strange results

Up, down, could be better? How to get more bookings is our number one obsession. Talk shop here.
roy1
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2015 2:55 pm

strange results

Post by roy1 »

We let through airbnb and Homeaway. This year we have only had three bookings through Homeaway which we have used successfully for around 8 years- until two years ago they were the only site we used. I contacted HA to see if they could offer any reason for our lack of bookings and they gave us a free months featured listing which made no difference despite being marketed as bringing in more enquiries ( normally you would pay extra for this) The airbnb bookings are fine but always for short periods- it is rare for us to get a weeks booking so the workload has increased. Am wondering what to do for next year- has anyone else had this happening?
User avatar
Casscat
Posts: 2692
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:43 pm

Post by Casscat »

Whereabouts is your property Roy. Oh, and welcome to the forum :D

I think most of us are experiencing a downturn in both enquiries and bookings following the senseless fiddling and twiddling by HA and OD which have succeeded in doing nothing but messing up previously good sites. I would say that bad publicity regarding the fraud risk of 'direct from owner' rentals hasn't helped. All you can do is be ever more focused in the way you try to get to your market, hence the question about where your rental is located.
roy1
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2015 2:55 pm

Post by roy1 »

In Somerset - our biggest draw is Bath- its The Barn at Upper Vobster
User avatar
Casscat
Posts: 2692
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 10:43 pm

Post by Casscat »

Very nice Roy :) I am not clued up on the best way to market properties in your location, but there are plenty of UK owners with useful insight to offer. For what it's worth (and that probably isn't much :mrgreen:) I still see AirbnB as being largely for short breaks and if that is not your primary market then you might need a 'holiday rentals' listing to complement your HA one if that is not bringing home the bacon. As you are accustomed to the commission model (which I hate with a passion) what about either a UK cottages type site and/or another mass market holiday rentals site such as Holiday Lettings? The latter would get you a Trip Advisor listing too.
roy1
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2015 2:55 pm

Post by roy1 »

thank you for your suggestions- as you say it seems silly to have to leave a site which worked so well for years but we will have to do something.
jenboyle1959
Posts: 224
Joined: Mon Apr 16, 2012 5:30 pm
Location: millport
Contact:

Post by jenboyle1959 »

I have had hardly any enquiries from AirBnB. I'm on a commission listing with Flipkey, and I would say about 50% of my bookings have come though them- my listing shows on Trip Advisor.
I also advertise on my local tourist information website- is there something similar for your area? I get a lot of enquiries from there too.
tavi
Posts: 2578
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2011 9:07 pm
Location: Algarve

Post by tavi »

Hi Roy, your place looks lovely. Before you give up on HA why not take a fresh look at your listing, your photos, your facilities, the competition and see if some of it could do with an update.

Worth remembering that the listing sites, their search mechanisms, and guests' wants have evolved over the 8 years you've been letting so you need to make sure you are keeping up.

I had a quick look at your listing and notice all the photos are captioned Bath &amp......not sure if there's a fault on HA. Your barn looks charming - just a shame there's no colour or sunshine in your lead shot.

Your bedroom shots could be improved with fully made up bed and towels. At the moment you have what looks like a non-matching, non-fitting quilt on the bed. Look at how the competition do it.

Am also not sure if the double futon is adding anything. Do you get many children? - Certainly two couples are unlikely to want to sleep in the main bedroom together so what's the point.? Also futons are notoriously uncomfortable. Why not re-think it as a romantic retreat for two people only and charge the same :)

Hope that's helpful and constructive.

8)
roy1
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2015 2:55 pm

Post by roy1 »

thank you Tavi- we now have two double beds upstairs all matching- its such a big room! . Generally continental families are happy with the family room. The photos are better on airbnb as they send out a professional photographer as part of the deal. Will see what we can do to brighten it up on HA
roy1
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2015 2:55 pm

Post by roy1 »

Tavi- you really have given me food for thought! I am going to analyse the market we appeal to - off the cuff it is families and generally from all over the world. We have 85 5 star reviews on airbnb so something is working - but only one recent one on HA - no bookings - no reviews........................ Thanks again
CrabtreeBarnYorks
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 9:08 pm
Location: in the hills of Pennine Yorkshire
Contact:

Post by CrabtreeBarnYorks »

hi Roy, we are UK based, a rural barn in the Yorkshire Pennines. We get over and above most of our enquiries from the holiday lettings site although more now coming from our own website. i don't much like HL but if you want enquiries they are much better for us than Air BNB. we have't used HA or OD so can't compare with them.
we got a local professional photographer to do some photos and it wasn't that expensive, we set it up like a film set!!
ever hopeful!
www.crabtreebarn.com
goosie
Posts: 408
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:47 pm
Location: Cotswolds

Post by goosie »

Welcome Roy. With much distaste (as I hate the dominance of the big companies in the lettings market) I would agree that HL are one of our best routes. The link up with trip advisor makes a difference I think, but it also means you need to work on getting past guests to write reviews.

Good luck
rosebud
Posts: 625
Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:24 pm
Location: Steyning, West Sussex

Post by rosebud »

Hi Roy
My property is in Sussex & during the last 2 years Owners Direct has brought me the most bookings, followed by Holiday Lettings. However recent changes to OD may well affect my future bookings & HL bookings have been going down.

I have had just 3 bookings via Air BnB in the past 2 years (last on in Dec 14) & only 1 that came indirectly through HomeAway.
Annew
Posts: 925
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2009 10:02 am
Location: Devon

Post by Annew »

Hi Roy

Have to say that your place looks lovely. The Garden in particular looks absolutely charming.

Do you attract any Soho House people who might want to use the Cowshed at Babington but who don't want to stay at Babington? Might be a cheeky market to consider.

Also, a weighted weekend or couples rate (with accompanying extras) and maybe a push for the weekend market might be a way forward.

I'm in a really rural area, but because my properties are large, I have a slight edge. With my marketeers hat on, I would suggest that you need to identify USP's and promote them on whichever site you choose to advertise on.
If you want to find me, Google The Barton Poughill!
User avatar
Robin S
Posts: 190
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2015 9:24 pm
Location: The Cotswolds
Contact:

Post by Robin S »

Welcome to the site :)

Our property is in the Cotswold Waterpark, so not a million miles away but does have 3 beds.

We've only been offering it out as a holiday let for a year now. A majority of bookings by volume and revenue have been from Holiday Lettings (sadly). We're on a commission advert.

Air bnb has typically been for shorter lets but we're seeing average duration of stay increase and are happiest with it of all the major sites in terms of how they treat both guests and us as owners.

OD has given us some valuable bookings but their recent changes are taking a while to filter through. We'll probably renew next year but i'm going to second guess it'll be our last year with them.
roy1
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Aug 10, 2015 2:55 pm

Post by roy1 »

Thank you to everyone who has answered . Regarding the suggestion about Babington House- funnily enough the couple who came to stay so that they could go to Babington's
New Year party liked it here so much that they bought the house next door to us! Back to bookings- over the last year 83 bookings from Airbnb and 4 from Homeaway. So no shortage of bookings - just that we would prefer to have longer bookings like we used to get- although maybe the market has changed. We are going to give Holiday Lettings a try as this seems to be the site that most of you prefer
Post Reply