HolidayExtras.com is now offering extra days parking to clients to react to a trend that is seeing Brits eschew the traditional seven or 14-day holiday.
The travel add-ons firm says it has seen a huge rise in customers wanting to book 16 to 24 days’ parking to allow for longer trips abroad.
Over a ten-day period HolidayExtras found that on average 3,500 were requesting 16, 17, 18, 23 and 24 days parking durations each day.
The Official for National Statistics is also reporting this trend, with the average length of stay for a holiday having gone up from 10.1 nights to 10.5 nights from 2005 to 2009.
The site says that holidaymakers are tending to average 26 nights for Australia, the US and the Caribbean. For short-haul European holidays, the average stay is nine nights.
Head of product innovation and merchandising Anthony Clarke-Cowell, said: “Most operators offer a parking stay of up to eight or 15 days and any extra days have traditionally been charged to the customer when they return from holiday.
“In recognition of this problem and as part of our on-going quest to make booking a holiday hassle-free, HolidayExtras.com has developed a system that allows customers to buy those extra days hotel parking up front. “This means no more unpleasant surprises for customers who are charged for extras days on return from holiday – not ideal when all you have on you is foreign currency.”
by Dinah Hatch
