Articles :: Holiday Lettings
Tue 27 March 2007
Holiday Lettings have engaged in a new partnership with the UK’s number one property website Rightmove, taking over its existing holiday lettings business. The deal gives holiday homeowners the opportunity to advertise their property on holidaylettings.co.uk whilst also benefiting from access to the 3 to 4 million visitors to Rightmove.co.uk each month.
Ross Elder, MD of www.holidaylettings.co.uk comments: “The partnership with Rightmove will enable our customers to benefit from unrivalled exposure of their properties. They will benefit from our own strong position in the holiday market as well as Rightmove’s position as the leading property website and as one of the UK’s top 10 websites.”
Holiday Lettings Ltd has seen huge growth in its business driven by a 45% increase in the number of British households owning a second home abroad since 2004*. Rightmove, with around 80% of all properties for sale in the UK, had been focusing its own holiday lettings service on UK holiday homes.
In addition to offering users a wider choice of properties with better coverage, the deal will increase visitors to holidaylettings.co.uk, helping it attract more of the 17 million Britons expected to book part of their holiday online this year**.
Ed Williams, Group MD of Rightmove says: “There is a natural fit between our two holiday lettings businesses. Holiday Lettings will continue to focus on the holiday industry, while Rightmove provides access to the best possible showcase for home buyers in the UK. A high proportion of home buyers using the Rightmove website to buy one of our 40,000 homes overseas will want to let out their new home, so this partnership improves the service we offer.”
As part of the deal, Holiday Lettings will have access to Rightmove customers, technology expertise and the use of the Rightmove brand and its recognition. Rightmove has also made a significant investment in the Holiday Lettings business.
“Having competed against the Holiday Lettings business we came to respect the focus on and understanding of the market they operate in. This is a credit to Ross Elder, Andy Firth and the team at Holiday Lettings,” adds Ed Williams.
Ross Elder, commenting on the benefits, says: “Rightmove’s resources, coupled with our long-term commitment to grow the business, position us as the winning proposition for those looking to let their holiday home. The Internet is the natural way to find a holiday home. Holiday Lettings is the leading destination. We aim to make Holiday Lettings the natural choice for holiday home owners and renters, in the same way that Rightmove has become the obvious choice for home buyers and sellers.”
* Mintel, November 2006
** Continental Research, January 2007
About Holiday Lettings Ltd
www.holidaylettings.co.uk is the UK’s fastest growing holiday home rental website, where holidaymakers book direct with owners. The site offers effective online advertising for holiday homeowners and attracts over 30,000 holidaymakers a day.
Based in Oxford, Holiday Lettings was established in 1999 by business partners Ross Elder and Andy Firth. The site presents in-depth information on over 12,000 properties in more than 80 countries worldwide.
Holiday homes in Europe - Holidaylettings.co.uk lets you book direct with owners.
About Rightmove plc
www.rightmove.co.uk is the UK’s number one property website, displaying details of homes for sale or rent to the largest online audience. It has around 80% of all properties for sale and at any time displays a stock of over 850,000 properties to buy or rent, worth around £170 billion. The Rightmove.co.uk site receives over 16 million visits every month and has been ranked as high as 7th in terms of most viewed UK website (source: Hitwise). Covering all of the UK, Rightmove is also UK’s leading overseas property website, advertising 44,000 properties in over 70 countries.
www.rightmove.co.uk launched in 2000 and has offices in London and Milton Keynes. Publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2006, Rightmove is now a FTSE 250 company.
Joanna Braithwaite
Customer Relations & Development Holiday Lettings when asked by AUKPO what the future held, stated:
‘Holiday Lettings.co.uk will continue to run as a business in it's own right: Holiday Lettings Limited with the same team working out of the same office and ensuring consistently high levels of customer service and support. We believe that advertisers on the site have everything to gain through the partnership, as rightmove.co.uk is one of the top ten most visited sites in the UK and holidaylettings.co.uk will in turn benefit from increased online and media exposure as well as higher levels of traffic to the site.’
AUKPO Comment
The ‘partnership’ leaves the original team in place at Holiday Lettings. On the surface the experience and market reach of Rightmove can only be a positive factor, at this time it can only benefit the property owner and renter, however is this the beginning of merger mania where UK ‘Supermarket’, culture begins to edge the suppliers (Us) into terms and conditions that reduce any advantage that we might have. I believe with the fact that the rental business is web based, we have nothing to fear. But let’s keep an objective view of things.
Cheyne Marley
