Lay My Hat

Just to be clear declanja, that wasn't a dig at anyone - trust me, I have neither the skill set or social nuances to produce such success!
I do however admire from a distance what others have achieved locally with determination & perseverance. It must take a lot of time, investment & bit of balls.
We should each do what works for us & if that means sucking it up to get on, then we (hold our nose) & suck it up. I'm resigned to bailing out now but I wish each & every grudging participant in the OTA game nothing but success.

COYS wrote:J I'm resigned to bailing out now

Just when the fun is starting.

russellt wrote:

COYS wrote:J I'm resigned to bailing out now

Just when the fun is starting.

That’s bailing out from the OTA cesspit russelt - which I feel stupid for not doing long ago. All being well, next season will be my last & it might end up patchy but who knows?

declanja wrote:My apartment is in Nice and HA have over 15000 properties listed if you search for Nice.

Yes, but 14,000 of those will be in Dusseldorf!

COYS, you are fine, I did not take that as a dig at me at all!

COYS wrote: That’s bailing out from the OTA cesspit

Then watch the bunfight, sitting in the shade, sipping a glass of chilled chardonnay?? Nice.

ManxRed1 wrote: 14,000 of those will be in Dusseldorf!

Proximity search has taken on an entirely new meaning with these guys.

Interesting that some of you wouod absorb the commission.....I was just going to stick at my usual prices and have them add it on top.
Having said that.....its made me think.

How do you know what commission is being levied? I haven't been able to find that out anywhere (on my low June or Sept weeks 10% would be £260). I think I paid around £400 subs. this year.

Mousie
x

I would stick with your prices and let them dd the commission on top. The thing that will drive the OTAs to rethink their current strategy is money and as more and more clients see what they are paying to use the OTAs more and more of them will come direct.
Also, if you absorb the commission whats to stop cleints seeing what you charge without commission and coming direct looking for that price.

Mouse: I'm still on subscription with HA/OD but on TA/HL I add the credit card fee to my rates and they stick their extra on top so when I get a booking I get the same rate as if booked direct. I give enough clues in my advert how to find me elsewhere and having a unique (totally made up) name for the apartment helps.

I hate what the HomeAway Group is doing. When we renewed our subscription they activated the online booking, but we have never asked for consensus. They don't even have our payments data till now. We were with them just to have a direct contact with the guests, without them keeping money for months or adding extra fees. The main problem I see with this changes is that adding that "service fee" makes us no more competitive against the other accommodations.
So we should lower the price, but lowering it means we should lower also on our personal web site.

If a big percentage of EU owners formed a association/cooperative we could have a big weight towards the OTA, or form a cooperative OTA were rules are decided by owners. That's a dream I know.

“Owners Direct”...Hmmmm.....is this something for Trading Standards to take up??
Doesn’t seem like there is anything direct about this anymore. (I’m not listed so can’t make the complaint).

We were with OD in the past, it was the best site for quality of enquiries, 90% turning into bookings. Then the tragic merger with HA: increased subscription costs, drastic fall of enquiries, no more sustainable.
In the last years it's pratically a mirror of HA.co.uk.

Cotto wrote:
If a big percentage of EU owners formed a association/cooperative we could have a big weight towards the OTA, or form a cooperative OTA were rules are decided by owners. That's a dream I know.

Some dreams can come true. But the cooperative would have to be of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of owners, all willing to help in viral digital marketing.

I'm still here. Nearly sold all my own holiday properties.

Cotto wrote:We were with OD in the past, it was the best site for quality of enquiries, 90% turning into bookings. Then the tragic merger with HA: increased subscription costs, drastic fall of enquiries, no more sustainable.

And don't forget the ultimate bombshell, which was the purchase of it all by Expedia, who care nothing for owners or guests, because their sole objective is to fill their pockets.

After 10 years we have not renewed our Subscription with OD
So sad as until a few years ago we got 80% of our bookings from OD , last year 4 enquiries , 1 booking
The last straw was when I searched for our Villa , put in our village where we are located in the search bar (where 29 villas are advertised)
I know they have "extended" the search criteria in their algorithm , however checking the first 600 properties we still did not appear!

Like everyone we are now pushing for more bookings either from more friendly sites and from our own site!!

Larry