SPL Villas plans to expand its range with the addition of Florida properties, as it looks beyond its range of Mediterranean offerings.
The villa specialist recently started working with travel agents, after building its portfolio during the pandemic to offer as wide a range as possible when green lists and restrictions were affecting travel decisions.
It aims to reach 2,000 by the end of this year and hopes to introduce Florida as its first non-Mediterranean range in the coming weeks.
Managing director Ed Frampton-Fell told a Travel Weekly webcast that work is going on “behind the scenes” and the product should be available “in the next month or so”.
“Disney is obviously the big draw,” he said. “I’m a big Florida advocate. I spent quite a bit of time over there and I love like the Keys and the Gulf coast as well.”
When the brand was established in January 2021, it had 300 villas across the Med, and started selling to the trade in recent weeks once the range had expanded to 900.
“If there was a star rating, we’d say everything on our website is four to five-star with a luxury blend on top of that,” he explained.
The average value is about £4,000 a week but some villas are available for less than £1,000 a week – while others cost as much as £10-£15,000.
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“We’re seeing a lot of people book those larger villas right now: multi-generational families wanting to go away and get all the family together and celebrate being free from Covid,” he told the webcast.
“Greece and Croatia seem to be quite ‘on trend’ for us at the moment…with them dropping the Covid restrictions…in the last week or so, I think that’s made a big difference.
“We’re really strong in those areas as well. They’re probably our two strongest destinations.”
He has also seen more last-minute bookings than ever before, commenting: “We’re having people call up for departing in a week’s time.”
As well as launching Florida, the specialist aims to add more availability in its current destinations.
The villa specialist will be offering agents 10% commission on all bookings as well as running incentives and fam trips.
Agents can search for villas by destination and number of guests or by a range of collections such as villas for couples, young families or large groups, or by facilities.
Pictured: Villa Exuberante, Portugal.