Helpful Holidays

[newtimber]

Whilst it's true that holiday cottages gets more search results, it doesn't follow that they get more business or are right for you. I notice that Airbnb wasn't on the front page for some holiday cottage searches I did - but it doesn't mean that they get less business. Lots of people nowadays book on sites they have used before and they go straight to Airbnb, VRBO, cottages.com etc. if they had a good experience with them.
There is no one site that works for everyone. Some will find they get great business from one company and not from another and vice-versa.
If helpful holidays produced good results for the previous owner, why wouldn't they work for you if you're targeting the same audience? They may have a core group of loyal customers who always book through them and who they actively cultivate by direct marketing or offline advertising.