UK holiday let trends 2026: What Sykes Cottages' data reveals about bookings, locations, and pet-friendly revenue
- May 11
- 8 min read
Pet-friendly holiday lets achieve 8% more bookings and 16% higher revenue. Couples drive over 40% of UK bookings. North Wales is the most-booked region – again. And the average week-long booking is now made roughly 150 days in advance, while shorter stays come in at just 70.
These are some of the headline UK holiday let trends discussed in this month's Holiday Let Insider, where Host Planet's James Varley sits down with Owen Burt of Sykes Holiday Cottages to unpack what the data is telling short-term rental owners about the year ahead.
Below: the data, the regions, the booking patterns, and the practical changes Owen recommends owners make right now.
UK holiday let trends – key takeaways:
North Wales is the UK's most-booked holiday let region in 2026, followed by the Lake District and Cornwall. The top 11 regions are in the exact same order as 2025.
Whitby remains the single most-booked town in the UK – a position it has held for at least nine consecutive years, according to Owen.
Booking windows are still short. 1–6 night stays are booked about 70 days out; 7–14 night stays about 150 days out.
Pet-friendly properties earn 16% more revenue and take 8% more bookings annually. Pet bookings are also made 35 days further in advance on average.
Couples are the largest booking segment, making up over 40% of Sykes bookings and travelling most heavily in September, June, and May.
Easter and May bank holidays are dominating 2026 demand, with summer demand still "holding off" at the time of recording.
Meet the expert
Owen Burt is the SEO Manager at Sykes Holiday Cottages, one of the UK's largest holiday let agencies. He manages Sykes' monthly Pulse report and contributes to the annual Holiday Letting Outlook, drawing on bookings data from a portfolio of thousands of properties across the UK and Ireland.
The top 10 UK holiday let regions for 2026
According to Sykes Cottages' 2026 booking data, demand by region has been remarkably stable year-on-year. Owen describes locations as "one of the things that really are staying stable" while everything else – booking windows, party types, length of stay – continues to shift.
Rank | Region | Notes |
1 | North Wales | Consistent #1. Affordable vs. the South West, within two hours of Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham, and varied enough to suit almost any traveller. |
2 | Lake District | Highly accessible and broad appeal across all guest types. |
3 | Cornwall | Always in demand; only slightly held back by accessibility for non-southern travellers. |
4 | North York Moors and Coast | Driven heavily by Whitby (more on that below). |
5 | Devon | South-west staple. |
6 | Peak District | Strong inland demand. |
7 | East Anglia | |
8 | Yorkshire Dales | |
9 | Northumberland | |
10 | Dorset |
The top UK towns and villages
Drilling down to specific locations, Whitby remains the UK's most-booked individual destination – a position it has held throughout Owen's nine years at Sykes. The rest of the top 10 is heavy with familiar Lake District and South West names:
Ambleside, Bowness, Windermere, and Keswick – Lake District favourites
Weymouth (Dorset)
Carbis Bay (Cornwall)
Salcombe (Devon)
Scarborough (North Yorkshire)
Dartmouth (Devon)
Lyme Regis (Dorset)
Two locations sit just outside the top 10 but are climbing fast: Bamburgh in Northumberland and Grasmere in the Lake District – the latter named the highest-earning holiday let location in the UK in Sykes' most recent Holiday Letting Outlook report.
What this means for owners
If you're considering investment, North Wales and the Lake District continue to offer scale and consistent demand. If you're chasing yield, Grasmere is currently the highest-earning hotspot in the country. And if you already own in a top-10 region, the stability of demand is a useful planning signal – guests aren't shifting to new destinations, they're shifting when they book.
When are guests booking in 2026? Dates, lead times, and the late booking trend
Easter has taken the lion's share of 2026 bookings so far, helped by the combination of an extended school holiday and a bank holiday weekend pulling in every traveller type at once.
Looking forward, demand is concentrated on the next big calendar date rather than the season ahead. May is currently the most in-demand month, thanks to two bank holidays, half-term, and strong couples demand. Summer demand is still "holding off" – a continuation of the last 18 months of late booking behaviour.
The lead time gap between short and long stays
One of the most actionable data points Owen shared:
Stay length | Average lead time (2025 data) |
7–14 nights | About 150 days in advance |
1–6 nights | About 70 days in advance |
That's roughly five months vs. just over two months – a huge gap. The takeaway: if you only accept week-long stays, you're effectively waiting twice as long for each booking to land. Opening up to short breaks pulls in revenue much closer to the stay date and helps fill last-minute gaps.
How owners should respond
Owen's core advice for navigating the late-booking market:
Be patient and don't take it personally. "It's likely not you – it's just the market."
Set up operationally for last-minute changeovers. Cleaners, key handover, communications all need to handle short notice.
Open the calendar as wide as possible. With more competition concentrated in a shorter booking window, restrictive minimums hurt.
Cast a wider net within your niche. That doesn't mean appealing to everyone – but it does mean removing avoidable filters that block guests from booking.
Pet-friendly holiday lets: the 16% revenue uplift, explained
This was the section of the episode most owners will want to bookmark.
The headline numbers
Properties on Sykes' platform that accept pets generate:
8% more bookings per year
16% higher revenue per year
For context: over a quarter of all Sykes bookings include a pet, and 60% of Sykes properties already accept them. If your property doesn't, you're missing roughly one in four bookings before competition even starts.
Why pet bookings are more valuable
The revenue uplift isn't simply a "pet supplement" pricing effect. Owen's analysis points to the underlying nature of pet-friendly bookings:
Pet bookings are made 35 days earlier on average – over a month further out than non-pet bookings. Earlier bookings tend to be higher-value because they aren't discounted.
Pet bookings are about half a day longer on average. With the average 2025 booking sitting at about 5.5 nights, that's roughly 10% additional revenue per stay.
Family and large group bookings skew pet-friendly. 30% of family bookings and just over 25% of large group bookings include a pet – and these groups naturally book larger, higher-value properties.
Even couples bring pets. 30% of couple bookings include a pet, so the segment isn't just families with dogs.
"It's almost a little bit of an open goal to accept them, really – if you can deal with what comes with it."
How to pet-proof a holiday let (without ruining the guest experience for non-pet owners)
Owen's practical recommendations:
Choose durable, wipe-clean materials for sofas and flooring. Hard flooring and washable throws over upholstery make turnaround far easier.
Set expectations politely and clearly. "No pets on beds or sofas" is acceptable to guests if it's stated upfront in the listing and welcome pack.
Brief your cleaners. Most guests don't bring pets, and finding pet hair or paw prints from a previous stay will damage reviews. Cleaning standards need to be higher, not equal.
Secure the outdoor space. Fully enclosed gardens, no gaps in fences, no pet-toxic plants (lilies, foxgloves, daffodil bulbs, etc.).
Treat the interior like it's child-proofed. Cover exposed wires, move breakables, remove anything at tail-height.
Add small, thoughtful touches. A welcome hamper with dog treats and waste bags, a towel by the door for muddy paws, and a feeding mat all signal that pets are genuinely welcome – and encourage guests to leave the property cleaner.
Think beyond dogs. Cats and even horses have demand. Sykes lists properties with stabling for guests bringing their own horses.
Couples are the biggest segment in UK holiday lets – here's how to capture them
If Owen were setting up a new holiday let today, he says he'd target couples. The data backs it up.
Why couples are the most strategic segment
Couples make up over 40% of all Sykes bookings – the single largest party type.
Couples have the second-longest average stay length, behind only solo travellers. (Both groups outstay families and large groups on average – a finding Owen calls genuinely surprising.)
Couples are the most consistent booking group across the year. In 2025, couples were only out-booked in two months: August (families) and Easter (only marginally, by families).
When couples travel
Couples are effectively the opposite of families: they avoid school holidays and target shoulder season.
Rank | Best months for couple bookings |
1 | September (by far) |
2 | June |
3 | May |
These are the warmer, quieter, cheaper months – exactly when traditional family-targeted properties tend to have soft demand. Positioning for couples can effectively backfill the calendar around school holidays.
What properties couples book
Traditional cottages dominate Sykes' stock, but quirky and compact properties punch above their weight with couples:
Apartments, lodges, glamping pods and shepherd's huts make up just under 25% of couple bookings, compared to only about 14% of non-couple bookings.
These properties are typically cheaper to build and cheaper to run, making them attractive for owners entering the market with a smaller budget.
The caveat: per-booking value tends to be lower than larger family properties – but consistent year-round demand often makes up the gap.
How to position for couples
Photography: lead with romance and atmosphere – not bunk beds and travel cots.
Amenities: hot tubs, log burners, freestanding baths, premium bedding.
Listings: highlight September/May/June availability and short-break flexibility.
Location: walking distance to a pub or restaurant beats kid-friendly attractions.
Where to find more Sykes Cottages holiday let data
Owen pointed listeners to this page for the full reports referenced in the episode, including:
The monthly Sykes Pulse report – a rolling month-by-month view of UK holiday let demand.
The annual Holiday Letting Outlook report – a longer-term view of how the market is performing.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most-booked UK holiday let regions in 2026?
North Wales is the most-booked region for 2026 according to Sykes Cottages, followed by the Lake District, Cornwall, the North York Moors and Coast, and Devon. The top 11 regions are in the same order as 2025.
What is the most-booked UK town for holiday lets?
Whitby in North Yorkshire is consistently the single most-booked town in the UK on Sykes' platform – a position it has held for at least nine consecutive years.
Do pet-friendly holiday lets earn more?
Yes. Sykes Cottages' 2026 data shows pet-friendly properties take 8% more bookings per year and generate 16% higher revenue than non-pet properties. Pet bookings are also booked 35 days further in advance and stay roughly half a day longer on average.
How far in advance are UK holiday let guests booking?
Short stays (1–6 nights) are booked around 70 days in advance, while week-long stays (7–14 nights) are booked around 150 days in advance, according to Sykes' 2025 data.
What percentage of holiday let bookings are couples?
Over 40% of Sykes Cottages bookings are made by couples, making them the single largest booking segment. Couples book most heavily in September, June and May.
What month is best for holiday let bookings?
For families, August and Easter peak. For couples – the largest segment overall – September is the strongest month, followed by June and May. Demand for 2026 is currently concentrated around Easter and the May bank holidays.
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