Rental market boosted by economic climate

Online rental marketplace Erento has reported a spike in holiday accommodation rental as well as other related items.

The service has seen an increase in demand for cheaper locations as well as domestic locations compared with this time last year.

Clinton Patterson, erento director of international operations, said there has also been increased interest in UK rental accommodation from the German market because of the strength of the Euro.

“Because we are a rental marketplace we are also seeing demand for things like tools for home improvement that we would not have seen this time last year. People are less interested in spending money on exotic holidays.”

Patterson added that consumers are also turning to the rental sector for items such as digital cameras.

He said the erento sites were attracting 50,000 visitors a day and 20% growth across its services in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the US.

Erento’s trends are in line the current upturn in the holiday lettings market. HomeAway announced US$250 million fourth round funding in November while in December accommodation rental specialist, Direct Holiday Bookings announced tie-ups with Hoseasons and Thomson.

Direct Holiday Bookings, which launched in May last year with 10,000 properties, said in December that it was on target to achieve 150,000 listings by year-end.

It also claimed traffic to the site has trebled each month.

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