Mon, 19 Jul 2021 | BUSINESS SALE
Cottage-letting platform Sykes Holiday Cottage has expanded its portfolio of UK properties with the acquisition of Best of Suffolk. The regionally-focused holiday cottage rental firm brings with it 400 properties, which are located in popular areas such as the Brecks, Constable country and along the Suffolk coast. The company will continue to operate under its existing brand post-acquisition.
The acquisition closed for an undisclosed fee and takes Sykes’ portfolio of properties up to nearly 20,000 in the UK, Ireland and New Zealand. Despite the disruptions caused by lockdowns, the firm has been a major beneficiary of the boom in “staycationing”, with varying degrees of restrictions on foreign holidays since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The company reported a 417 per cent increase in bookings after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced an easing of restrictions in June 2020. Meanwhile, in February of this year, the company announced that it had seen “a significant increase in bookings for later this year”. Earlier this month, Sykes said it expected the increase in domestic holidays to last beyond the pandemic.
The acquisition comes after Best of Suffolk founders Alex and Naomi Tarry, who started the company 15 years ago, decided to step down from the business. Sykes says that acquiring Best of Suffolk would enable it to offer a wider range of properties within the Suffolk area.
Discussing the acquisition, Sykes’ CEO Graham Donoghue said: “Like Sykes, the emphasis at Best of Suffolk has always been on providing wonderful holidays with high-quality customer service. This deal will enable the business to continue to grow with those principles at its heart, while also allowing us to bring all that this beautiful part of the country has to offer to a much broader audience of holidaymakers.”
Read more about how the rise of staycationing is fuelling M&A in the domestic travel market.
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