HELP! Still no bookings!!! heres a challenge...

Get some feedback on your site or ad from other rental owners and techies. Also a library of online resources so you can make DIY improvements to your web presence.
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LaTour Gites
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Location: Landes, SW France
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HELP! Still no bookings!!! heres a challenge...

Post by LaTour Gites »

Im a fan of this forum, but have never written in...till now. I have 2 beautiful places in the Landes...one new this year..the lakeside barn, the other, a traditional farmhouse, which was fully booked 2 seasons ago through gites.nl (last year I rented it out for a year-big mistake!) So Im back. Took advice from this forum and started with a couple of free french sites, lots of calls no bookings. I joined VRBO about a month ago, still tweaking the site, but its ok, nothing!! Im asking all interested to view my website, and the VRBO site, and criticize away! I can take it! Of course any advice would be great too :roll:
Thanks!
~Jodi
VRBO #343275
bentisdall
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Feedback

Post by bentisdall »

Your website looks a bit amateurish and doesn't display well on my screen - the pictures go off the edge.
The VRBO ad looks OK
You should definitely do a couple of paid for french websites straightaway. I'd recommend pour-les-vacances.com and a-gites.com. They're both cheap to advertise on & bring in results.
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Weclome to the forum and congrats on your first posting.

I think you are looking for reviews of your website, if so than this posting should be Here:
viewforum.php?f=28
If you looking for advice on how to obtain more bookings than this is the correct place.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

Welcome! Ditto the above re posting in the website section.

I've had a quick look and see you have a Google site. I do too, but don't find it the easiest of things to play with! When I opened it, I have to scroll across as it doesn't fit on my screen, so that's not a good start.

I personally don't like having to make contact for availability, so a calendar for me would be a must.

There's a lot of wasted space between text and photos, so too much scrolling is required to view the content. HTH for starters!
nijntje
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Post by nijntje »

Hi there,

Looks like a nice place you have there!

Did you list again with Gites.nl? (I see you are dutch just like us!)

We also advertise with them (our first year of renting) and so far they gave us 5 enquiries, 4 of them booked and the fifth one we turned away because they wanted to bring their 2 dogs (we do not accept pets, well, I should say : our gite is not suited for pets!) :shock:
I also advertise on the french sites, but no bookings from them so far except for 1 weekend. Our other bookings all came trough OD and HR but with gites.nl being the favorite at this moment.

one thing...your website is to wide for my screen, I have to scroll to see the pics on the right...

good luck,
Inge
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LaTour Gites
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Re: Feedback

Post by LaTour Gites »

bentisdall wrote:Your website looks a bit amateurish and doesn't display well on my screen - the pictures go off the edge.
The VRBO ad looks OK
You should definitely do a couple of paid for french websites straightaway. I'd recommend pour-les-vacances.com and a-gites.com. They're both cheap to advertise on & bring in results.
Thanks for your advice! Yes, my husbands computer shows the same thing with the fotos sliding off, weird. Think Ill try another webpage builder (I used Googlesites).

I will check on the french sites asap! Thanks!
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

The website looks very homemade with all the big gaps.
The homepage is a disaster for me because there are no photos of the properties themselves and the text about each tells me none of the important information about how many bedrooms there are, how many people they sleep etc. You have some nice photos on the individual property pages so I'd show some of them on the homepage instead of the bowl of fruit and old door with the rusty door handle.
The southwest of France is a big place and I really have no idea from the homepage where you actually are.
I'd prefer a separate French version of the website rather than the mixed text on the site.
I could hardly read the text on the contact us page and an enquiry form would be a professional touch to add.
Free sites are free because they are generally rubbish. I agree with Bentishall about P-L-V, a gites never worked for me, leboncoin.fr does for French bookings.
Try OD for the UK market. I think you are going to have to spend a little more on marketing through the paid listing sites to get more bookings.
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LaTour Gites
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Post by LaTour Gites »

I personally don't like having to make contact for availability, so a calendar for me would be a must.

There's a lot of wasted space between text and photos, so too much scrolling is required to view the content. HTH for starters![/quote]

Thanks Nemo! Just peeked at your site, very nice, and I see what you mean about the scrolling now. Yours is boom, there, and the large photos are nice! How did you do the calendar?
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Nemo
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Post by Nemo »

Thank you! It does the job but I'm not very happy with it as I sturggle to get it to do what I want. But it's a website and work is in progress for a new one.

The calendar is actually from a listing site that I use, but I previously had a free one from rentalcalendarsdirect.com which did the job. If you do a search on here for availability calendars then you'll find a few threads with some differing recommendations.
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LaTour Gites
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Post by LaTour Gites »

La Vache!... That was great!!! Im writing everything down! Ive got alot of homework to do! Fortunately its still cold and yuccky out, so Ill work on the website big time! Funny, the only booking I have is from Leboncoin. I think Ill cancel Gites.nl because Ive had not a peep for 2 years...but it might be my site. I really liked them.
Thanks for the advice!!
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LaTour Gites
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Post by LaTour Gites »

Thanks Inge! Im american and my husband is dutch...poor guy, he had to do all the translation for our .nl page! :lol:
Im debating on re-listing with Gites.nl...had nothing last year! I would love to have more dutch people over, they really know how to enjoy france, and theyre sooo nice!
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

A couple more things - I'm assuming you are quite near the sea, so if you put a couple of photos of beaches on the homepage, plus distance to beach that would be useful.
And your 'where are we' page doesn't have a lot of info on things to see or do in the area. Is surfing good? What other activities are available?
I'm sure there must be quite a lot of tourist attractions in the vicininity so get them on there and sell your area :wink:
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

I would echo what la vache said on your website, especially the lack of property pics on the homepage.

Free sites should not be considered part of your marketing. Only count what you are paying for. In effect this is one ad, on vrbo, which really works best when you are on the US tourist trail.

In short you are not targeting the right market, I think UK and Europe is where you should be aiming, and that is where you should spend some advertising cash.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
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LaTour Gites
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Post by LaTour Gites »

Thanks Inge! Im american and my husband is dutch...poor guy, he had to do all the translation for our .nl page! :lol:
Im debating on re-listing with Gites.nl...had nothing last year! I would love to have more dutch people over, they really know how to enjoy france, and theyre sooo nice!
bentisdall
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A-gites - Sites can go up as well as down.

Post by bentisdall »

la vache! wrote: I agree with Bentishall about P-L-V, a gites never worked for me, leboncoin.fr does for French bookings.
Try OD for the UK market. I think you are going to have to spend a little more on marketing through the paid listing sites to get more bookings.
Well I was about to drop A-gites.com but it's obviously ranking well because I've had 5 bookings from it since Christmas. Similarly 1000gites.com used to perform well but is now doing nothing...
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