We've just had a call from HA giving us the heads-up that there wil be an announcement tomorrow about major changes for both sites. Of course, we cannot share what we've been told, but many of you will probably be able to guess wht's coming. However, there was a very interesting article published by Rentivo on the 4th May which you might just want to read. Here's the link:
http://91digital.net/blog/homeaway-apri ... _Weekly_22
Enjoy!
Any thoughts?
HA'OD Changes Afoot
HA'OD Changes Afoot
Rick Bond
If you build it (properly) - people will come.
<a href="http://www.myfavouriteholidaycottages.co.uk">My Favourite Holiday Cottages</a>
<a href="http://www.myholidaymarketing.co.uk">My Holiday Marketing</a>
If you build it (properly) - people will come.
<a href="http://www.myfavouriteholidaycottages.co.uk">My Favourite Holiday Cottages</a>
<a href="http://www.myholidaymarketing.co.uk">My Holiday Marketing</a>
Having not had an OD enquiry in over 3 mths (and having cleared my calendar to capture any date) I'm seriously interested in how they think they are going to raise commission through getting more bookings.
I'm either not coming up in searches others are doing (anyone fancy trying) or our typical clients have gone elsewhere.
Mousie
x
I'm either not coming up in searches others are doing (anyone fancy trying) or our typical clients have gone elsewhere.
Mousie
x
One martini, two martini, three martini floor!
I don't believe that "sizeable player" is compatible with "caring about what owners and guests want"; the investment required to be a sizeable player is so big that satisfying the investors has to be their primary goal. Google rankings are the first concern, agencies and large property managers are second, guests are a distant third and that speck on their far horizon? That'll be individual owners.Casscat wrote:How I wish there was a sizeable player out there that actually cared about what owners and guests want
Mousie I'm getting a lot of enquiries from the Uk suddenly....very very late this year. So hold your nerve.Mouse wrote:Having not had an OD enquiry in over 3 mths (and having cleared my calendar to capture any date) I'm seriously interested in how they think they are going to raise commission through getting more bookings.
I'm either not coming up in searches others are doing (anyone fancy trying) or our typical clients have gone elsewhere.
Mousie
x
My calendar (like yours) has been showing empty for the last three months. So I think I can safely say it wasn't the full calendar that was stopping enquiries, they just were not looking back in Feb.
Sorry to threadcreep Unibond. Sounds like guest booking fees are coming? Time to educate the guest into booking direct?
and check-out FB page saynotoVRBO (closed group) ...if you're on HA or OD you're on VRBO too.
Right now small players can't possibly compete playing the same game as the mobster sites. As and when the typical OD guest of say two to three years ago, and those of similar ilk, gets savvy they'll ignore the mobsters and search deeper for what they still want, and the small site concentrating on a particular market sector/geographical area/niche/USP will be worth seeking out, and can succeed. Remember, that's how OD started The small sites that follow the mobsters' catch-all model will, and have already, failed.Mouse wrote:
Yes it seems if HA et al are having to pay out considerable sums to succeed in the seo stakes then small, new, players would have their work cut out
Mouse
x
The mobsters are now completely reliant on Google and paying enormous sums for the "privilege" of being in bed with them. It's their only possible tactic, but it's high risk - Google seems to be a fickle mistress. OD will never be allowed to return to being the cuddly site it once was, it will simply die. Those who want cuddly sites - that's a lot of us and our typical guests - will find the ones that replace OD, even if they have to hunt them out. A return to the model of a few years ago, as the mobsters engage in street wars?
Re: HA'OD Changes Afoot
I'm just interested as to why HA chose to ring you and let you know first - I thought you are one of their (very small!) competitors?Unibond3 wrote:We've just had a call from HA giving us the heads-up that there wil be an announcement tomorrow about major changes for both sites.
Any thoughts?
You are not alone, Mousie. We have had three bookings this year (since May 2015) from OD, while in previous years it has not been fewer than ten (not including repeats).Mouse wrote:Having not had an OD enquiry in over 3 mths (and having cleared my calendar to capture any date) I'm seriously interested in how they think they are going to raise commission through getting more bookings.
I'm either not coming up in searches others are doing (anyone fancy trying) or our typical clients have gone elsewhere.
Mousie
x
You have a fair amount of competition on Ibiza I think, and I see many desirable Ibiza villas being shown on OD. I did a count and your property appears on OD as number 224 on the list, out of a total of 561, for the whole island.
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AngloDutch
- Posts: 727
- Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2014 10:25 pm
- Location: Netherlands
and also maybe a decision to combine OD and HA uk, especially once all the subscription listings are phased out. It is going to take a long time for the brand name 'Owners Direct' to recover from all the bad press of the last few years, HA could just decide to drop it (remember holidaylets.net?)tavi wrote: Sorry to threadcreep Unibond. Sounds like guest booking fees are coming? Time to educate the guest into booking direct?
Thanks Andrew. I noticed even the very popular villas are struggling to fill August and June. Sept bookings usually start coming through in June.
Anglo I have been wondering for a long time if the whole publicity thing was a way of killing off the OD name.
It is a problem for the group for sure and yet, had they decided to leave it alone and plod on, it could have been a winner...but obviously they want all OD'rs to switch. Yet I always got the impression from owners who used both that HA got worse, whilst OD held its own.
For sure once they introduce fees to travellers and online bookings it is no longer fitting the title Owners Direct
Mousie
x
Anglo I have been wondering for a long time if the whole publicity thing was a way of killing off the OD name.
It is a problem for the group for sure and yet, had they decided to leave it alone and plod on, it could have been a winner...but obviously they want all OD'rs to switch. Yet I always got the impression from owners who used both that HA got worse, whilst OD held its own.
For sure once they introduce fees to travellers and online bookings it is no longer fitting the title Owners Direct
Mousie
x
One martini, two martini, three martini floor!
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AngloDutch
- Posts: 727
- Joined: Fri Jul 11, 2014 10:25 pm
- Location: Netherlands
Mouse wrote:Anglo I have been wondering for a long time if the whole publicity thing was a way of killing off the OD name.
It is a problem for the group for sure and yet, had they decided to leave it alone and plod on, it could have been a winner...but obviously they want all OD'rs to switch. Yet I always got the impression from owners who used both that HA got worse, whilst OD held its own.
For sure once they introduce fees to travellers and online bookings it is no longer fitting the title Owners Direct
Mousie
x
Many of the listings on OD are of course duplicated onto HA uk either via separate subscription or via the bundles. Many owners have now dropped one or the other, due to one site working for them where the other is no longer bringing them the number of bookings to make it worthwhile. Many owners won't miss the current OD but the old OD has gone forever unfortunately.
When we first started over 11 years ago now on OD, it was so much simpler. You paid a set subscription fee and communicated directly with your guests. Scam emails were easily identifiiable and guests transferred payments or used PayPal. We were pretty much in control, cash flow was good (no waiting for payment until the guests had arrived or long departed).
Actually, we were the second property to ever appear on OD here in the Netherlands and, until a couple of years ago, we were one of less than 10 properties on the OD site. Now we are one of 65 (still a minute amount of properties when you compare to the number showing in the NL on HA or VR), but we no longer get the enquiries.
The analytics show that guests are no longer looking at our listing there, even though we have 15 x 5/4* reviews, online booking and OD payments enabled....
I see the changes have been published https://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/lp/build ... the-future
They are the same as VRBO etc. Service fees coming on 1st June. They haven't said that online booking is compulsory just that Best Match will ensure that no-one sees your listing..
They are the same as VRBO etc. Service fees coming on 1st June. They haven't said that online booking is compulsory just that Best Match will ensure that no-one sees your listing..
Thanks for that information, newtimber.newtimber wrote:I see the changes have been published https://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/lp/build ... the-future
They are the same as VRBO etc. Service fees coming on 1st June. They haven't said that online booking is compulsory just that Best Match will ensure that no-one sees your listing..
For those owners now deciding to leave OD behind, please check that auto-renew is switched off on the dashboard.