owners

Trends and opportunities in 2023 and 2024

How was 2023 and what are the prospects for 2024?

 

Season 2023: A look back

Living costs have risen more than household incomes, and this has been very noticeable this year. With many downward adjustments, the price level has generally been below last year's prices. The month of June, the first half of July and September with 50% empty were filled at very short notice, with reductions of up to 20%.

The Importance of Booking Channels 

Without Booking.com or Airbnb, it would not have been possible to reach such a high level of occupancy. They are immensely important to fill the high season. These two giants dominate the market and we have learned to master the tools provided by these systems to get the most out of them.

Direct Booking with Casa Andaluza

For stays in the mid and low season months, up to 60% of the bookings come from the Casa Andaluza website and those who contact our office by email or telephone. On the one hand we have a large portfolio of loyal customers, on the other hand the Casa Andaluza website is highly visible. In times of virtual anonymity, being able to talk to us to advise them on their choice gives them confidence and makes them feel well looked after.

Improvements in service to receive good ratings from increasingly discerning customers

Good reviews are essential for the success of your property and for us in general. In view of some shortcomings in 2022, for the 2023 season we have carried out a major programme of changes and improvements. With success: fewer incidents, fewer complaints, more happy customers leaving better ratings. This is what we did:

• Preventive maintenance: in winter 2022/23 we carried out a technical diagnosis in several properties where problems had arisen. At our initiative and under our control, renovations, repairs, interior and exterior painting, purchase of inventory, removal of obsolete objects... were carried out. Preventive maintenance is a task that must be carried out every year. In fact, technical incidents have been much less in the summer season. In winter 2023/24 we will offer again the preventive maintenance service to our owner clients.

• Recruitment of housekeepers and cleaners: Using the services of external cleaning companies for some years has been less and less satisfactory. Mediocre results in terms of quality combined with high costs. The hiring of our housekeeper Laura has been the first step to form our own cleaning and maintenance team. The result: in 2023 we got 4 and 5 star ratings for cleanliness.

Laura Camacho - Service Manager

• Renewal of bed linen and towels, and management of laundry service after unsatisfactory results of "renting service" in 2022. Result: no complaints about the laundry or bad quality sheets and towels. Everything marked and controlled so that nothing is lost or misplaced.

As useful as the rating is to distinguish ones property and to know where to improve, it has also become a tool of pressure with which some guests try to get financial compensation. Increasingly demanding tourists are demanding compensation for every minor issue, and if they don't get what they think they are entitled to, they give you a bad mark. Or worse, they fill out a complaint form. We agencies are in the middle, trying to smooth their anger and disappointment, find solutions and compromises. Dealing with complaints means putting up with not only criticisms but also often unfiltered scolding from bad humored people. Even if we are not the cause of the issue. It is one of the ugliest and most difficult sides of our job and sometimes it is emotionally extremely stressful.

We would like to thank our office manager, Sara, who with her smile, her patience and her great dedication ensured that in the end everyone was satisfied and that compensation to guests or negative evaluations could be avoided to a large extent. She travelled whenever necessary, attended to lost clients at midnight and did not stop until a solution was found.

Sara Cabeza - Office manager

Less German tourists in mid season

For the second time in two years there are far fewer German tourists in our town than in the years before Covid. The reasons are the same as in the previous year: less money in the pockets, difficulty in finding cheap flights, high prices for rental cars... Climate change is also a factor. Not only summers, but also spring and autumn are warmer in Central Europe.

Winter 2023/24: stays by month

Conil and its surroundings are still an attractive destination to spend part of the winter, or rather all cold months. With olasdelsol.com we have a tailor-made platform to make offers and attract guests. We are also using Idealista and Airbnb to offer long stays to retirees or digital nomads. Here you can find more information about long stays in winter.

Early Bird Campaign for 2024

We want to attract German, English and families from Central and Northern Europe to come back to Andalusia for their summer and autumn holidays. We also want to attract more Spanish families for stays of 1 to 3 weeks during the summer holidays.

We will soon start the early booking campaign with special offers. We have noticed that in these weeks the prices for flights are quite affordable for summer and autumn 2024 and it is the ideal time to start the promotion with the German market. At the start of 2024 the campaign aimed at Spanish families will follow.

Tendency towards short stays

The behaviour of travellers has changed and especially couples and groups of adults are opting for more short stays throughout the year. Even if it supposes more effort, especially for us, who have to make the same arrangements for a 3-day stay as for a 3-week stay: it is the short stays that help us to fill our calendars.

In the end, what brings success is flexibility: to approach early bookings differently from last minute bookings. Of adjusting prices and restrictions when necessary. To use the booking channels in a clever way. We at Casa Andaluza know how to do this and we have the tools.