Demand surges in UK for Queen’s Platinum Jubilee bank holiday

UK: Demand across the UK is up 48 per cent for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend, with thousands taking advantage of the extended break to stay in a holiday let for a few days and get a taste of summer, according to short-term rental data and analytics provider, AirDNA.

The top destinations are London, Cornwall and Devon with the most nights booked.

The highest growth in demand is in Glasgow and London, both with 206 per cent more nights booked than for the same weekend last year.

These are followed by Buckinghamshire [+139 per cent], Edinburgh [+114 per cent], and Belfast [+104 per cent], underlining the fact that cities are back in fashion this year.

The lowest increases are in typical holiday hotspots such as Cornwall [+13 per cent], the Isle of Wight [+19 per cent], and Devon [+19 per cent], though they are still all seeing more demand than last year.

Average rates are up most in larger cities like Liverpool [+31 per cent vs. last year], London [+27 per cent] and Manchester [+22 per cent], but in fact down in areas like Oxford [-15 per cent], Scarborough [-13 per cent], and East Yorkshire [-ten per cent], as well as the UK on the whole [-two per cent], as the type of properties being booked moves back towards smaller properties in towns and cities, rather than countryside houses and villas with more amenities and more bedrooms, which typically charge more.

For a cheap bank holiday weekend trip over the Jubilee celebrations, the best options are Birmingham, at around £104 a night, Glasgow, at £109, and Aberdeen, at £113 per night.

It comes as UKHospitality, the British Institute of Innkeeping, the British Beer and Pub Association and Hospitality Ulster say that they expect the Jubilee bank holiday to generate up to £2 billion for hospitality and that it is “almost £400 million more than hospitality venues could expect to earn during a normal Thursday to Sunday in May”.

Furthermore, AirDNA has hinted at a bright summer outlook in Europe, where demand has been pushed up by revitalised confidence in travel.

Demand in Europe in April rose three per cent higher than in 2019 [+97.4 per cent vs 2019], with more than 27.7 million nights stayed in the month, driving European occupancy to hit a record high for the month [55.4 per cent].

This story was originally posted on 1 June 2022, at shorttermrentalz.com

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