Lay My Hat

I'm on there....was one of the first so I am 'free' until end September.

At first (feb/march) I had a couple of enquiries, 1 by phone, but none progressed further....though I had only got 3 weeks available and none where peak.

All my weeks sold, bar one, by April, so again I'm probably not a good example but they have proved themselves on the customer service for me. They are quick to respond and they called me early may for a long chat about stats and our listing. Unlike other sites they are wiling to share info.

I'm really hoping they succeed....but like you, I've found they don't come up on the searches for here. However I can see that they're gradually developing the site to include more services to owners, so I hope that they can crack the seo too.

I'm afraid that I wouldn't pay at the moment but as I get quite a few enquiries in high season for next year I'm hoping they might prove themselves yet.

Mousie
x

I was also one of the first to be listed on their website. Have only had one enquiry and that was for dates already booked. Spoke to them a few weeks ago when they asked for money to continue listing. I told them I had no bookings and would not be paying any money and the properties in our area that show up first have no calendar, prices etc yet my property is nearly at the end yet it has a calendar, reviews, prices, etc. As a guest after looking at a few properties didn't have the necessary information I would leave the site and look elsewhere. I told them this and said if they prioritise properties like mine that have all the necessary information to book I might reconsider. Were supposed to call me back but hasn't happened so far. In the beginning I thought they might be an alternative to OD but at this stage they have failed. I'm just glad it hasn't cost me any money.

Like Mouse, I already had a fairly limited calendar when we listed & did find it a little UK-centric at first.
However, their customer service & development is refreshingly responsive & receptive to owner input. They have made dramatic improvements quite quickly & it has definitely driven a few people directly to our website even with the availability limitations.

Those looking for 'alternatives to OD' must surely realise that this can't & won't happen overnight but if those same owners judge too quickly & withdraw their support based on short term results it's unlikely to happen at all.

USMegaCorps have all of the money & none of the scruples to dominate searches for now so I think passing judgement on a year(?) old start up is a tad harsh. Give them (all) a chance.

Thanks for your responses. £300 is a large amount to pay out so until they prove themselves I'll give them a miss.

To those that have listed on simplyowners.net

Would you let us know of your experiences and results by listing on simplyowners.net? I am particularly interested in your opinion about enquirers having to submit personal information on a form before being allowed to link to 'Owners Website' or 'Owners email address'.

I am not listed, and don't have any intentions of doing so. Their sharp practices at the launch of the site were enough to convince me that I did not want to list there. However, if I were to enquire about a property I would expect to have to provide some information on any other site, so not sure that is so much of a problem.

Hells Bells wrote:I am not listed, and don't have any intentions of doing so. Their sharp practices at the launch of the site were enough to convince me that I did not want to list there.

Hi Hells Bells, that's entirely up to you whether or not you choose to list with them. I too objected to the way their site was set up at the beginning, and I told the owner that I was unhappy about having my information poached. Since than, however, I have come to see how professional their site is (unlike other newbies in the field), and the fact that they have actually come up with the goods - in terms of enquiries and firm bookings - has made me think much better of them. So far, they seem to be the only real alternative to the dreaded OD/HA.

I paid £300.00 and joined Simply Owners in September 2017 after leaving OD.
To date I have had only one booking through them though to be fair my calendar was fairly full when I joined.
They are easy to deal with and very helpful. For instance one of their staff phoned on my behalf, a query from The Netherlands who had sent me the wrong email address, which resulted in me getting the said booking.
I have even spoken to one of the bosses, 'Tim' following a phone query from me.
I to hope they succeed, they appear to have the right attitude towards their business and their customers, i.e. us.

I only found this group/forum as I tried to see what reviews have been posted regarding SimplyOwners.

I joined them mid 2017, though my property was almost fully rented out for 2017 by then (I only rent out in summer season). I have received a couple of enquiries for this year and just had my first booking, so it has already paid for itself for me.

I was surprised at the suspicion (possibly cynicism ) of some of the contributors to this thread.

SimplyOwners has been started by someone ( I don't know him / am not related to him ) to create a guest to owner website that offers everything we now miss from Ownersdirect. According to Trustpilot there are over 1000 dissatisfied previous users of Owners Direct. The SimplyOwners guy has invested a vast amount of money and resource to hopefully give us what we had and have no longer. The only way it will become a success is if MANY people use it. I personally want it to become a success as I see no equivalent offering (my property is in Italy).

Note that the Trustpilot site give very positive reviews of SimplyOwners... but only 45ish reviews. As a previous contributor points out, it needs 100s or 1000s of hits to move the ranking up on Google.

OwnersDirect sold to Expedia for several $billion. I hope the guy who started SimplyOwners becomes equally successful. If he does (provided he doesn't sell out to someone who changes it) we'll all have benefited along the way.

Similar to the rest of you, I enjoyed 100s of page views per month and a full booking schedule. I now get about 20 page views per month, and I'm looking forward to SimplyOwners filling my calendar so I can switch off the OwnersDirect contract this year.

We...many 100's or 1000's of independent owners, need to support a company that can provide a future for us. This seems to be the best I have found.

Of course, I could go AirBnB or Booking.com, however both of those a) take a commission and b) hold your money until the guest arrives (just as OwnersDirect do).

If I'm mistaken, I'm sure you'll correct me.

If I'm not, let's act positively and help someone who is there to help us?

StuartAJ wrote:I was surprised at the suspicion (possibly cynicism ) of some of the contributors to this thread.

Welcome to this community, StuartAJ. I have not quoted your long post in full, but I have just picked out one of the points raised concerning Simply Owners. I think it was neither "suspicion" nor "cynicism" which gave it a bad press on LMH, from most, but not all members. The real reason, as I see it, was a veiled anger and disquiet at what was seen as (or indeed was) a lack of ethics when SO lifted, without an owner's consent, an owner's complete listing on Owners Direct and placed it on their site. This was at the beginning and done using a technology which was somehow available to them.

IMO, yes, it was an unethical start, but harmful to owners it was not. As for what Owners Direct might have thought, I really don't care.

AndrewH wrote:

StuartAJ wrote:I was surprised at the suspicion (possibly cynicism ) of some of the contributors to this thread.

Welcome to this community, StuartAJ. I have not quoted your long post in full, but I have just picked out one of the points raised concerning Simply Owners. I think it was neither "suspicion" nor "cynicism" which gave it a bad press on LMH, from most, but not all members. The real reason, as I see it, was a veiled anger and disquiet at what was seen as (or indeed was) a lack of ethics when SO lifted, without an owner's consent, an owner's complete listing on Owners Direct and placed it on their site. This was at the beginning and done using a technology which was somehow available to them.

IMO, yes, it was an unethical start, but harmful to owners it was not. As for what Owners Direct might have thought, I really don't care.

+1

AndrewH wrote:
IMO, yes, it was an unethical start, but harmful to owners it was not. As for what Owners Direct might have thought, I really don't care.

I’ll go along with that, except I’ll add that there have been plenty of examples where the lifting of owners’ information from other sites has been, or was potentially harmful to owners; very briefly, think outright scams, and sites where owners found themselves without their knowledge and would not have chosen to be associated with the site for whatever reason.

Hence, regardless of the true intentions of SO, the initial reactions to the startup methods of the site were wholly understandable. I guess the question now is whether getting off to a bad start is still relevant if SO’s ongoing operating methods are ethical (and not just in comparison to HA, AbnB etc etc which is taking a sub-zero baseline!).

I too would love to see alternative sites succeed, but with this website I don't understand the availability calendar.
I have just been looking to book a holiday villa for August it shows many properties are available but once you click on owners website their calendar shows not available, this is confusing and their is no explanation at the top to say some villas may not be available...

It is a lot of time wasting for customers..

Bree wrote:... it shows many properties are available but once you click on owners website their calendar shows not available....

Well, the question must be is that the fault of the listing site or is it owners not bothering to update their calendar everywhere?

Another (semi-related) question is whether SO supports iCal. Does anybody know ?

e-richard wrote:

Bree wrote:... it shows many properties are available but once you click on owners website their calendar shows not available....

Well, the question must be is that the fault of the listing site or is it owners not bothering to update their calendar everywhere?

Another (semi-related) question is whether SO supports iCal. Does anybody know ?

Yes, it supports iCal