Codliveroil wrote:
Get rid of the guests have to register or login completely, this stops any inquiries and is one reason why I have not had one inquiry since I listed. Nor have I had one click through to my website, the reason is mentioned below..
Absolutely get rid of guests having to log in. Use a simple captcha if you want to prevent spam. However, I fear there may be other reasons why owners are not getting enquiries - the system, I am afraid, is not working ...
Using my own gite listing I tried to contact the gite via the Book Now button but was told I needed to log in but there was nowhere on the page to do so. I had to go back to the home page, sign up and then navigate back to the gite page to try again.
Before doing this I tried to use the "Contact Owner" button (still not logged in) but it said I needed to log in. I could however access the gite via the "website" buttom.
So I created a different account and logged in. On logging in I get a pop up box saying the site is insecure and my details could be seen by others so I assume you have no SSL certificate. I did proceed and once back on the site I got to the gite listing by using the back button. Possibly because of this when I tried to use the Book Now button but it told me I needed to log in so I refreshed the page and this time I was able to send through my Book Now request. My request appeared to go but I received no email notification so I have no record of my request. I also tried to use the Contact Owner button but the pop up box simply disappeared a second or so after I pressed send.
As a potential guest I think it very unlikley I would have bothered getting far enough to send a request.
I then logged out and logged back in as me, the gite owner. In the meantime I had received an email saying I had a booking request:
Hi there,
You have received a new booking request on
http://www.ownerholidays.com ! Go to your account in Bookings page to see the request.
The property is:
http://www.ownerholidays.com/properties/xxx/
The person requesting was XXX and their email is
xxx@gmail.com
The link to the website and the link to the email can be clicked on but there is no Owner holidays logo or anything and there is no point clicking to reply to the email at this point as there is no information about the booking.
So I head to the dashboard where I do find information on the login name of the guests, their email, the dates requested and for how many. Below this I have a red box that says "Delete Booking Request" There is nothing to allow me to contact the guest and the email now is not clickable. The only way I can contact them is to go BACK to my emails, click on their email address there (or copy and paste from the dashboard) and then reply, hoping I do not make an error when I copy over dates, names etc. It isn't workable.
And as for the message I sent the gite via the "Contact Owner" button, that never arrived.
Like others before me have already said, we would love to see Owner Holidays succeed. At the moment it won't because it isn't functioning. Even if by some slim chance a guest were to find the site, I very much doubt they would bother getting far enough to make a booking request. Furthermore if they used the contact email the owner will not reply as they never received it. I for one am very unhappy thinking that a potential guest is cross because the owner they thought they had contacted didn't bother replying. This is not how I run my business and I do not want a guest heading somewhere like Trip Advisor or my social media accounts and adding poor reviews based on something that was out of my control. I appreciate you have given me a free listing but that still needs to be something that is workable for both the owner and guests and anything less than that could potentially have a negative impact on my business. For these reasons I have currently disabled my listing.