Lay My Hat

I have no connection with SH other than as an owner but just wanted to bring it to the attention of everyone with Spanish properties who may not yet have tried them.

I have just posted this in Rental Listing Sites but thought it worth putting here too in case any Spanish owners miss it.

I was with them for a couple of years and de-listed in 2012 (I think) because I did not seem to be getting bookings any more. In April I decided it was time to give them another go, in line with my strategy of going niche rather than being part of a million properties all over the world.

I really like the new site. It is informative - lots of regional info for travellers, easy to use in terms of loading properties, they are making a great effort to stay on top of and communicate the latest info on the legislation and best of all their customer service is personal and second to none in terms of response. Five stars all round and a really good booking within a couple of weeks of listing.

They also have special offer section which is free to use and which used to bring in some late fillers. Going to try it for a July break now.

Thanks for that Peps. I will give them a look.

I've never had any promos from them, but I get a lot form Philip Buckland at Spain holidays direct? Do you know them?

Mousie
x

Mouse wrote:I've never had any promos from them, but I get a lot form Philip Buckland at Spain holidays direct? Do you know them?

Mousie
x

No I don't but saw a post about them recently and did a few searches. They don't seem to come up anywhere on the first few pages of google so I imagine not much traction!!

In fact even if you search with the name and .com and .uk you get nothing

Hmmm! That's what I found for Ibiza....but then a lot don't come up as 'ibiza' is very heavily promoted.

SH is nice looking site, and I didn't realise they had affiliates across Europe. Unfortunately they only have 9 properties in Ibiza and I always think the lack of choice wouod put people off. Though I might be wrong. I always wish in situations like this I could mail one of the advertisers and ask if it works for them.

Mousie
x

Mouse wrote:. I always wish in situations like this I could mail one of the advertisers and ask if it works for them.

Mousie
x

I have done that more than once and the owners have nearly always responded helpfully. Saved me money too!😂

We went back to SH in February and got 3 bookings almost immediately. I French, 1 Dutch and 1 from Belgium which was exactly what we hoped for but nothing since in spite of still having July dates left.
We have just let our OD lapse so really hope SH will will come good.

We are very pleased with Spain-Holiday - especially for lower season bookings and guests from Scandanavia/Belgium/Netherlands - though we do get UK bookings too.

We had an annoying free week in early July and put up a special offer and it got booked within a few days.

Their site is simple and their blog about legislation is really informative for property owners. We also like their Facebook presence. We've just registered with the Guardia Civil to register our guests, based on one of their informative and simply written blog posts.

Their customer service is excelllent too and it's easy to talk to someone if you need to.

Most of our bookings come from Owners Direct - but Spain-Holiday is second.

And to note - we are also not connected with SH in any way.

CORRECTION: The info re Guardia Civil registration of guests was from Rental Tonic. The author, Louise Brace, also writes for Spain-Holiday, hence me thinking it was a SH blog post
http://rentaltonic.com/how-to-register- ... andalucia/

I have been with SH for many years and have never been disappointed.
They operate using the best of both - old school, with prompt customer response plus very innovative - leaders in the field with this new registration of properties, for example. They care about both the customers and the owners.
I haven't received promos either but am very happy with the service provided.
I particularly like their review system, all mine are genuine and you would find it difficult to fake them with SH. Transparency - isn't that the new "in" word ?
They recently introduced a system whereby they can send automated replies about non/ availability, which is really helping me at the moment.
The site has a good track record for security too.

Wot fincafern said.

SH do a good job, there was a little dip a while ago but they are back on track. Customer service is second to none

All sounding good....I wish they had more than 9 properties for this island.

It would be lovely to be dealing with a company that actually understands and cares about the holiday accommodation market.

Mousie
x

They are owner-friendly. Wow! What an original idea!
They get you bookings. That's quite nice.
They comply with Spanish law. You are not competing with illegal rentals.
If you contact them, they answer you.
They are still subscription based. You pay your subscription and then you and the renter do the deal.
In other words they do everything that we all scream for.

Mousie - I am not sure that that is a negative (only 9 properties). If someone finds Spain Holiday and is looking for Ibiza you are there and easily found not totally lost among a load of competing properties. All the villas listed seem to be well filled for the main season apart from Can Nieves where they do not seem to publish their availability - or people are put off by the total lack of promotional information!

We are one of only 5 in our immediate town on SH - I am delighted to be so!

Mouse wrote:I wish they had more than 9 properties for this island.

That has to be an advantage surely? 219€ for 12 months, got to be worth a punt?

Hmmm. I think it may be. Partly because I believe in their ethos. Especially the legal bit....if OD did that they would lose 2/3rds of the ibiza properties.

Ok....come August I will sign on the dotted line. Fingers crossed.

Mousie
x

I really like Spain Holiday - for all the reasons already cited. I have let my subscription with them lapse because I am unlikely to continue to rent out my property after this year and my calendar is full, but if I did return to the fray then I would advertise with SH. I found that they brought in non-UK guests which I never saw from HA/OD.