bizarre….

Happy Holidays.

This has turned out to be a very busy out of season, season. Short breaks coming out of our ears. This is down to our main booking agents doing deals with Airbnb and booking.com. I’m not complaining, although the amount of cottage cleaning, washing, ironing scones were pretty massive, guests are guests no matter how long they choose to stay and how much of Cornwall they wish to explore, it’s lovely that they choose to stay at Ruby Farmhouse Holiday Cottages. What I, and every other cottage owner I speak to are finding though, is that the summer holidays are yet to fill up fully. This has never been the case in 15 years. Nor have we had many visitors from Germany, USA, France, New Zealand, Australia etc than in other years. What is going on? I have a view and it appears to be the same for most people that have been in the business for 10 years and over. We think the market is flooded. We think there are so many options on offer now. Yurts, Belle Tents, log cabins, tree houses, mega luxury cottages & second homes, to name but a few, and then there is us. From day one, I decided that middle of the range, not over priced, but value for money, comfortable, including a TV, DVD player, Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Dryer, free wifi, towels, hot water & heating, a pretty outdoor seating area, a play area for the kids, walking distance to a very good village Pub etc etc would all be supplied, but, as for granite work tops, underfloor heating, an Aga, log fires, a Hot Tub & places you might get wet & cold staying in, was a great big no. You see the maintenance and what I would have to charge guests would narrow down the likely hood of a decent number of bookings for starters, I want guests who don’t expect the World of luxury in their holiday cottage, nor do I want the guests who pay an absolute fortune only to moan their way through their holiday! I think what comes around, goes around. I think it’s a phase and I think there will always be those who like to stay in a place they can come back to that is warm, dry, comfortable and reliable in that everything works & they haven’t paid an arm and two legs for. I think, the fact that we live here means if something breaks we can get it fixed, which is also a plus. Not possible in some places. I think things will change, some people who have recently entered the field will find owning a holiday cottage and letting it out is very hard work and too time consuming, that the running costs are too high and the amount you then charge your guests becomes bad value. I also think there are too many big agents online and that will change too. I have lots of guests who may find us on another site but then they look for our website and approach us to book. Best way, you save yourself a booking fee and all the other costs the agents add. But we have to put our cottages with them, otherwise you would never find us! Oh it is a dilema. It will be interesting to see if our smallest Cottage books up in July and August, I’ll be amazed if it doesn’t but, everything happens for a reason.