Help ! No Enquiries at all from holiday-rentals.com

[rosselder]

Interesting quandry - which ordering method is best?

At holidaylettings.co.uk we manage our ordering by a mixture of the two methods mentioned so far in this thread.

Where holidaymakers are searching by availability of specific dates, we order our properties with matching criteria by the last updated availability calendar, thereby giving maximum chance for the holidaymaker of the dates quoted actually being available.

For general searches, where no dates have been requested by the holidaymaker, we change the order on a daily basis, thereby ensuring that everyone gets an equal share of the traffic over a period of time.

We decided on this approach as it addresses both the desire to see traffic spread as evenly as possible amongst the 3,000+ properties on our site and the desire from holidaymakers to be presented with homes reliably available for the dates requested.

Warm Regards

[alexia s.]

"Where holidaymakers are searching by availability of specific dates, we order our properties with matching criteria by the last updated availability calendar," -
Ross,
Anybody who checks on their order with holiday-lettings will know that the system doesn't work. When I say "doesn't work" I am being very gentle.
Look at what happened when I just updated our sleeps-6 property (12.05 French time): before updating it was number 5 for 6 people on the dates I requested. Immediately after updating it plummeted to number 20 (using the same search criteria).
The random shuffling doesn't work either: our neighbour's property is consistantly (95% of the time) ahead of ours.
If you arranged the properties in Provence according to the department instead of putting them all together, this would be an improvement.
I stay with holiday-lettings because, despite these flaws in the order, I get a decent number of bookings from them. I would probably get a lot more if the system worked & the departments were separated.
Can't you do this, Ross?

[rosselder]

Hi Alexia,

I have just tested this availability search and find that for Provence, Sleeps 6, available 10th-17th September 2006, your property is 1st on the list: View here

Your availability calendar says last updated today, then the 2nd property in the list was last updated yesterday and so on and so on... I can't seem to replicate your results. You are currently on page 2 for the general search (20 out of 72 that sleep 6 in Provence). This does change daily and we do ensure that everyone gets and equal share on page one. Do you want to give me a quick call on (01865) 201 444 to confirm we are looking at the same thing?

Also, we are currently looking at introducing sub-regions for our most popular countries, which in the case of France will mean departments being listed, aswell as the larger current regions.

I'm glad to hear that you're getting a decent number of bookings from our site and hopefully I can put your mind at ease over this ordering issue!

Warm Regards

ps: just noticed that you're in France so I'll call you instead!

[la vache!]

Sorry to be a bit dense, but I'm confused with all the holiday.... rental websites and all the people who run them who seem to be (confusingly) called Ross. I thought Alexia had problems with H-R.com but Ross Elder works for HolidayLettings.co.uk so why is he replying to her?
Confused from Brittany.

[rosselder]

Hi Susan,

Alexia had a query about the ordering methodology on www.holidaylettings.co.uk that I am responding to (see the last posting by Alexia).

I'm sorry about the name confusion - I thought the name Ross was quite rare until recently!

[alexia s.]

Hello Susan,
There was a temporary glitch with the updating system last week at holiday-rentals which has been fixed.

My post today was in reply to Ross from holiday.lettings ...... he has since kindly rung me & I no longer have a problem with the order of properties when searches are done - I was doing the searches for 1 day, when the system requires at least 2 days (fair enough).
My question (still on holiday.lettings ) re smaller geographical areas for visitors to search wil be answered in a couple of months (i.e. a new system will be introduced on holiday.lettings).

I very much hope that this hasn't confused you even more.

[la vache!]

Thanks Alexia,
I think it is the fact that there are 3 Ross(es??) that is most confusing.

[paolo]

Susan,

All listing site owners are called Ross, hence the confusion. Ross of holidaylettings is the only one who dares to show us what he looks like. The others are mis-shapen creatures who only venture out at night.

[alexia s.]

"All listing site owners are called Ross".
This is nearly true (see below), but it is only the case in England, where an interesting piece of legislation dating back to, I think, 1999, made it compulsory for all managers (NOT owners) of listing sites to be called "Ross".
(As it is extremely easy to change your name in England this didn't cause too many problems.)
It would be a different matter in France, where you have to show that your existing name is severly disadvantageous (e.g. "Smelly Poirot", or "Idiot Dumas" would easily convince the judge that a name-change would be justified).
This is probably why very few managers of listing sites in France are called "Ross".

[alexia s.]

ps
"The others are mis-shapen creatures who only venture out at night."

Paolo,

They might be women. (The 1999 legislation simply ignored the fact that "Ross" is a man's name. An amendment is pending.)

[la vache!]

It is strange, Ross Elder, Ross McGowan (holidaylets.net) and Ross ? H-R.com. I was starting to wonder if it was some sort of pre-requisite for getting into the management of holiday rental websites companies, as I have never thought of Ross as a particularly common name. However, FC disproves this hypothesis - as long as Karen Viney is not a Ross in disguise

[Giddy Goat]

Alexia, you haven't told us what motivated the '99 legislation. Is it because Ross is such a nice name? I have a cousin in the Antipodes called Ross. At the time he first entered the world, it appears it was a toss up between Ross, and Wayne, Greg, or Bruce, all of course, uttered with a touch of nasal twang and that rising inflection we all love so much.

But Ross won hooves down.

[alexia s.]

"you haven't told us what motivated the '99 legislation"

Jane,
I think it was to do with European Union harmonisation requirements. It was first discussed in 1997, when Jean-Claude Juncker was leader of the European Parliament. I think that that was why they chose "Ross" over the other names put forward. Other member states are dragging their feet over this one, though.

[Giddy Goat]

Yes, I understand now. Perhaps it's a bit too Anglo-Saxon for some. I think it still needs further chewing over.

[alexia s.]

" FC disproves this hypothesis"
Susan,
I don't think that Karen Viney is the registered manager of FC - given the 1999 legislation, I don't see how she could be. Maybe "Karen" is Ross Viney's nom de plume - or, more likely, her real name before she was obliged to change it. To be perfectly honest, I don't know if the new "Ross'es" can revert to their original name when they act in a diffferent capacity (such as agony aunt to a rentals forum).
I'm glad that this isn't confusing you.