Holiday Let Market Insights for 2025

At Coast & Country Cottages, we are pleased to report 2024 was another strong year for the holiday let market in South Devon.

To help holiday owners better understand current booking trends and patterns, we’re delighted to share our latest Market Insights Report. Produced using our own statistics, as well as information from our parent company Sykes Cottages, the report aims to give a clear view of the holiday rental industry at present.

As well as analysing the 2024 season, the report highlights ways holiday home owners can boost their average holiday let occupancy and income in 2025.

Read on for a summary of our findings, or click here to download a free PDF of the full report.

Use the quick links below to learn more about a specific part of the holiday letting market, or read on for an overall summary of our Market Insights Report:

• An overview of the holiday let market
• Top performing properties
• Optimising your property’s booking and earning potential
• Value-adding property features
• Marketing your holiday home
• Download our FREE Holiday Let Market Insights Report

An overview of the holiday let market with Coast & Country Cottages

Despite the economic and political factors at play in 2024, South Devon’s holiday let market remained buoyant. We experienced a slightly lower overall average holiday let occupancy, due to a challenging winter period with relentless wet weather.

However, late spring, summer and autumn performance was strong, with average occupancy rates for holiday lets remaining at 78% throughout the summer. Overall, bookings per property increased by 5.6%. What’s more, revenue per property increased by 4% compared to 2023, driven by an increase in customers booking multiple short breaks.

So, what about the 2025 season? Whilst we don’t have a crystal ball, we can take some best guesses, based on evidence. In November, we commissioned a survey of 1,000 Brits, to help us better understand and predict consumer behaviour. It revealed that 80% are considering staying in UK holiday accommodation in 2025. Compared to a rolling average of 68% over the last 4 years, this shows strong intent to holiday and gives reason to be optimistic for the season ahead.

Here is an overview of how Coast & Country Cottages is currently performing, and how our 2024 season looked:

• We now have 525 properties in South Devon
• In 2024, 30% of our bookings were made within four weeks of the holiday start date – a 3% increase from the previous year.
• Lead time for bookings during the summer are decreasing. 2% of August bookings last year were made on the holiday start date.
• 32% of our bookings were for short breaks last year. This is a 4% increase from 2023.
• Bookings were made up of 40% couples, 31% families, 27% adult groups and 2% solo travellers.
• We were thrilled to win GOLD at the 2024 British Travel Awards, marking our 10th consecutive year of accolades.

Top performing properties

Below are some of our highest performing properties for 2024. Figures are correct as of 10/01/25.

1 Camperdown Lodge
Salcombe, Devon
51 bookings in 2024, 13 already for 2025

Lee Shore
Salcombe, Devon
45 bookings in 2024, 10 already for 2025

3 Dartview
Dartmouth, Devon
44 bookings 2024, 24 already for 2024

11 Ridge Hill
Dartmouth, Devon
43 bookings in 2024, 14 already for 2025

Leeside
Dartmouth, Devon
42 bookings in 2024, 22 already for 2025

Boosting your property’s occupancy and income

Increasing your average holiday let income

In addition to excellent marketing exposure, Coast & Country Cottages offers dynamic pricing tools, giving owners an advantage in today’s holiday let market. These tools enable owners to maximise their income as well as their booking numbers. We automatically adjust prices in line with demand by analysing searches, booking trends, and individual property performance.

Owners that took our advice in 2024 and utilised these dynamic pricing tools, on average saw 6 additional bookings and 21% more revenue, compared to those that did not.

Similarly, those that took our advice on where their base price should sit earned on average 42% more revenue than owners who set their own pricing.

Accept short breaks

We are seeing demand for short stays consistently grow year on year.

At Coast & Country Cottages, 32% of our bookings in 2024 were for short breaks. This is a significant 4% rise from 28% in 2023.

Similarly, our average holiday let occupancy in 2024 was 5.68 nights; a decrease from 6.14 nights the previous year.

Last minute bookings

Last minute bookings are no longer the exception, they’re the rule. With the weather typically unpredictable, people are hesitant to commit early, preferring to be spontaneous and make the most of sunshine by the coast.

At Coast & Country Cottages, 30% of our bookings in 2024 were made within 4 weeks of the holiday start date. This is a 3% increase from 2024, showing a clear shift in the UK holiday let market, with significant growth in the trend for impromptu getaways.

In fact, in August, 2% of all our bookings were made between 4pm the day before arrival and 12pm on the day of the holiday start. Searches for last minute holidays peaked in July and August, and bookings from June onwards had an average of 9% shorter lead time than last year.

If preparing for these last minute bookings is hard for you as an owner, why not consider using an agency like Coast & Country Cottages? We can help you manage the changeover and linen requirements, enabling you to accept more bookings, and improve your income.

For more on this, read our guide to holiday let cleaning, housekeeping and laundry.

Accept Pets

At Coast & Country Cottages, we’ve seen a 60% increase in searches for pet-friendly holidays since 2019. Not only that, but properties accepting pets earn an average of 2.5 more bookings and 18% more revenue annually than those that don’t accept pets.

We’ve also seen an increase in search numbers for more specific terms such as ‘dog-friendly cottages in Devon by the sea’, ‘dog-friendly cottages in Devon with enclosed garden’ and ‘cottages in Salcombe dog-friendly’.

For those considering opening their holiday home to guests with dogs, read our owner advice blog, Should i make my holiday home dog-friendly?

Consider Sustainability

As well as reducing your running costs and future-proofing your business, considering your environmental impact can be a great way to accelerate your bookings.

74% of the UK public say they want travel companies to offer more sustainable choices, while 65% would prefer to stay in accommodation that has a sustainable certification. 43% would also be willing to pay more for sustainable options.

We have seen an increased demand for properties with EV charge points. Holiday cottages with EV charging facilities receive around 260 searches per month on Google. Currently, only 5% of our properties have an EV charger, which means there’s a great chance for owners to make their accommodation stand out from the crowd, by adding this feature.

Read our electric charging point installation guide for more information.

Value-adding property features

For owners looking to optimise their holiday let income, here are our most popular searches and booking features in 2024:

Hot tubs

Hot tubs are our second most searched-for holiday criteria after pets, and installing a hot tub could boost your revenue by 37%. We have created our own hot tub guide for holiday lets, for owners considering adding this feature to their property and wanting to know more.

Garden/Outdoor spaces

We found that 32% of guests consider a property’s garden or outdoor space when booking a holiday. Properties that have outdoor spaces should utilise these by providing outdoor seating so guests can enjoy al fresco dining in the South Devon sunshine!

Wi-Fi/Technology

27% of guests consider good Wi-Fi or technology when booking a property. By having good Wi-Fi, owners can earn 26% more revenue per year compared to those who don’t.

Marketing your holiday home

Domestic tourism boosts the UK economy by an estimated £28 billion each year, with over £7 billion of this spent in the South West, predominantly in rural areas. So, how do you ensure your holiday home stands out from the crowd?

As part of Sykes Cottages, we’re proud to offer owners the ‘best of both worlds’: hands on support and local knowledge from here in Devon, combined with the huge marketing budget and reach of a national agency.

Here are some of our marketing insights for 2024 and ways we have secured bookings for our owners:

• We spent £35 million on marketing in 2024.
• We continue to dominate Google search results, with a 30% market share amongst the four largest competitors in the industry.
• We had over 47 million website visitors to our Sykes Holiday Cottages website, which features all our Coast & Country Cottages properties, in 2024.
• The Sykes Cottages brand is growing. More people searched online for ‘Sykes’ than any of our competitors in the industry; with over 3 million searches in the last 12 months.
• We’ve launched several successful booking initiatives in 2024, including our low deposit payment and free, flexible cancellation schemes.
• We’re always expanding our wide network of partner sites, like Airbnb and booking.com. We now work with more than 700 partners, giving owners the very best opportunity to be seen across multiple websites and platforms.
• Our customer app had over 60,000 installs. We’re proud to be the only UK holiday cottage brand with a customer app – and even more so because it’s rated 4.8 stars on the app store.

Download our FREE Holiday Let Market Insights Report

At Coast & Country Cottages, we have a true understanding of the current holiday let market in South Devon. Our 2025 Market Insights Report is an essential resource, filled with useful statistics and pointers for letting your holiday property, whether you’re an experienced owner or just thinking of buying.

To download a full copy of the report, complete the form below. Our team will also be in touch with a copy of our free holiday home Owner Guide.

Looking for more useful owner blogs? Read our Holiday Letting Advice Guide for everything you need to know about holiday letting with Coast & Country. Unsure on where to start with holiday property management? Read our blog on choosing the right service for your cottage.