Availability Calendars

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
User avatar
Giddy Goat
Posts: 9054
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:38 am
Location: UK
Contact:

Availability Calendars

Post by Giddy Goat »

I currently update regularly the availability calendar on both the rental sites that I use, but I notice that a lot of home-owners in my area prefer not to - I guess their reasoning is that if people contact them and the dates they want are not available, the owners have a better chance of selling an alternative date. However, they miss out when it comes to being moved towards the top of the listings in the search engines - and may have to field loads more inquiries that way than are strictly necessary.

What do you think?
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
User avatar
vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

I understand the desire to have anyone contact you whether you have their preferred week open or not.

However, as a vacationer I would appreciate knowing up front whether a property is available. And, as a rental owner, I appreciate not having my time wasted by multiple inquiries for the same booked week. So I think it's important to provide an availability calendar.

Having said that, I think it's actually more important to keep it up to date. If I'm not going to keep it updated, best for me not to make it available at all! :)
Brooke
User avatar
Giddy Goat
Posts: 9054
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:38 am
Location: UK
Contact:

Post by Giddy Goat »

Thanks Vrooje - I agree, and that it's important to update as soon as the booking is confirmed - though reading other people's comments about search engines, perhaps I should be doing it even more often, to stay towards the top in the listings! It seems to me, also, that if there are several attractive properties in the same region, the client is less likely to contact those without a calendar than those with.

I even wonder whether those who don't show availability are a little shy about their competitors knowing how well their bookings are going or not?

I'm at a loss to understand, and hope other contributors can shed more light on the subject.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
User avatar
Garri
Posts: 1689
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2005 7:26 pm

Post by Garri »

I think it's actually more important to keep it up to date.
Brooke, glad you stressed the importance of this but so few owners seem to keep them up to date and that's why, for me as a holiday maker, they are a waste of time. There's no consistency
and it can be frustrating.

That said, I can see why they're not kept up to date when you consider the myriad of listings sites that some owners are possibly using, each with the site's proprietary calendar.

It's a shame that this aspect of the listings are not open-source allowing owners to use their own calendars on the site.

Too much to ask, I know, and I've only seen 1 listing site so far who is using RSS feeds - so it's a long way to go before listings open their doors (or windows) as the case may be.
User avatar
paolo
Posts: 3885
Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:18 pm
Location: Provence, France
Contact:

Post by paolo »

Jane Bennett wrote:It seems to me, also, that if there are several attractive properties in the same region, the client is less likely to contact those without a calendar than those with.

I even wonder whether those who don't show availability are a little shy about their competitors knowing how well their bookings are going or not?
I think you are right - a site with an availability calendar is likelier to get an enquiry than one without. I think some people are put off by something like 'Enquire if your week is available'.

I'm not sure it is because people want to keep their booking levels private, I think it is a mixture of laziness and wanting to be able to 'convert' an enquiry for a booked week into one for an available week. Which you can't do with an up-to-date availability calendar.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
User avatar
Giddy Goat
Posts: 9054
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:38 am
Location: UK
Contact:

Availability Calendars

Post by Giddy Goat »

...yes, and those owners who don't use them may be fortunate and not need to let continuously perhaps.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be
Post Reply