Bedbank lowcostbeds.com reported ‘dramatic growth’ in a number of its key destinations, including: Egypt (+229%); Turkey (+144%); Crete (+142%); Majorca (+118%); and the Costa Blanca (+90%).
All-inclusive sales increased to account for 36% of total accommodation-only sales, a rise in share of 14% from last time, as consumers sought greater value and certainty from their travel budgets.
September is now the bedbank’s biggest month by travel volume, while May and June increased in share by 2% year-on-year, but July and August were down.
The group’s Resorthoppa holiday transfer company, meanwhile, achieved record carryings of more than 1m passengers during the reporting period.
Its strongest growth areas were the key gateways of Palma, Gerona and Alicante, all areas where Resorthoppa has strong infrastructure, airport desks and over 30 uniformed staff.
Tim Buckman, trade sales director, commented: ‘Our technology has been flawless, our pricing extremely competitive, we have invested in our trade sales team to offer our customers even more support in helping them grow their businesses.
‘We have also developed new websites for both Resorthoppa and lowcostbeds.com to enhance the agents booking journey, the results speak for themselves; we are delighted.’
Looking ahead to next year, group chief executive, Paul Evans, said: ‘We are optimistic about 2010, we have some great relationships overseas which are securing even better rates, we continue to win new customers, our complaint ratio is less than 1% and we have some exciting new products to offer the market next year.’
lowcostbeds.com, established by Evans in 2004, has raised over £2m of investment, both from private individuals and, in 2005, from Close Venture Management.
Resorthoppa, also set up five years ago, attracted £2.1m investment from Close Brothers in September 2007. It was acquired by Lowcost in December 2008.
See also:
lowcostholidays hails ‘outstanding’ iVector (22/09/2009)
Strong growth for lowcostbedsagents/resorthoppa (26/08/2009)
Agents welcome new lowcost site (11/08/2009)
Lowcost reports H1 profit (15/06/2009)
Taxi for Evans (10/12/2008)
Resorthoppa confirms VC investment (18/10/2007)
lowcostbeds to expand after VC cash injection (12/09/2005)