Spain-Holiday new pricing structure

[volcano]

I would say that the reason for pay-per-enquiry as a model is not necessarily to rip off owners but to ensure that they respond quickly and well, and most of all keep their calendars up to date. Homeaway and Airbnb do this by punishing you in the search results if you don't answer quickly or don't take a booking for dates showing as available.

I'm sorry I do not think so. It's not that easy. I decide who can be with me and who can not. what is this punishment?

On Homeaway and Airbnb you enter your parameters for the guests you will accept - number of adults, children, age of lead renter, etc. And it is not possible to try to book dates that are showing as unavailable. The advertiser also sets which days a rental can start and end at any time of the year, and minimum rental periods. It is therefore theoretically impossible to try to make a booking which does not meet your criteria. Therefore if you do not accept a booking request you are punished by being less visible to the site's users.

I repeat myself - what is this punishment? Who are these people who imagine they can punish me? these are platforms - leasing portals. No agencies! They do not do anything for me. nothing. I have all the work, risk etc.
These systems are far too rigid. I prefer the flexibility. I would probably never have met some of my very nice guests, if they had not fit into the scheme from the outset. I have no problem with advising people. To provide information again and again - that is just the business. But if it does not come - because the guests did not get airline tickets, or are indispensable in the business, etc. - then maybe a different date fits or you see each other next year. I emphasize, I do not care to correspond. On the contrary, I get to know people in advance - and then my FEELING decides. Yes, and that does not fit into any scheme.
Will the many many guests who NEVER respond to my offer also be punished? And what about all those who write to several owners at the same time and never answer? OK, that's the good right of the guests - BUT why do you want to punish me?

[newtimber]

I repeat myself - They do not do anything for me. nothing.

If the sites are not doing anything for you, then don't advertise with them.

I suspect that they are doing something for you - provide you with bookings. They can only do this if they have lots of potential guests looking at their site who are happy with the experience. If a guest's booking request is rejected, they may go to another site and not come back.

[volcano]

I suspect that they are doing something for you - provide you with bookings. They can only do this if they have lots of potential guests looking at their site who are happy with the experience. If a guest's booking request is rejected, they may go to another site and not come back.[/quote]

Correct - the site brings me bookings and I pay for my annual contribution, which is now based on the number of inquiries and that bothers me.
The whole discussion about the new price policy is unnecessary anyway. Because in view of the Brexit, the many bankruptcies of the Air Lines, the weak pound, it is questionable anyway if I reach the magic limit of 50 inquiries at all. It's a crazy idea anyway.
Pity about this last bastion of the normal website.

[paolo]

I get to know people in advance - and then my FEELING decides.

Another way of looking at this is that you are just reinforcing your prejudices: since you do not rent to people who your 'feeling' tells you are somehow not suitable, you will never find out that there was actually nothing wrong with them.

[CSE]

I get to know people in advance - and then my FEELING decides.

I am pleased for you that you can turn away business based on your emotions.

[costa-brava]

volcano wrote:
"I get to know people in advance - and then my FEELING decides."
We are maybe veering off the original theme of the thread but then again not really. I have to agree with volcano. If you have a nice property you do want to have some measure of control. IN SPAIN YOU HAVE TO. If you have permission to do holiday lets then in most regions you must adhere to the certificate of first occupation or the "cedula de habitabilidad" which states clearly how many people can occupy the property. So you need to know your people in advance. That is why Spain-hol were absolutely wonderful as the only one left giving real owner-guest contact. But as Queen sang "now they've gone and blown it all away".

[volcano]

I get to know people in advance - and then my FEELING decides.

Another way of looking at this is that you are just reinforcing your prejudices: since you do not rent to people who your 'feeling' tells you are somehow not suitable, you will never find out that there was actually nothing wrong with them.

Yes, perhaps. I've been in business for 25 years, have rented when there was no internet. All the stories I read here about the change over - I had them all too. Until I decided to listen only to my feelings. So I went well, only nice civilized guests behave respectfully. So I can rely on my feelings. I can only recommend it. Better a little less - but more quality.

[newtimber]

Until I decided to listen only to my feelings. So I went well, only nice civilized guests behave respectfully. So I can rely on my feelings. I can only recommend it. Better a little less - but more quality.

Yes, listen to your feelings. They are there to hint that something may be amiss. But you should find out what it was that caused those feelings so you can make your decision objectively.

For example, if you have a couple of bad guests from a certain country, the next time you get a guest from that country you may get a bad feeling. Once you know that this was the reason you got a bad feeling, you can make a rational decision.

[dixeady]

[quote="Vera"]I had already decided to switch to a commission listing as my performance on SH has dropped to such an extent that my two listings have generated 4 bookings worth 36 nights since February from 9 enquiries.

I'm also having a hard time with the changes at SpainHoliday. This year, in total I've had 3 bookings (one of those was a repeat guest). That's all! In previous years, I could rely on maybe 8-9 bookings. Does anyone know if changing to commission based listing would have any effect on how the listing is shown? My renewal isn't until next June, so I might just have to wait it out! I do better now from ABB, HA & BdC. This is an awful situation...