SPL Villas has taken more bookings from the trade in the first 10 days of this year’s peaks campaign than for all of January 2024.
Since the launch of the promotion on December 26, more than 70% of bookings have come from agent channels, and demand has risen year on year by almost 25%.
Over the same timeframe, the average value of bookings is up 40% compared to last year and 94% of trade bookings have qualified for an entry into its incentive, with a value of more than £4,000.
Spain, Greece and Cyprus have been the most searched-for destinations on SPL Villas’ website, with bookings for Cyprus up 66% year on year.
To accommodate for the growth in demand, SPL Villas has extended its opening hours between January 5 and February 9, opening from 9am- 7.30pm on weekdays, 10am- 4pm on Saturdays and 11am- 3pm on Sundays.
This comes after it shifted its policy early in 2024 to engage more with the trade, leading to a fully bookable website and agreements with major trade consortia.
The villa specialist’s peaks incentive will run until January 31, offering agents a case of three bottles of wine for every booking and the chance to win a Cyprus villa holiday.
Laura Ingeri, SPL Villas general manager, said: “Our agent partners have really been at the spearhead of what’s been a fantastic response to our first turn of the year sale.
“There’s still time left for it to run, and for one of them to win their own villa holiday via our incentive.”
She added: “What’s been interesting is the number of agents who have told us how important our ATOL protection is to their customers this year – perhaps in response to the disruption some those destinations saw in 2024 as a result of overtourism protests and fires – and we’re happy to give them the reassurance that we’ll be here to look after them if something unforeseen happens.
“But the fact that more customers are booking, and spending more when they do so, are strong indications that there’s a lot of confidence out there – which is giving us reasons to be really optimistic about the year ahead.”