What's happened to Owner Holidays?

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
AndrewH
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Post by AndrewH »

russellt wrote:Msoft's BSOD was part & parcel of innovation, AND we paid a fortune for it. :shock:
So far as I know, the Blue Screen Of Death was something the ordinary man in the street with a computer (as I am) had to like or lump. It was Microsoft and Microsoft ran his computer. Where else could he take his business?

This is not so with listing sites. There appears to be a proliferation of new sites eager for an owner's business. I understand the points that Newtoit is making. Unless a listing site listens to its customers and wants to act on the advice it receives and not reject it out of hand, it is heading for failure, whether it stays 'live' or not.
Nigel Goodwin
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Post by Nigel Goodwin »

Just to be clear, I was more or less full time on OH from late 2016 to August 2017.

I did a lot of work during that period (a) improving map-based searches (b) increasing inventory to over 35,000 (c) improving costing model (d) more powerful web server (e) numerous other improvements.

I expect to be back full time for a month or two from end March this year. Main focus will be digital marketing, with some minor improvements to the site. I will also be looking at increasing inventory to 100,000 through partnerships and individual adverts.

Functional improvements I plan:

a) easier for guests to make contact
b) more accurate costings
c) more feature-based searches

I may possibly add the ability for owners to migrate easily from adverts on other major OTA's if I can be convinced of the legality and benefits. It is a question of 'who owns the information' and there are many different views on that.

Increasing inventory is extremely important. I had quite a lot of potential advertisers who were not interested until I had over 30,000 properties.

It's like running a marathon (which I have done a few times). It is sometimes a good strategy to walk a mile or two to catch your breath and avoid over heating.

I have been a software director during the naughties for a successful company selling a software product, and have the battle scars keeping one step ahead of the users. At least during that period the users were showing some green (dollars) for encouragement.

I also have the battle scars from being beaten around the head by the marketing director.

I am very grateful to all those who advised at the start (I had a private group of some LMHers), and to all those who have taken their time and effort to load properties.
Nigel Goodwin
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Post by Nigel Goodwin »

I have just been working on this. I have developed a version (yet to be deployed on the web site) which has a pop-up login form if a guest is not logged in and they make a booking request or try to contact the owner. The link to the owner website never required login.

I don't think it is unreasonable to ask a guest to login, the owner will always want a contact email address.

The main issues seems to be to make the login easy.

I just tried airbnb - yes,you have to login to book.

With HA, it starts the whole process of going through booking information and paying.

I guess some sites have a 'guest' login, e.g. Trainline I think, but that will still ask for email address.
Nigel Goodwin
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Post by Nigel Goodwin »

It has been a long time, far too long, but I am starting to relaunch ownerholidays. I have had to take a break for various reasons.

My apologies.

I have just upgraded the site. It is now possible to contact agency or owner websites directly without having to login.

If you want to make an enquiry or contact the owner, a pop up window appears to log in. Previously nothing happened if you weren't logged in.

A couple of other glitches have been sorted out.
DevonRental
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Post by DevonRental »

Having listed on OwnerHolidays and not received any enquiries does not bother me. Really keen to see more listings added in the UK in order for some momentum to materialise. Even if charging might be a bit much given the lack of exposure to clients, perhaps more exposure to social media and asking existing listers to help spread the word to boost number of listings would help.

This seems very little effort with only a potential upside for all concerned.

sick and tired of the alternatives!

Hope you hang in there!
Nigel Goodwin
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Post by Nigel Goodwin »

DevonRental wrote: Hope you hang in there!
I show everybody at work the site and advise them to book a holiday.

I'm working at Shell as a data scientist, I have to pay the bills, but I use the map search as an example to my co-workers of how Shell software could be vastly improved. I also show my North America colleagues. I'm not sure if I can advertise on internal Shell social media....but it is a big potential audience of 86,000 plus contractors.
Old Bill
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Post by Old Bill »

We’ve recently had our first booking from OH, for which thank you very much Nigel.
rosebud
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Post by rosebud »

Hi Nigel

Pleased to be able to list on your site.

Afraid I can't update dates and prices .. This was an issue for me in the past.. never able to sort it out

Could you please give me some guidance on this as i have a weekly price displayed that is far too expensive!

I cal however, is working beautifully

Also noticed a warning that your site is not secure. I think this could discourage potential guests. Is this going to change?

Jenny
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Ben McNevis
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Post by Ben McNevis »

Hi Nigel. The thing that impresses me most about OH is the quantity of listings that you have. You must have worked really hard on convincing the Property Managers to list and then to have worked really hard on the data integrations.

What I'm not impressed by is the experience as a guest: I open the site to see a big picture but no search bar. I have to click the Hamburger button, then Find a vacation, then Search for the search dialog to come up.

Having filled in the search dialog (and there's no Go-Search button at the end of it) eventually the site responds by zooming the map to an incredible level of detail, in the Atlantic, just south of Ghana. It takes about 15 Unzoom clicks to even get to see anything other than water.
Cheers, Ben
www . scotland-cottage.com www . scottish-cottage.com


Visiting Glenrothes? It's one of your Fife-a-day
Nigel Goodwin
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Post by Nigel Goodwin »

Ben McNevis wrote:Hi Nigel. The thing that impresses me most about OH is the quantity of listings that you have. You must have worked really hard on convincing the Property Managers to list and then to have worked really hard on the data integrations.

What I'm not impressed by is the experience as a guest: I open the site to see a big picture but no search bar. I have to click the Hamburger button, then Find a vacation, then Search for the search dialog to come up.

Having filled in the search dialog (and there's no Go-Search button at the end of it) eventually the site responds by zooming the map to an incredible level of detail, in the Atlantic, just south of Ghana. It takes about 15 Unzoom clicks to even get to see anything other than water.
Good points.
Nigel Goodwin
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Post by Nigel Goodwin »

Ben McNevis wrote:
What I'm not impressed by is the experience as a guest: I open the site to see a big picture but no search bar. I have to click the Hamburger button, then Find a vacation, then Search for the search dialog to come up.

Having filled in the search dialog (and there's no Go-Search button at the end of it) eventually the site responds by zooming the map to an incredible level of detail, in the Atlantic, just south of Ghana. It takes about 15 Unzoom clicks to even get to see anything other than water.
Not perfect yet, nothing ever is, but I have done some work to improve the above.
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