Accomodation Co-operative

The problem:

Currently, holiday accommodation is often expensive, underoccupied and damaging to the communities in which it exists;

In the wake of the Covid 19 pandemic and global response, the tourism and accommodation sectors have been hit particularly hard. Beyond this, Pre Covid, the tourism and accommodation sectors were dominated by rarely used holiday homes and short stay accommodation, with prices prohibitively high for many to take advantage of.

Our Solution:

A Co-operative accommodation service could provide an answer to many of the issues found within the conventional market, whilst also providing a new community focused approach to domestic tourism.

A Co-operatively owned accommodation service would be structured to support people from a variety of backgrounds to exchange and occupy accommodation throughout the UK through a points-based system.

  • A holiday accommodation Co-operative owns and operates property, with members owning shares in the co-operative as whole.

  • A central exchange mechanism of points, can be used to book accommodation with points being earned rather that interest on their share capital

  • These points give members the ability to book stays in the accommodation owned by the cooperative

  • The co-operative itself could re-invest members share capital in acquiring and renovating properties in specific areas, targeting local community regeneration and making use of otherwise dormant assets.

Areas Of Impact:

  • Access to accommodation

  • local economic regeneration

  • Covid 19 recovery

  • Growth in the cooperative sector

  • Sustainable travel

  • Environmental efficiency

  • Rural Poverty

  • Dormant asset repurposing

A holiday accommodation and booking co-operative would incentivise a sustainable and community led approach to holiday provision, creating an ethical alternative to extractive holiday norms. This could be achieved in partnership with:

  • Local government

  • Members with dormant assets

  • local Co-operatives and businesses providing services

  • Housing Co-ops utilising spare rooms for the platform

Why does this help?

  • Co-operatives do exist in the travel sector; however, no platform currently exists that allows its members to utilise their own assets in an exchange system. this helps promote both a sustainable approach to accommodation whilst also supporting members to become personally invested in the Co-operative success

  • Currently, the UK’s holiday hotspots are often victims of seasonal peaks followed by struggling and ill-equipped economies in the down season. this model allows for a community led approach to holiday accommodation, where the needs of a community can be emphasised through the provision itself. this can be demonstrated through the renovation of unused property, working with local businesses and placing sustainable travel options at the heart of planning potential sites and destinations.