Is it Worth Paying for a Special Offer Listing with HA?

Up, down, could be better? How to get more bookings is our number one obsession. Talk shop here.
bluebell
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Is it Worth Paying for a Special Offer Listing with HA?

Post by bluebell »

Hello all

Firstly, a quick thank you for the wonderful advice i have been given about getting going again with renting my property. I am trying to make improvments to my listing as quickly as possible... still got to sort out better quality photos though.

Anyway, I still have about 3 weeks in High season available and would really like to get them booked if at all possible. What are your experiences with paying for the Special Offer listing on HA? I am not sure if it would be worthwhile.

Many thanks
Jenster
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Post by Jenster »

Hi Bluebell

I'm in my first year of letting and am with OD/HA. I panicked a bit at the beginning of the year and ended up spending a fortune - upgraded to gold membership and put a special offer on for Easter.

Well I did suddenly start getting lots of bookings but I think it was more to do with the 'featured listing' I got as a freebee from OD when I complained about the lack of enquiries, which put me right at the top of the search results. That and the fact that I managed to take a load of much better photos for the listing. I went from having no bookings at all at the beginning of March to being fully booked until September by the beginning of April :D

Based on my experience, personally I would probably go for a featured listing rather than a special offer, and check my prices to make sure they are ultra competitive. A special offer is no good if you are still 6 pages into the search results (depending which package you have), and people will be checking/comparing prices carefully anyway. You can always put a line in bold at the top of your description with details of a special offer/cheap rate if you want to.

HTH
Jenny
Essar
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Post by Essar »

Hello and welcome to the forum.

It is quite natural to panic a bit when things don't seem to be happening.
My experiences of HA Special Offers are not good - you will get one or two more enquiries but they tend not to work. Anyway, the peak season is the time to rake in the money; you only need to discount much nearer the time.
HA Featured Listing does get your impressions soaring and also the number of enquiries will rise considerably; however, these enquiries tend not to worthwhile as travellers click to add the properties to their overal enquiry selection, often just to see if anything pops up. If they had wanted your property they would have selected it anyway through the listing.
So, no they are not worth the money they are written on.
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kevsboredagain
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Post by kevsboredagain »

Worth keeping your nerve. You have to remember there's a huge market out there of people that don't or can't book their holidays until the last minute. By then the choice is becoming limited.
Jenster
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Post by Jenster »

wever, these enquiries tend not to worthwhile as travellers click to add the properties to their overal enquiry selection, often just to see if anything pops up. If they had wanted your property they would have selected it anyway through the listing.
But the featured listing does put you right at the top of the search results as well as in the 'featured' section, so will get it far more exposure than say a classic listing on page 7 that people may not even get to. Many of my enquiries were straight booking requests.

Having said that I am looking forward to seeing how I do without the featured listing now I have the new photos as this could have been the main factor. And I agree that you may well fill your gaps with late bookers nearer the time.
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Brockles
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Post by Brockles »

It seems that HA / OD have NOT been accepting 'Featured Listings' for several months now as part of their new changes. It worked quite well for me since I added it for 3 months in April. I called them today and they said it was no longer an option that could be renewed.

Something worked at last - then they stopped it! Typical...
Jenster
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Post by Jenster »

Yes, my thoughts exactly. I just thought I had this letting thing sussed and then they went and changed the rules :-(
tavi
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Post by tavi »

Hi Bluebell, two things I've just noticed from your listing, which can't be doing you any good at all.

1) Your last review was 2010. This in itself creates questions in a guest's mind...like what the heck's been going on for the last 6 years?

2) You say very prominently 40% discount on all NORMAL PRICES FOR 2016. I'm not actually sure what this means but I think it makes you sound desperate...might be better to say 40% on last remaining summer weeks...which sounds more like you have very limited availability....
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