Bookiply have announced their expansion into Greece to make it easier for vacation rental providers to market their properties and allow travellers to access suitable accommodation.
Bookiply drives visibility of vacation properties in Greece with its own marketing and management software through its website. It supports local owners in managing their property, such as streaming on all major booking portals, synchronising calendars and centralised payment management, and providing a free photo service.
From Athens, Bookiply experts will serve the entire Ionian Islands such as Corfu, Lefkas, Kefalonia and Zakynthos, and further regions will be made available, including the opening of a second office in Greece.
On Holidu’s webpage in Greece, Greek travellers will now be able to book a vacation rental in their national language.
Ahead of an expected record summer of bookings, Holidu observed that only 32 per cent of vacation accommodation in Greece is still available for the high season. On popular islands, 73 per cent of vacation rentals have already been booked, while the figure is 76 per cent on the Ionian islands.
Most searches for the summer months are for destinations in Crete [40 per cent], South Aegean Region [38 per cent] and the Aegean Decentralised Administration. Among the islands, Corfu [25 per cent], Zakynthos [13 per cent] and Rhodes [12 per cent] are scoring particularly well, followed by Mykonos, Santorini, Kefalonia and Kos.
Markos Karakostas of Bookiply said: “Vacationing in a vacation rental was already a trend before the pandemic. However, the target group has become much broader since then. In addition to families, more and more solo travellers, couples and young adults have acquired a taste for it.”
Johannes Siebers, co-founder and CEO of Holidu, said: “With our expansion to Greece, we are responding to the increased demand on both sides – that of the vacation rental owners as well as the travellers. Greece is one of the top vacation destinations in 2022, but the offer is still not very digitised, it is also very fragmented and new vacation rental owners who are not yet familiar with the market are likely to face a number of challenges.”
With its software and service solution, Bookiply, Holidu wants to alleviate frustration during the booking process and make the searching and booking of vacation properties as simple, secure and efficient as possible.
In the first quarter of 2022 alone, seven new affiliated branches have been added in France, Italy, Portugal and Spain to cater to the high traveller demand. Ten times as many guests arrived at Bookiply vacation rentals year-over-year in the first three months of the year alone while Holidu bookings increased fivefold, even ahead of the peak season.
Founded in 2014, Holidu raised $45 million in Series D funding in May before acquiring holiday rental platform Spain-Holiday five months later.
