Holiday-Rentals.com vs VacationVillas.net

Everything to do with using your own website to advertise your rental property. Design, usability, hosting, getting listed on the search engines, optimising your site, pay-per-click, etc, etc.
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debk
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Holiday-Rentals.com vs VacationVillas.net

Post by debk »

These sites seem to be identical from an advertiser point of view. Same information requested, same layout of description pages... right down to the SMS inquiry alert. Which I love.

Holiday-Rentals is €233 for standard page with 4 fotos; VacationVillas is €194 for standard page with 2 fotos (and 4 fotos takes you to, surprise, €234).

From reading their FAQs, Holiday-Rentals seems to aim for UK and other English speakers. VacationVillas has an auto link (and translation of your listing) to a German language site, which would seem to target English and German speakers.

Does anyone use both of these sites? If so, why?

I assume that would be to capture UKers with the former and German guests, along with some English-speakers who don't use Holiday-Rentals, with the latter. Or is there just too much overlap to bother?

Opinions welcome!

(With the crashing dollar, I'm hoping to attract well-heeled Europeans to my Lisbon rental home. Along with renewing the USA sites, I've already signed up with Holiday-Rentals. And, thanks to a Laymyhat suggestion, now I see VacationVillas...)
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Hi Deb,
Does anyone use both of these sites? If so, why?
These sites look so similar you would think they must be linked in some way. Perhaps vacationvillas licenses the technology from holiday-rentals?

In answer to your question, the similarity between the sites simply isn't a factor in deciding where to advertise.

Sites that look exactly the same are not the same. Search engines don't index how a site looks. Do some searches for a property like yours and see the results - these two will not come up next to each other in searches.

In addition, vacationvillas.net is the English arm of fewo-direkt, and this is a German company so one should assume that their results for German-language searches are going to be better than in English (less competition in German). The only German-speakers that holiday-rentals will net you are those that search in English.

So don't worry about overlap between the sites, there won't be any for people who come to them via search engines, even if they run the same ads (which I think is not the case).

But if you want to find the best site purely for the German market, you'll need to do some searches in German...
Last edited by paolo on Sun Nov 28, 2004 10:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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John Borg
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Post by John Borg »

I use both sites - why you ask? Well Paolo just about said it all, but in a nutshell, vacationvillas is a site that generates enquieries/bookings from the German speaking market, wheras holiday-rentals is more an English orientated site.
No more no less. Both sites are very good, not cheap, but very cost effective because they bring results!
Malta – always in the sunshine!
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debk
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Thanks, John. That's exactly what I was hoping to hear.

Post by debk »

Just wanted some confirmation from a user of both, which you have supplied. Thanks again!
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Post by janskov »

John Borg wrote:I use both sites - ...
My experience is different. I have used both sites and after 6 month, 6 inquiries and no bookings I have dropped Villarenters.
Holiday-rentals is very god and worth their money - even if they are the most expensive site I use.
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Hi Jan,

Did you mean villarenters or vacationvillas.net?
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ross
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Post by ross »

Paulo,

You hit the nail on the head! vacationvillas.net (fewo-direkt) has been running out of our systems since august 2002!!
Ross McGowan

www.Holiday-Rentals.co.uk
ross@holiday-rentals.com
Tel +44 (0)20 8743 5577
Fax +44 (0)20 8740 3863
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tansy
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Post by tansy »

what does that mean Ross - are you linked up with them then - so you are now hitting the German market...or I am missing something? :lol:
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John Borg
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Post by John Borg »

Ross,
you've lost me now! Do you mean to say that fewo-direkt use the exact same interface? They are identical I know, and there a couple more I have come across.
Whatever, I still get very good response/bookings from both, so well done whatever the situation is - like I have always stressed - I don't really understand the techie jargon, it's the end result that I understand!
Malta – always in the sunshine!
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Post by janskov »

paolo wrote:Hi Jan,

Did you mean villarenters or vacationvillas.net?
Sorry.... I really did mean vacationvillas (fewo-direct).
It was a wast of money for me - and it may be specific to Croatia since others have good experience with them.
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