Villa companies set to greet a happy holiday season on uptick in Christmas, New Year travel

New Delhi: As the year ends, villa rental companies are gearing up for a busy season, buoyed by extended travel plans with two midweek holidays – Christmas is on a Wednesday and New Year’s Eve on a Tuesday. For locations such as Goa, where homestays and villas are becoming increasingly popular, the company hopes to "activate" new villa supply so that it is ready to capitalise on the lucrative time of the season from 21 December to January 5. "Over last year to this year, there has been a nominal increment of 8% in terms of the average rates charged," said Amit Damani, co-founder of StayVista The same level of growth may not be there for villa rental companies in hill stations, although the snow could attract travellers. This year, demand is soft for hill station destinations in north India because many travellers tend to finalise their trips as close to the planned holiday dates as possible due to erratic weather.