HA'OD Changes Afoot

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
gunnyandbob
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Post by gunnyandbob »

Well, I don't like the imposition of profiteering by HA. So although I do not like doing this , I will cut out their advert come December and set up alternative commission only sites. My attitude is 'to hell with them' for adding over 6%, likely 8% because our rates are lower than most. This is on top of £300 a year, and the cost they extort for CC payments in €uros going to our Uk bank account.That's off our profit margin, and deterring people from booking with us.They are already the market leader, but just can't be satisfied, greed rules. A typical American company.
Here in Spain we already pay 24.75% tax after expenses. All this makes one too many straws on my back.
Anyone else thinking along the same lines?
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Lets Go To Puglia
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Post by Lets Go To Puglia »

edinburgh wrote:Oh great - so having paid nearly a grand for my top listing with HomeAway, I now find out the remaining 6 months of my subscription are essentially useless. Are they going to offer a refund of the amount? Of course not.
In the same boat ... just upgraded subscription for one property through to end of March next year ....
Ciao, Debbie

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Post by Lets Go To Puglia »

Essar wrote:
e-richard wrote:
Essar wrote: Traveller Service Fee
This will be introduced from the 1st June 2016 and will apply to all listings with the commission model and those with on-line booking enabled on the subscription model.
It seems it does not apply to subscription model listings without on-line booking..
The way I read it, this definition should say that the traveller service fee will only be applied to all advertisers who use online payments or alternative payments. Strictly speaking it's not linked to online bookings or commission based bookings.

Reference: HomeAway announcement
I read the announcement several times before I worked out what they are "really" saying; you also have to take into account the way they are applying the TSF on VRBO.

All commission listings will pay the TSF as they all have on-line bookings and on-line payments by default.

Subscriptions with on-line booking enabled will have the TSF applied; they do not need on-line payment enabled for it work. When a guest books; the details are passed to the owner to proceed with the booking, the guest is also asked for a credit/debit card which HA/OD then use to take the non-refundable TSF (this is how they do it on VRBO). For those owners who have on-line payments enabled too and only use the PayPal or BACS options the TSF is still taken by the same method. Those owners who pay the higher subscription and do not have on-line booking enabled; their guests are never charged the TSF as HA/OD never know if they book or not (hence the higher subscription to compensate).
Thanks - I have been struggling to understand how the fee was going to be charged to someone who books online but pays direct ....
Ciao, Debbie

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Post by Lets Go To Puglia »

Zorba wrote:
Essar wrote: To re-iterate the TSF will be applied to all properties with on-line booking enabled - on-line payments are not necessary for this to apply.
Sorry Essar (and others), on this occasion you are totally up the wrong tree. :D

I just had a call from HA who categorically say both online booking and online payment must be enabled before they charge the TSF. The representative said TSF would only be collected on final checkout with the rental, not when other payments methods are used.
I asked for it in writing and I got a nice email back.
Inter alia they say "The Service Fee is paid by the traveller when booking and paying through the HomeAway websites. This fee covers the cost of providing 24/7 customer support, enhanced site and mobile features for both owner and travelers, plus expanded marketing efforts to generate more exposure to global audiences. Additionally, when a traveler books and pays through HomeAway, they are eligible for the Book with Confidence Guarantee.

The important words here is "booking and paying" not "booking or paying." As I posted before I read this to be the case but was persuaded by other opinions. So for the time being we will stay with online booking.
I hope this is right
Ciao, Debbie

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Lets Go To Puglia
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Post by Lets Go To Puglia »

e-richard wrote:Based on all the information that I have read in this thread above:

If you are booking a holiday in September where the front door has been painted yellow, and the owner has a 12 year old daughter called Sally then the guest will pay a fee to a leprechaun in Donegal, but if the daughter has blond hair, then the owner will print the works of Shakespeare on a laser printer in blue ink, and a Traveller Service Fee will be payable by his ex-wife's accountant's brother-in-law.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Ciao, Debbie

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Post by Lets Go To Puglia »

Mouse wrote: But....what if you have 2 adverts for your property?
After all, setting up a commission advert costs nothing.
You get in amongst the online bookings list so have a higher profile
You can direct people to your 'other' traveller fee free OD advert :wink: whilst explaining you can offer an 8% discount again st the quote.
I've been thinking along similar lines ...... will it be spotted and removed? After all AirBnB had duplicate properties where the duplicated property with same photos etc was in a different location and a complete scam. They didn't pick up on the duplication until they were outed by, I think it was, Panorama
Ciao, Debbie

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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

Well there is someone who already has a duplicated listing in my area; they have one set up with prices for 8 people and one set up for 6. So I have to assume that's OK. I think they are on commission for both.

Talking of which; I had my first decent enquiry through HL. I have heavily hinted on my ad that I have wmy own site etc.
Anyhoo - she wanted a few questioned answered and then said 'great, what's the total price? '. I explained what my total price would be but then explained that HL make a charge for bookings and I didn't know what that would be.
Turned out it was over £500. She was agast. Managed to find my site and enquired direct.

I just hope more people start to get a bit wiser about these charges....as she said, they're certainly not putting it out there upfront so people know they will be charged otherwise she wouldn't have used the site.

Mousie (hoping the booking goes through)
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Cameratrav
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OD Changes - What alternative?

Post by Cameratrav »

I have been fairly successful with OD listing a property near a village, north of Alicante, I only use online bookings but have not signed up to any extra packages, however I have received bookings from Sweden, Ireland and the Netherlands, apparently appearing on their local sites.

To now allow all HomeAway Group listings to appear on all worldwide sites is good but in introducing the 6% service fee, I fear HA will chase away their one advantage for the holidaymaker over competitive sites. We will see in time, I don't believe I would gain by changing rental site. I also expect the OD name and all others except HA to go in the future in favour of one HA system to compete with Airbnb etc.

AirBnb was hopeless for me, I think people search for cities or famous towns and I am too far away. I have removed the listing. OD seems to get people to me, I must be doing something right!

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Post by Marks »

Mouse wrote:HL make a charge for bookings and I didn't know what that would be.
Just open the enquiry in your dashboard and click 'show details'

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Post by dado1977 »

i am following this intersting discussion for a while.
seems this year is full of big changes on all web sites.
for example traumferiwnwohnung is total disaster this year comparing to recent few years.

But i have question about HA. will be same if i pay italian version which is cheaper form german?
seems that i will be listed on all HA sites, but is it same ?
Little Villa
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Post by Little Villa »

Hi Dado

I will let someone who knows more about these things answer your question, but I wanted to say 'welcome' to LMH! It's good to see another Croatian property owner. Your apartments and website look really nice. I have only been to Krk once. Must go again!

I was thinking about listing with traum so was disappointed to see what you say about it this year.

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Post by Crossways »

I have a multi-unit listing for 2 properties. I can't find out how much renewal will cost. I have tried phoning (no answer) and live chat (been waiting since yesterday morning for a call back).
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Post by Annew »

Crossways wrote:I have a multi-unit listing for 2 properties. I can't find out how much renewal will cost. I have tried phoning (no answer) and live chat (been waiting since yesterday morning for a call back).
I've been waiting for 10 days for an answer to my email and also never got a call back on live chat.

Ironic really as I actually want to continue with HA
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Post by Sam V »

I just received an OD email promoting renting your main property (your home) again. Read down to the greyed text area at the bottom:

*Pay-per-booking commission: Listing of the property is free and 10% commission + VAT will be charged for each booking through HomeAway websites. Bookings originating from our expanded distribution partners may be higher. For more details on pay-per-booking commission, click here.
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Post by e-richard »

Annew wrote:I've been waiting for 10 days for an answer to my email and also never got a call back on live chat.
Ironic really as I actually want to continue with HA
Its in the tech support training manual that if you cannot answer a customer's query within 48 hours, then just throw it away.

Suggest you send your query again (and again, and again).
Or
Phone sales and ask for the cancellations department.
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