How's it going so far??

Up, down, could be better? How to get more bookings is our number one obsession. Talk shop here.
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Sue Dyer
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Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 2:26 pm
Location: Belford, Northumberland

How's it going so far??

Post by Sue Dyer »

I'm very pleased with my bookings so far for this year. :D http://www.lilycottagebelford.co.uk/contact.htm (I haven't put my website up for reveiw yet so bear with it!! - one day soon I will take heed of all the great advice, take a stab at it and submit)

Some of the feb weeks were for our use but it's the first time we've got a full week each side of easter, last 3 years has just been the long weekend. I'm know the June week will probably go but I'm in the States then so will save my sister a job!

Only thing is we love staying there ourselves and have mixed feelings with every booking out of the main season but not really in the position to turn away the cash as you never know.... We just list with 2 internet sites and seems to be working well so far.


Anyone else :) or :( ?
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tansy
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Location: La Manche, Normandy, France

Post by tansy »

Yeah..we look fairly healthy...dried up this last week though...but virtually whole of July, August & part September full with June looking OK....but if I can fill the few weeks that are still free and be both houses 4 months solid I will be very chuffed.

Easter, 1 house is booked the other still free...but I think the cold snap will help the warmer climes like Malta, Spain & South of France!

On the whole I feel more confident funnily enough than I did last year even with the 60th anniversary and the beautiful summer the year before - I think it maybe that last summer was so awful but everyone is still coming back!

BTW - I'm battling again with posting images..have got it hosted on imageshack but forum here keeps telling me it needs to be jpg...which it is...so what am I doing wrong....I think my signature will soon be Mrs stand up bucket mouth useless with computers and bureaucratic nonsense!!!

:oops:
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vrooje
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Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

We're looking pretty good, too... I was worried at the slow start for us, but now we're catching up. I think we'll probably fill up again for this high season -- we're already nearly filled up for June, July and August and that's enough to pay the mortgage and nominal expenses for the year.

Holiday-rentals seems like it was a good idea, and though we've gotten a lot of web site click-throughs from VRBO, we haven't gotten a booking or even an inquiry from them yet. Both of those are new listings for this year and we'll give 'em some time. Despite the reduction in inquiries from French Connections, we're still getting most of our inquiries from them.

Let's just hope that the bookings don't suddenly dry out!
Brooke
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Sue Dyer
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Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 2:26 pm
Location: Belford, Northumberland

Post by Sue Dyer »

Tansy
I don't think you need to host an avatar on a third party site, you should be able to load straight up from the profile thing. It does need to be really as tiny as it says or won't play the game... Have you resized it and reduced it right down.

If you want to send it to me I'd have a look at it. I'll PM you my email address.
Paul Carmel
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Location: Palma Mallorca & Greece
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Post by Paul Carmel »

For us bookings are up on last year.......13 weeks total with some July and August left, so it looks like its going to be a good year. Also next Easter 2006 is booked - whehey!!
Cheers
PC
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Sue Dyer
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Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 2:26 pm
Location: Belford, Northumberland

Post by Sue Dyer »

Wow - Next Easter booked!!!!!! I am impressed. Obviously Seymour and Wanda are pulling the crowds in. (as well as your impressive menagerie.)

Christmas and New Year are always the ones we want to go in good time but we had to play the "hang on for full weeks or give in for shorter breaks" game last year until a few weeks before. We did okay though with a 5 night Christmas and 4 night New Year booking giving us some cash to go off on a break ourselves.
musicmonkey
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Location: Manche
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Post by musicmonkey »

Oh stoppit you lot. You are depressing me. Having heard everyone (well almost) rave on about holiday-rentals we moved from French Connections and have remained with Visit France.

Despite offering what I believe to be a competitively priced attractive rural retreat we only have 2 bookings so far - and one of those is a 2 week repeat booking from last year. We must be doing something wrong. Just wish I knew what it was.

We recommend our 4 bed property for 5 people for comfort even though the house is spacious it only has one bathroom and one separate WC.

We are near to Villedieu les Poeles an ideal tourist spot.
Christine Kenyon
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Post by Christine Kenyon »

A good question, Sue - and the answer probably depends on where you are. Must admit that we're having a superb year (sorry, Musicmonkey!).

Stybarrow Cottage sleeps 6 and is booked for 40 weeks already :lol: - and that would be our target for the year. Bookings are a healthy combination of repeat, new and referral from our other cottage. What has surprised us is that it was fairly booked up for this year by December 2004. We normally expect the biggest hunk of our bookings to land in January.

Troutbeck Cottage sleeps 4 and this is our second year of letting it. Bookings are slower for this cottage, but even so we've already achieved 22 weeks so we're definitely not grumbling. February has been full apart from 3 days; we have a week left in March; July and August are fully booked; April, May and June are half and half, but will probably fill up. For some reason this cottage seems to be booking up later. Not sure why.

Which two listing sites do you use, Sue? We pay for a listing on cottageguide for both cottages (and it's superb) and internet-cottages for Troutbeck Cottage. I've also listed our cottages with as many free sites as I can find!

Happy cleaning, ironing, scrubbing, etc in 2005 :wink:

Christine
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Sue Dyer
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Location: Belford, Northumberland

Post by Sue Dyer »

Hi Christine - 40 weeks - double wow!!!

We use the same two sites as you. I'm on a couple of free ones too but never get much from them - I'm quite happy as things stand as I've said we like to use the place ourselves and we like a nice balance of bookings to pay the mortgage and time to enjoy it too.

Sorry musicmonkey :(
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tansy
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Location: La Manche, Normandy, France

Post by tansy »

Musicmonkey - I looked at your site - again just a flick...but is it that perhaps it all look a bit sterile..there's no flowers in the garden and everything looks very clean but a little precise...I don't imagine myself there - it needs perhaps livening up/dress the table outside - put some tubs or something.

Where you are - get down the town & get some pictures...the market, that view of the river between the stone buildings - the cloche museum etc...I know the town well...any American that stays at our house and goes to your town comes back raving about it...so I think you ought to rave a bit more about it too!

Hope your bookings pick up - good luck

Tansy
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John Borg
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Post by John Borg »

I have managed to book 22 weeks so far, so I'm not complaining. It's only February, so I guess I will get at least another 10 weeks booked, so my target of 30 weeks should be fullfilled.
Tansy, I wish I could agree with your comment re the cold snap having a good knock on effect for malta etc, though we have been blighted with heavy hail storms, gales and cold (don't snigger!) temperatures hovering around 9C for most of the last 4 weeks. Belive me, when the max temp. is 9C and the minimum 4C, with relative humidity around 80%, it feels cold!
Today we had a sunny day with a max temp. of 16C - Hallelulja!
Malta – always in the sunshine!
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tansy
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Location: La Manche, Normandy, France

Post by tansy »

thought you'd gone a bit quite :wink:

Do we need to make up a winter parcel?!! Perhaps your signature will be changing soon too..always in the sunshine indeed :lol:

Never mind...bookings sound good though.
musicmonkey
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Post by musicmonkey »

Thanks Tansy for the suggestions.

Regrettably can't photo flowers or local town until we are there who knows when? We are over at Easter but as its only a few weeks away I doubt the weather will be conducive to quality photography.

On the positive side, the garden should improve considerably as we have just managed to find a lady who is RHS qualified - so watch this space! We have avoided tubs up to now as we are not there and the property has not been exactly full.

Will try to 'sell' the area even more. We do love it ourselves so it shouldn't be that difficult. We have tried to upload more pics to Visit France but can't get any response from them for the last 2 weeks or so. They also have the wrong map image come up even though it has the right area name and coordinates.
Fraise
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Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2004 8:25 am
Location: Charente Maritime and Middle England

Post by Fraise »

We have tried to upload more pics to Visit France but can't get any response from them for the last 2 weeks or so. They also have the wrong map image come up even though it has the right area name and coordinates.

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:( Hi- we've had the same problem with uploading piccies but the site seems to be slowly sorting itself out as I've managed to upload a couple today. Good luck!!

www.thepetitmanoir.com
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John Borg
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Post by John Borg »

True Tansy, I've been quiet for some weeks now, though I pop in to sneek a look at what's going on nearly every day.
I see that even on Lanzarote, there has been some peculiar weather, so it's not just Malta. This has been one of the coldest winters on record, plenty of rain and hail (no snow unfortunately!) I suppose that's ample proof that we are messing up things in this world but we don't seem to know how to take mother Nature's hints.
Malta – always in the sunshine!
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