Lay My Hat

By now, everyone should be aware of significant changes afoot with some of the bigger channels; changes that have been trending for some time and are continually encroaching on property manager profitability. The most notable example is this recent announcement from HomeAway stating that they plan to proceed with:

– A 25% increase in the cost of listing subscriptions
– New fee applies to users that work with integrated softwares
– A 10% fee for bookings made through different channels, but that HA believe derived from a guest that was previously considering the same property on their site.

Why is an excellent channel like HomeAway, used by most vacation rental managers, charging its clients to use tools that don’t affect them directly? Why is HA getting a fee for bookings made through other channels? And how do they get this information? How should vacation rental managers react?

And where/when was this announcement made ? Link please

I haven't seen anything about this either

So only affects Property management companies not individual owners - (at the moment )

I was reading the Homeaway discussion forum today ( definitely worth popping into the USA forum from time to time) and learnt that the sub is going up 100 dollars ( i think that was the figure) on January 12th. You are only told about it if you are coming up for renewal. They don’t tell you if it is a while yet as they don’t want you getting it cheaper, I guess. This IS for individual owners!

FelicityA wrote:I was reading the Homeaway discussion forum today ( definitely worth popping into the USA forum from time to time) and learnt that the sub is going up 100 dollars ( i think that was the figure) on January 12th. You are only told about it if you are coming up for renewal. They don’t tell you if it is a while yet as they don’t want you getting it cheaper, I guess. This IS for individual owners!

Maybe HA/OD are looking over their shoulder to see what TA have done. I get the impression that TA don't really want to encourage subscription listings. I used a TA subscription site till 8 months ago. At renewal time they doubled the annual sub.

paulina.valverde wrote:... – A 10% fee for bookings made through different channels, but that HA believe derived from a guest that was previously considering the same property on their site ... Why is HA getting a fee for bookings made through other channels? And how do they get this information? ...

Why indeed! It looks to me (in relation to English law) that HA could be crossing a red line so far as their London based site is concerned. I can see opportunities for litigation there.

Welcome, Paulina, by the way.

FelicityA wrote:I was reading the Homeaway discussion forum today ( definitely worth popping into the USA forum from time to time) and learnt that the sub is going up 100 dollars ( i think that was the figure) on January 12th. You are only told about it if you are coming up for renewal. They don’t tell you if it is a while yet as they don’t want you getting it cheaper, I guess. This IS for individual owners!

My sub is due around the 20th Jan. I have been quoted £298.80 - no mention of a hike on the 12th. I have been putting off renewing but maybe I should do it now just in case! Wouldn’t put it past them to hike it without telling me, just before renewal.

paulina.valverde wrote:Why is an excellent channel like HomeAway, used by most vacation rental managers, charging its clients to use tools that don’t affect them directly? Why is HA getting a fee for bookings made through other channels? And how do they get this information? How should vacation rental managers react?

This is for property managers using software integrated with the HA platform.

Quite simple for HA to write some software that identfies calendar updates against enquiries for the same dates and also look at the name/email address of the person who enquired and compare to the name/email address of person who booked.

TA have similar software already that can check your calendar updates to recent enquiries.

The people I really feel sorry for are the original employees of VRBO, HolidayRentals, OwnersDirect etc. who all worked so hard and so well to build the companies, to build the brand and to become so successful.

They must really be feeling really sh1tty about all this cr@p coming out of Bellevue, Washington State

e-richard wrote:The people I really feel sorry for are the original employees of VRBO, HolidayRentals, OwnersDirect etc. who all worked so hard and so well to build the companies, to build the brand and to become so successful.

They must really be feeling really sh1tty about all this cr@p coming out of Bellevue, Washington State

Have a look at the following! Maybe you would not feel so sorry for them then. This is the UK but it looks similar in France. Breakfast, nights out, social activities, dress down everyday!?

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Hom ... E42523.htm

A few unhappy people - maybe the ones who have to deal with difficult and unhappy property owners!

https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Hom ... E42523.htm

Fake news!

leon wrote:https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Hom ... E42523.htm

Fake news!

Re fake news: Jury seems to be out on this one!

https://help.glassdoor.com/article/Frau ... ews/en_US/

I know this one appears to be on its own in a sea of favourable reviews, but it made me chuckle:

I have been working at HomeAway full-time

Pros

- can hone your skills at defrauding people
- learn how to be indifferent to customers when they are stressed out and at wits end because you will not help them
- learn how a business can set itself up to be totally unaccountable and exacpe liability

Cons

- deal with endless complaints and problems
- harsh and unfriendly atmosphere, full of scammers

Advice to Management

quit