selfcateringhols.com

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
Guest3
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Post by Guest3 »

Basically, when a customer books, we take a 10% commission from the owner, and a £25 booking fee from the customer.
Well..hope this system works out for you Doug.

I have my villa listed on 6 different holiday rental sites and personally if I were a customer searching and found the same property listed on your site as well as on another site (who didn't charge a booking fee)..which one do you think I would go for?
SCHDoug
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Post by SCHDoug »

Hi Crystal,
I take your comments on board - sure, if a customer wants to look around, they may find the property cheaper elsewhere. We've never pretended to be the cheapest, but what we do offer is 7 day a week customer service, a site that is easy to use and a booking system that is flexible and immediate. You only need to look at the posts on self-catering-breaks etc to see that not all companies have the same attitude. If owners feel that way imagine the frustration customers have when they try and book something to find that the site freezes, or the availability is incorrect, or they never get a response etc etc. We've been going for just over three years and have been expanding ever since we started and are very happy with our system - I could post some responses from our customers but I'm not sure that it adheres to the site rules, but needles to say we have happy customers and repeat customers. You get what you pay for and I think customers realise that.
All the best,
Doug
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Garri
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Post by Garri »

Doug, you do indeed get what you pay for but as someone who is developing a site myself, with customers (holiday makers) at the forefront of my endeavours, I cannot see any real tools on your site that makes the process for them easier. Sure, you site looks better than most but apart from the booking system I can't see the 'web application' that is going to make their lives easier and solve their problems.

None that would make me feel some value as a customer handing you £25 for the 'experience'. Is it made to clear to me anywhere on the site, before I embark on my search, that you're gonna sting me for £25?

For example, there's no add to shortlist function (not any I can see anyway). There's no metrics for me to look at (becoming increasingly important these days).

Or does the magic happen when I hand over my £25?

Other than that, I really do like your vector graphic in the header but it's not worth £25 to me :wink:

Apologies to Paolo if I'm 'having a pop' at the competition but I said I would use SCH as a holiday maker because I thought it looked good, but I didn't realise it would cost me £25 for the privilege!
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Alan Knighting
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Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France

Post by Alan Knighting »

Doug,

After a bit of dodging and diving you do admit that you charge owners 10% and clients £25. However you dress it up, they are payments which must be made.

In very simple terms, the advertisment is what I want and I want it to generate enquiries and nothing else. I prefer to do the rest myself and, since I am here 24/7, I can and do.

When it comes to dealing with people, I know more about my properties, the location, the area, etc. than you or your staff could ever know.

If I ever register with you, you will know that all other options have failed and I am in a state of desparation.

Alan
SCHDoug
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Post by SCHDoug »

No problem Garri, Alan,
much as we would like to, we can't please everyone. I've been thinking about the thread and how I can clarify our position, so I'll give it a go:
- from a customer's point of view I guess the main difference advantage of our business is when you don't actually know where you want to stay. We get a lot of people contacting us directly and saying 'I've got these dates free and I want to be near a beach.' In this instance we will help guide the customer and take the pain away from searching through the multitude of sites, and can offer either direct feedback from previous customers, or often personal experience of the properties ourseleves. While we cannot claim to have reviewed all our properties, when the opportunity presents itself we go and see the properties and meet the owners. Sue, our sales director, is currently organising a working holiday to Italy where she's hoping to do just that. On the same front, our 'mini-guides' are not the usual hodge podge of copied material from other websites, but are written by Sarah, our in-house writer, who has a wealth of experience of writing for Lonely Planet, Time Out, Thomas Cook, the AA etc etc. There are customers who would rather save the £25 and spend time on sites where they don't have this information, or don't have someone who can advise them of alternative properties, regions etc, but equally there are those who do, and I'm not aware of that many sites offering the service that we do.

- from an owners perspective, it is clear that there are many owners who do not like our system, and it is important to us that in this case they don't sign up to it. We work very well with a lot of owners who are happy to work with us, but if there are elements of our system that you don't like and don't wish to work with, then don't - it just wastes our time and yours. I'm not here to convince people to sign up, we currently struggle with the demands we have in adding new properties. All I can say is that our commitment to owners is that you pay nothing unless it works for you, which is more than most sites can say.

What I would say with both customers and owners in mind is that we are a small family based company on a steep learning curve.
[edited in line with forum guidelines]
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Alan Knighting
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Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France

Post by Alan Knighting »

Doug,

Please don't get me wrong. I am not being at all critical of your family business, your website or your services. I like, and approve of, the diversity of approach that you are bringing to the self catering market. I am a great supporter of choice in everything. It's just not my approach, for now.

In my opinion, the whole marketplace is riddled with completely useless suppliers - it is chaos. The sooner the parasites disappear and we are left with the genuine players the sooner the interests of owners and holidaymakers will be served. Then we will all be happy.

By the way, do you insist on exclusivity or is an owner entitled to continue to let on his own behalf without paying you a fee for those weeks sold through his own efforts?

Alan
SCHDoug
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Post by SCHDoug »

Hi Alan,
thanks for your comments, I probably take things too personally, having invested so much into the business!
Seriously though, (trying not to take it too personally here..!) when someone talks about 'payments to be made' almost as though it is a dirty word, you have to realise that our developer also wants to be paid, as does our writer, as do our admin staff - and surprise surprise, we need to live on something as well! It has become a very competetive industry and I don't think anyone is making easy money - certainly not us. Blood, sweat and tears springs to mind..
In answer to your question, no, we don't insist on exclusitivity and there is no charge for taking bookings from your own sources, we see no reason why should there be.
All the best,
Doug
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