Lay My Hat

Used to be on both years ago, left as both went down hill during their owner changes etc. How are they now? Either worth being with?
We get a lot of organic & repeat bookings but really need to fill some dates up, have 'got away' with not being listed anywhere for a few years but now need to look around.
Listed with AirBnB earlier this year and have had a handful of bookings only...not too sure why not as many as some seem to get...

Which listing sites do, or don't, you recommend?

The only one I bother with now is booking.com which still performs very well for me. I only use it though for last minute and off season dates

I've never listed on HA, TA/HL bookings have fallen to virtually nothing and I won't list on AirBnB because of their cancellation policies.

Most of my bookings are however direct.

We've been on HA for 13 years and since TA took them over are now on both. I can't tell which site enquiries come from - it looks like they're only coming from TA. We still get enough bookings from them to make it worth being there - around 15-20%. We may also get direct bookings from people who found us there first, it's hard to know for sure.

We don't have instant booking enabled and don't release all our dates - just ones in the next couple of months.

Forgot to mention that we're also on ABB - again with a limited calendar because we don't like their cancellation policy. We get slightly more bookings from them.

I am on both. Only a single booking from TA in 4 years; HA was performing very strongly at the beginning, but now gives me one booking per year. Usually my property is booked well in advance through German specific sites.

I strongly believe that those who do well with any one platform are those who historically have used that platform the most. It makes sense that a platform will 'push' properties that have shown loyalty and generated the most bookings for them.

Once you start 'drifting away' by taking more bookings direct or blocking your calendar for peak dates, the platform will start giving you lower priority in their search order and then it becomes self perpetuating - you are lower in searches, generate fewer bookings so are pushed lower still.

For me the best way forward is to either commit wholeheartedly to generating direct bookings or try to gain a foothold with a particular booking platform and make sure to keep using that platform above the others.

We are still on both but get very few bookings, AirBnB is a bit hit an miss but we do well on Booking.com for shorter breaks out of season. It is a pain managing many sites but the market changes so much I don't think there is a choice. We also drive quiet a lot of booking via Facebook.

The problem with Booking is that you cannot offer a lower price on your own website - or anywhere else for that matter - and you give them permission to use your "brand" so that the bookings you would have got by organic search end up going to booking.com and you then have to pay their commission.

How are we going to persuade people to book direct if they get exactly the same price on Booking?

Hi Newtimber,

There has been a lot of discussion about that rule being applied by booking.com. The other tack is to offer a very slightly different offer, that could just be the amount of deposit or other terms.

I stayed in a B&B once thru B.Com We had to pay for breakfast. The owner said if we booked direct price was the same, but free breakfast. That's how they got round it. So as others have said, offer different terms/offers and youd be fine

newtimber wrote:The problem with Booking is that you cannot offer a lower price on your own website - or anywhere else for that matter - and you give them permission to use your "brand" so that the bookings you would have got by organic search end up going to booking.com and you then have to pay their commission.

How are we going to persuade people to book direct if they get exactly the same price on Booking?

These “rate parity clauses” used by OTAs are banned in Italy, France, Austria and Germany - but not in the UK (yet). Go figure...

Apparently in the UK the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) go along with the sob story peddled by Booking.con etc that their multi-billion dollar investment virtual shopfront for accommodation could be brought crashing to its knees if the owner of a small B&B in Blackpool was found on their site, contacted directly and gave the guest a better deal with no commission to Bdotcon. Which would be a shame...

I know one person who simply alters the times of arrival and departure on BC as opposed to their website. As long as it is not an identical product the price difference is acceptable. Direct includes cleaning for example, BC booking doesn't. I've noticed with hotel bookings that sometimes the room standard is lower. I always book direct, but have occasionally used BC when in a rush and needing a booking while on the move. We have fellt ike we've been shoved in the smallest room in the hotel.

Sometimes there are advantages to using B.Com. The owners don't want a bad review and they give you the better accommodation they have available

We've got worse rooms, not better.

Unusual Id say, unfortunately