VB plug for IKnow-UK

[greenbarn]

There's a news item on the AccommodationKnowHow (ie Visit Britain) website, and also featured in the email newsletter they send out, about IKnow-UK. They are a group of listing sites which cover various areas of the country, such as IKnow-Lakes, IKnow-Yorkshire etc etc. I've used them with little success, and won't be renewing.

They made a big song and dance earlier this year about their expansion, and this is what the AKH article is about. There's no mention of any connection with VB, and VB certainly don't make a habit of publishing articles about listing sites, so just why are they being featured? I imagine it will certainly raise their profile...... Does the fact that VB are government funded give us the right to know? Do we care?

[Windy]

Yes it's a bit odd isn't it.

Still most of what they do is incomprehensible to me ....

[kendalcottages]

Would it be fair to assume they've simply paid to be featured?

In this article, they guy behind it stated:

"This year I am expecting to see a turnover of £2.5m with a £300,000 profit."

I could be wrong but my reckoning from that is he's spending an awful lot on advertising...

[Windy]

Fair - maybe - but then that would assume that VB gave endorsements to advertisers without telling the people who pay for them to exist.

Call me naive but I'd hate that to be true.

[iknow-admin]

Greenbarn – We’re sorry to hear about the concerns you have with your advert on iknow-yorkshire. We take comments from our customers very seriously and we’d like to hear from you to fully understand your concerns and to help resolve them. We’ve a dedicated customer support team who’ll be more than happy to answer any queries or questions you may have.

[kendalcottages]

Our trial listing on iknow was completely ineffective also. I emailed to this effect on at least two occasions but didn't get replies. Instead I just get occasional emails telling me how great the site is. Thankfully the very persistent phone calls seems to have stopped.

[apexblue]

Same here with i-know. Lots of enquiries on run up to expiry but no bookings as has been mentioned here before. Plus outrageous listing fees.

[greenbarn]

Greenbarn – We’re sorry to hear about the concerns you have with your advert on iknow-yorkshire. We take comments from our customers very seriously and we’d like to hear from you to fully understand your concerns and to help resolve them. We’ve a dedicated customer support team who’ll be more than happy to answer any queries or questions you may have.

My original post was due to the news item from VB who have managed to shoot themselves in the foot on a few occasions by coming out with something that can easily be construed as an endorsement - and then had to back-pedal frantically. It had nothing to do with the performance of Iknow.

As we all know, some sites work for some and not others for a multitude of reasons, or for reasons that may exist but which are intangible. Iknow-Lakes and Iknow-Yorkshire haven't worked for me where other sites have; geographical location may have a part in this given that we fall between the National Parks of The Lakes and The Dales, hence my trying both Iknow sites. That's my own experience in my particular location; others may find Iknow works really well for their particular location in their particular Iknow region.

The bottom line is that I'm running a business and I have to keep my marketing spend under review, and direct it according to my own evidence of return. If Iknow looks like a useful site for me to revisit in the future, then I'll do so, unless they get taken over by HA or become too pushy, which are two of the common complaints voiced on the forum!

[kendalcottages]

I have received a call from iKnow this afternoon (further to this thread, I believe).

Credit to them, the lady (Maureen) I spoke to seemed very understanding and has given me a second trial to see if it can work this time. It was quite refreshing because it was not your typical iknow sales call.

Last time around I joined the site around March/April time which apparently wasn't a good time because "it was just before the World Cup". I'm not entirely convinced by the reasoning as we were getting bookings from elsewhere at that time, but happy nevertheless to give it another shot without incurring cost.

Hopefully they can deliver bookings this time around... time will tell.

[Moira]

I appreciate this thread isn't about i-know specifically but I just thought I would add in my experience too. I paid for a listing earlier this year on i-know scotland and have had very few enquiries and not one booking. So very disappointed. At the time they were appearing on the first page of google but seem to have now dropped down the listings.

[Windy]

KC - did you have any joy - they are setting up a free trial for me now - can't do any harm and I amd sure that I will be quite forthright when fending off unwanted calls later if it does not work Lady W can be quite waspish at times too

Have to say the site looks good at first glance but it does seem to have a few oddities - e.g lodges don't seem to be listed with self-catering but under holiday parks. I giuess the bottom line is does it bring it off-peak bookings.

The grls I spoke to seemed reasonably clued up and given that her goal was to get me to sign up didn't put a ridiculous amount of pressure on. Doesn't sound like it's going to do much good based on your and GB's local experience, but I am relaxing my no listing sites rule, as most of my competitors are now spending a fortune on marketing on sites like Lets Stay, I-Know etc etc and I am getting a bit twitchy about the effect on my off-season bookings.

I am still loooking for the next Lets Stay - a good local listing site that doesn't cost a stupid amount for a listing where I won't be fighting with 70 lodge competitors within 5 miles.

Maybe I'm dreaming?

[charles cawley]

We are a booking service apparently in direct competition with these people. So far, we have heard virtually nothing about them. Visit Herefordshire has also refused us advertising on their web site as not all of our members are star rated.

I take exception to this sort of thing. It's bad enough with having to prove to google that we are respectable where old established operators never had to jump through these hoops. This sort of things needs more of an explanation. We have been barred from Visit Britain where a rival seems to be doing rather well from their approval... of course all their members will be star rated?

[greenbarn]

We have been barred from Visit Britain where a rival seems to be doing rather well from their approval... of course all their members will be star rated?

Ah, but VB weren't actually giving their approval. And of course nobody would infer any form of approval was implied by simply devoting a news item on the website to a particular listing site. Would they?
I mean, apart from you Charles......
Well, I suppose I might........
But then we're probably odd.

Or to quote Windy's take on VB:

most of what they do is incomprehensible to me ....

[Windy]

I can assure you Charles that not all the properties listed on the I-know site are star rated.

So VB shoot their own rating scheme in the foot once again by giving prominent coverage (if not a formal endorsement) to a listing site with non-rated properties on it. You couldn't make it up could you?

As if the rating scheme needed any more nails in it's coffin after the assistance given by the Tourism Minister of late. You'd think Penrose was minister for helping TripAdvisor and private listing sites and not the person we have to look to further the interests of UK tourism opeartors!

[charles cawley]

To a certain extent, the existence and growth of businesses such as ours stands as evidence of the failure of VB. (Perhaps that is why Visit Herefordshire is apparently not too keen on us).

However, we do offer more than just marketing. I doubt that a VB employee would take calls at 9pm on a Sunday night either to make bookings or to give information about what's on in the area of particular cottages or just to chat to homeowners.

VB seems to think things have not changed in the last few years and will not get even tougher. if they don't start working as hard as the rest of us, they shall not survive.