Is it just me but is everybody down on villa rentals this summer? BetweenApril 11 and Jul 11 i've only got 2 weeks booking and nothing from end of august for my lovely,normally fully booked 2-bed house on Quinta do Paraiso. Is it the greedy brigade that are upping their rental rates or putting paranoid type of client restrictions because of Euro 2004, that are putting people off coming to the Algarve~? What,s going on?

Hi Tony,

The travels news for 2004 are horrific, sales are down 20-30% on most popular UK travel destinations and the german market has crumbled away completely.

All in all you can sum it up quite simply - people either dont have or are not willing to spend money at the moment. As a necessity, an expensive vacation ranks relatively low and would be one of the first to be downsized. Consequently, people are opting to stay in their countries or not travel far.

Another factor is the early easter. Besides the loss of clients to ski resorts, this also widens the pre-season gap creating a sort of vacuum in May/June.

Finally, people also seem to have the impression, that the Algarve will be overrun by football crazy hooligans in June. Families are actively avoiding the Algarve due to some horror scenarios the media have somehow managed to create. To add to that, the tourism indusrty officially moved June into peak season and gave everyone an excuse to up prices.
This was soon regretted when people realized they had managed to price themselves out of the market. In general, the prices have been brought down to a "normal" level again, but I fear it was too little too late as people have already booked elsewhere instead.

Fact is, the Algarve and especially Carvoeiro is very unatractive for football fans - it is more expensive than Lisbon anyway and there are only 2 (not-really-significant) games.

Of course you will have the kind of ambience that we already know from previous Euro/World championships - fans wearing their national colours, trudging to the bars with the big screens and enjoying a beer and a game, but certainly not the kind that run around tearing up the streets.
Come to think of it, last time I saw and england supporter, he was sitting on the curb bawling his eyes out at 9 in the morning
Sorry, side-tracking...

- in short, all you can do is sit tight and hope that economic engines re-start and people start spending money again.

As this is only our first year in the renting game I can't compare with previous years, but our 3-bed villa on QDP (soon with own pool) is fully booked from end April to 6th Sept, apart from one week at the end of June. We advertised it on this website's rental section and have been very pleased with the response. Bookings and enquiries were manic in January and early February this year but seem to have dried up completely now - haven't had even an enquiry for several weeks. I deliberately didn't put the availability calendar on the website because I wanted to see what the pattern of enquiries would be.

Admittedly, 5 weeks of the above period is down to family or friends and like many people I'm sure, we could have rented out the villa many times over in August !

One of the reasons we decided to put in our own pool, despite the availability of the communal pools at QDP, was that we were advised that this would make our villa much easier to rent out - so I don't know if this may have had an influence on your bookings ?

As this is our first year we took the advice from our managing agents, Algarvillas in deciding what rental to charge, even though their suggested prices seemed on the low side to us, compared with other comparable villas. Maybe this is why we have got good bookings ??

Hope your bookings improve with last minute interest ?

We normally go to CVO in either June or September, but I have to admit that we assumed that the prices would go through the roof as a result of demand whilst the football was on, so didn't even consider it this year.

Has anyone considered the fact that a lot of people from UK are buying second homes in Algarve and Spain etc., - therefore they won't need to rent someone elses home for a holiday but they will then be in the same position as you wondering where the tourists are?
Seems the Algarve unfortunately is now a victim of its own success and is being seriously over developed, we could have bought but have decided not to after seeing so many buildings being thrown up.

villa near us is also almost empty for summer..total so far is about 3 weeks...blame the euro football...the airlines have put the prices up so families who would normanlly rent cant afford to come here..no doubt bar owners wioll have a good season but not hose with villas to rent

Gambrinus, thanks for a well thought out reply. Do you think it's possible that the car hire companies (including Algarve Driver) will move June back to mid season. What bright spark decleared June peak season in the first place? Mike Chislehurst.

Mike,

it was our very own direcção de turismo (tourism department) that endorsed that idea.

As far as car hire companies go, I do not know what the others are up to, but the company we work with never upped them in the first place.

If you would like a price list for comparison, drop me a mail.

Could someone please tell me a 'reasonable' price of Hol. accom. in September ?
Only we paid £400 a week..we had 2 weeks..at Algar Seco...2 bed.apart. no pool facilities. Sun terrace & balcony.
Ok ..it was spacious .. but it was none to clean! Very noisy at late night /early morning..cos of bottle bank..dustbins etc!
Would never go back there!
Id like to know ..what else we could have had for similar price?
Something lot nicer I should hope!
You live & learn!

The 2 bed apartment I look after is £300 per week in September and has a shared pool. the 3 beds are £400 per week (also with shared pool) and all three have maid service.

They are all advertised on this site casa sol vista, casa das castanhas and casa amarela.

k

From last weekend through until the end of October we have just 3 weeks free. Doesn’t seem too bad to me! Have you got the rent right? It’s just possible that you’re charging too little!

To all the repliers..thanks, especially Gambrinus and tto Ellie. In Sept my weekly rate is £300 for 4 pers. and its clean, quiet and convenient so a bit cheaper than Algar Seco.
As for prices I think I,m low in comparison to others I've seen advertised, only £250pw in
April, £275 in May, £300 in June and £375 in July.And October is onlly £250 which
includes half-term weeks so I don't think I,m overpriced and you get all the 7 BBC channels! Can anybody advise if my pricing is off the wall because I,ve got to get it right for next year. Yhanks again to all of you for your responses. I,m out at C33 from Sunday for a week and the weather looks as though its going to be good unlike last Easter,
so any new restaurant recommendations will be welcome but 2 nights are reserved for the Bon Bon and the Village Inn at Mexilliera de Carregacao.

...and L'Orange Tony!!

Tony..I must say your place at QDP sounds very nice and pretty reasonable too...only know the area a little by walking back & forth from CVO to Vila Nova..but certainly looks pretty part.
We maybe looking for long autumn stay...would there be any special deals going for long stays..say for couple months?
Sincerely hope youre right about weather over Easter period(& following week!)
and as Sandy says..'Dont forget L'orange'!
Where is this 'Village Inn' youre all talking about?
Like to give it a try

Too far to walk to Ellie