Independent Cottages or Owners Direct?
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waterwitch
- Posts: 271
- Joined: Mon Jul 12, 2010 7:09 pm
- Location: Conwy, North Wales
- Contact:
I've discussed performance with Sarah at IND Cottages and she's run through her stats for our page and they have increased year on year. Even if I gave the benefit of the doubt and accredited all the direct enquiries we get that don't know where they saw us to them, it's still a very low percentage. I would say that most of our early bookers are Dutch, German and French coming through HolidayRentals/Owners Direct and they tend to book a lot earlier than the UK guests so perhaps most of our availability has already gone once potential customers from IND Cottages come across us.
That seems like a strong possibility to me. I regularly have last minute availability across my two properties and therefore every site has a fairly equal chance to perform. For example I have just taken a booking for a short break in Feb via IC. I also had a one week booking for last year that has turned into a two week repeat booking for this.waterwitch wrote:HolidayRentals/Owners Direct and they tend to book a lot earlier than the UK guests so perhaps most of our availability has already gone once potential customers from IND Cottages come across us.
So well worth their fee.Well I know it's early days but I have had numerous enquiries from all sorts of other sites over the last 3 weeks sadly not one from IC.Cleveland House wrote:Would be interested to see how you get on with IC. OD performs well for us at the moment, but like many other people I'm looking for an alternative to HL and have been looking at IC. Good luck and hope it generates some good enquiries for you!
Last edited by kg1 on Sat Jan 19, 2013 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Do you have analytics installed on your website? I find it very interesting to compare which sites are sending the traffic to your website. It can reveal some surprising answers; not that it changes anything! Personally am having a quieter Jan as all my guests are uk based & the weather has now put people off!
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SandyBeaches
- Posts: 1071
- Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 8:35 am
- Location: Norfolk Coast
We have lots of bookings for this year, but few from HL. Having similar experience to you though in terms of HL enquiries which are all for short breaks which don't book. All probably misled by the 'price per night' farce.kyreniagirl wrote:No sorry I don't. We have never had so many enquiries over last 2 weeks for short breaks, mostly from HL. Mostly not booking.
Sorry it's my bug bear at the moment.
How are you getting on with IC? Thinking of giving them a try when my HL expires.
Wish it were different. I do so want the smaller sites to succeed as most of my HL enquiries are duds. i.e. I quote £780 for a week mid summer and get a reply asking I will do it for £600. Er - no.kyreniagirl wrote:Well I know it's early days but I have had numerous enquiries from all sorts of other sites over the last 3 weeks sadly not one from IC.Cleveland House wrote:Would be interested to see how you get on with IC. OD performs well for us at the moment, but like many other people I'm looking for an alternative to HL and have been looking at IC. Good luck and hope it generates some good enquiries for you!
Our Jan stats for IC. Not impressed.
263 Shows number of times your cottage advertisement page was viewed.
10 Shows number of times your contact details were viewed (including phone no.).
10 Visitors we have passed through to your website.
263 Shows number of times your cottage advertisement page was viewed.
10 Shows number of times your contact details were viewed (including phone no.).
10 Visitors we have passed through to your website.
It is better to remain quiet and have one think you are stupid, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt....
The biggest mistake we make in life is thinking we have time.
The biggest mistake we make in life is thinking we have time.
Mine are:
335/329 viewings
13/10 number of times your contact details were viewed
17/23 Visitors we have passed through to your website
For a small site that doesn't have anything like the traffic or the marketing spend of the big sites, I think that's ok. We still have a couple of weeks left of January after all.
335/329 viewings
13/10 number of times your contact details were viewed
17/23 Visitors we have passed through to your website
For a small site that doesn't have anything like the traffic or the marketing spend of the big sites, I think that's ok. We still have a couple of weeks left of January after all.
You have to give it a year, don't you? If after that is just hasn't worked, then you can take your money elsewhere. My figures are just for January, so reasonably comparable to yours.
I do always keep my last minute availability offers up to date, which I think helps. I am finding January enquiries quieter than previous years. For me, UK based visitors are booking later and later now.
I do always keep my last minute availability offers up to date, which I think helps. I am finding January enquiries quieter than previous years. For me, UK based visitors are booking later and later now.