Adding other properties to your site??

[sazzleevans1]

I am just about to complete on a property in Southern Spain. I was so concerned about the rental market in the area (its swamped) that I decided to try and offer something different and personal via my website.

I have now been approached by another owner (who I have never met) asking how much i would charge for placing his apartment on my site.

I am located at the beach and he is located about five minutes away at the golf course.

My main concern is that getting my apartment filled. Do you think this will effect my bookings?

Anyones advise would be appreciated.

Sarah
www.islacanelaholidays.com
www.eyeonislacanela.com

[oskar]

Do you think this will effect my bookings?

Definitely.

Do you think this will effect my income?

Not if you charge a hefty sum, or if you direct all enquiries through you, which I doubt if he would agree to!

What would be much better would be to have an arrangement with him that when you are booked up, you´ll pass on enquiries to him, and vice versa,

or

take on the responsibilty for a number of rental apartments in your area and put them all onto your website. You would then take a percentage of any bookings for other owners, and of course can promote your own apartment ahead of others. This can be very lucrative, but will take quite a bit of work, and quite honestly probably wouldn´t be right for you if you´re renting out for the first time.

[vrooje]

I agree -- I would definitely not be inclined to list his property on your site if the apartment caters at all to the same market. Even if you were to charge him a monthly fee or require a percentage, you'd probably lose business.

Of course, if his property sleeps 2 and yours sleeps 8 and you have totally different price ranges, there could be an advantage to adding his property to your site. In that case you might actually make money.

You might also arguably consider it if you already receive enough inquiries for two properties.

Otherwise, I'd just offer to refer clients to him that you can't accomodate. And I'd also try to impress upon him the message (subtly) that your site is copyrighted, so that if he is considering creating his own website he doesn't try to copy yours.

Cheers!

[sazzleevans1]

Hi

Thanks for your advise. The other property is at the golf course and so may cater for a slightly different client but I am trying to cover all angles with my apartment and push the golf/beach thing.

I have had a number of enquiries from groups of people and for weeks I have already booked. I have got 7 weeks booked from 11th July to 27th August 2005. It seems that as long as you are ahead of the game you can book the peak season quite easily. Its out of season where the problem lies.

The funny thing is that my property management bloke asked if I would consider listing "his friends" apartment. I assume he is also one of his clients. The agent takes 20% of the booking but then provides cleaning and bedding free. I am just paying for the cleaning etc.

I am still half thinking about it. There seem to be so many middle aged couples who want a second home abroad but have no idea how to market it for rent.

I could take advantage of this by promoting their properties or thank heaven that that they are a behind me in the rental game?

Sarah

[janskov]

Go for it.
As long as you are servicing the other owners you are in control.
I have ten other owners on my site and take a small cut from the bookings I make.
I prefer that the holiday guests stay in my area and the apartments are anyway different so when people ask for details I am unable to fulfil I can keep the guest in the village by redirecting to some other owners.
And it also gives me a lot of "street respect" in town.

[sazzleevans]

Thanks for your advise. Its good to have all points of view.

My partner thinks I should go for it as well but I am a little concerned as its my first year and I am not sure how my own bookings will pan out.

I have considered adding a window on my website as below

http://jhplace.net/jrac/jrac_onepage.ph ... 3&months=8

Its a calender created by a lay my hat member.. By doing this I could link to a number of property details without involving my webman. It would allow me to keep in control and update details or play with wording etc. without asking anyone for help. (I am a bit of a blondie with computers)

What do you think of the calender idea?

Sarah

[sazzleevans]

Hi

Just a quick update. The owner of a porperty in my area has offered to pay me 10% of all bookings plus give me control of dealing with the enquiries...Is it too good to pass up?

Sarah

[debk]

Hi, Sarah -

I've been following this with interest as several people have recently approached me about putting their properties on my website.

My tax advisor has been the most persistent, agreeing to rent exclusively thru my site and to pay me 50% of all bookings.

One big difference from what I think you are describing is that we would handle everything (reservations, check-ins, cleaning) just as if it were our property. That was one of my requirements because I want to make sure anyone renting thru my site receives the red carpet treatment.

His property is quite different from our own (it's in a nightlife- heavy area of town and very small, less posh, 5th floor without elevator) so I'm only slightly worried about impacting our bookings. Until I feel really good about that impact though, I won't be moving ahead.

Thoughts from others?

[paolo]

The owner of a porperty in my area has offered to pay me 10% of all bookings plus give me control of dealing with the enquiries...Is it too good to pass up?

Yes it is. I do something like this for friends around me, but I do it for properties with different numbers of bedrooms, so not directly competing against each other. In this instance I would offer to make anyone who wants it a website exactly like yours, but with different text and property pics. If you get an enquiry for your apartment for a booked week, you can then point them to the website for the other apartment. This way they are not arriving at your main site and choosing the golf apartment over yours.

[sazzleevans]

Thanks for the advise.

I think I am going to give it a go and take the other property on. For a 10% cut its worth it. Plus the other property is at the golf course rather than the beach and they only want to rent June - October which cuts out the competition for out of season bookings.

SARAH

[jimadept]

Jan, your post and example have got me thinking... someone else in the business recently told me I should start renting for other people. Seeing as our flat is now fully booked through the season this year, this would be one way of increasing income and making use of all the internet hits which are currently having to move on to the next site as soon as they see my availability calendar.

I might be PMing you for some advice

cheers, Jim

[vrooje]

Ah, yes, for a 10% cut that could be worth it! I like Paolo's idea of making a separate webpage so that you can direct inquiries to it.

Cheers!

[oskar]

Sarah, the offer on the table is definitely too good to pass up - you can´t lose. If you are controlling the enquiries, then you can always give priority to your own apartment. And they only want June to October - perfect! Just when you are likely to be booked and can make some extra income.

On the question of availabilty charts, if you have a few properties, ditch them. That way, people will enquire as they won´t know if your property is booked. If it is, then you pass them on to someone who isn´t, and an easy 10% if they book.

[rich_sipe]

I would go with creating another site which lists both properties and direct interested people to each of the sites. This way you can monitor the number of inquiries for each and it looks more professional than just listing extra places on your dedicated site. You can move all of the resort info to this top site and leave the other sites particular to the properties.

[sazzleevans]

Well I have done it. Take a look and see what you think..Both properties have agreed to 10% commission and so far I have booked 4 weeks in the other beach apartment.

What do you think?
www.islacanelaholidays.com