Lay My Hat

We are owners of two modest Villas in Sicily & have been platinum subscribers (when possible) to OD/HA since 2011. Ah remember the good old days?!

We have noticed in January a 40% increase in excellent enquiries from Sawdays.co.uk (Ire/UK enquirers) that actually Close.

I'm wondering are travellers actually now "copping on"
to this OD/HA service charge to' travellers & are saying to themselves "f&>% this!!" We'll open a new safari page & search for a holiday rental where we won't get stung by the middle man??

That's the distinct feeling we are getting here in the Mezzogiorno...

Anyone else experienced a similar pick up "elsewhere"'& if so was it with another site other than Sawdays?

Ps - to clarify... we have no connection to Sawdays whatsoever. They've only given us 10% of our bookings to date & so it's been a very noticeable up swing in business from them

Don't sawdays charge a commission? Isn't the service charge a commission as well?

donnylu wrote:Don't sawdays charge a commission? Isn't the service charge a commission as well?

No commission charged by Sawdays (service charge?) as of today's date 5/1 .... The annual subscription cost us about €600 per Villa then they take no further cream or cuts from guest or owner. Done & dusted

Much better set up. As it was with OD before they upset the apple cart & drove guests into the waiting arms of smaller boutique outfits

Annual subscriptions are a commission. If they bring you 6000 euros in bookings, you pay a 10% service charge. If they bring you 12000 euros in booking then things get interesting.

donnylu wrote:Annual subscriptions are a commission. If they bring you 6000 euros in bookings, you pay a 10% service charge. If they bring you 12000 euros in booking then things get interesting.

I believe I've accurately described what Sawdays charge - to us in any event.

See their t&c's website & satisfy your yourself

donnylu wrote:Annual subscriptions are a commission.

No, that's a fixed fee. If they charged you a simple fixed percentage of your bookings then that would be commission.

A fixed fee can be by definition be a commission. But I know what you are trying to say. What I'm saying is that money is money however it is charged to you. All that matters is how much is being charged not the means of charging. To say sawdays are great because they don't charge a service fee but charge an annual subscription is a falsehood of economics.

donnylu wrote:A fixed fee can be by definition be a commission. But I know what you are trying to say. What I'm saying is that money is money however it is charged to you. All that matters is how much is being charged not the means of charging. To say sawdays are great because they don't charge a service fee but charge an annual subscription is a falsehood of economics.

Sorry, I disagree.

Commission = fixed or tiered percentage of your bookings such that the annual charge is variable dependent on how many bookings you achieve

Fixed Fee = Its £XXX per year, regardless of how many bookings you take.

You can show a fixed fee as a percentage of revenue for your own accounting purposes, but that doesn't mean the charge is commission based.

ManxRed1 wrote:

donnylu wrote:A fixed fee can be by definition be a commission. But I know what you are trying to say. What I'm saying is that money is money however it is charged to you. All that matters is how much is being charged not the means of charging. To say sawdays are great because they don't charge a service fee but charge an annual subscription is a falsehood of economics.

Sorry, I disagree.

Commission = fixed or tiered percentage of your bookings such that the annual charge is variable dependent on how many bookings you achieve

Fixed Fee = Its £XXX per year, regardless of how many bookings you take.

You can show a fixed fee as a percentage of revenue for your own accounting purposes, but that doesn't mean the charge is commission based.

Correct

Incorrect.

If someone charges a commission 1 euro per booking this is not a percentage as per your previous definition.

The key thing here is if the charge is 'per booking' or not.

We can split hairs on this all day if you like, but the Sawday's fee is not commission based.

I agree with ManxRed1. Also we have found that our Sawdays enquirers who then go on to book, also go on to be repeats. So you really can't try and factor their 'commission'; it's an annual subscription fee, end of.

To go back to the original point raised, I would agree that the quality of enquiries from Sawdays are superb. Conversion rate of about 40-50% for us too. As also are the quality of guests (to date).

Orsonthecat wrote:I agree with ManxRed1. Also we have found that our Sawdays enquirers who then go on to book, also go on to be repeats. So you really can't try and factor their 'commission'; it's an annual subscription fee, end of.

To go back to the original point raised, I would agree that the quality of enquiries from Sawdays are superb. Conversion rate of about 40-50% for us too. As also are the quality of guests (to date).

A guest a few summers back actually put us onto Sawdays & if I could bloody well remember his name I'd send him a vintners dozen. Quality enquiries yes. Conversion rate +50% for us. Personalised customer service on GMT. When the bookings are flowing as they are it's V difficult to fault them.

(Submitted one of ours to www.coolstays.com on trial to test the water & will report back to the correct thread about our experience there)

So out of curiousity out of the 600 euros you pay sawdays what percentage would that be against the income they generate you? This would be interesting to know.