One company that looks after holiday rentals of six million people a year across 90,000 different properties has added another couple of cottage rental names to its portfolio but I bet that 99% of readers have never heard of the company.
And those figures are a month old and it has bought another two brands since then so the figures will be higher now!
It is called Awaze and whilst you might not know that name you will know the name of some of its brands.
They include Hoseasons and James Villa Holidays for a start, two of the most well-known brands in the domestic holiday market in the UK.
But I suspect you will have heard of many of their other brands as well which include
Welcome Cottages
English Country Cottages
French Country Cottages
Italian Country Cottages
Irish Country Cottages
Scottish Country Cottages
Welsh Country Cottages
Blue Chip Holidays
Cumbrian Cottages
Derbyshire Cottages
Northumbrian Cottages
Scottish Cottages
Yorkshire Cottages
Wales Cottages
The Aran Team
Dartmouth Holiday Homes
Mulberry Cottages
Salcombe Holiday Homes
Stilwell’s Cottages Direct
Chez Nous
Amberley House
Portscatho Holidays
and the Danish operator Bornholmtours.
When you look across the holiday rentals market and think you are looking at different offers from different companies bear in mind that you might be dealing with just one!
Now, Awazet has added Quality Cottages and Quality Unearthed to the group giving it another 671 units to the self-catering specialist’s portfolio of accommodation.
In all, Awaze can offer holiday rentals, cottages, converted farm buildings, tree houses, lodges, canal boats, holiday parks, boats, eco pods, wagons and yurts for you to stay in.
Quality Cottages was the UK’s fourth largest independent cottage holiday provider so you can see just how much of a hold on the domestic holiday market that Awaze has.
Owned by a private equity company, Platinum Equity, which only acquired the business in 2018, it only recently sold one of its brands – Landell Green – to another company controlled by another private equity company.
It only goes to show that private equity companies recognise the value of the domestic holiday market even if the big tour operators don’t!
