What would You like

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
onthecostas
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What would You like

Post by onthecostas »

I am sure this may be asked before but as a owner and Property Manager

What would owners like from a Rental Website your in control of your advert and payout

Would You like to be in Communication with guests before arrival

Would you like to be paid before guests arrival

Would you like to review the guests

Would you like Commision or yearly Fees

Would you like SMS Notification of enquiries

Would you like to set your Security Deposits
peyre blanque
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Post by peyre blanque »

What would owners like from a Rental Website your in control of your advert and payout

Would You like to be in Communication with guests before arrival - yes, of course. We're making a commitment to hold our property for them and this needs to be matched by a commitment by them.

Would you like to be paid before guests arrival - Yes: part of their commitment.

Would you like to review the guests - No: I don't see the point.
Would you like Commision or yearly Fees - With a yearly fee we can be sure of our costs and (on a good site) it's cheaper per customer. On a not so good site commision is better.

Would you like SMS Notification of enquiries - No: E-mail is fine and more easily recorded.

Would you like to set your Security Deposits - Yes, it's my property and I know the value.
Stewart
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Post by Stewart »

Sounds like a precursor to a groovy new OTA with magical ways to beat the market. I'm intrigued.
onthecostas
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Post by onthecostas »

Stewart
i am a property manager and owner renter so i see what is missing from these big boy platforms.
i also like your input and advice please, we are very close to completing similar to a bookin.com site but with better service , better options , and make it more in control for you owners and advertisers who have had enough of the big boys with there terms

All ideas good and bad will be considered
zebedee
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Post by zebedee »

What Peyre Blanque said
e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

I really hate to pour cold water on this idea, but sadly, you're number 167 in a list of attempts to build a listing site to replace the independent sites since Expedia bought HomeAway to compete with Airbnb, Booking - owned by Priceline and Trip Advisor - all multi-billion dollar companies.

Your list of wants, wishes and preferences are well founded, but I want one thing above all others from a listing site - BOOKINGS.

NONE of your 167 predecessors have come close to competing in terms of very simply getting bookings, and this is because none of them spend the 10s of millions of Dollars on SEO.

If you cannot be found on the internet, you won't get bookings.

So, I wonder what your magic bullet is ?
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onthecostas
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Post by onthecostas »

yes i understand about the SEO and alot will be pumped into this area but first we are asking what you would like,to get you interested in advertising with us,
i see most people are not liking being paid out till after the guests arrive and that you can not get to speak to the guest before arrival.

We will be doing our best to be up there with the big boys and get you Bookings as this is what we want or we get no money so have to work hard for you
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Well done foe even trying this. It is not going to be easy.
Pumping into SEO is not the only thing you need to pump. That will be advertising/money. A huge amount.
Contacting guests is a priority for a lot of owners here. However, when you give the owners freedom like that you will loose commission. Not all owners of accommodation are like those who post here and it was found that unscrupulous owners got reservations away from the listing site That is what the big players found and hence the controls now.
If you do not charge a commission then how are you going to fund the website? how will you convince owners to part with money with no proven record of success?
Competing with the likes of Booking. You will have to work with Google, trip planners, Trip Advisor etc.they are everywhere!
With airBnB it is the name. It has become the synonym for a vacation rental.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
onthecostas
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Post by onthecostas »

CSE yes i am doing alot of advertising on social media and google etc , we not going into this blind has taken a long time to get it right and going to push it with all we have
I am still not sure if commision only will work best, was thinking of doing a fixed fee with different levels but to some this does not work either.
it is not easy to please all but am trying
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

it is not easy to please all but am trying
Good luck on that one too. :wink:
I really admire your determination on this. :)
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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greenbarn
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Post by greenbarn »

My thoughts:

The disastrous impact of the OTAs on the professional owners in the holiday let industry is directly attributable to the commission model, which in turn gives rise to the need for the OTA to impose more and more controls to eliminate any owner/guest interaction.

A subscription model site that generates bookings, with no interference, is the ideal for most owners (and probably most guests). However, the commission model is what works for the OTAs’ investors, to whom the OTAs are answerable - they don’t care about owners or guests, there’s millions of them.
The investors have pumped billions of dollars into the OTAs and it’s only with that money behind them that the OTAs can buy the presence to compete with each other and give the investors the return they expect.

Any listing site that attempts to compete head on with the OTAs will fail, unless existing investors decide it’s a better bet than the few established OTAs currently slugging it out for dominance, and swap allegiance.

The only possible route to success is to avoid the wide sweep of ground the OTAs seek to dominate, and stay focused on a particular market, the biggest of which being a single country which might work, more likely to succeed are sites aimed at smaller niche markets where guests will do the internet legwork to find what they want rather than book the first general purpose vanilla accommodation box they’re presented with.

As has already been pointed out, a new subscription site is in the Catch-22 position of trying to attract owners, but with no track record of success; hence the number of sites that have started as free to list and then sunk without trace. That’s the problem that really needs cracking to get any new site to a sustainable level.

So in an attempt to answer your questions:

Would You like to be in Communication with guests before arrival
I wouldn’t use a site that prevented full communication with guests before booking, let alone arrival.

Would you like to be paid before guests arrival
I would only accept bookings on my own terms, and that’s one of them

Would you like to review the guests
No - why would I?

Would you like Commision or yearly Fees
I wouldn’t use any commission based site

Would you like SMS Notification of enquiries
Not bothered. Enquiries are to come direct to me either via a contact form on the listing site, or direct email, both of which would generate a notification, or phone, so SMS notification isn’t particularly relevant.

Would you like to set your Security Deposits
I would only accept bookings on my own terms, and that’s one of them

Sites that meet all of those criteria used to exist (and be the norm), with the best known example probably being Owners Direct before HA bought them; a few still exist, relatively small and were established with a good track record before the takeover of the industry by the OTAs, and hence have been able to survive. I don’t see how a new large-scale version of that model can succeed, unless and until the OTAs destroy each other.
farley
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Post by farley »

Yes, Greenbarn sums up my sentiments exactly.
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Please only launch a very local listing site, please do not launch a worldwide listing site unless you have billions in investment. You are 20 years too late for that.
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onthecostas
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Post by onthecostas »

Thank you for the advice most appreciated

I am doing the site solely for spain , i have been advised over the last few months to only do commissions as nobody will pay unless it is working for them well, then have people advising only do a subscription as they dont like commissions , very hard to get it right

I will make sure the owner/ advertiser will get better service like communication and payout before arrival as this is important.

Looking for ideas to make it different from all the others that just seam to be the same and fail

Thank you again
rosebud
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Post by rosebud »

Hello Onthecostas

I agree totally with E-Richard and Greenbarn

Personally I would prefer subscription but would not hand over money to a company without a good track record so yes starting with a lowish commission rate seems to be the way forward.

Good luck
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