Holiday Rental sites

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Manclass
Posts: 63
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 4:58 pm
Location: almunecar

Holiday Rental sites

Post by Manclass »

Hi..

I have been with Owners Direct for 10 years and Spain- Holiday for 3 years. I get most of my bookings through Owners Direct , my subscription is now due for renewal but I'm not at all happy with their money grabbing service charge to my clients . I am very happy with Spain- Holiday but need to find another holiday rental listing site to use instead of Owners Direct, has anybody got any recommendation's?
Thank you in advance.
Igor
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 4:27 pm

Post by Igor »

Here's a suggestion based on the assumption that Homeaway has a wider marketing reach than all of the good-guy listing sites put together and it will continue to be dominant for some time:

1. Switch to commission basis on OD.
2. Bump up the prices so that you include the commission plus more.
3. Write in your description that the prices quoted on this site will be incorrect... you must contact us for a quote.
4. Give your property a unique name
5. Make sure that a google search on your property name yields YOUR email address and phone number (i.e. have your own website)
6. Join StaySavr (it reaches few people at present but it's growing)

Now sit back and wait for the more intelligent guests to come direct to you so you can take YOUR bookings YOUR way. The less intelligent guests may still book on OD but you're not making a loss because you are charging for the commission. The intelligent guests will see that they are being quoted a much lower price than they would pay if they tried to book through OD.

At the same time, you'll have saved your annual subscription which you can spread out among some good-guy listing sites and still have change for a pint. You'll be active on Facebook too though that's a whole new topic and time-consuming.

Enjoy the challenge of slipping hints to google for your own website into your communications with the less bright travellers, all without using words like "google", "search", "website" etc.
Igor lives in Fort StaySavr, a secret location high in the mountains
Manclass
Posts: 63
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 4:58 pm
Location: almunecar

Post by Manclass »

Igor..
Anymore news about https://staysavr.com/ and how things are progressing with it ?
Igor
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 4:27 pm

Post by Igor »

Why thank you, Manclass - yes there is quite a lot to say!

I really don't know where to begin.

Organic growth of StaySavr is painfully slow. However, we have had several opportunities to reach groups of owners, giving boosts to the membership numbers. And those opportunities continue to arise. We do have quite a lot of members now. I don't give numbers but it is many hundreds.

As you probably know, Expedia's share price took a hit (down from 150 to below 120) a couple of weeks ago when they released their quarterly figures. I can't claim total responsibility for that but poorer than expected growth from Homeaway was one of their excuses. I do think that the various efforts to circumvent their charges by StaySavr users but mostly by folks who have never even heard of StaySavr and have found their own ways to get direct contact are hitting Homeaway much harder than they expected. The leakage is high and the bookings are low.

Most owners are reporting a serious slump in bookings via HA over the last 2 years and I don't think that Expedia had allowed for that in their valuation of Homeaway. So, I think that we can expect further troubles for Expedia's value. That slump in bookings is probably largely due to AirBnB which seems to be getting everything right and continues to boom.

For most of us, owners of precious properties, ABB isn't really the answer though as we value the building of trust that occurs through direct communication before a booking.

The next thing is Google's involvement in the marketplace. Their initial effort is a bit clunky, but they say it's experimental. It serves to demonstrate their intention. It could go either of two ways:
1. They use the OTAs as their data providers and thus the marketplace is swung in the OTAs' favour.
2. They offer an API or data feed which allows individual owners to sign up as data providers, thus swinging in favour of the owners and not the OTAs.
Who knows. It's a biggy though.
I'm trying to get more information on this.

Overall, we continue to be a thorn in the side of Homeaway while growing and looking for that breakthrough that will make StaySavr irrelevant and no longer needed.
Igor lives in Fort StaySavr, a secret location high in the mountains
sazzleevans
Posts: 290
Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2005 10:48 am
Location: costa de la luz
Contact:

Post by sazzleevans »

That's great just seen your website. What's the key to finding the information? Some show and some don't. Does it depend on when they joined etc?
Igor
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 4:27 pm

Post by Igor »

It is rather pot-luck, though it is largely dependent on when the property was first listed on homeaway. We have secondary methods of finding owner information and there is an ongoing effort to add data.

It would be easier if all owners had their own websites!
Igor lives in Fort StaySavr, a secret location high in the mountains
Littlegem
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 6:54 am
Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex
Contact:

Post by Littlegem »

Igor, im fairly new at all this and also a complete techno-phobe, this is the first I’ve heard of Staysvr, have you posted about it in any of the groups on Facebook, some of those have huge numbers of members, maybe if everyone on here has/does sign up, all those that are also on the Facebook groups could add a link or a mention about the staysvr website on their posts in the group, is that possible or a breach of some rule or another?
Also does the staysvr thing just work with HomeAway or does it work with the TripAdvisor group and other big sites too? Don’t know if thats a silly question.

Anyway tell us (in simple terms) what we can do to help as I’m sure most members would be keen to help out as it is mutually beneficial to most.

Same goes to Russellt with his fab holidayviewsdirect site, if any help is required, throw it out there and I’m sure most members would help where they can
I used to be decisive but now I'm not so sure.
Igor
Posts: 61
Joined: Sat Jun 10, 2017 4:27 pm

Post by Igor »

Yes, Staysavr is quite regularly mentioned in some big facebook groups. Quite a lot of our members found us that way.

It's not a silly question to ask about TripAdvisor- that's the most frequent question we get. The answer is:

We don't want to do anything unethical. AirBnB, in particular, has grown its own business on its own terms and has not bought up and changed any existing business. We therefore have absolutely no problem with AirBnB. They do exactly what they set out to do. So, we will not interfere with their pages.

TripAdivisor is a bit different. It has bought up good listing sites. However, it is still allowing owners to advertise on a subscription basis and to get access to enquirer contact details. This is the crucial thing. They are hinting that they may change this within the next two years. If they do, then we will start enhancing their pages too.

And, to help the cause, just join at staysavr.com if you haven't already done so. It's all free.
Igor lives in Fort StaySavr, a secret location high in the mountains
russellt
Posts: 353
Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 8:03 am
Location: Ivybridge, Devon, UK
Contact:

Post by russellt »

Littlegem wrote: Same goes to Russellt with his fab holidayviewsdirect site,
Kind words, greatly appreciated.

Among the HVD subscriber base, I have a hard core of subscribers who go out of their way to help 'final, pre-live' testing of features, suggest new features and offer honest opinions. It is a great support resource for this fledgling, and I'm guessing many come from LayMyHat connections. You are all welcome.

Littlegem, I'll make sure you're kept in the loop.
Web: https://yofftoo.com/property/esmes-cottage
Twitter/Facebook/Instagram: @esmescottage
Manclass
Posts: 63
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 4:58 pm
Location: almunecar

Post by Manclass »

I have just received an enquiry from Owners direct, it has the enquirers email on the top, I've contacted them by just using the email address and it isn't showing up on the OD website, is there any reason why I cant do this as it seems to cut OD out altogether so I can do away with the service fee?
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