SimplyOwners.Net a new rental listing site?

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
Jenster
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Post by Jenster »

Hi Stuart

Thanks for the input. Your place looks lovely - I love Ashburton, having lived there for a year in my student days.

I have just had another look at the SO website...it looks nice and if they come up on page one on a search for Owners Direct that is impressive. However, if people are gradually put off Owners Direct by the service fee etc this may not be enough long term.

Also, I cannot see anywhere to enter a new property online. I feel the need to phone them to add a new property will put many off and will limit their ability to add new inventory.

I will be keeping an eye on SO but have had more success than I could have hoped with direct bookings for 2017 with only a few summer weeks being sold through OD. A couple booked direct after inquiring through Airbnb and the rest so far came through my website. This gives me hope that I may eventually be able to drop the big sites altogether and rely instead on my website and a couple of lower cost niche sites to get enough bookings.
Jenster
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Post by Jenster »

Another slight irritation with SO is the photos. For the couple of properties I have looked at, some of the photos seem to be different sizes so the arrow to scroll through them keeps changing position, meaning you can't just click through quickly without adjusting the mouse position and sometimes having to scroll up or down to see the whole picture.
COYS
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Post by COYS »

Jenster wrote: Also, I cannot see anywhere to enter a new property online. I feel the need to phone them to add a new property will put many off and will limit their ability to add new inventory.
Maybe that's a vetting procedure to prevent agencies flooding the promo listings?
This time next year Rodney, we'll be millionaires.
russellt
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Post by russellt »

Jenster wrote:some of the photos seem to be different sizes
Just some background, because so many emerging websites have a problem with images.

Image management is still one of the big challenges for responsive websites. Automating the re-sizing of images for different screen sizes is fraught with complexity, and doing so on a shoestring budget makes it even more difficult.

Portrait images bring another layer of complexity. It's all to do with whether the original image contains EXIF data, particularly the orientation metadata (or even whether the camera actually records it). Some applications then strip out exif by default, meaning that the uploaded image has no orientation metadata, so the browser/application doesn't know how to handle the display of the image.
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Nigel Goodwin
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Post by Nigel Goodwin »

russellt wrote:
Jenster wrote:some of the photos seem to be different sizes
... so many emerging websites have a problem with images.
Indeed. This is why you need decades of software experience. Anybody who thinks they can develop a new website without sitting on the shoulders of predecessors and using lots of established (free and paid) third party tools is stark raving mad.

I have spent the last few weeks dealing with images and caching. It is hugely complex, but vital as the number of properties listed rises, and vital to get search engines (and guests) to look favourably.

'responsive' means it looks good on desktops and mobile devices, and will 'respond' to changes in window sizes.

Take a look at ownerholidays on a desktop, and see what happens as you reduce the window width.

Do the same with Homeaway, it doesn't seem to be so responsive.

TripAdvisor? OMG, it isn't responsive at all! Just did a search for Newquay, Cornwall, and the list of properties and the size of images doesn't respond at all as I reduce window width.
nealh
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Post by nealh »

Just been on our and a few others OD pages and I see what you mean Nigel! Not very impressive considering the amount of money/expertise they must have at their disposal.

I have posted about ownerholidays on some of the FB pages as I am hopeful that you will be able to crack the nut(s) of HA et al. I don't know you, but I feel that you are going about things in the right, dare I say it, ethical, way. The most common response has been "there are only X listings in my area" but hopefully your drive to increase listings will help.

Still surprises me that members of LMH have not supported you more but perhaps they have their reasons...
COYS
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Post by COYS »

nealh wrote: Still surprises me that members of LMH have not supported you more but perhaps they have their reasons...
+1
At the moment this support actually costs you nothing, hence nothing to lose, so the least we can do is spread the word surely?
This time next year Rodney, we'll be millionaires.
AlisonG
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Post by AlisonG »

I have signed up to Ownerholidays and SimplyOwners and wish them every success in their efforts to replace the previously successful model that Owners Direct had before all the disastrous changes made when it was taken over.

Ownerholidays site seems to be well thought out whereas SimplyOwners seems to have rushed into things a bit too quickly - still no easy way to indicate prices, for example. Both seem to be getting lots of new listings from unhappy OD owners.

The issue is going to be how long it takes for rental guests to suss the alternatives to OD. So everyone needs to spread the word a)about the way OD has changed to the detriment of both owners and rental guests and b) the alternatives that are springing up to replace OD.
leon
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Owner Holidays - not really

Post by leon »

I had hoped to find accommodation in Paris with Owner Holidays. There are two properties (only) advertised at 7pm tonight, both are from an agency (Agency Jose Arturo Ibarra).
Disappointed.
Nigel Goodwin
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Re: Owner Holidays - not really

Post by Nigel Goodwin »

leon wrote:I had hoped to find accommodation in Paris with Owner Holidays. There are two properties (only) advertised at 7pm tonight, both are from an agency (Agency Jose Arturo Ibarra).
Disappointed.
Thanks for trying. we have only been going a few months, so the worldwide coverage is a bit patchy! We expect to get up to about 10,000 properties by end Q1 2017, mainly through working with specialist agencies. It may be years, if ever, before we can catch up with the big boys on major city centre apartments.
leon
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Post by leon »

Oh, I thought that "owner holidays" meant holidays booked directly with the owners - sorry! I misunderstood.
Nigel Goodwin
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Post by Nigel Goodwin »

leon wrote:Oh, I thought that "owner holidays" meant holidays booked directly with the owners - sorry! I misunderstood.
It is both, booked directly with owners, or booked via small and medium sized specialist agencies. It would simply be unviable for a new business to rely purely on owner listings, it would take too long to get a reasonable portfolio. The agencies themselves, of course, also work with individual owners. The agencies would not get large discounts, so the playing field is level. We do not want the portfolio to be flooded by one or two big agencies. We are currently working with about 5 small agencies, developing integrations.
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

My details have been on Simplyowners now since just before xmas. I got a call first and then my details were taken, from OD I assume, and the property went live.
I'd forgotten all about it until I got a notification to say that someone had requested my contact details and website....so I nipped in to the site to check my listing. There were a few things wrong including the location which was generalised as Illes Baleares, not Ibiza but I've had a conversation with them about that and their location/search facility.
I've found their customer service to be excellent. Any issues were promptly dealt with and even some anticipated. So a tick from me.

The system is a bit strange in so much that you get a notification that someone has requested your details rather than an enquiry. So far I've had 4 of these. One became an enquiry email which were for dates unavailable, one became an enquiry phone call (which sounded promising) and 2 so far haven't materialised.
I have to say I'm impressed. My 'views' for January at OD have dropped off a cliff. In the good old days I would have 400+, last year it was 200+, this year 91!!

Yes it is a new site and things are not totally right yet.....the enquiry system seems clunky but the staff are very willing to chat about these things and the ongoing developments.
You also have to put pricing in to your description and so far thre isn't an availability calendar.

SO doesn't come up anywhere on search engines for Ibiza so I don't know how these people are finding me. But then again, neither does the Owners Direct website which seems to have been wiped off the face of the earth....only HA comes up.

I wish them the best of luck, as I do Nigel (who I've also listed with). It's a pity there was only OD that ever worked for me (HA was useless) so I am now spreading myself around on agent sites, other Spain sites and with local agents along with my own marketing of our site.

Mousie
x
Nigel Goodwin
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Post by Nigel Goodwin »

Mouse wrote: my details were taken, from OD I assume
Is everybody comfortable with that? Is HA comfortable with that?
Even if you gave permission?

Serious question.
COYS
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Post by COYS »

Nigel Goodwin wrote:
Mouse wrote: my details were taken, from OD I assume
Is everybody comfortable with that? Is HA comfortable with that?
Even if you gave permission?

Serious question.
Can't see why not (for me, that is) Nigel. After all, the wording & pics etc belong to/are uploaded by the owner so if they decide to put an ad elsewhere 'lifting' the already published detail is a quick & simple way of doing it.
And if it pi**es off the heavy mob I'd say it's a win, win!
This time next year Rodney, we'll be millionaires.
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