Since the most effective listing sites seems to be a moving feast I thought it would be good to have a simple roundup of what sites are working for you in 2007 and where you are located - lets not over complicate it, just list where you are and the ranking of your sites you are using. I have noticed sites such as H-L and OD getting more traffic so I am interested to see how they rate if you are with them against the old mainstream:
We are in Provence France
In rank of Performance
1. VRBO (which is a significant move up)
2. Abritel
3. Holiday rentals (A significant move down)
Zero booking/enquiry sites
1. Perfect Places
2. Locations France
3. Homelidays
Most effective Listing sites 2007
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Hells Bells
- Posts: 13173
- Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 8:42 am
- Location: French Alps
- Contact:
Haute-Alpes , France
2007
1 Owners Direct
2 Snowheads (ski forum)
3 Holiday lettings
no bookings from
Holiday Rentals, Mediavacances, or Holiday Havens.
For last year, holiday lettings, owners direct and Homelidays were good, although enquiries from Homelidays dried up entirely and I haven't renewed.
I have been keeping a spreadsheet to compare all the sites. Some are harder to judge, as they click through to my booking calendar or website
2007
1 Owners Direct
2 Snowheads (ski forum)
3 Holiday lettings
no bookings from
Holiday Rentals, Mediavacances, or Holiday Havens.
For last year, holiday lettings, owners direct and Homelidays were good, although enquiries from Homelidays dried up entirely and I haven't renewed.
I have been keeping a spreadsheet to compare all the sites. Some are harder to judge, as they click through to my booking calendar or website
We are in Cyprus and this is our first year!!
1. Holiday lettings: 5 enquiries, 3 bookings
2. Owners Direct: 1 booking, 2 enquiries
3. Our website: 1 booking!!! A miracle that anyone found it!
4. Word of Mouth: 1 booking
No enquiries from Holiday rentals (not one!!), perfect places, travel library, holidayhavens, vacationsfrbo.
At this rate it seems that we should only be renewing with holiday lettings but surely that wouldn't be enough advertising?
1. Holiday lettings: 5 enquiries, 3 bookings
2. Owners Direct: 1 booking, 2 enquiries
3. Our website: 1 booking!!! A miracle that anyone found it!
4. Word of Mouth: 1 booking
No enquiries from Holiday rentals (not one!!), perfect places, travel library, holidayhavens, vacationsfrbo.
At this rate it seems that we should only be renewing with holiday lettings but surely that wouldn't be enough advertising?
Last edited by Foxandsot on Sun Feb 11, 2007 8:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Hells Bells
- Posts: 13173
- Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 8:42 am
- Location: French Alps
- Contact:
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
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Hells Bells
- Posts: 13173
- Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 8:42 am
- Location: French Alps
- Contact:
I can judge the no. of click- throughs from my website stats, and I do ask the guests where they saw us, but I know their responses may not be reliable. I advertised on Chalets Direct last year, and when the listing was up for renewal, I recieved by email an impressive list of stats on click throughs to my site, and to my booking calendar. This wasn't backed up by my own stats, and I had had only one enquiry from them. I bit the bullet, and didn't renew. A price increase made my mind up. It hasn't made any difference to my bookings or the views of my site at all.
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Gloria - Casina di Rosa
- Posts: 46
- Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2006 5:33 pm
- Location: Tuscany, South of Siena
- Contact:
Burgundy, France
Best performers by number of bookings:
1. VRBO
2. Our own site
3. H-R
Best performers by weeks booked:
1. Our own site
2. VRBO
3. H-R
Zero inquiries/bookings:
1. French Connections
2. Perfect Places (which I think we're still on, I've never paid for it though)
Luckily our FC advert expires in April, so if they haven't started performing by then we'll probably switch to Holiday Lets, which did very well in my recent keyword searches.
All the bookings from our own site explicitly said they found us through direct search, which is still not 100%, but it's something. (They all came before I implemented my Grand Cookie Scheme.)
Best performers by number of bookings:
1. VRBO
2. Our own site
3. H-R
Best performers by weeks booked:
1. Our own site
2. VRBO
3. H-R
Zero inquiries/bookings:
1. French Connections
2. Perfect Places (which I think we're still on, I've never paid for it though)
Luckily our FC advert expires in April, so if they haven't started performing by then we'll probably switch to Holiday Lets, which did very well in my recent keyword searches.
All the bookings from our own site explicitly said they found us through direct search, which is still not 100%, but it's something. (They all came before I implemented my Grand Cookie Scheme.)
Brooke
How embarassing but here goes
Costa de la Luz
Owners Direct - 3 bookings (3 months in to ad)
Costaluzholidays - 2 bookings (last year) in 18 months (not renewed)
Holiday rentals - 1 enquiry = 1 booking last year (not renewed)
Returnees - 2 this year.
Yes, I know, get finger out and get on some other sites
Costa de la Luz
Owners Direct - 3 bookings (3 months in to ad)
Costaluzholidays - 2 bookings (last year) in 18 months (not renewed)
Holiday rentals - 1 enquiry = 1 booking last year (not renewed)
Returnees - 2 this year.
Yes, I know, get finger out and get on some other sites
Don't waste energy on things you can't change.
Costa de la Luz apartment rental
www.ownersdirect.co.uk/spain/S5386.htm
Costa de la Luz apartment rental
www.ownersdirect.co.uk/spain/S5386.htm
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Rocket Rab
- Posts: 2248
- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:37 pm
- Contact:
Holiday Lettings - deliver by far the most enquiries and bookings.
Homelidays - gap-filler (no, not all the gaps
). Useful, but apparently not to everyone, if you want to target the French market during French school holidays....
Homelidays - gap-filler (no, not all the gaps
). Useful, but apparently not to everyone, if you want to target the French market during French school holidays....
Last edited by Rocket Rab on Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
This is my second year of letting, but first full year.
Holiday Lettings are working well for me since I joined last October. I did not continue my listing with Perfect Places after free offer expired.
Bookings:
H.L-4 bookings (=7weeks.)
2 Referrels from previous guests.
1 Re-booker.
1 Googler(!) Austrian chap cannot remember how he found us.
Enquiries:
H.L-5 (not including the bookers)
Search-Villas-3
Perfect Places-3
Own website-2
Independent Owners-1
Eileen
Private Villa in Arillas, North West Corfu.
www.villalinakis.com
Holiday Lettings are working well for me since I joined last October. I did not continue my listing with Perfect Places after free offer expired.
Bookings:
H.L-4 bookings (=7weeks.)
2 Referrels from previous guests.
1 Re-booker.
1 Googler(!) Austrian chap cannot remember how he found us.
Enquiries:
H.L-5 (not including the bookers)
Search-Villas-3
Perfect Places-3
Own website-2
Independent Owners-1
Eileen
Private Villa in Arillas, North West Corfu.
www.villalinakis.com
What has happened to Perfect Places? I have one booking from them. 1 from Owners Direct ( only just joined ), a few from Holiday Lets ( last year for this year).Holiday Havens...snore hard.., not renewed. Most come from my own website. Lots of hits from Google especially, a few from Yahoo.
France, SW,near coast,sleeps 7 ( 3 beds/2 .5 baths/private pool)
France, SW,near coast,sleeps 7 ( 3 beds/2 .5 baths/private pool)