HolidayLets.net vs. VisitFrance.co.uk

[Normandy Cow]

In the past I have been very pleased with the response I was getting from VisitFrance, but I've recently noticed that although I have a lot of bookings so far this year, only one of them has come from VF! (The others came from Holiday-rentals and Sawdays). This despite me religiously updating my listing/availability on a daily basis and using the little special ads facility too.

As my renewal comes up in May, I am considering changing to a different listing site.

So, 2 questions:
Has anyone else noticed a drop in enquiries from VF?
There was a detailed thread back in January about holidaylets.net and their free trial which they no longer offer. A few people were still going to give them a go. How did you get on? Have you been happy with the level of enquiries/bookings from HL?

[Nessie]

I am not very happy with visitfrance full stop, can’t amend the photos unless I pay an additional fee and also the number of enquiries is down compared to last year. In the same 3 month period last year I received 12 enquiries with a 70% conversion rate , this year I have had 2 real enquiries and no bookings

[Ju]

We haven't has as good a response from Visit France this year as we have on previous years. That said, it is starting to pick-up a bit now (but we are pretty much fully booked so it's a bit late).

We have five weeks booked from them, five weeks from Holidaylets.net and nine from French connections. Last year French conncections did very little and we were tempted to drop them, I'm glad we didn't.

The trouble with these websites is that they wax and wane, one year one site will be the best, the next year another will have taken over. I tend to judge it by whether or not I got a booking from them for outside the peak six weeks. If I did, even one week, I'll keep them up for another year.

Ju

[Normandy Cow]

Thanks Ju.

Interesting about French Connections... We too were very disappointed with them last year, and did drop them as all our rentals were coming from VisitFrance! So yes, you are right, they do tend to wax and wane - I suppose the secret is to get hold of a crystal ball to tell us which one is going to wax in the coming year!!!

[Alan Knighting]

This year ALL of my Rental Sites have waned. They are - Areca, French Connections, Holiday-Rentals, Owners in France, Stay at a Villa and Vacation France.

Fortunately for me, my own marketing (not through a Personal Website, I don’t have one) has been successful and I am quite heavily booked. I have a mixture of short and long lettings from previous visitors and house-hunters.

What will happen next year is in the lap of the Gods. I don’t have a crystal ball and I don’t have a magic formula so I just keep selling the virtues of my location and my properties whenever and wherever I can.

Alan

[Fraise]

I am unhappy with Visit France this year, I've only had 3 or 4 enquiries from them and no bookings!! I am almost full for the main 4 months but not from them!!My renewal is due now and I'm probably not going to bother!!I have e-mailed them twice but have had no reply When I joined originally it was free to upload photos,not any more. I don't feel like paying them any money- it's around £150- for zero service!!

www.thepetitmanoir.com

[la vache!]

I've had about an equal amount of bookings from visit-france and HR, slightly less from Chez Nous (who I didn't pay to be with) and even less from FC and holidaylets.net. I feel the same as Alan, they have all been very disappointing. I have got more bookings from my own website & repeat bookings from last year than the big rental listing sites. Fortunately I don't have to rely on them as my own site has good search engine ratings on Google. It is also worth mentioning Abritel who have brought in more bookings than last year, from the UK as well as France.

[Ju]

Susan, How did you get on Chez Nous without paying?

Ju

[la vache!]

Ju,
I paid initially, but then they forgot to delete my property reference on their website after I stopped advertising with them, so I had about 18 months free publicity! Unfortunately they became efficient and did some housekeeping at the beginning of this year and my reference disappeared.

[Clexane]

We did the free trial with Holidaylets this year and it brought in one booking in the end and a few enquires. Compared with H-R, abritel who preformed equally well (quite good actually) and even Vrbo and perfect places who did ok that was a poor performance given their cost ... even locations-france (which has a one year free trial) brought in more enquires and a booking.

The only caution to this is that our key months where booked before the trial started at the end of last year however even in the remaining period they did not compare to the others.

Interesting about VF as we where thinking of advertising with them this year as our renewals come up ... maybe stick with the tried and tested.

[Big Sis..]

Hi Im a new user and have been interested in the discussions about rental websites Im on about 6.
Ive got 2 holiday homes in Torrevieja theyre together so |I think that has been my selling point. Most of my bookings has been for both houses.
This year has definetley slowed down but luckily Ive already been booked mostly from May-Oct for a while now.
Im on Holiday Lets after trying them with the free trial and staying with them, at the moment that is where a lot of my enquiries have come from.
Im on quite a few others as well but the enq from all the sites seems to have died down
Theres so many houses being built [and rented] that there is a lot of competition.
I havent got my own website but might consider doing it if I get the courage[Im not very computer litterate[as you can see]
Ive been interested in your search engine discussions but it all got a bit confusing for me.

Thats all for now Ros