Anybody used homelidays.com?

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
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paolo
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Anybody used homelidays.com?

Post by paolo »

Does anyone have experience of advertising on homelidays.com?

It's a multi-language European site, it has ranked quite well on Google for some searches I did for my area, and it's only 75 euros.

The downsides look like being - the potential renter has to sign up to make an enquiry; and for France at least there are so many properties it may be hard to get seen.

Or perhaps you have used it as a renter?
Paolo
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tansy
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Post by tansy »

on an advertisers point of view...do they do the translation for you or do you have to submit in the different languages?

Hopefully you have found the one that will answer for some of our European marketing
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Tansy,

It says in their details that they do the translation for you:
Your detailed, personalized advertisement is displayed and translated into French, Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese in few minutes
However, if it is done in a few minutes it is bound to be by computer rather than human, so it may not be very good. The site itself is in slightly stilted English, the design is a bit of a muddle. All in all I wouldn't be tempted but for the rankings they get for my part of the world, and the extra languages.
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Paul Carmel
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Post by Paul Carmel »

We were on it 2 years ago and got ZIP! We are trying it again because you can sign up for short time ( 3 or 4 months for not to much cash ) and so far we have had one enquirie since Xmas.

I will post again at the end of the add period and let you know the score.
Cheers
PC
Paul Carmel
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Post by Paul Carmel »

My stats this month.

Number of times contacted in the last month:
Display short description (classified ads format):
Number of visits to detailed description: 212
Access to your personal data file: 39
Number of e-mails from renters sent by Homelidays: 1
Number of times you updated your schedule: 11

Don't realy no what to make of this ............211 people did not like my house is about the best I can do........plus the other one did not book
Cheers
PC
Clair
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Re: Anybody used homelidays.com?

Post by Clair »

paolo wrote:Does anyone have experience of advertising on homelidays.com?
It's a multi-language European site, it has ranked quite well on Google for some searches I did for my area, and it's only 75 euros.
The downsides look like being - the potential renter has to sign up to make an enquiry; and for France at least there are so many properties it may be hard to get seen.
Or perhaps you have used it as a renter?
Hi

I'm new on this forum, so bear with me please!

I have been a happy user of Homelidays.com since June 04. In fact, most of my bookings have come from them.
My one and only gîte is in France and I have received enquiries from Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium and France. My 2004 and 2005 bookings have been made from France, Spain, Belgium and Germany.

In fact, because of the success I had through Homelidays.com, I decided last autumn not to renew with my previous paper advertisings and concentrate on website listings.

The way the translation is done is quite easy: you just tick boxes describing your facilities in your own language and these are simply translated to whatever language is available on their listing.
I have also added a more personalised description in French and in English.
I have a link from my own website to my listed availability calendar, which means anyone viewing my website can see immediately which period is available.
I update my listing every day to stay at the top of searches and I truly believe this is the key to getting seen through them, despite the large number of French properties listed

I get a monthly email report on any activity on my listing, just like this one:
Number of visits to detailed description: 212
Access to your personal data file: 39
Number of e-mails from renters sent by Homelidays: 1


This means the property was short-listed 212 times (based on the criteria the potential renter entered in the search) and the full description was looked at 39 times. Out of these 39 visits, 1 generated an email enquiry.
So this does not mean 211 people did not like the property, it means they prefered the look of others!
It does mean 39 people were interested enough to look at the full description...
As in all advertising, description is the key!

The potential renter and the owner both have to register, but in my view, this is a reassuring plus, as the owner commits himself to being truthful about the property and the potential renter has the option to take an insurance cover which would take the owner to task should the description not match the reality.
Also, at the end of a stay, both renter and owner have the option to rate the each other and these ratings can be viewed by other interested parties: I can see what other owners have said about any potential renter and they can see what previous renters have said about my property.

I had the opportunity to test Homelidays' quick reaction, when a gite in my area claimed in their listing to be rated 4* with Gites de France, when the property was not registered with them... I suggested to Homelidays that their vetting system was inadequate. Homelidays replied that they do do random checks on rating claims and asked the owner to back up his claim, then asked him to change the listing accordingly when he could not prove his 4* rating.

I use other listings, but this has been the most successful so far and I will definitely renew.
Last edited by Clair on Wed Apr 27, 2005 1:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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jimadept
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Post by jimadept »

I agree with all of what Clair's written, the majority of our bookings have come through Homelidays.
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Welcome to the forum, Clair!

Are you connected to homelidays? There is no information on the site that I can find to tell us who is behind it, no address or phone number, which always makes me a little uneasy. Do you know who is behind the site?
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Clair
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Post by Clair »

paolo wrote:Welcome to the forum, Clair!

Are you connected to homelidays? There is no information on the site that I can find to tell us who is behind it, no address or phone number, which always makes me a little uneasy. Do you know who is behind the site?
Hi Paolo

Do you mean in a commercial sense, where they pay me to say good things about them? I wish I were, as I have suggested them to other property owners, but never in an "earning capacity"!

No no no...My only connection with them is, as stated in my previous post, as a satisfied owner/member, as they call us.
I wrote my comment solely in answer to your original post and to help clarify the subsequent replies.

I have contacted them succesfully via email and there is also a Paris tel number on my "personal page" listing.

They list their address, tel & fax number as well as their email contact at the end of each monthly report and I have also been emailed the name of their English contact ( I made my original listing in English).
I can send you these if you want!!
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

Welcome, Clair!

If you're the same Clair from the Living France forums, I expect you'll have a few questions about rental contracts and swimming pools soon... ;) although probably in another category. In any case, thanks for the recommendation.

Cheers!
Brooke
Clair
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Post by Clair »

vrooje wrote:Welcome, Clair!

If you're the same Clair from the Living France forums, I expect you'll have a few questions about rental contracts and swimming pools soon... ;) although probably in another category. In any case, thanks for the recommendation.

Cheers!
Yeap! That's me!

What a decerning bunch you are!!!
:D

PS: why am I not getting a notification of replies? I use Firefox and everything is ticked...
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

I think the consensus is that notification sometimes doesn't work and thus far it's a mystery why that's so. But, I'm not the expert on that -- that'd be Paolo!

I use Firefox too and it's always worked for me... but I check the forum regularly now, so I actually turned it off. Sorry I can't be of much help.
Brooke
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Hi Clair,

It's a continuing mystery to me too, but the replies notification does not work for most people, so you have to return often!

Yes I did mean in a commercial sense...I always like to ask if there is any connection when someone sings a site's praises, because sometimes it is the site owner doing the singing - not in this case obviously!

When I did some listing site research for a villa in Provence - typing the most popular search terms into Google and seeing what sites came up - homelidays did very well. In fact I can't remember now why I didn't advertise with them - do renters have to pay to use the service? I'm sure there was something like this that put me off.
Paolo
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Clair
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Post by Clair »

do renters have to pay to use the service? I'm sure there was something like this that put me off.


Not as far as I am aware.
As an owner, I am automatically registered as a potential renter and I often do searches from that angle to ensure my property is where it should be (at the top!)
Maybe it was the renter's registration side which put you off?

Anyway, I have just emailed Homelidays to enquire about the lack of contact details on the site and I will let you know what they tell me, if they don't contact the forum themselves! :)
Clexane
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Post by Clexane »

My trial period with homelidays just came to an end and I wont be renewing. I received only one enquiry over the whole month and that went nowhere.

I do admit its not a great time of year for trialing web sites but others have performed during this period.

The surprise came from Perfect Places and it just pulled one enquiry (over the last month) which went to booking from Finland so it stays for now - beats the sites with enquires that dont convert!
So you wanted a holiday home in france ...

www.villaemmanuelle.com
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