Theholidaylet.com

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
toulouselechat
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2015 1:29 pm

Theholidaylet.com

Post by toulouselechat »

Anyone had any experience of these?

Was doing some research trying to find where all the OD renters are turning to and a few people suggested these...wondering if they were real people though.

Annual subscription is only £30 a year, but low on google searches as you'd expect. Nice site though.

Any thoughts?
User avatar
Nemo
Posts: 7062
Joined: Thu Aug 14, 2008 10:15 am
Location: Norfolk

Post by Nemo »

Yes a nice site, easy to use but for the majority of us, they don't produce anything. A couple of useful threads on them:

viewtopic.php?t=14238

viewtopic.php?t=23027

Many of us have free listings. If they take that away, at this stage I wouldn't pay any money as they simply do not generate enough traffic to my website. As you can see from the threads, there is the odd owner who has had a booking from them.
User avatar
GRL
Posts: 821
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2014 4:31 pm

Post by GRL »

I have had a free ad with them for a couple of months but no enquiries. At this stage I would be unwilling to pay to advertise with them I believe I got a report recently saying how many views my advert had had and it may even have been higher than OD that I was on at the time. However all I am really interested in is bookings and if a site does not generate those I will not pay to advertise with them.

That said I really do wish The Holiday Let well as they are offering something along the lines of what OD used to do.
toulouselechat
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2015 1:29 pm

Post by toulouselechat »

Thanks for your input, guys.

I thought that might be the case. So frustrating - I'd love to see a nice little site like this kick OD's a**! :lol:

Oh well, on with the research....
User avatar
GRL
Posts: 821
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2014 4:31 pm

Post by GRL »

You could say you know they have been offering a free listing to their gites and would they consider having you join. Then there's nothing for you to lose and another property added on to their site.
toulouselechat
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2015 1:29 pm

Post by toulouselechat »

That's a very good idea, Rosie. I might just do that.
User avatar
greenbarn
Posts: 6146
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 6:41 pm
Location: The Westmorland Dales, Cumbria

Post by greenbarn »

If they don't introduce iCal support - which they've been promising for a couple of years now - then I suspect there'll be few owners who've previously been on a free listing converting to a paid listing - even for a small amount. I don't think they've fully realised that owners aren't prepared to put in the effort of maintaining calendars when the results aren't forthcoming, but out-of-date calendars will impact results; it's a vicious circle that they can't expect owners to break.
Yes, I'd like to see them succeed.
toulouselechat
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2015 1:29 pm

Post by toulouselechat »

Forgive my ignorance, Greenbarn - what is ical support? When they sync the calendars??
User avatar
greenbarn
Posts: 6146
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 6:41 pm
Location: The Westmorland Dales, Cumbria

Post by greenbarn »

toulouselechat wrote:Forgive my ignorance, Greenbarn - what is ical support? When they sync the calendars??
Sorry - not very clear. Yes, it's when they can sync their calendars to your own, so you only ever have to keep your master up to date and sites with iCal support will follow.
COYS
Posts: 795
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2015 1:24 pm
Location: Greek Islands

Post by COYS »

toulouselechat wrote:Thanks for your input, guys.

I thought that might be the case. So frustrating - I'd love to see a nice little site like this kick OD's a**! :lol:

Oh well, on with the research....
At a cost of less than a cup of coffee per month, it's not that big a risk surely?
This time next year Rodney, we'll be millionaires.
User avatar
kevsboredagain
Posts: 3207
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:32 am
Location: France
Contact:

Post by kevsboredagain »

7 years and not a single booking. Many years without even an enquiry. Luckily they offered the free trial and renew if no enquiries or I would have been paying, even that small amount, year after year for zero results.
KathyG
Posts: 3274
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Le Faou, Brittany
Contact:

Post by KathyG »

Yep, same as Kev. :(
Kathy
Waterfront location in Le Faou
"My goal in life is to become as wonderful as my dog thinks I am."
Essar
Posts: 3243
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 5:24 pm
Location: Bournemouth
Contact:

Post by Essar »

Ditto.

However, must say that it is an easy site to use with some nice features. The operators are very helpful. It is one of those sites that you wish would really take off and get results.
"Write something, even if it's just a suicide note"
"There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise"
"As for my amnesia, I've had it as long as I can remember"
Real name: Steve
Gender: Male
Bob MacLean
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2016 7:01 pm
Location: Alcudia, Majorca
Contact:

Post by Bob MacLean »

Newbie here.

My wife must have been one of the first advertisers with Owners Direct. Over the years it grew and she has had many bookings through it. Since the sale to Homeaway, however, and as stated by so many others, it has become cumbersome for both owners and potential clients, and enquiries have dropped off. The general consensus seems to be that the MyHolidayLet customer service is excellent so this is a real opportunity for them to increase their business. I do wish them well, because it would be a shame if the market became dominated by a few huge players imposing their business model on reluctant users. 

Now would probably be a good time for them to invest in a big Search Engine Optimisation push as well as a marketing exercise to gain new owners, although I know they will never be able to compete with the budgets of the big boys.

We have taken out an advert with them, including a paid for "featured property" listing for 6 months to see how it goes. Inputting the details was relatively painless and the finished product does look good. Our OD listing is due for renewal in May so we have a few months to compare performance. From what others have said on here it's difficult to be optimistic but we're certainly willing to give them a chance. The more owners who do so there's presumably more chance of the site moving up the search engine rankings.
http://www.carabela.net
User avatar
Wonkeye
Posts: 411
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:40 am

Post by Wonkeye »

Essar wrote:However, must say that it is an easy site to use with some nice features. The operators are very helpful. It is one of those sites that you wish would really take off and get results.
Ditto. One thing I particularly like about their calendar is that you only need to click on the start and end day and in-between is filled in automatically. Not like others, where you annoyingly have to click on each box individually and inevitably miss the odd one. Speaking as non-synced-calendar people, so out of the ark.
Like everyone else - nice-looking site. Would love them to succeed.
Post Reply