Maturing holiday home market sees ‘hotelising’ of Kiwi bach

Growing expectations of the holiday home rental market has led to a ‘hotelising’ of the Kiwi bach, says holiday home management company Bachcare.

The company has rapidly expanded in the last six months as owner operators and small holiday home management companies turn to a national company to help them meet maturing guest expectations.

Leslie Preston, Founder of Bachcare says as a result of the change in expectations of guests, particularly international visitors booking online, there has been a maturing in the way the sector markets itself as well as how holiday homes are managed and presented.

“Renting a holiday home is no longer considered an alternative accommodation option and now sits quite comfortably alongside hotels, motels and apartments when guests are considering their accommodation options. Guests look at the whole accommodation offering in a region and then choose what works best for them.”

“Increasingly we have holiday home owners, who have managed the rental of their property themselves, turning to Bachcare to do this for them as it’s become a full-time job and that takes the gloss off actually owning and enjoying their holiday home.”

In the last year Bachcare’s revenue has increased by a third as individual owners seek professional support.  Ms Preston says Bachcare has also acquired a number of small holiday home management companies.

“In the last 6 months we have also purchased four regional holiday home management companies.  Smaller operators are finding it’s getting more difficult to operate in a resource and compliance heavy environment, as well as, providing the levels of online technology that guests and online travel agents (OTAs) have come to expect.”

”Bachcare has the scale to manage this but we often find that the founders of these businesses stay on with Bachcare as one of our local holiday home managers which is a win/win for all of us.

“It’s a significant commitment for owners to make their holiday homes available to complete strangers. These homes have a lot of sentimental value attached to them and many happy memories.  We are grateful they are prepared to share these properties so others can make the same kind of memories.”