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Brands ranked 2025 Holiday Cottages Industry Analysis
If you work in the UK holiday cottages sector, you want a clean read on who’s winning, what’s changing, and why.
This 2025 Holiday Cottages Industry Analysis pulls the standout numbers from the latest 2025 Salience Holiday Cottages Index and blends them with sector commentary you can act on.
You’ll find concise tables, takeaways, and a focused brand spotlight on Forest Holidays. You can get the free 69-page report for deeper insight if you want all the data.
Which holiday cottage brands lead organic visibility in 2025?
Here’s a quick view of the top performers by organic visibility and how they moved yearly.
| # | Brand | Visibility (Jul ’25) | Visibility (Jul ’24) | YoY change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hoseasons | 1,042,529 | 859,194 | +21% |
| 2 | Sykes Cottages | 694,734 | 643,946 | +8% |
| 3 | Cottages.com | 313,061 | 279,188 | +12% |
| 4 | Forest Holidays | 290,632 | 237,427 | +22% |
| 5 | Holiday Cottages | 270,392 | 418,426 | −35% |
| 6 | Last Minute Cottages | 242,403 | 184,383 | +31% |
| 7 | Visit Bath | 184,318 | 192,814 | −4% |
| 8 | Hot Tub Hideaways | 169,821 | 236,715 | −28% |
| 9 | Coolstays | 161,244 | 91,024 | +77% |
| 10 | Vrbo | 141,827 | 143,318 | −1% |
The market still centres on Hoseasons and Sykes Cottages, but growth isn’t concentrated. Forest Holidays posts rapid gains, and Coolstays shows the acceleration you see when a brand nails product-led discovery and long-tail coverage.
The drop at Holiday Cottages and Hot Tub Hideaways points to pressure on generic “holiday cottages” and “hot tub” terms. The winners mix breadth (coverage from inspiration to conversion) with depth (category and location authority).
If you chase the same head terms as the giants, expect volatility and flat CTRs. PPC and sometimes hallucinating AI Overviews dominate above the fold. People scroll until they spot a brand they know. Non-brand growth is coming from topical authority and tighter intent match like short-notice, pet-friendly, or facility-led breaks.
What’s the Holiday Cottages growth rate right now?
The sector’s overall organic visibility has nudged up, with variance at +4%. Treat that as a rough growth pulse for the organic footprint.
So what? If the market grows, you should at least keep pace. Demand remains price- and facility-sensitive. Short breaks, flexible booking windows, and amenities (hot tubs, dog-friendly, pools) still lead search volume. Brands that honour this intent with in-depth landing pages and supporting content convert that visibility into bookings.
Who’s overachieving on weak authority — and who’s a sleeping giant?
Plotting visibility against site authority surfaces two functional groups:
Overachievers (high visibility, lower authority)
- Vrbo
- Historic UK
- Sykes Cottages
- Holiday Cottages
- Visit Bath
- Hoseasons
- Holiday Lettings
- Cottages.com
- Forest Holidays
- Visit Hampshire
They extract outsized value from technical SEO, content structure, and UX.
Sleeping Giants (high authority, lower visibility)
- Independent Cottages
- Classic Cottages
- Original Cottages
- Center Parcs
- Group Accommodation
- PetSpyjamas
- Last Minute Cottages
- Coolstays
- Hot Tub Hideaways
- Aspects Holidays
There’s equity to unlock with on-site fixes and stronger content targeting.
So what? Overachievers win because page types match search tasks: crisp location hubs, tight facility filters, evergreen content that answers pre-booking questions. Sleeping giants often have reach and links but friction in architecture and weaker topical coverage.
If you’re an overachiever, consider digital PR to harden rankings. If you’re a sleeping giant, structure for people first — let search engines follow.
Which search trends are shaping demand?
Emerging brands
The brand search leaderboard shows mindshare shifts. Fast-rising names include Hoseasons, Forest Holidays, Cottages.com (generic “cottages”), Last Minute Cottages, and Break Free Holidays. Forest Holidays pulls in ~110k monthly brand searches and is still growing.
Receding brands
Several established names have lost organic traffic: Sykes Cottages, Vrbo, Holiday Cottages, Holiday Lettings, Original Cottages, Wales Cottage Holidays, Norfolk Cottages, Yorkshire Holiday Cottages, Canine Cottages, and Norfolk Hideaways. That can reflect a shift to intent-based queries rather than brand-led searches.
Brand search is a proxy for awareness. When a challenger’s name grows faster than generic category terms, that’s demand creation, not just capture. Forest Holidays is a clear example. Their playbook appears in the spotlight.
What products and experiences are on the up (or down)?
Emerging products & queries
- Holiday parks, Haven holiday park, last-minute caravan holidays
- Dog-friendly log cabins, last-minute cabin with hot tub
- Destination-flavoured queries: Isles of Scilly holiday cottages, Perran Sands beach, Fallbarrow Hall
Receding product interest
- Broad “hot tub” phrases: lodge and hot tub, hot tub breaks, hot tub stays near me, plus some Lakes/Devon hot-tub terms
So what? Growth around parks and cabins hints at nature-led settings, short lead times, and amenity-first filters. The cool-down on broad “hot tub” terms suggests firmer intent (dates, regions, features). Optimised navigation and decisive page copy matter more.
If you sell cabins, lodges, or park-adjacent stays, cluster content by micro-escapes (two-night, last-minute, pet-ready) — not just counties. You’ll mirror how people search.
Opportunity keywords with lower competition
There’s accessible volume where intent is clearer and competitiveness lower. Examples:
- Weekend away with hot tub
- Luxury lodges with hot tubs
- Privately owned caravan late deals
- Places to stay with hot tub
Head terms keep you visible, but bookings often come from second-tier queries with more preferences: party type, facility, timing. Build landing pages and supporting content to own those moments, then feed internal links back to your money pages.
Which brands are winning brand awareness and social reach?
The market’s brand-search plus owned-social composite highlights these leaders:
| # | Brand | Monthly brand searches | Owned social score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vrbo | 165,000 | 13,555 |
| 2 | Hoseasons | 450,000 | 926 |
| 3 | Sykes Cottages | 246,000 | 955 |
| 4 | Forest Holidays | 110,000 | 957 |
| 5 | Holiday Cottages | 135,000 | 495 |
| 6 | Cottages.com | 60,500 | 771 |
| 7 | Sally’s Cottages | 8,100 | 1,265 |
| 8 | Coolstays | 5,400 | 977 |
| 9 | Canine Cottages | 9,900 | 413 |
| 10 | Original Cottages | 18,100 | 177 |
Do reviews correlate with search growth?
Reviews don’t directly rank pages, but they drive trust and conversion. Highest-reviewed sites and averages:
| Brand | Reviews counted | Avg. score |
|---|---|---|
| Holiday Cottages | 82,990 | 4.7 |
| Cottages.com | 90,364 | 4.6 |
| Hoseasons | 49,412 | 4.5 |
| Original Cottages | 24,346 | 4.6 |
| 2cHolidays | 1,555 | 4.7 |
| Last Minute Cottages | 1,534 | 4.6 |
| Coastal Cottages | 1,378 | 4.6 |
| kate & tom’s | 576 | 4.9 |
Spotlight: Forest Holidays — a cabin brand rewriting the holiday-let playbook
Brand Spotlight
Forest Holidays has achieved fourth place in overall visibility (+22%), with ~110k monthly brand searches trending upward.
They’re winning because they position forest cabins as escapes rather than just accommodation, combining frictionless booking (£25 deposits, monthly payments, etc.) with clear storytelling around reconnection and nature that spans the entire search journey.
For the full data tables, methodology, and brand-by-brand breakdowns, get the free 69-page report for deeper insight.
