Anyone using Travelnest?

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
MrsMargate
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Anyone using Travelnest?

Post by MrsMargate »

Hi just wondering if anyone has had experience of Travelnest and whether you have seen an increase in bookings.

We own an 8 bedroom sleeps 16 in Margate. We don't see last minute bookings as large groups plan in advance, of course, and we are not a cheap quick break for 2 or 4, even at reduced rates, like perhaps a sleeps 6 or 8 might be to pick up last minute bookings. We also only let the whole house or not at all. No "just 2 rooms" (which we keep being asked via the bloody local tourist information office, who are proving to produce more work and no bookings.

Forgive me if this is grandma sucking eggs stuff, but when talking to other local people in the same business they never seem to grasp that we aren't in the same exact market - so thought I would save time by clarifying.

We started out in May of this year with an awful cottages.com experience, which meant we missed any real exposure for the first 2 months being live, and once we had managed to sever our ties we have been limping along on airbnb and tripadvisor.

We need to increase bookings. Would Travelnest be a good way to do this? If not, what platforms do other people use that are a kind of catch all max exposure type thing?

I am finding airbnb a little less than ideal as we seem to be getting all sorts of enquiries from unsuitable groups (way too big, or party groups, that we don't accept) although there have been some bookings, and I know it's early days, and we need to build some reviews.

Not keen on going back to one of the big players - we have learnt the hard way that they don't care about the owners or making any kind of profit as long as they get their cut! I like being hands on with guests too from the start of the process.

Thanks in advance fellow Laymyhatters!
This all seemed like a doddle before I started.
ianh100
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Post by ianh100 »

I can see that running such a large property is going to be quite different to our 2 and 3 bed. We get quite a lot via Facebook these days, its hard work and can waste a lot of time but I think it saved us this year. There may even be some groups specific to large accommodation, worth investigating.

Do you have local attractions or wedding venues that don't offer accommodation? We get free listings with a few venues like that, they are usually 2 night bookings but we offer a leave late as you like on Sunday offer (3 night price).

We also get quite a bit of business via booking.com. It is a pain keeping all of these sites up to date so I can see the attraction of travelnest, I think they insist you stop any listings of your own on the sites they promote to but other than that there is little risk apart from the higher commission costs.
MrsMargate
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Post by MrsMargate »

Thanks for the reply. Have tried to get onto sleeps12.com but they rejected us. We don't have the level of facilities they are looking for. Yes you are right we should look at other group accommodation sites. Just a bit wary as we are not trying to attract stags and hens, more the family and other groups of activity seekers (walkers, cyclists, golfers, and in summer watersports enthusiasts, which we are set up for). I think by virtue of the fact that only one person has replied to my post I can see that this is clearly not a tried and tested mainstream channel to use to find our audience. I suspected that they may take oodles of money and do what we can do ourselves.

As for local attractions, despite there being a shortage of decent accommodation in Margate my approaches have met with no success at all. I think I may have to seek a bit of help from the local tourist office to break through to them. Everyone who sees the house is super impressed and after an invite or two we have had a few interested local businesses wanting to use us for residential workshops and courses, but we should be on the list of some of these people, like you say! I am beginning to wonder if it's my approach, although, as I say, it's been successful in some areas, just not with any of the big hitters that we need to engage with.

As for weddings, we would love to get involved in this market but the local, and very large, wedding venue, refuses to recommend any accommodation providers at all resulting in most of their guests using the Travelodge and Comfort Inn! Such a pity. We would need to take out a stall at one of their wedding fayres to drum up business, and we don't have the time or budget to create the kind of marketing material specific to weddings that we would need at this stage! It all seems like a bit of an uphill struggle at present. I am sure we will make a few breakthroughs soon though.
This all seemed like a doddle before I started.
zebedee
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Post by zebedee »

I don’t know why you didn’t get more replies, but there are other agents who deal with large accommodation eg Oliver’s and Mulberry’s if you just do a google search. I know there have been discussions on the forum but not for a long time.

Do give Independent Cottages a good look at as well. I was hesitant to pay their fee but would not leave them now.
MrsMargate
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Post by MrsMargate »

Thanks - I shall have a look at independent cottages and Oliver's.

We had a NIGHTMARE experience with cottages.com so reluctant to go to Mulberry as they are now part of the same group and I hear that their service levels are slipping...
This all seemed like a doddle before I started.
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

I'm not at all in your market as I have small properties but a few general tips. Large properties will be in demand in many places if they are of good quality, so often people will book because of the house rather than the location. That therefore leaves all options open so to speak.

There's no question that social media pulls in bookings. Many have great success with instagram and facebook. Seek out the relevant groups on facebook and market relentlessly.

There's hen parties and hen parties! Lots of brides are much older nowadays, so with a hefty security deposit and rules to ensure all goes smoothly, I'm sure it's a big market and shouldn't be ignored. Offering activities to draw people in will help enormously. Drinks tasting, beauty treatments, chefs cooking a meal are just a few options that could take place at the house.

Also seek out the specialist large accommodation sites which are simply listing sites and also get yourself on all the big listing sites like Airbnb, Homeaway and Trip Advisor. Don't take instant bookings and chat with people before accepting any bookings. There are a huge number of outlets for you, it's just time and research. Good luck
MrsMargate
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Post by MrsMargate »

Thank you Nemo

Good advice, some of which we are following already, some not!

I think coming to this with no sales or marketing experience, or any inclination in that direction means that this is the hardest bit of the business for me!

We do offer things like local chefs, hot tub hire, delivered baked goods from a local bakery, and are developing links with other service providers, but we are a bit crap and putting the information out - quite hard on airbnb for a start.

We have tried to make the quality of the offering high so that people feel like they are having a treat coming to us, rather than a clean and cosy bolt hole, which is what my family generally wants when the 3 of us go away. And those bookings we have had they have fed back that they were looking for something a little special, and we didn't disappoint, so I think we are heading in the right direction.

I do think the bed setup is a bit tricky on these sites as they are zip link and we had to plump for a single way to advertise the space and hope people read the text to see they can be arranged flexibly. A better listing would be of great help.

I am beginning to think that we are a bit of a square peg and I just need to do a bit of homework to find a square hole or 3 to advertise on!

I am finding that airbnb is a rather painful experience as 80% of the enquiries we get are people wanting to cram extra bodies into the house, The last one was 10 adults, 9 children, all under 5, sleeping on airbeds) or a hefty discount when our prices are already keen or at peak times when we are bound to get bookings, or asking for 1 night or 2 night stays high season when we only do a minimum of 3! I know people will say we should do shorter stays, but with the size of the house and the laundry hire bill alone being around £80, plus a day of my time, plus welcome pack costing around £10 (it's for 16 people, so a loaf and jam and a pint of milk won't even feed half of them) and that's on top of the cleaning, which we charge for separately on airbnb, of course, a shorter stay is cutting heavily into any profit we may hope to make!

So I think as you suggest we need to research the larger group accommodation sites and get onto them and once we have enough market presence we should get booked up and airbnb/tripadvisor will be more of a gap filler.

As for the hens and stags, we are a terraced house (albeit a very grand one) with one neighbouring property being 5 flats, and we live an hour away, so we are loathe to take the risk of upsetting 6 separate occupants and damaging a house full of original period features to boot. Maybe once we get more bookings under our belt I may have a better feel for guests when they enquire. We had a cottages.com booking that ended up with 25 blokes in for a very loud stag do which has caused no end of bad feeling among the wider community, (but not with our actual neighbours) through word of mouth, where someone has trolled us online saying we only care about making money, etc, etc. We have since set the neighbours straight and told them they really should call us any time of day or night, which they didn't feel they wanted to do as we might be asleep!

Well, that's my part rant, part thank you for the advice!

Concluded that Travelnest is probably not for us, but that Independent Cottages and the like are the way forward!
This all seemed like a doddle before I started.
Llanthony
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Post by Llanthony »

So I have a large property and have been renting it for over 10 years, we sleep 16. My advice you will have to bend to succeed. I rent to stag and hen parties, I warn them we are in a residential area and that the law says no noise after 11pm. If you are worried take a good deposit. I say no parties but let them bring in a couple extra people on airbeds, it doesn't cost me any more and I get the booking. I also welcome dogs, in over 10 years I've never had a dog distort anything, but plenty of people sure have, if I could just rent to dogs I would.

What I have learned is you can't tell who people are, nice families can make a disastrous mess and stag weekends can leave it spotless, you just can't tell. They will break everything you have put in there over time so don't get attached to anything, it is a supply to serve a function, when they break it replacement is part of the cost of doing business.

Its hard out there right now, Brexit uncertainty is making things difficult and its hard to get bookings at the moment but people will still book just not as far in advance as they used to. Also the higher you aim your marketing the more fussy they will be, its a fine line between making money and the fussy unable to please people.

Good luck
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