Clexane,
how did you manage to get your property on Abritel for 80€ a year - I paid 130€ for a year, with no discounts for additional properties (until you have 6 of them).
Susan
Most effective listings sites?
Bear in mind that this is not a great time of year to test listing sites out, unless you are a winter destination.I am about to sign up to holiday-rentals as they have a 3-month money-back guarantee if not satisfied (though I wish they'd allow you to link to your own website), and based on the discussions in this thread, I may just give homelidays a go too....
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Lay My Hat
It refers to the number of weeks you wish to make available to Abritel's clients - the site doesn't mention it needs to be exclusive to them as you can update your calendar whenever you like - I guess it's to allow you to offer the property for a given part of the season and save money on the quieter parts (or vice-versa).What does that mean? If you propose a certain number of weeks to what?
Cheers
Charles
_______________________
www.rentahomeabroad.com
www.rentahomeabroad.com
Brooke,
There is a calendar in which you tick the period which you want (0 - 8 weeks, 8 - 16 weeks, or 52 weeks). You pay accordingly for the package you want.You then have to manage availability and it works like most other sites with availability, if someone does a search your property comes up if available. Whenever you update your calendar, you go to the top of the search results. If you don't update your calendar, you get frequent e-mail reminders to do it as it is an important part of the whole service Abritel provide for people searching for holidays.
Sue
There is a calendar in which you tick the period which you want (0 - 8 weeks, 8 - 16 weeks, or 52 weeks). You pay accordingly for the package you want.You then have to manage availability and it works like most other sites with availability, if someone does a search your property comes up if available. Whenever you update your calendar, you go to the top of the search results. If you don't update your calendar, you get frequent e-mail reminders to do it as it is an important part of the whole service Abritel provide for people searching for holidays.
Sue
What French Connections said:paolo wrote:I hadn't noticed that they now allow links. Shows how on the ball I am. I've asked them to link to my site, and I am hoping they are not going to ask me to pay £20 for the update.Do you link to your website from FC?
As your site has links to other external sites and also promotes a property not advertised with us, I am afraid it does not qualify for a link.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Lay My Hat
Paolo,
Abritel pricing relates to the ammount of weeks in the year that your ad will be shown. Its then up to you to manage your availability on the 8 weeks. I get a lot of French people for long weekends out of high season (like this one!) from advertising with them, but they want to pay less in the summer than some other nationalities are prepared to pay!
Susan
Abritel pricing relates to the ammount of weeks in the year that your ad will be shown. Its then up to you to manage your availability on the 8 weeks. I get a lot of French people for long weekends out of high season (like this one!) from advertising with them, but they want to pay less in the summer than some other nationalities are prepared to pay!
Susan
Susan,
Sorry I got it wrong. We actually signed up for two years which was €130 for the first year and €90 for the second.
I dont know what the discussion around exclusivity is because we advertise on Abritel and other sites as I mentioned earlier.
It could be that the French pay less but we haven,t tested it yet as we booked out rather quickly after advertising in April and they where all French (An update the english family that booked through Holiday Rentals for two weeks pulled out , but we got another booking through Abritel today for one of those weeks 
. ).
They are really the site that have come through for us. It could be because we are located in a French holiday destination i.e. Alpes-de-Haute-Provence or maybe its just luck.
Lastly, It could also be that we are too cheap ... it is our first year letting and while there are a number of other properties in the area they tend to be smaller and run down, there is little like our Villa and it is difficult to figure out how much you can get away with charging. I do know that later this year I will be pushing up our rates by 30% for next year and see how we go but this year I am sticking with our rates because we need the rentals to pay for the furnishing shopping spree and want to make sure we get occupancy!!!!
Sorry I got it wrong. We actually signed up for two years which was €130 for the first year and €90 for the second.
I dont know what the discussion around exclusivity is because we advertise on Abritel and other sites as I mentioned earlier.
It could be that the French pay less but we haven,t tested it yet as we booked out rather quickly after advertising in April and they where all French (An update the english family that booked through Holiday Rentals for two weeks pulled out
, but we got another booking through Abritel today for one of those weeks . ). They are really the site that have come through for us. It could be because we are located in a French holiday destination i.e. Alpes-de-Haute-Provence or maybe its just luck.
Lastly, It could also be that we are too cheap ... it is our first year letting and while there are a number of other properties in the area they tend to be smaller and run down, there is little like our Villa and it is difficult to figure out how much you can get away with charging. I do know that later this year I will be pushing up our rates by 30% for next year and see how we go but this year I am sticking with our rates because we need the rentals to pay for the furnishing shopping spree and want to make sure we get occupancy!!!!
Clexane,
I should think that you will easily get bookings in your area even if you push your prices up 30%! I advertised on Abritel as it ws recommended by some French friends - however, I find that British people tend to book Jan-Feb for their holiday (and pay a bit more), so August is already booked by the time the French start looking - they seem to leave things more to the last minute, but I suppose they don't have the hassle of organising ferry crossings! I actually get more inquiries through www.pour-les-vacances.com and www.guide-vacances.com and they are cheaper than Abritel. Another one which is especially good at the moment (and free) is www.france-pittoresque.com.
Susan
I should think that you will easily get bookings in your area even if you push your prices up 30%! I advertised on Abritel as it ws recommended by some French friends - however, I find that British people tend to book Jan-Feb for their holiday (and pay a bit more), so August is already booked by the time the French start looking - they seem to leave things more to the last minute, but I suppose they don't have the hassle of organising ferry crossings! I actually get more inquiries through www.pour-les-vacances.com and www.guide-vacances.com and they are cheaper than Abritel. Another one which is especially good at the moment (and free) is www.france-pittoresque.com.
Susan
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
I have an admission to make with regards the Homelidays website.
When I tried to get detailed descriptions of properties I was quite unable to do so. I put this down to having to register as a renter-member but I was wrong. I contacted the website and very quickly got a reply identifying the problem as being with the adblocking feature of Norton Internet Security. I was directed to a page on their Website which deals with this problem and how to fix it, both in general and in detail.
I think it is impressive that a Website is tested to this extent and that fixes are published on the Website. If Homelidays can deliver rental enquiries in the same efficient way in which it dealt with my query then it is definitely one to consider.
Alan
When I tried to get detailed descriptions of properties I was quite unable to do so. I put this down to having to register as a renter-member but I was wrong. I contacted the website and very quickly got a reply identifying the problem as being with the adblocking feature of Norton Internet Security. I was directed to a page on their Website which deals with this problem and how to fix it, both in general and in detail.
I think it is impressive that a Website is tested to this extent and that fixes are published on the Website. If Homelidays can deliver rental enquiries in the same efficient way in which it dealt with my query then it is definitely one to consider.
Alan