Holiday Lettings 'all cottages must be listed, not just 1or2

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
HoneypotCottages
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Holiday Lettings 'all cottages must be listed, not just 1or2

Post by HoneypotCottages »

Just had a call from Ana at Holiday Lettings telling me I have 3 properties up for renewal tomorrow. I explained my delay in renewing is down to the new pricing structure, I am having to look at which properties I want to list because I can not justify paying £478.80 per property when I have previously been paying over £100.00 less for a 1 year subscription listing.

Ana told me is that if you have more than 1 property (whether it be 2 or 18 ), you have to have all properties listed. There is no longer an option to advertise just 1, 3 or 6 cottages...it's all properties or none!!

So for me to list 14 cottages on Holiday Lettings, it will cost me £399.00 plus VAT (£478.80) or £6,703.20 in total.

The reason given is that some property owners list 1 or 2 cottages and then discuss (with guests who contact them) the other cottages they have available which means HL are losing out because guests are booking those cottages which are not listed with HL!

My other option is to go on the commission model where I will be charged 3% on all confirmed bookings taken and the guest will be charged anywhere between 5 - 15% depending on the property location!!!

When probed further, I was told the usual charge to guests is between 10 - 13% and in response to me suggesting guests are unlikely to want to book a cottage when the extra charge to them might be anywhere between £75.00 - £325.00, I was told HL advise customers (us) to inform guests of the liklihood of a higher charge (13%) as opposed to the lower charge (5%). That just backed up my argument but that's the way they're doing things now.

I was told this is cheap when you consider the cost is covered within a month by bookings taken! I suggested they can not guarantee that and in my opinion shouldn't be saying it but I was getting nowehere so left it that I'll not be renewing.

Talk about forcing your hand.

I'd be interested to know if anybody has been told this if they've looked to renew this week..?
Andy Smith
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

Can I ask....how do they know how many cottages you have? How do they know you've not sold, or in the process, of selling? Or how do they know that some of the cottages 'managed' (if an agent) are choosing not to be listed with HL?

I can't see how they can control this....and basically they may shoot themselves in the foot as rather than list some, owners/agents will choose to list non.

It all seems a little bizarre to me....and if true, very worrying because it's so draconian.

I would think they could control the issue mentioned by other means. Maybe if calendars were left blank, enqiries never resulting in bookings, emails mentioning other cottage names etc.

Mouse
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HoneypotCottages
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Post by HoneypotCottages »

I was wondering the same thing myself...how will they police it...?

We're going from 18 down to 14 cottages in the next few months due to a couple of sales.

I didn't ask as I wanted to give it more thought but interested to know peoples opinions and ideas on how they might police :0/

Andy
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Post by Hells Bells »

It is none of their damned business if you choose to advertise one cottage or all 18. If they miss out that's their tough luck.
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Post by FelicityA »

An outrageous attempt to virtually control you and your business. I can't see how they could ever know what you were doing with your enquiries. Why not tell them, it has all become too much for you and you have decided to just retain one cottage. Or, just say nothing more so that particular person you discussed it with forgets the conversation and quietly let all but one cottage drop....or all of them. And then make a new listing for just one with a new email address?
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Lets Go To Puglia
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Post by Lets Go To Puglia »

HelenB wrote:It is none of their damned business if you choose to advertise one cottage or all 18. If they miss out that's their tough luck.
Ditto
Ciao, Debbie

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Nemo
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Re: Holiday Lettings 'all cottages must be listed, not just

Post by Nemo »

HoneypotCottages wrote: Ana told me is that if you have more than 1 property (whether it be 2 or 18 ), you have to have all properties listed. There is no longer an option to advertise just 1, 3 or 6 cottages...it's all properties or none!!
That sounds to me like complete b**ll**s. Sorry but can you find anywhere in their terms that state that? That's just a scare tactic I reckon to try and force your hand as you surmised. https://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/content/terms
AndrewH
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Post by AndrewH »

HelenB wrote:It is none of their damned business if you choose to advertise one cottage or all 18. If they miss out that's their tough luck.
+1
If in your listing(s) you make no mention (express or implied) that you have other cottages to rent (outside of HL), besides the one(s) you are advertising with HL, then (a) How will they know? and (b) If they did find out, what could they reasonably do about it?

If HL demands payment for cottages not advertised through them as well as those that are it would be cause to raise a complaint about HL's conduct to the competition regulator in the appropriate country. In the UK this would be the "Competition and Markets Authority".

On the other hand, if in an HL advertisement you tell potential guests that besides the property shown, you have a portfolio of other cottages to let - direct or through another agency - from which they could choose, then perhaps HL have a point.
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

Six or 7 years back when I was using OD in subscription only days you could have a link to your own website with the proviso that all properties on that website were listed with OD; that seemed fair, especially as OD offered a realistic deal for listing multiple properties on the same site.

Fast forward to the situation under discussion (and I realise this is HL and not HA/OD, but they all seem to copy each other's model) and the imposition doesn't seem remotely fair, although it's not difficult to understand why they want to do it.

AndrewH's suggestion about a complaint from the legal standpoint is interesting, although these outfits do all seem to have teflon coatings.
HoneypotCottages
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Post by HoneypotCottages »

Thanks everyone...I need to look into it a bit more but that is exactly what I was told. I don't seem to have random people from HL contacting me...tends to be the same couple of people every time.

I don't mention any other cottages on individual listings...I accept from HL point of view that would be unreasonable but to be told it's all or none seems unfair.

HL do generate good business on many of the cottages but if i have to advertise all or none then it will be none.
Andy Smith
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Post by AndrewH »

HoneypotCottages wrote:I don't mention any other cottages on individual listings...I accept from HL point of view that would be unreasonable but to be told it's all or none seems unfair.
Not only does it seem unfair, it is unfair. In the old days this came under the heading "Contracts in restraint of trade" and that phrase just about sums it up. Then a person needed to show a contract containing the offending clause (i.e. "you must advertise all of your 18 cottages with us"), and then pursue a case in court to have the clause quashed.

It is easier now, because there is a official Regulator who should be able to take care of this. You don't need to show a contract, but you do need written evidence of what HL have been telling you over the phone. An email would do.

If it were me, I should go ahead and advertise just one property with HL and pay for it. If or when I get the telephone call from HL saying I must put all my business with them or none at all, I would insist that they put it all in writing. Actually, I doubt HL would be so foolish as to do that, or indeed hide my paid for listing.
HoneypotCottages
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Post by HoneypotCottages »

I left it for a while before deciding to renew an advert for a cottage on HL and paying directly on line by card as opposed to ringing them up and paying by card over the telephone which I've always done in the past.

Today I received an email to say it had all gone through and would be visible within 2 hours....thanks etc.

I have now received an email to say as explained, I can't advertise just one...it's got to be all or none.

So it seems like I have to make a decision...all or none!

Some cottages do well on HL according to stats and others are rather poor...frustrating or what...!
Andy Smith
HoneypotCottages
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Post by HoneypotCottages »

Here's the email...

Dear Andy,

We have just received the payment for one of your properties that were offline.

As it was explained before, we require full disclosure of your responsible inventory and to take advantage of the paid listing you would need to advertise all of your homes and not just a percentage of the inventory for which you are responsible.

Our aim is to prevent inquiries generated by our websites being used against unadvertised properties. As you currently use this product we need to understand your full inventory number and ensure that your calendar represents the accepted booking interest we have provided you before allowing you to continue using the product going forward.

If it is established that you are not advertising all of your homes on the website and you decide that this is something that you don’t want to change at this stage then we wont be able to put the property that you have paid back online and a refund will be requested.

At this stage I ask you to consider which option is most appropriate to you.

Please let us know so we can proceed with the other payments or with the refund.

Kind regards,

Ana Cunha
Andy Smith
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Post by AndrewH »

Hello HoneypotCottages. I have PMed you with some thoughts on this.
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Mouse
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Post by Mouse »

Do you OWN all of these properties or are you an agent?

If an agent then just get it registered by the owner but with an email address that you control.

If you own them, can't you say that you're not renting out the others? Again, I fail to see how they can police this.

As an aside, if they're taking this measure then is this an indicator that all is not well on their income?
It is also a measure that will drive agents away who want to selectively advertise properties on sites that suit them/clientele.

Bizarre.

This together with e-Richards post has totally left me gobsmacked.

Mouse
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Last edited by Mouse on Fri Aug 05, 2016 9:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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