did someone say it had gone quiet?

Up, down, could be better? How to get more bookings is our number one obsession. Talk shop here.
fee
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Post by fee »

If it makes you feel any better Mimmsy all I am getting is enquiries for when I am booked! Bearing in mind I am free from 24 August onwards (except Christmas and Easter next year) this leads me to think more and more people are leaving it very much until the last minute to organise their holidays.

The Americans often do so, and they can often only stay for 3,4,5 or 6 nights, but I now impose a cleaning charge for stays of 6 nights and under.

The Brits now seem to be following suit but they are asking for discounts :( and sadly there are so many new owners desperate for bookings (they believed the tv programmes or their realtors blatant lies about achievable booking rates) that many let out brand new homes for £350pw in high season!

So now to do something concrete about it:
I am spending an hour a day searching out new websites and signing up with any I find that are free or offer a free time.
Write up some of our "trips" away from the theme parks and put them on my website with the hope it will improve my ratings.
Do some postcard ads and trawl all round the local post offices / corner shops spending a couple of £s to have them up for the next month.
Mail my leaflet out to the larger companies HR departments offering a 5% discount to their staff, ditto the Thames Valley Police force and Fire Brigade.
Write to the local schools and ask for details of their school fetes / fairs etc when they do little brochures that they ask local businesses to advertise
Send a press release out to the local papers with pics
Advertise in the local papers
Go through my response and make sure it is as good as it should be, ditto my webpage etc.
Get myself some t shirts printed for when I walk my dogs!
Be even more shameless about our villa than normal (known as how to embarrass your children :D - I haven't worked for 30 years in PR & Marketing for nothing :wink:
When we visit in August make sure I take better pics and put them on my website!

I think that is enough to keep me quiet for a little while!
Mimmsy
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Post by Mimmsy »

Thanks for the advice Fiona.

Cyprus is not like the US or the UK, tourism is different here. Not so many people mostly we rely on foreign tourism. The business was easier a few years ago, now there are so many internet sites that you have to work much harder to drum up business.

My rule of thumb has always been to get onto as many sites possible but it does become very tedious after a while. Oh well back to the drawing board!

Your also right about leaving it to the last minute. People think they will find a better deal if they wait but its not aways the case.
Christine Kenyon
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Post by Christine Kenyon »

Hello Mimmsy. Hope things improve with regard to your bookings. I had a quick look at your website and was very impressed by the wealth of information about the area which is available - everything from wine to car hire!

My only constructive comment would be that I found it impossible to find any more pictures or information about your villa. Maybe this should be more prominent? A section on "our villa" maybe?

Hope this helps.
Mimmsy
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Post by Mimmsy »

Thanks Christine. I always welcome comments and advice.

Actually there are many pictures of the house, the one next to the banner is of the entrance. The animation is mostly the house and the picture next to it is the hallway. There is also a link at the top of the page with photo album http://www.kontoyiannis.com/photoalbum.htm
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oskar
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Post by oskar »

My website has also dropped from a rank 4 to a 3 so its really worrying!
Mimmsy, Google carried out an update last week and a lot of sites dropped a bit in PR. It´s nothing to be worried about. What is more important is the number of quality links you have to your site i.e. from other sites with a high page rank.
Mimmsy
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Post by Mimmsy »

Thanks OsKar,

Actually, it might be a good idea if we all swapped links on the forum. I've just had a look at your site and it looks good. I'm new to the forum so it may be that this link swapping has already started if not then its a good place to start. I have a travel links page so it would be nice to add everyone who wants to in there http://www.kontoyiannis.com/travel_links.htm. It does not have a rank yet because I've just revamped my site
Stu
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Had to share...

Post by Stu »

Had some great news yesterday! An English couple moving from South Africa to France have decided to rent our larger gite for a minimum of 3 months, from the end of August through to November, but will probably extend to March! That takes a huge weight off our minds, as we've not yet really begun to advertise, so gives a reasonably 'secure' income over the winter period! Things are definitely looking up! We're getting an average of 2 enquiries per day for the camp site too, so it's starting to come together!
august 5th is the day we move in, so starting to get all excited now. Sorry!
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enid
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Post by enid »

That's great news - a real start up boost for you.
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Sue Dyer
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Post by Sue Dyer »

Stu & Syb - excellent!!! :) When someone books our place for Christmas and New Year I always think "ah, well that's our presents and New Year trip paid for"!!

I don't blame you being excited so no need for "sorry"!! I'm so enthusastic if anything great is going on in my life, I find it a British trait at times not to be enthusastic/excited - it's good to celebrate your sucesses and I always do. :)
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Sue Dyer
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Post by Sue Dyer »

Spooky!! Someone has just this minute booked New Year so.... my presents and trip are def paid for :lol:
Stu
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Post by Stu »

Thanks Sue & Enid! It's nice to know it's not just us that gets excited! Great news about Christmas Sue! Well done!
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