A bit sparse in here......!!

For topics that are specific to Greece, please go here.
User avatar
lehcar
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2005 6:52 pm
Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Contact:

A bit sparse in here......!!

Post by lehcar »

.....very few postings for Greece....I am suprised!

Hi, Greek owners, anyone else out there?!! :?


Well, we have a wonderful newly built villa on the Ionian Island of Kefalonia and I couldn't praise the island more........lush green, mountainous, beautiful beaches and fantastic scenery.

It is still pretty much unspoilt by tourism although it has got a couple of major towns with plenty going on but without the lager louts! Not being a party pooper or anything, I am very partial to a bottle or 2 of red wine! but it's great to be somewhere where you feel safe, especially when you have a couple of kids in tow!

Anyone else out there been to Kefalonia? What did you think?

Rachel

:D
Sara
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:53 pm
Location: Assini/Nafplion, Greece
Contact:

I'm here too

Post by Sara »

Hi Rachel

I have been lurking around for about five months as I'm in the set up stage. We have bought a villa near to Nafplio in the Peloponnese. We expected it to be finished at the end of September but here we are in November and it is still in a complete mess. I'm betting really concerned that we won't be able to get photos done in time for the booking rush after Christmas.

We live in Athens and have always loved the Nafplio area. I've not managed to get to Kefalonia yet but have it on my "must go to" list. Corfu is still my favourite island - I love it.

What is your villa like and have you been renting it for long? I still can't decide on pricing for ours.

Hope to hear from you and other Greek owners soon.

Sara
User avatar
lehcar
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2005 6:52 pm
Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Contact:

Post by lehcar »

:D Hi Sara

This will be our first season, as from June 2006. So we're very new to things! Although I have had some experience with marketing other properties as I recently designed websites for other owners, starting with a family member who owns a large property in Kefalonia, Villa Loukia. They recommended me and so have now done websites for other villas in Kefalonia plus Spain and Italy also!
By doing this I have learnt an awful lot so will hopefully get things right! The 'Lay my hat' website is also brilliant for information and opinions.

Our villa is taking longer to complete also, we still have not got any interior photos, but still seem to be getting bookings.
The photo of the outside was taken in August, no grass or patio, plants or railings - I had to re-create these using Photoshop! and rely on photos of the island to entice people.

Image

We're off out there for xmas so hope to dress a few rooms and get some more pictures.

Hope you get sorted soon Sara.

Rachel :D
Sara
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:53 pm
Location: Assini/Nafplion, Greece
Contact:

Post by Sara »

Rachel, I had a sneaky look at your website and it's gorgeous - the villa as well. Did your pool have water in when you took the shot?

I saw that you have bookings already for next Summer. Are these bookings all from your website or are you advertising somewhere else as well. We haven't thought about our own site yet and I will start with Holiday Rentals for advertising. What is a really rough guide for the cost of setting up a website?

Sara
User avatar
lehcar
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2005 6:52 pm
Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Contact:

Post by lehcar »

Sara wrote: What is a really rough guide for the cost of setting up a website?
That's a tough question, as would need to know a lot more about what is required, but very roughly speaking I have created a site for a client for £250 (plus the cost of domain name and webspace) Little Buckland villa, Kefalonia (Originally 3 pages but has decided to add another since.)
.......and also this site Villa Loukia, Kefalonia but this one cost in excess of £2000, plus they pay me monthly for the updating and promotion! All their bookings are through the website which is found mostly via google search.


All my bookings have come through our website.
I am advertised elsewhere on the net but they are all on free trials, I did get one booking where they telephoned me, had seen the website but I think initially found me through Homelidays.com, I have since signed up with them but only for a few months until my own website really gets going.


I have thought about 'Holiday Rentals' although feel they are rather expensive and up to now we seem to be getting plenty of interest without.

Listed below are some advertisers that, between us and villa Loukia, we seem to get the most enquiries from, although, as I said, the most bookings come from website alone.
All the below do free trials which is always worth a go to sort out which might be worth continuing with.

holidaylets.net
perfectplaces.com
holidayhavens.co.uk
click4holidayhomes.com
holiday-villa-in.co.uk
........and more......if you want anymore give me a shout and I'll post all that I use.

My pool did have water in it, although I have done an artist impression for Villa Loukia and put the water in the pool!! So, can be done.
Image


Thanks for your nice comments.

Anything else you want to know, just ask.
Nice to speak to a fellow Greek property owner, didn't realise there was so few of us on here.......anyone else out there?

Good luck Sara :D

Rachel
Last edited by lehcar on Sun Nov 20, 2005 8:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
cromercrabholiday
Posts: 797
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 10:24 am
Location: North Norfolk
Contact:

Post by cromercrabholiday »

Sara wrote:What is a really rough guide for the cost of setting up a website?

Sara
I did it all myself with the help of Websites for Dummies and a lot of struggle. It's all a bit amateur, but as a one cottage enterprise, I felt that was in keeping and emphasised the personal service that you get. Surprisingly, we get regular compliments on the site, so it seems to have worked.

The cost, therefore, was about £10 for the book, some ridiculous sum for the website name, webhosting and e-mail forwarding (I think about £30 for two years) and a few grey hairs.

John
www.harbordholidays.co.uk
User avatar
paolo
Posts: 3885
Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:18 pm
Location: Provence, France
Contact:

Post by paolo »

Hi Rachel,

Would you mind awfully reducing the width of your banner, because it is making the page too wide and means you have to scroll sideways to read the posts.

Cheers!
Paolo
Lay My Hat
User avatar
lehcar
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2005 6:52 pm
Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Contact:

Post by lehcar »

paolo wrote:Hi Rachel,

Would you mind awfully reducing the width of your banner, because it is making the page too wide and means you have to scroll sideways to read the posts.

Cheers!
Sorry Paolo, have now managed to find a smaller image.
:)
Sara
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:53 pm
Location: Assini/Nafplion, Greece
Contact:

Post by Sara »

Many thanks Rachel and John for your information. Really useful. I would love to think that I could build the website myself but I have enough on my plate with trying to get the house finished and furnished!! We shall see how I feel in one month once we are SUPPOSED to have full access to the property - but hey, this is Greece!!

Sara
Fraise
Posts: 2079
Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 8:25 am
Location: Charente Maritime and Middle England

Post by Fraise »

Hi.I've never visited this "Greece" space before :oops: Don't really know why !! It's great to read what people with property in different regions are going through and so much applies universally anyway.Good luck to you both,and everyone else :wink: :wink:

www.thepetitmanoir.com
petehols
Posts: 43
Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2005 12:08 pm
Location: Bulgaria
Contact:

Post by petehols »

Hi Sara

It all really depends on what sort of website you are looking for to what price you would pay. There is thousands of people and companies out there that can build, design and promote a site for you and they all have varying prices on what they would charge. The best thing to do is if you don't have the time to design the site yourself do your research and make sure you are happy with the company that you decide on to build your website.

Good luck with your hunt

Pete
for worldwide holidays try www.lastminutevillaholiday.co.uk
User avatar
lehcar
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2005 6:52 pm
Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Contact:

Post by lehcar »

Sara wrote:We shall see how I feel in one month once we are SUPPOSED to have full access to the property - but hey, this is Greece!!

Sara
How's it going?
Have you got access to your property yet?
It must be a nightmare!

Luckily we have my Mum and her partner project managing our build so they tend to put rockets up their ****** so our project is going pretty well.
We were able to go out at christmas to do some work ourselves, hubby put the kitchen and wardobes in, so all major work now done.
I managed to get on and do the photos.....had to dress each room individually for the shots on one of the only sunny days we had and then pack it all away again so that the messy jobs can be completed.............dust, dust and more dust!

We're back out again in May to do the final titivating the first week and then we might actually have a holiday the second week!

Let me know how you're getting on, any piccies yet?

Rachel
:)
Sara
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:53 pm
Location: Assini/Nafplion, Greece
Contact:

Post by Sara »

Hi Rachel

Good to hear from you. I see that you are fully booked for July - congratulations!!!

We continue to struggle with finishing the property, getting good photos and getting bookings!!

It is really difficult to take a photo of the villa without showing a half built villa behind us ( sure to put people off). Secondly the pool is still cement and the garden is still mud. Have a look at perfectplaces.com/9405 and see what we have done. My hubby has HEAVILY doctored tsome of the photos and I'm not sure that they are convincing.

Only one booking so far and as it is for English Easter I'll now have to buy a load of duvets, etc - more money. I will feel calmer if we can get a couple of weeks booked for high season. One problem is that the Peloponese is not a well known spot for tourists so we don't get so many hits on the various websites. We have paid for holiday-rentals and have got trials running on perfectplaces, click4holidayhomes, privatevilla.co.uk, holida-villa-in.

My hubby and I are now arguing about what stone to lay in the courtyard. Can't believe what problems that can cause!!

Sara
User avatar
lehcar
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2005 6:52 pm
Location: Kefalonia, Greece
Contact:

Post by lehcar »

HI Sara,

Noticed you have lots of bookings now, well done, you must be really please! :D

Did you come to a decision with the stone? :?

Our patio is finally going to be laid tomorrow, well, started anyway! (yes we have HEAVILY doctored photos too!)

Which of the adverts would you say has brought in the best bookings for you? Our own website has been the best for us followed by Perfect places, how about you?

Good luck with your first guests.

Rachel :D
Sara
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 4:53 pm
Location: Assini/Nafplion, Greece
Contact:

Post by Sara »

Hi Rachel. I wondered where you were! You have done so well with your bookings.

We have got the best results from Holiday Rentals followed by Perfect Places. I haven't done my own website as we are thinking of selling the villa!! With the work we have done there it has gone up in value by 60% and we have now seen a similar property that we could do the same to. Not sure if it will work out but we've been bitten by the development bug. It doesn't work in quite the same way in Greece as the UK but if you get the right property it can be very lucrative.

Oh yes, my husband got his way on the courtyard and he was right - it looks great. We have people arriving in two weeks and we still have no pool, no curtains, stuff missing from the kitchen and the list goes on.....no pressure at all!!!

Sara
Post Reply