How do I market a Western Canadian holiday rental in Europe

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
Marvin
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Joined: Sun Apr 17, 2005 12:49 pm
Location: Love,Saskatchewan, Canada
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How do I market a Western Canadian holiday rental in Europe

Post by Marvin »

Hi; :D
I have been a member for over a year but this is my first post. I have been going over some of the posts here and find them interesting and informative. The membership is international in scope and deals with so many things that there is something of interest for everyone.
I have spent the year as a member of another group (American) whose membership is concerned with a whole different type of renter and am considering terminating the relationship.
We have been renting our (fully modern) place in North-central Saskatchewan, Canada for over 6 years with very little international success.
I guess, from my point of view, our best features are the the the fact that we are just south of the the Northern Boreal forest and just north of the Saskatchewan farming country with almost zero traffic past us.
A part time birder sat on the raised deck of our cabin and, in 1/2 hour, saw or heard 27 different species of birds. There is a 13 acre pond 50 feet from the cabin which makes for excellant habitat for all kinds of wildlife, including deer, beaver, waterfowl and more. Deer walk through our yard on a fairly regular basis and Canada Geese and their young are daily visitors.
Peace and quiet and the wilderness virtually at your door. How can you beat that.
We are 1/2 hour from a town with all services and less than 3 hours from the international airport at Saskatoon.
My background is German and on a past trip to Germany I found that I could communicate in that language with some little success. My German is quite archaic but understandable so, other than English, that would be the language of preferance tho' i'm not limited to that.
:?: Could anyone give me some advice on how and where to advertise to attract international interest.
My thought is that the overseas psyche is much different than the North American one and we should advertise with that in mind.
If anyone can help us in our endeavor it would be much appreciated!
Some articles on who we are and what we do can be found on the "Editorial Page" on our website.
Thanks very much,
Marvin
www.rivertrailcountryvacations.com
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Normandy Cow
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Post by Normandy Cow »

Marvin,
It sounds (and looks) lovely, but how would I get there? I've never heard of Saskatoon! Can I fly there from Heathrow or Gatwick, and if so what are the air fares like? I think these would be the first questions people would ask.

I could suggest you advertise on holiday-rentals.com, but if people aren't looking for accommodation in your area in the first place then they won't even find your advert.

So, the question is, how to raise the profile of your area so that people DO start to think about holidaying there...

I don't think I've been much help, have I? I think I've raised more questions than answering any of yours. Sorry. :oops:

But good luck, I hope it works out well for you! :D
A-two
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Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2004 10:05 am
Location: USA

Post by A-two »

Marvin,
Greetings from New York. I rent regularly to Europeans and suggest that you may want to ask for a website review in that section of this forum, because it's not only where you advertise, it's how you advertise and a very quick look at your site, (although I'm sure I missed some things you do have there because I did not check every page), reveals the following issues from an international traveler perspective.

As CatherineS has pointed out, how to get there from any major international airport? Your directions show a map with driving directions only. Can I drive from New York or would it take forever? I'm not sure, so it's also going to benefit the continental US to know more.

Also, your prices are stated in $. Are these Canadian dollars? I guess so, but it doesn't say. That needs to be clarified as C$, not US$, otherwise some folks may think the prices are higher than they really are.

The place looks like a beautiful and peaceful retreat, and I'm sure there will be people who are willing to make extra effort to get to somewhere that is off the beaten track, but these questions are some of the ones that any long distance traveler naturally will be asking themselves when they are browsing your site. If the answers are not easily accessible to them, will they move on to the next place of interest? You tell me.

Good Luck!
Marvin
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Apr 17, 2005 12:49 pm
Location: Love,Saskatchewan, Canada
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Post by Marvin »

Hi CatherineS and Joanna;
Thanks very much for your replies.
Catherine;
I'm not sure how to address the directions issue. Some things I feel are the resposibility of the viewer. A quick check on Google showed many sites relating to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Canada is the second largest country in the world (2753 m.,4431 KM. coast to coast) after Russia so, that being the case, where do you start from. The Canadian west is largely unknown and directions from either Vancouver BC or the east (Toronto, Montreal) would be meaningless due to the distances involved. Any thoughts?
And yes, you can fly there from anywhere in the world. Very often a dirct flight. I assume that airfares aren't cheap but anyone who flys anywhere would presumably check flights and airfares before they book since different carriers charge differently ( I think. I'm not much of a traveler).
As for raising our profile. I've been pondering that question for some time now. We went to a major trade show in Germany in '01 (CMT) and the official Saskatchewan showing there was terrible. I don't have an answer. Therein lies our problem.
Joanna:
It wouldn't take forever to drive here from New York but it would take a while. The distance to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is 1725 miles and we are about 175 miles north of Saskatoon so that would make it a 4000 mile round trip.
Our "Prices" page includes the information that all prices are in Canadian $ along with a currency converter but I guess I should hi-lite that information somehow. The web-site review is a very good suggestion and I will follow up on that.I guess, overall, my main question is "How do you find the people who are willing to make extra effort to get to somewhere that is off the beaten track"?
On our site we have a" FAQ" page and I will go through all posts that I recieve here and place the answers there. Unfortunately, it is not possible to answer every concievable question on the index page of our site and if people aren't interested enough to look where the answers might be found I really don't know what else to do. The one thing I will do is try to make more clear where we are located.
I don't know if this is the proper place to do this but here are some Saskatchewan stats.
Thanks again for your responses,
Marvin
www.rivertrailcountryvacations.com
Saskatchewan in Figures
Saskatchewan has a population of about 1,013,035 people (2002).
Saskatchewan covers an area of 651,900 sq km, of which 12.5 per cent is fresh water..
The province of Saskatchewan is 1225 km (763 mi.) long, 630 km (392 mi.)wide across the south and 445 km (277 mi.) across the north.
Regina is the capital of Saskatchewan with about 187,500 inhabitants
Saskatoon is the largest city of the province (Population 212,000)
About 76 per cent of the Saskatchewan's population lives in urban centres. Cypress Hills - 1,392 m has the highest elevation in Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan is Canada's "sunniest" province, averaging from 2,000 to 2,500 hours of sunshine annually.
The city of Estevan in the southeast leads the country with an average 2,540 sunshine-filled hours each year.
Important ethnic groups include British (16.5 %), German and Austrian (12.7 %), Aboriginal (6.8 %), Ukrainian (5.7 %), Canadian (3%), French (3%) and Scandinavian (2.4%).
Arrival
Most visitors arrive to Saskatchewan either by air via Regina or Saskatoon Airport or by car coming from Alberta or Manitoba.
Regina Airport is an ultra-modern airport with huge air cargo potential and connections to major North American cities, located 15-minutes from downtown. Getting to and from the airport is easiest by taxi. Many car rental agencies can be found at the airport.
Saskatoon's John G. Diefenbaker International Airport is located in the northwest region of Saskatoon, 10 minutes from the city centre. Numerous daily arrivals and departures link Saskatoon with all Canadian, American and International points.
Saskatchewan is linked to Alberta by two major highways. Trans-Canada-Highway #1 leads from Calgary to the province's capital Regina and further east to Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Highway 16 winds south-east from Edmonton to Saskatoon to meet Trans-Canada-Highway just west of Winnipeg.
Distances
Calgary, AB to Regina 764 km (474 mi)
Edmonton, AB to Regina 785 km (487 mi)
Winnipeg, MB to Regina 571 km (354 mi)
Saskatoon to Regina 259 km (160 mi)
Marvin
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Joined: Sun Apr 17, 2005 12:49 pm
Location: Love,Saskatchewan, Canada
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Post by Marvin »

Joanna;
I don't take the fact that nobody knows where we are personally. The area we live in was surveyed in 1932 and my grandparents were the first ones to move here (1929/30). We don't have a long and illustrious history and to top it off, we don't even have an address, just a PO box.
I wrote a local history for Saskatchewan's 100th birthday in '05 which is posted on our "Editorial Page". My point being that we are a very young part of the world. My grandparents were still clearing land with oxen when the rest of the world was lighting up with electricity and making almost routine air flights, if not around the world at least across the more southern parts of North America.
I am an amature writer who writes in a direct line which does not make me a good ad writer who must say a lot with very few words.
I guess I just don't know how to get all the required information across in a few words.
I know that web-surfers are notoriously lazy and impatient as a general rule and won't go looking for information and that was my purpose for laying my problems out on this forum. I need to learn how write effectively on my index or entry page.
Some visitors to our site will stay as long as an hour but the vast majority move on in 2 minutes or less. If you can't get their attention in the first 30 seconds or so you lose them.
I don't know the answers to give unless someone asks the questions and that is where not being a traveler becomes a problem. I don't know the proper questions.
And the fact is that since we are not near (ie:walking distance) from an ocean, large lake or Disneyland/world, the group of people that we would appeal to is relatively small.
We have peace, quiet, security, wilderness, world class fishing, birds and animals but no nightclubs, theatres, casinos or fancy restaraunts nearby so, for most people, we don't exist.
How do we reach the few.
I guess the disappointing part is that people won't ask for information.
Hopefully this forum can lead us in the right direction.
Thanks. Your response is certainly something to think about.
Marvin
www.rivertrailcountryvacations.com[url]
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