Your Holiday Matters - great idea, is it working?

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
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Jimbo
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Your Holiday Matters - great idea, is it working?

Post by Jimbo »

Since joining this forum, I've been interested to read the run-downs on the various rental listing sites. To date, we've advertised only on Holiday Rentals (and another which quickly disappeared) and the reponses which have turned into bookings have been terrific. (If anybody here is involved with HR - many thanks).

I can see, however, the need for and the increasing appeal of the smaller 'niche' sites which focus on quality and I was fascinated to read about Your Holiday Matters after a couple of LMH members pointed me there. I wondered if it was possible for members here and there to flesh it out a bit.

How's it going? Are you getting the quality of members that you need? Are you delivering bookings for your members? What's the ratio of success/failure of applicants? How big do you want it to be?

Good luck to YHM and other niche sites. Biggest isn't always best, in my opinion.

Jim

PS: What other niche rental sites are out there?
Fraise
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Post by Fraise »

Hi,it's a bit soon for any stats yet. We haven't produced the press release yet,but it's being worked on at this very moment ...watch this space.. :wink:

http://www.yourholidaymatters.com/
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Giddy Goat
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Post by Giddy Goat »

Hullo again Jimbo - :D - thanks for raising this - did you like the look of the site? All feedback welcomed, especially from the eye of someone to whom presentation means all, and has such a practised one at that! And we are as usual, glad to receive inquiries or applications - plus help from anyone able and interested, who subsequently lists his or her property and who can lend a hand.

Not sure of the ratio of successful applicants to unsuccessful - my work on YHM has been on the editorial side Jimbo, but I do know that some who have been refused have been turned away simply on the grounds of being too new to the holiday rental market and unable, as yet, to furnish the required number of references from previous guests. Since the site was a spin-off of LMH, the majority of its advertisers have been from here; I don't think our membership is truly representative of the holiday rental population as a whole however - we are on LMH, mostly, to learn not just how to make a successful (read, money-making) business out of it, but to ensure our guests are happy and will come back; this, to most of us here, plays a big part in terms of our job satisfaction.
Last edited by Giddy Goat on Wed Oct 25, 2006 3:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Partridge
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Post by Partridge »

I like the concept behind the site enormously. Unfortunately I cannot apply seeing as I don't have a website and at this point in time it's looking less likely seeing as the 'owe us a favour designer' seems to have temporarily disappeared :evil:

I keep reading the more technical bits of the forum and simply cannot get my head round any of it, your collective knowledge leaves me quite stunned. Having said that, although a very organised and I like to think intelligent person I have been like this all my life, now and then something will just give me a 'mental block'. I can remember being like that about mortgages when I was about 20, seems funny now :lol:
Don't waste energy on things you can't change.

Costa de la Luz apartment rental
www.ownersdirect.co.uk/spain/S5386.htm
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

Partridge, my website was done by me without any knowledge of HTML or anything else. My domain is hosted by 1and1, and as part of the package, you receive access to free software to help you build your site. There are lots of templates to choose from. If you can use MS Word, you can use them, all copy, paste, point and click necessary. No web design skills at all.
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Partridge
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Post by Partridge »

Really Helen, I'm impressed. Part of me wants to know more and part of me is stamping my feet with my hands over my ears going 'la la la la' :lol:

GG
As you are well aware, I hate technical stuff but would be glad to help YHM if there is ever anything that other members do not have time for, although I'm not sure what but I do love researching things, oh and nattering......... :oops:
Don't waste energy on things you can't change.

Costa de la Luz apartment rental
www.ownersdirect.co.uk/spain/S5386.htm
Hells Bells
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Post by Hells Bells »

:D
KathyG
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Post by KathyG »

Well Helen I am extremely impressed!

I've been battling along with Dreamweaver and you tell me I could have had a professional looking website just using something like Word!! :shock:

That is just so not fair!! :roll:

Kathy
janskov
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Post by janskov »

If you want a really simple and easy website you could get a GMAIL account and use this service: http://pages.google.com/
It took me 10 minutes to create this: http://dk18340.googlepages.com/home
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

I am so impressed by these things.

It seems like it's so easy these days to create a really great-looking website. Well, at least, easier than what I do -- everything from scratch!

I think it's fantastic.
Brooke
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marcus
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Post by marcus »

Re google pages

Janskov, you are right I PMd Partridge suggesting google pages yesterday, a very quick and painless way to come up with a site - only thing to note - choose a username that is suitable for a site name e.g. holidaycorsica rather than marcus4785 because that name is used as the sitename.

I already had a gmail acount in a 'bad' name so sent myself an invitation to a different email address and set up a second account with a better username for my 'experiment' - took me half an hour rather than 10 minutes though! (I didn't post here because my example was related to a different site and would have looked like shameless self-promotion!)

Re YHM:

come on in, the waters lovely! Oh yes, and its usually free. As said above, most people on LMH are here because they do want to provide a better holiday experience, so YHM is the ideal place to be listed. YHM was, of course, developed with LMH members and their aims as a main driving force. Don't wait until we are as big as sawdays and charging $400 a year :)
we are on LMH, mostly, to learn not just how to make a successful (read, money-making) business out of it, but to ensure our guests are happy and will come back; this, to most of us here, plays a big part in terms of our job satisfaction.
Wise words from GG - a happy guest is a returning guest is a profitable guest and a happy owner. (Disclosure - I've met GG and seen her property and she knows of what she speaks!)
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Jimbo
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Post by Jimbo »

did you like the look of the site?
Hi GG

I think the 'Your Holiday Matters' name is an inspired choice. I like your logo, the clean site layout and choice of colour. I like the slide show, particularly the funny ones (humour is a potent marketing tool - look at successful TV ads). I don't think the row of pictures underneath contribute enough because, at this point, you're still trying to get them on the hook and sell the dream. Perhaps you might consider licencing half a dozen stunning travel pix from a stock library - would be good too if they opened up big.

Wearing my punter's hat, I'd like to know a bit more about what makes you different. Why should I book with you rather than through that zappy commercial site I've just left? I'm attracted by your quality charter but, does it have any teeth? If something goes wrong, will YHM be willing to arbitrate on my behalf? Whom should I contact about this. (I know this is a hostage to fortune but, if you major on quality, I'd want to be sure that it's more than spin).

I'm being critical because I think YHM is a great idea and I want it to work.
Don't wait until we are as big as sawdays and charging $400 a year
Do you want YHM to be 'big' or is there a critical mass for this type of enterprise?

Jim

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Giddy Goat
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Post by Giddy Goat »

Great feedback Jim, and very timely! Others involved may also want to respond to it too; thank you. Will take those thoughts off and chew them over! :D
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marcus
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Post by marcus »

Why should I book with you rather than through that zappy commercial site I've just left? I'm attracted by your quality charter but, does it have any teeth? If something goes wrong, will YHM be willing to arbitrate on my behalf?
Do you want YHM to be 'big' or is there a critical mass for this type of enterprise?
Jim, these are good questions that I will try to answer.

You would book through YHM because we have taken 'all reasonable steps' to ensure properties are suitable for a perfect holiday - above all, a reasonably detailed application form, looking at the website and photos of the property, and taking references from previous guests. I can confidently say at the moment you would have a good holiday at any of those listed, which I don't think is the case with the larger listing sites.

But no, we do not and could not offer any kind of arbitration, for practical and legal reasons. We focus on making sure legal disputes won't arise in the first place by our review procedure.

Do we want YHM to be big? Size is not important! We will never be the size of holiday rentals etc. But we neither want to be small nor large, we will simply list as many suitable properties as apply and are approved. I have no idea how many 'owners who care' type rental properties there are in the world, but I don't think it is a limiting factor on our size. Could be 500, could be 5,000.

We are not setting impossibly high standards by the way, we are just eliminating properties that are often referred to as 'coalholes' - properties setup with an emphasis on making a quick buck rather than providing an enjoyable holiday experience. We have all had 'good experience' holidays and 'bad experience' holidays - we are simply trying to only list the former.

Hope that helps!
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vrooje
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Post by vrooje »

Thank you for the review -- that is very interesting. Looks like there will be some YHM discussion on whether we need to include more information on the charter!
Brooke
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