25/03/2020
COVID-19: A message to owners
These are tough times for the Spanish vacation rental market. Many of our community will struggle to make it through this period.
The first industry to be hit is the travel industry with airlines throwing out the red flag and looking for state help.
The margins are very thin and especially in Europe, who are just coming out of a winter season, many of the travel companies depend on the up cicle to prop up their yearly revenues.
In a recent report, the Aviation Authority CAPA recently said in a report that "by the end of May-2020, most airlines in the world will be bankrupt."
This is sobering news and one which will ripple through our industry for some time to come. Already airlines have cut their flights by 75-80% putting staff on standby or unpaid leave to stay afloat.
Whatever happens within the coming months, I think we can be sure that the industry is not going to tick back in a heartbeat and pick up where we left off.
With the fallout, we're going to see reduced flights options, with higher demand and increased prices at the bare minimum. We're already seeing guests canceling bookings far out into the year, with some hosts reporting losing booking as far as December.
Tough times lay ahead for the industry.
- We would encourage you now to engage with your existing bookings, ensuring them that you're still there and the booking is still good.
- Pay attention to the changes being enforced by your OTA - it's as rapidly changing situation.
- Research other OTAs for listing and spread your exposure.
- Spend some time now on your product, refresh your website, socials, photos, descriptions etc... this is the perfect opportunity.
- Push your listings out to as many OTAs as possible, on sites like this, create a website, share your FB page, put it on your profile, send it out to friends and family and ask them to share it. Make use of Channel Managers like Boost Reservations or Lodgify.
- Encourage your guests to book early if prices are low as we. Eli eve when this takes off, demand will outstrip supply by a factor of 4. This is going to drive up flight prices beyond what many are prepared to pay for them.
I know it's probably still early to be talking about the recovery, but as business owner, you need to be prepared for when this global issue moves on and be in the best position you can possibly be.
In the meantime, stay safe and stay informed.
Boost