The Q1 2026 benchmarking report for UK holiday cottages rentals has just been published. Learn how the top 12 UK holiday cottages rentals perform across the digital space.

The latest Q1 2026 benchmarking report for UK holiday cottages rentals has just been published. It covers the largest 12 UK holiday cottages rentals, including  Holidaycottages.co.uk, Cottages.com, Sykes Holiday Cottages, Original Cottages, Classic Cottages, Independent Cottages, Luxury Cottages, Last-Minute Cottages, Rural Retreats, Toad Hall Cottages Ltd, Snaptrip and Premier Cottages Ltd. 

The research gives an inside track on who is winning the biggest share of voice online and quantifies the gaps, risks, and missed opportunities for other UK holiday cottages rentals to win brand exposure, drive traffic online and, for those with bricks and mortar locations, even increase in-store footfall. The report highlights quick wins that will improve enquiries from your online strategy and identifies the barriers that may be reducing your site’s ability to optimise digital performance.

To see a preview and contents page of the Q1 report, click here. To get a copy of the full report and the key takeaways, please complete the enquiry form or schedule a call.

Q1 2026 WINNERS LEADERBOARD

For a glance into just six of the metrics we evaluated these top 12 UK holiday cottage rentals on, check out our quick-look table below;

Continue reading for further detail on this quarter's best and poorest-performing UK train operators or request a copy of the report for the full review.

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What The Industry Research Report Covers

The 70+ pages of research benchmarks each retailer based on 50+ metrics and indicators of successful digital strategy, including organic visibility, domain authority, paid media ads, conversion performance, technical performance, site speed, universal search, content, social ads, accessibility, and mobile performance.  

Driving Optimal ROAS from Paid Media Channels

Some of the leading players in the space are high spenders on paid media channels such as Google, Bing and Facebook - but have a poor or sub-optimal conversion improvement strategy. Without an optimised, sophisticated conversion strategy that maximises the conversion rate, the return on investment is unsustainable or will underperform. Scaling spend on paid media is not achievable unless the conversion rate delivers optimal performance in the sector. Some in the space have paid media spend levels from £30k+ per month but dedicate minimal resources and budgets to conversion testing. Given the cost per clicks on ad networks will continue to rise, we recommend spending at least 10% of your paid media budget on ongoing conversion optimisation testing schedules to ensure your paid media ROI maintains long-term viability, competitive advantage, and sustainability.

Pay-Per-Click Marketing

Pay-Per-Click marketing is constantly evolving, with more and more advertisers being forced to hand over a lot of control to Google's algorithms as the push for automation grows ever stronger. There are still key elements of control that we have though, the main one of these being budget which is ultimately something the algorithms can't take from you. That's why being smart with your budget and ad coverage is essential to achieving strong results and bettering what your competitors have to offer.

For Q1 2026, the average monthly budget wastage across these UK holiday cottage rentals was £64,680 with some of the top players in the market spending a considerable amount on areas and audiences unlikely to deliver a return. We can see this in more detail when looking at the average monthly cost per cost-per-click (CPC) amongst advertisers, with the average of this metric being £3. This highlights how competitive the market is and how important it is to control your budgets effectively. 

For Q1 2026, the average monthly budget wastage across these UK holiday cottage rentals was £64,680 with some of the top players in the market spending a considerable amount on areas and audiences unlikely to deliver a return. We can see this in more detail when looking at the average monthly cost per cost-per-click (CPC) amongst advertisers, with the average of this metric being £3. This highlights how competitive the market is and how important it is to control your budgets effectively.

There are varying monthly ad budgets across the competitors in the report. While this gap highlights the competitive advantage that larger budgets can provide, it's not just about spending more; it’s about spending smarter. By focusing on driving efficiency in campaign management, targeting, and budget allocation, businesses with smaller budgets can still effectively compete with larger players. Investing in data-driven strategies and refining ad performance can help close the gap and maximise the return on every pound spent, enabling growth even in a competitive landscape. Relative to their spend, both Rural Retreats and Premier Cottages Ltd reported the lowest monthly cost-per-click (CPC) at £0, and Luxury Cottages has the highest at £8. 

The report highlights the importance of budget efficiency by comparing monthly ad spend with estimated CPC in relation to your competitors, see who has the highest and lowest CPC. To maximise the effectiveness of your budget, it’s essential to focus on driving CPC down while maintaining or improving campaign performance. In this report, Rural Retreats has the lowest estimate monthly ad spend at £11,700, and Holidaycottages.co.uk has the highest at £2,280,000.

By optimising targeting, refining ad copy, and leveraging data to identify high-converting opportunities, you can ensure every click delivers maximum value. This approach not only stretches your budget further but also boosts your return on ad spend (ROAS), enabling you to achieve stronger results without simply increasing expenditure.

Technical Website Compliance

Savvy  digital marketers know that having a technically sound website is an essential component of a successful fully integrated digital strategy - plus a site capable of maximising conversion performance. Holiday cottages rentals should ensure that their website is easy to follow, thanks to a simple design, and is easy to navigate. It’s also important that each website follows a coherent layout where it’s quick and easy for customers to make a booking.

In our previous audit, Sykes Holiday Cottages received the most 404 errors (47). This quarter, Sykes Holiday Cottages has increased their 404 errors 88. Currently, Holidaycottages.co.uk is the one to watch, reporting a total of 592 404 errors. External backlinks pointing to 404 pages represent lost SEO value. When high-quality websites link to URLs that no longer exist, the link equity from those backlinks is wasted. Without proper redirects in place, a website loses the SEO benefit of those links, which can significantly impact rankings, especially for competitive keywords.

Site Speed & Conversion Rate Performance

When  62% of consumers are less likely to convert if they have a negative mobile site experience, ensuring that your site is quick and easy to load makes a significant improvement on your overall conversion rates. For holiday cottages rentals, they’ll want to ensure that their website loads no longer than 3 seconds to prevent potential customers from becoming frustrated and not making a booking.

In our last audit, Snaptrip received the slowest mobile site speed (26). This quarter, Snaptrip has increased their mobile site speed to 30 — displaying progress and that they’re taking actionable steps. A fast mobile site significantly improves user experience, which is critical for retaining visitors and building trust. Smooth navigation, quick load times, and responsive performance make users feel confident in a brand’s professionalism and reliability. When users enjoy using a website, they are more likely to return, recommend it, and engage with its content.

Building Competitive Advantage with Domain Authority

Domain  authority is an essential metric for measuring the effectiveness of SEO performance, and helps create a reliable overall gauge of how effective your site is at achieving organic traffic, i.e. ‘free’ traffic that is not gained through sponsored ads. All holiday cottages rentals should focus on offering valuable content on a blog page to encourage other websites with a similar target audience to link back to.

In our previous audit, Luxury Cottages reported the lowest DA score (35). This quarter, Luxury Cottages has decreased their DA score to 32 — remaining the company to watch. Domain authority growth relies on long-term consistency, and unresolved 404 errors undermine that stability. Authority-building is cumulative, and broken pages interrupt this process by breaking link paths, content access, and user journeys. Over time, this slows authority growth and weakens the site’s overall competitive position.

Organic Performance – Mobile & Desktop

A  strong organic performance is strategically important as it ensures your site ranks above competitors for key, transactional keywords. When 93% of your customers won’t go past the first page of Google, your absence or lack of targeting for essential keywords will cost you conversions. We’ve noted that the cost-of-living crisis has impacted traffic levels in many sectors, with consumers putting off purchases, such as holiday rentals. However, holiday cottages rentals can still take positive steps to increase their organic traffic, such as following a keyword strategy and regularly monitoring traffic to spot trends and find areas for improvement.

Seven brands reported a drop in organic traffic on desktop, with Holidaycottages.co.uk receiving the biggest loss (-35%).On mobile, 10 brands received a drop in organic traffic, with Original Cottages reporting the biggest drop (-38%). Desktop and mobile users often use different search queries and intent patterns. Mobile searches are typically shorter, more local, and more action-focused, while desktop searches are often more detailed and research-driven. These behavioural differences naturally lead to different organic traffic volumes across devices.

Universal Search Opportunity

Google  Universal Search Results is an evolving opportunity to make your pages visible on a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Universal results often appear before traditional listings and are eye-catching for users. Universal search results refer to rankings on a SERP that are not the traditional ‘blue line’ Google link, and a site can appear for universal search results without being strong in standard rankings. For holiday cottages rentals, they’ll want to focus on results for ‘images’ and ‘reviews’.

Sykes Holiday Cottages continues to secure the most Universal Search appearances (112,076) — an increase from 80,439previously. The majority of their appearances came from ‘images’ (106,000).

The Longtail Keyword Opportunity

Longtail  keywords are often considered high intent and potentially more likely to convert as a searcher is being more specific. Optimising for longtail keywords also puts your content strategy in a strong position to rank for brand-new search terms as they enter Google’s index. Holiday cottages rentals should regularly monitor and review the longtail keywords it uses to ensure they’re using phrases that their audience type into search engines.

Sykes Holiday Cottages continues to secure the most longtail keyword appearances for position 3 (9,971) — an increase from 9,834 previously. Sykes Holiday Cottages continues to secure the most appearances for positions 4–10 (18,844). Using longtail keywords strategically allows websites to grow traffic in a sustainable and user-focused way. By prioritising relevance, depth and intent over sheer volume, websites can deliver content that genuinely serves their audience.

Facebook Adverts

With the number of Facebook users in the United Kingdom (UK) hitting over 44 million users in 2023, it is not surprising that companies have jumped at the opportunity to advertise on the social media platform. Facebook’s UK digital advertising revenue has been estimated to have breached 2.6b GB pounds in 2019. Facebook ads provide an opportunity for holiday cottages rentals to expand their audience and promote discounts and new announcements.

We’ve included screenshots of Holidaycottages.co.uk sponsored Facebook posts. This UK holiday cottage rental considered the amount of text per post to not over bombard their audience with too much content.

Top Social Shares & Content

When  it comes to social media and on-site content strategies, it is important to release content that has a longer shelf life. An article is considered 'Evergreen' if it has maintained its relevancy to an audience for longer. It's great for your brand engagement, but great for Google, too, who will recognise content which achieves traffic over a long period of time. Though Facebook advertising can be used to boost visibility for brands on the platform, having a strong portfolio of content to draw upon helps build a connection with your audience, as well as providing helpful content that guides them down the conversion funnel.

Sykes Holiday Cottages secured the most Facebook Likes (358,000) and the most Instagram followers (270,000).Facebook was the most popular social media platforms of all brands. Sykes Holiday Cottages received the highest total engagement rate (7,710) and the highest average engagement (40).

Website Readability & Accessibility

20 % of people in the UK have a disability – 2 million of which are people living with sight loss. In addition, 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour vision deficiency. When websites are not designed to meet these needs, brands lose customer interest as they turn elsewhere. Holiday cottages rentals should be particularly mindful of having an accessible site, as being poorly prepared for visually impaired users could not only lose customer confidence but look very poor for their brand!

In our previous report, Luxury Cottages flagged the most accessibility alerts (595).This quarter, Luxury Cottages remains the brand to watch, and they’ve since increased their total to 620. Accessibility alerts are frequently caused by links that lack descriptive text. Using vague phrases such as ‘click here; or ‘read more’ provides little context for users relying on screen readers. When links are read out of context, users cannot determine their purpose or destination.

GET THE FULL 70-PAGE Q1 2026 REPORT

To get a copy of the full report, please complete the enquiry form. If you want to talk to us about accelerating your digital performance, please call us on 01543 410014 or schedule a call with Rory Tarplee.