Lay My Hat

COYS wrote:...I personally think the days of TA being the holy grail of reviews are numbered.

I think and hope so too. TripAdvisor are so keen on extracting money from whom they can and as much as they can that their "Advisory" role, which supposedly is what they are all about, has taken a back seat.

Mmmbobby wrote:I got a booking request from TA this morning telling me I could earn £173.20 for two people for three nights. Meanwhile quoting the guests £326. Greedy TA

Are you sure that the 326 doesn't include the security deposit?

Thinking about it, you are right, but a quote like that would put anyone off.

Regarding our 5/5 villa on the French Riviera, the story is a bit different. Of the last 20 bookings from all sources, TA have produced 7 of them - and yes, very international, with some from the US, Canada and Australia as well as GB. I am still on subscription, so there are no hefty fees added for guests. 7 more of the 20 bookings are returning guests, leaving just 6, shared by other sources - our website (3 booked), Simply Owners (1 enquiry which booked), Group Accommodation (2 enquiries none booked), Dream Villas (1 enquiry which booked), Pure France (1 booked). Nothing from Owners Properties Direct. I ditched HA & OD 9 months ago.

I think TA are still playing fairly (if you are on subscription) and the reviews still count to reassure guests. Although the enquiries are far less than a few years ago, they are serious ones (most convert to bookings) - and the days of 50-60% spam seem to be over.

Igor wrote:
We inflate our prices to cover the commission.
We subtly offer about 20% off for direct booking.
Of those who go on to book about 75% do it direct. So overall, the amount we contribute to HA is more reasonable.

To divert successfully, you need to have your own website. You need to explain in your response email how the guest can find your own website and then that they should make a new enquiry via that site. And, in your response email you cannot use words like "direct", "email", "google", "website","www", or any word with a dot in it or any word with an @ in it.

I am impressed Igor..... We have a simple site but I find that sites like ABB have mastered detecting if an owner is trying to divert a booking. And right now they are a major player here so would hate to get booted. But I am tempted.

Do you share any fear of retaliation form the big boys??

Nothing from TA here in over a year now, I only keep ours listed there for an internet presence.

K

Brockles wrote:I think TA are still playing fairly (if you are on subscription).....

Interesting observation. In my case (Subscription with HA and commission with TA), TA have leap frogged HA in the past 12 months and given me times more bookings (and enquiries) than HA.

However, as these OTAs keep tweaking theirs search algorithms, its very hard to determine any long term pattern, and anyway, they will all move to Host fees/commission only within the next 2 years.

When TA put up their subscription charges, (I’m paying GBP599 now), I did all the sums and decided to stick with it to save my renters being charged an extra 15% on all bookings. It seemed worth it for the internet presence alone.
However, I had only one enquiry from them for 2018 and that didn’t convert to a booking, so I think I’m at the bottom of all the searches despite my reviews, and have decided to move to commission for 2019.
TA used to account for about 50% of my bookings, now I’m at around 50 to 60% repeat bookings and the balance through Oliver’s Travels, who add a whopping percentage to my rates, though it doesn’t seem to put the clients off. On the face of it, I don’t really need more bookings as I only look for 8 or 9 weeks a year, but if OT drops off it would be a problem, so that’s why I’m going to renew my TA efforts.

Moth I did the same - paid the subscription in order help my guests and to have a bit more control. Like you the bookings dropped of DRAMATICALLY......they are certainly pushing the commission based listings in their algorithms. I hope that someone can right this ship soon as guests are getting the bad deal here. I do understand that they are protected somewhat and I guess it is a price that they are willing to pay for that.

In a side note I also think that Airbnb is pushing the listings that are instant book more than the others in favor of satisfying potential guests.

Moth/KAB-USA - I was interested by your comments as I was vigorously pursued by TA's representative about 6 months ago with calls and emails as they wanted me to change from subscription to commission and they warned me that if I didn't do this my properties would be on the bottom of any searches and also (which was the clinching factor in my case) even though I was on subscription and paying £599 for each property they would not pay my rental payments to me until 2 days after the guest had checked in to the property. Does this apply to you? I think the only way I could have kept on with subscription and receiving payment at the time it was made was to take off the online booking facility and just give the guest my banking details (again this would be another factor in the algorithms pushing properties to the bottom of any searches). Anyway, I did switch to commission and though I get the occasional booking via TA they now account for a much lower percentage of my overall bookings and enquiries and bookings are dropping like a stone. Hardly surprising when the guests booking this way are paying a hefty premium for the pleasure.