Travel Library enquiries

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paul smith
Posts: 62
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2005 6:15 pm
Location: Turkey / UK
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Travel Library enquiries

Post by paul smith »

Hi all,

First season this year and no bookings yet. Just maybe's from familiy and freinds at the moment. I suppose it takes time to build it up. Website up and running and a listing with 'Travel Library' which I have had 4 enquiries in last 2 weeks. Nothing developed with these enquires yet but want to know if others have had a good response from this FREE listing site in the past espeically Turkey owners who advertise on there for FREE. The only thing with this site is no weblink :( Still I am pleased to have enquiries. :D don't know if they are spoof enquiries or not. You read alot about it on here. How do you tell???

Paul
paul smith
Posts: 62
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2005 6:15 pm
Location: Turkey / UK
Contact:

Post by paul smith »

?????? :D
holidaylover
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2006 7:46 pm
Location: Tenerife
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Post by holidaylover »

Yes we have had sucess with this site. Since registering with them and then completely forgetting about the site we've had 2 enquiries, one of which resulted in a 2 week let.

Not bad for free!
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ck
Posts: 21
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2006 1:54 pm
Location: Bodrum, Turkey
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Post by ck »

Hi Paul,
Best of luck with the bookings although I have learnt to have a slightly cynical view when it comes to actually getting bookings for apartment rental in Turkey. We bought our apartment last October and had great visions of being able to rent it easily due to its location etc. Once the website was up and running I spent hours manually submitting the site to as many search engines as possible and trying to push the exposure as far as I could. Visits to the site have gradually increased and we are experiencing between 10 to 50 visitors a day very few of which have translated into enquiries let alone bookings! The estate agents in Turkey (and the rest of the world no doubt!) fill your head with indications of ease of renting, the truth is somewhat less than promised. As I see it, with regard to apartment rental, we are battling with the package holiday companies who can offer a holiday package including accomodation for little more than the price of the flight and until the budget air-lines come on line to Turkey I can't see it changing! Villa rental may well be a different story as you are dealing with a different holiday beast there. We have become so disillusioned with the situation we have deciding against renting the apartment out now, I just don't need the pressure and disappointment!!! I hope I have'nt put a damper on your view of the situation and I must stress these are only my opinions and I dare say will differ from many others opinions.
Best of Luck for the future,
ck
paulnet
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2005 3:07 pm
Location: Kalkan . Turkey
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Post by paulnet »

Hi CK,
Sorry to hear your bookings have been dissapointing.Its been a difficult year for Turkey (bird flu etc).The price of flights has also got a lot to answer for ,the package holiday companys also control the flights so they wont do any favours to people wanting flight only,hence we have paid £330 each for flights in August - more than a £100 more than last year!!
Your right roll on easy jet and ryan air.
Regards
Paulnet
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Hanorah
Posts: 322
Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2004 2:50 pm
Location: Turkey

Post by Hanorah »

Turkey is a tough market and we had a rough start due to the bird flu this year. However things are now picking up and in my experience its the time you put into marketing that makes the difference. We are now attracting clients world wide from our own website mostly I am not on any paid listing sites anymore just comission ones Villa renters (not great this year) and responsible travel (good). I would say don't give up try some google ad click campaigns, ads in local newspapers, poster in the post office, note in tescos etc etc. You should also try some free trial periods with the big listing sites to maximise booking potential.
Always Learning
rachel
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:04 pm
Location: Kalkan, Turkey
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Post by rachel »

Hi Hanorah

Agreed - we were slow this year but now have only 2 weeks left - and only 3 weeks were F&F! Hope things are good with you.

We've never paid for any advertising, other than Google and in an emergency ebay. The free listing sites do drop the odd enquiry through - but it's difficult to know if they've clicked through to our web site & then contacted us from there.

Paul I would suggest playing with google a bit more & using as many free sites as possible.

Check out competitors in your area - and make sure you're rentals are competitive - think about your market & target your text at them - couples, families, older people...
Rachel

www.villajamera.co.uk
...Relax in Luxury...
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