Another new website for comments

Get some feedback on your site or ad from other rental owners and techies. Also a library of online resources so you can make DIY improvements to your web presence.
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Holiday Ray
Posts: 711
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:07 am
Location: South West France
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Post by Holiday Ray »

Hi Lee

First impressions of the site for me were very positive.

Nice and simple, easy to navigate and your holiday home looks of a good quality. I would be happy to book, if I were visiting the IOW.

As others above have stated though, you are underselling your property, particularly with regards to the photos.
I know only too well the difficulties encountered when trying to get enough decent photos onto a website. We are into our second season of letting our french property and our first batch of photos were pretty horrendous, but still we managed to get a fair few bookings. But I am still not happy with the photos on our site, they still do not do justice to the property.
What probably frustrates me the most about your photos Lee, is

The duvets on ALL of the beds, look like someone has just got out of them. Make sure they look nice and flat and crisp (even consider running an iron over them).
One of the beds in Bedoom 4, hasn't even got a duvet, which adds weight to the feeling of the house not being quite ready for guests yet.
Nearly all of the photos are too dark. When you take the new ones, wait until the light coming in through the windows is Really bright, or add some artificial light.

I like the floor layout and although I have to agree with others that it would probably benefit from the addition of some furniture, I don't think it detracts immensely from the overall professional look of the site.
I like your idea of a seperate window appearing, with a description of the contents of the room, when hovering, that's nice.
Any reason why the 'TV room', suddenly becomes a 'movie room' ?

I also found the availability and pricing rather confusing.
As pointed out by Greenfrog, punters are unlikely to be interested in the reasoning behind your pricing or availability structure, they just want to know:-
Are the weeks I require free ?
and
How much are they ?

Personally, I am in the camp of higher pricing for peak periods, lower for off-peak. I would probably be willing to pay the £1,000 for a week in July, August, but for spring Autumn or Winter, when the English weather is likely to be pretty bleak, no thanks ! (and that's nothing personal Lee :) ).

With regards to the 'visitor comments'
I would remove the page Lee, until the end of the summer. Unless an item significantly adds to the overall appeal of your site, don't include it. I appreciate it is your first year letting and you make that quite clear to potential guests, but by having a 'visitors comments' page, with nothing on it, you are telling me that the house hasn't really been tested yet and it would therefore be a bit of a gamble with my money, to go for a booking, when there are other properties out there that have several "superb holiday home, we loved it" type comments available to see. Include nothing but positives to entice people to book with you.

I like the honesty you show, when telling punters where you are coming from and your reasoning behind letting the property.
One thing which makes me wonder about this slightly, is that you mention,
"Uninterrupted sea views from the terrace"
So where are they ?
There is just a hint of how good those views probably are on one or two of the photos, but equally there are a few rooftops and gardens in view within some of the pics, so again,
"If you've got it, flaunt it" I'm sure good sea views would help to sell the property :)

I'm impressed by your holiday home, the website and the excellent start you've made Lee. The above comments are fairly pedantic points and if nothing else, will hopefully give you food for thought.

I look forward to seeing the next batch of photos (let me see that 'beautiful briney')

Good luck Lee
Last edited by Holiday Ray on Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ray
goosie
Posts: 408
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:47 pm
Location: Cotswolds

Post by goosie »

Welcome Lee

I really like your property and the friendly feel of the site. Am even tempted myself - though one thing I would wonder from the photos is really how far the beach is. We've holidayed ourselves as a family in the IoW and know Vetnor and my worry would be that this is a house a long way from the sea - it might be worth having a little bit about distance to beach and/or if it is a car ride for families, details about parking. Something reassuring!

I like the floor plan, but like others didn't realise that photos came up.

Also agree with the photos at the start needing to be in colour and not fogged out.

Another personal view but I too expect to pay differences between seasons but if all you are wanting is to get your quota your approach may be right for your outcome.

Really good luck
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