Doing my bit to try and get those out of season bookings!

[kendalcottages]

http://www.ukseries.com/blog/2010/08/ba ... g-bargain/

How are you all finding bookings for the off-season?

[Annew]

Seems better than last year here in Devon.

I've had quite a few weekend bookings (and, as usual, half term went months ago), some of them from repeat customers and quite a few new ones. I'm getting a steady stream of enquiries for short breaks, mainly from HR. Mind you, we put in an indoor pool 5 years ago and that has certainly helped in the off seasonm, plus we offer dinner party catering and beauty therapy and that has helped tap into the well-heeled (for want of a better term) adult market who are looking for hotel extras but at a cheaper price.

I'm quite keen to tap into the walkers and geocache enthusiasts - when I get some time this year I may well explore this further.

[waterwitch]

That's a great article and sounds oh so very tempting!

We have always been lucky and had steady off season occupancy , mostly long weekends, but Jan to Feb half term this year was dismal. I hate having the cottage sitting empty!

I'm taking the bull by the horns this year and will send in the next week or so an email to all our previous guests offering special low rates covering the deadly months of Nov/Dec and Jan/Feb. Hopefully it will entice some of them to book with the thoughts of cosy nights in front of roaring log fire!

I've also just ordered some postcards which I will be posting out at Christmas with our rates and calender for 2011 and again, offering a 10% discount for returning guests.

Kendal Cottages - your place looks amazing - what a wonderful job you have done with the web site! I am interested to know how you keep you herb garden going? I was dismayed to find mine was a bit of a barren wasteland when we went up to the cottage last week. It seems it's too much trouble for guests to occasionally poor a glass water over the poor things, despite polite little reminders to please water the plants!

[charles cawley]

Web content is everything. People buy from content.

At countryholidaylets.co.uk we often take several hours getting the right photographs. Sometimes I have to return and in one case it took three visits to get the right results. The effect on bookings, once the photos are right, can be electric.

Off season bookings can be increased by trying to market to niche markets which appeal to people without children as well as encouraging family interest during the seasons. We advise all our members to do this.

Unlike many agents we do not expect any exclusivity and work alongside private bookings. The thought of charging commission on private bookings is appalling. An agent can sometimes help fill up off season bookings, but avoid agents that expect exclusivity or charge up front fees.

I strongly advise you spend time and invest in presentation and web content. When done carefully, it will pay back many times over especially in these image dominated times.

[Hells Bells]

September to December are hopeless. In my first couple of seasons, I had weekenders for Toussaints, people visiting friends, older couples walking etc, but nothing for the past couple of autumns. The last guests that stayed put a strange review on my website, which I have now removed. I've never given anyone the impression that the place is busy and bustling in the autumn, it isn't, but when the sun shines, and you can get out and about, it's rather beautiful, and still warm enough to picnic.

[charles cawley]

Getting the photos right is really worth a try.

In one case, I found a single photo of a stone marking Offa's Dyke with dates and a few words carved on it had a direct affect of attracting two bookings.

Content is all. The poor efforts put in by most agents speak volumes as to the quality of their services. If you have a web site, really make it work for you, if you have an agent pressure them as much as you can.

Some agents are so poor that they even fail to use e-mail to notify homeowners of bookings, insisting on using the post. These sort of services must either reform or go under: they appear to think the internet is not that important and swift service is not for them. Making the internet work for you is the trick:

A picture speaks a thousand words.

[Fraise]

Do you have a cottage of your own Charles or are you simply a listing agency?

[charles cawley]

My father once owned many.

Now I run a booking agency. But we do not act like the legacy agencies. We are only paid by results. Our commission rates are less than many agencies and we have an open view to sharing information.

For instance, we do not do the old 'send for an information pack' trick to bulk out our data base and try to make sales. The information can be found here:

countryholidaylets.co.uk/landlords-homeowners-info-pack.htm

'Simply' seems a bit of a strong word. We genuinely believe there is another way where you can get the best from a booking service as well as the advantages of an advertising service without so much downside that is presently offered by legacy services.

Its brutally tough out there, but there is always room for the right attitude towards quality and service. We invest heavily in internet marketing as you can see from a google search for 'hereford cottages', 'shropshire cottages' etc.

Simple advertising web sites and booking agencies that do not invest and rely on organic search results may not survive.

[Windy]

Charlie - I quite like your approach - provision of free and detailed information on my web site is a strategy that has worked very well for me as a lead generator for over 15 years in my other life.

You might want to check your text for grammar (affect / effect) and it's PAT testing not PAC testing. Otherwise an interesting read - thank you.

To answer KC's question - our bookings are tailing off a bit against last year all of a sudden. Not doom and gloom yet - a small downward price adjustment has been made and I've just introduced a "toddler friendly" page to one web site in the hope of stimulating some bookings from parents who are not constrained to travel in school holidays. (£50 invested at Tesco for some equipment seemed like a good idea)

[charles cawley]

Thanks for the corrections.

Affect / Effect can be quite confusing.. an affect working on something and an effect being something new. There are times when the distinction is not that easy to make.

It's back to the school books.

The key to all this is to ditch the British obsession with secrecy and to realise information is best used on the principle that it should only be kept secret by exception rather than as a rule.

We see no significant fall off in bookings, but a significant increase in people new to using cottages with a fall off in those who have used them habitually.

[Windy]

an affect working on something and an effect being something new

Hmm the basic difference is that affect is a verb in 99.99% of usage and effect is normally a noun but very occasionally a verb

(“Affect” as a noun means an emotional state as contrasted to a cognition)

Normal usage is along the line of "How does the effect affect you?", so I think your "affects" in that text are actually "effects". e.g. "a radical affect" should be "a radical effect"

Pedants'R'Us

[charles cawley]

Cause and effect. The cause is different from the effect. An effect is usually something new which has been caused.

On the other hand something can be affected where the object is not that changed. The embarassement caused by poor English affected me that I turned red. There is an existential question but how far should we go here?

I am still uncertain of all this, perhaps I am rather affected. This whole thing has had a radical affect on me. I think I, too, should join the Pedants club.

[paolo]

This is a thread about off-season bookings, please start a new thread if you want to promote your agency, although this would probably be deleted.

[Margaret]

I can vouch for Charles as a bona fide agency in a specific area. On the whole, I think that agencies should have a place on LMH as they are there as a service for owners. I expect Charles will be careful in what he comments on and how. If people could promote floor plan drawing services, I would think it would be OK for people to promote letting services? Or have I missed an important point here?
(I have no financial connection with Charles and his agency other than him gettings bookings for our house in Wales).

[charles cawley]

I am genuinely sorry to have broken rules. Greater care shall be taken in future.

The intention was to contribute as well as to learn