·        Over three quarters (77%) of bookings received by property owners are now made online with impact of mobile increasing.
·        Occupancy rates across Australia between October and December 2011 for holiday rentals stood at just over a third (34%) an increase of 6% on previous quarter.
·        Western Australia experienced the highest occupancy between October and December 2011, significantly ahead of other states.
·        Occupancy forecasts holding steady as owners’ optimism takes a turn for the better following last year’s flooding.

Holiday property owners are benefiting from an influx of online bookings as the holiday rentals market continues to grow according to the latest research from the Stayz Group Accommodation Index (SGAI), which provides a quarterly insight into Australia’s emerging holiday rentals industry.

With holidaymakers increasingly turning to ever-popular reviews websites and recommendations from friends and family on social network websites, online bookings now account for 77% of all holiday rental bookings with traditional telephone bookings now accounting for just 6%.

With online bookings surging in popularity, holiday property owners are also recognising the increasing impact of mobile technology on bookings. Over nine in ten owners (92%) expect to see an impact from mobile on their current business in the upcoming Q1 period with 30% of those expecting to see a strong impact. 15% of owners have already identified an average of 35 bookings were being made on smartphone devices over the Oct-Dec 2011 period. However, while mobile technology continues to boom, 62% of property owners still feel they are not up to speed with mobile technology that could help them market their property more effectively. Stayz is optimising its own mobile offering in the coming months that will allow both holiday makers and holiday property owners to take advantage of the growing usage of mobiles.

Western Australia continues to lead the way in the holiday rental market, generating the highest number of rentals between October and December 2011, 13% above the average national occupancy rate of 34%. Queensland was the second most popular state with 39% while Victoria had the lowest occupancy rate of 28%.

Justin Butterworth, Business Development Director at The Stayz Group comments, “In an age where holidaymakers are looking to find, share and book their holidays quickly and easily, it is no surprise that we have witnessed a sharp rise in online bookings over the past 12 months. In addition, we have seen mobile technology becoming increasingly influential with holidaymakers ability to search, share and make bookings with our property owners while on the move. This is another exciting chapter for the holiday rentals market and the opportunities show great potential for further growth as we head into the next quarter.”

The average occupancy nationally was 34% in Oct-Dec 2011, up from 28% between Jul-Sep 2011 as well as recovering from last year’s floods that significantly devastated Queensland and New South Wales. Further encouragement is noted from holiday property owners’ optimistic forecast for the coming months, predicting 45% occupancy for the Jan-Mar 2012 quarter and 46% occupancy for the same period next year (Oct-Dec 2012). The most optimistic forecast came from Western Australian property managers, who predicted 58% occupancy for Oct-Dec 2012 while the lowest came from Victorian property managers, who predicted 38% occupancy for the same period.

“Given that La Niña contributed to Australia’s third wettest year on record, many property managers were still content with the average occupancy and it’s encouraging to see that property owners do not envisage too much change in their economic and trading conditions over the next six months that will affect their businesses, bearing in mind the state of the domestic and global economy at the moment” says Butterworth.

Conducted with market research company Nielsen, the SGAI is a quarterly survey of more than 1000 holiday rental property owners and managers and weighted across the Stayz Group’s 40,000 properties nationally. Respondents are comprised from the tourism market sector that consists of smaller properties, of which holiday houses and units make up the majority share. This segment has been underrepresented by other sources of travel data, and is a valuable barometer for performance in the tourism industry.

Media contacts:
Adam Freedman
Red Agency
P: (02) 9963 7714        M: 0429 493 313
E: adam.freedman@redagency.com.au

Nicole Romano
Red Agency
P: (02) 9963 7835        M: 0408 692 469
E: nicole.romano@redagency.com.au


Available for interview - Justin Butterworth,Stayz Group Business Development Director

Justin can talk about:
·        An overview of Australia’s holiday rental market
·        Which states have the strongest holiday rental markets and why
·        Seasonal implications on the occupancy rates
·        Mobile technology and its impact on holiday rental bookings
·        Impacts on the regional holiday rental market and how they will affect consumers
·        Which regions are experiencing growth above the national average
·        Predictions for the next QTR and reasons

NOTES TO EDITORS

Occupancy rates: Oct-Dec 2011 QTR
·     Nationally, property managers and owners reported an average occupancy rate of 34%.
·     77% of bookings are coming from online (up from 72% in Jul-Sep 2011) in comparison to just 6% by phone and 6% by referral. A further 10% are repeat customers.
·     The average national number of confirmed bookings for Oct-Dec 2011 was 23 per property, up from 14 per property in Jul-Sep 2011.

State breakdown
·     Western Australia and Queensland saw the highest occupancy rates of 47% and 39% respectively. Tasmania and South Australia had rates of 36% and 35%; New South Wales and Victoria had the lowest occupancy rates at 33% and 28%.

Accommodation types
·     Self-contained apartments proved most successful, with a national occupancy average rate of 39%. Holiday houses, cabins and cottages experienced an average occupancy rate of 33%. Bed and breakfasts had the lowest national average occupancy rate of 28%.

Property as holiday rental vs permanent rental
·     26% had leased the property as a permanent rental at some point, but chose to return it to a holiday rental because it returned a higher yield (53%). Other reasons included; wanting flexibility to use the property for private holidays (46%); damages and negligence from long-term tenants (30%) and difficulties in finding permanent tenants (13%).

Gross booking revenue
·     National average accommodation gross booking revenue for Oct-Dec 2011 was $2,267 per owner.

Gross booking revenue by Accommodation type
·     Self-contained apartments had the highest booking revenue at $2,515, while holiday houses, cabins and cottages earned $2,152 on average and bed and breakfasts averaged $2,116.

Guest Demographic
·     Couples were more likely to stay in a B&B than any other demographic, comprising 72% of the B&B market. Families dominate the holiday house, cabin or cottage (52%) and self-contained apartments markets (44%)
       
Occupancy rates forecasts
·     The average national occupancy rate is expected to increase to 45% in Q1 (Jan-Mar 2012) and rise to 46% in Q4 (Oct-Dec 2012).
·     Self-contained apartments are expected to see the most growth with an increase to 53% in Q1 and 55% in Q4.
·     Holiday houses, cabins and cottages are anticipating 42% occupancy in Q1 and Q4.
·     Bed and breakfasts forecasted to rise to 38% in Q1 and 41% in Q4.

Economic Outlook: Oct-Dec 2011 QTR
The next 6 months
·     The highest number of respondents (37%) aren’t expecting to see a change in economic and trading conditions over the next six months. 26% are expecting slightly worse and 28% are expecting slightly better. 7% believe conditions will become much worse while only 3% believe things will become much better.

The next 12 months
·     The forecast improves over the next 12 months, with the majority of people expecting conditions to improve to some degree. While 29% are not expecting to see a change in economic and trading conditions, 38% expect economic conditions to be slightly better or much better and 33% are expecting conditions to be slightly worse or much worse.
·     95% of respondents cited economic factors as affecting their outlook; financial reasons were pertinent to 74% of respondents and travel/trends factors were considered by 62% of respondents
·     Of those citing economic conditions as a primary factor over the next 12 months, 53% cited the increased cost of living, 49% noted the Australian economy while 49% also indicated the attractiveness of more economical overseas holidays was an economic concern.
·     Of the 74% who cited financial factors as affecting outlook, 54% believed the increased cost of maintaining and running the properties would impact conditions, 37% mentioned the increased number of holiday lettings in local areas and 14% were concerned about agent management fees.

State by State SGAI figures for Oct-Dec 2011 QTR

New South Wales

Occupancy rates and forecasts
·     In NSW, the average occupancy rate was 33% for Oct-Dec 2011, which is almost on par with the national average of 34%
·     Property managers in NSW are far more optimistic about Jan-Mar 2012 (Q1), predicting that occupancy rates will rise to 43% with further projection to 46% for Oct-Dec 2012 (Q4)

Economic sentiment
·     35% of property owners in New South Wales believe that there will be no change in the economic and trading conditions over the next six months, just 2% lower than the national average of 37%
·     28% of respondents believe conditions will be slightly better, while 3% believe it will be much better – comparable with the national averages for both responses. 26% believe conditions will become slightly worse and 8% believe they will be much worse, on par with the national average

Queensland

Occupancy rates and forecasts
·     In Queensland, the average occupancy rate was 39% for Oct-Dec 2011 and was the second best performing state in Australia
·     Queensland property managers are looking forward to strong occupancy rates in Q1, predicting 47% and a further 8% increase on occupancy rate to 55% for Q4

Economic sentiment
·     Queenslanders are the least indifferent on economic changes with just 26% believing there will be no change in the economic and trading conditions over the next six months, 11% lower than the national average
·     Queensland property managers are the most optimistic across Australia with 38% of respondents believing conditions will be slightly better in the next 6 months and 4% of those believing it will be ‘much better’ slightly higher than the national average (31%). 28% believe conditions will be slightly worse and 7% believe it will be much worse – on a par with the national average

Victoria

Occupancy rates and forecasts
·     In Victoria, the average occupancy rate was 28% for Oct-Dec 2011, an increase of 5% in the previous QTR but the lowest across Australia and 6% below the national average
·     Victorian property managers are looking forward to increasing their occupancy rates in Q1, predicting 42% but are not as optimistic about occupancy levels in Q4, expecting a drop to 38%

Economic sentiment
·     Victoria had the joint highest number of respondents who believed there would be no change in economic conditions with 41% believing there would be no change over the next six months – 4% higher than the national average
·     29% of Victorians predict the economy would be slightly better over the next 6 months with just 2% of those believing it would be ‘much better’. 5% of Victorian property managers said conditions would become much worse and 24% said conditions would become slightly worse – both under the national averages

South Australia

Occupancy rates and forecasts
·     In South Australia, the average occupancy rate was 35% for the Oct-Dec 2011 QTR, which is just above the national average and a 7% increase on the previous QTR
·     South Australian property managers are buoyant for Q1, predicting that occupancy rates will increase to 43% but are slightly less enthused, predicting a 40% occupancy rate across Q4

Economic sentiment
·     A third of South Australian property managers (33%) believe there wouldn’t be a change, lower than the national average
·     South Australians were also the second least optimistic with 30% believing economic conditions would become slightly worse in the next six months, 4% higher than the national average, while an additional 8% believe it would be much worse. Only 30% of respondents said conditions would be better in 6 months time

Western Australia

Occupancy rates and forecasts
·     At 47%, Western Australia’s average occupancy rate was 13% higher than the national average becoming the largest in Australia overtaking Queensland and increasing by 15% on previous QTR. Western Australia received the most international travellers, with 18% of the total guests across all properties coming from international destinations. These travellers were also most likely to stay in a bed and breakfast
·     Western Australian property managers are very optimistic about occupancy rates for Q1, predicting occupancy rates of 53%, the second highest in Australia. Q4 is expected to show further improvement with property managers estimating a 58% occupancy during this period, the highest prediction across all states and all QTRs for the next 12 months

Economic sentiment
·     41% of West Australians predicted no change in economic conditions over the next six months, the joint highest across all states
·     Almost a QTR of Western Australians (24%) believed the economy would pick up over the next 6 months - lower than the national average - while 5% feel it would be much better (2% higher than the national average). Western Australians were not completely pessimistic, however with 23% declaring they felt the economy would be slightly worse in 6 months, which was lower than the national average of 26%. 7% feel it would be much worse - on a par with the national average

Tasmania

Occupancy rates and forecasts
·     Tasmania’s average occupancy rate in Australia was 36% - slightly higher than the national average and an increase of 16% on the previous QTR
·     Tasmanian property managers are the most optimistic about occupancy rates across Australia for Q1 predicting 56% occupancy. However, they are less enthused about Q4, predicting a decrease to 45% occupancy during that period

Economic sentiment
·     Tasmanians were the most pessimistic amongst respondents with 54% declaring they felt the economy would be worse in the next 6 months (41% believing it would be ‘slightly worse’ and a further 13% believing it would be ‘much worse’)
·        Less than one in five (18%) believe the economy will improve in 6 months (16% declaring it will be slightly better and 2% declaring it will be 'much better'). 27% of Tasmanians predicted no change - 10% lower than the national average of 37%