Saturday Guardian Travel & Sunday Observer Escape

[A-two]

Has anybody tried the classifieds in these papers to fill last minute bookings and do they work?

We had July 2nd thru 9th set aside for a charity fundraiser, which was postponed, since when I've had no inquiries in 3 weeks thru the listing sites. It's a tricky one to sell locally as people tend to plan ahead for July 4th, so I'm now reaching for a UK family using non-internet advertising.

The ad cost is £11 per line, so around £100 (roughly $200) to put it in both papers over the w/e of May 21st. The alternative may be losing a prime week on rent. July rent is normally $3750 (£2000), so I was thinking of asking $3950 (£2100) to offset the cost.

Unfortunately the classifieds are not available online, so I cannot see who else is in the USA category to know how popular it is, or the kind of ads that work best there or even if prices are advertised in £ or US$.

Worth a try?


Thanks in advance for the feedback!
Joanna

[vrooje]

Wow, £100 for a weekend? That doesn't seem worth it to me, but then again I have no experience with it, so I'm just going with my gut.

[la vache!]

I put an ad in the Saturday Daily Telegraph last year at the end of May for a cancellation for the last week in July. I got a great response, but then it was in the school holidays. Lots of people were after a discount. I'm going to try again this year as I still have availability in my Farmhouse for early July. The ad was about £75, which was well worth the income I got from it last year,
Sue.

[A-two]

Thanks for the feedback. Sue, how did your ad read in the Telegraph? I'm sure that makes a difference to the response.

I have edited mine brutally to bring cost down and now have:
"HAMPTONS, NY. 3 bed waterfront home w/own beach from (pound sign) 700 pw. July (pound sign) 2,100. website address. phone number."

I also contacted The Lady. They are quoting around 25pounds for 24th May issue "with email back by Wednesday 18th May with confirmation of cost and assurance a cheque payable to The Lady will be sent straight away as we have no credit card facilities." Don't you just luv 'em - you wouldn't get anyone here to accept a classified ad without prepayment!

Regards,
Joanna

[la vache!]

Hi Joanna,
I think I put the phrase 'due to late cancellation Farmhouse in Brittany available w/c 23 July, garden, pool, website address.
It came to 4 lines I think. I didn't mention price as I was happy to negotiate! However, it is quite an expensive gamble. I like your idea about the Lady magazine, the price seems very reasonable and I have heard good reports about the bookings from this source (you also attract a nice type of customer!).
Sue

[sue c]

Hi Joanna and Sue
I advertised in The Lady in 2002 (every other week and the 'specials' I think for several months). I had a lot of interest - spent many hours on the phone to very nice people (sometimes 5 or 6 a day) and sent out 50+ sets of details with first-class post. The result was one booking in 2002 and one other person kept the details and has booked for this year.

A friend of mine with properties in the same area (but different types of property)and elsewhere in Spain used only The Lady for nearly 20 years, but has now changed to other advertising.

However, I'm still tempted to give them another go now and then. It seems to be worth trying all sorts of things - some work for some places and others don't. I need to find people who want a large villa near the beach - but without a pool (unheard of!)

Sue

[A-two]

This update will make you smile.

So in the end, I didn't go with the Guardian or Observer for cost reasons and went with the Lady instead, which was due to be published within a week of my placing the ad. One problem. It's not published until this coming Tuesday, but in the meantime, I had a great rush, sold almost eveything I was advertising and am now rushing round the listing sites, blocking off dates on the calendar to try and stem the flow!

I can only hope this is not going to be a time wasting exercise and that it will attract people for other times of year that I have not "featured" in my ad copy.

Lesson learnt: make your print ads more general in nature because unlike the listing sites, there's no such thing as an instant update for availability!

Joanna

[A-two]

update on the Lady ad.....
well, as of the time of writing - nada, squat, nothing, complete waste of money.....hoping this is tempting fate....

[alexia s.]

Pre-web days I advertised with the ST & The Lady. Yesterday I received a letter from someone whose friends had booked with us about 8 years ago (from a Lady ad), asking for a group booking for 2006.
Don't give up!

[tansy]

I used to advertise in The Garden magazine the RHS magazne...I did get some really quite nice folk in...but all involved very lengthy phonecalls, letters etc like Sue C mentioned....it was slightly hard work....whereas if they find you on the internet at least it is just clicks & they find the info...to put all the info into small print would cost a fortune.

I'm today going to email all our past guests to see if I can tempt someone to fill our missing weeks...then if that fails I may advertise in a journal....which one I'm not sure...lead in time is the problem!

[paolo]

Who reads The Lady? Is it a magazine for ladies? My impression of it, having never seen it, is that it is good for finding a nanny on its classified ads. But I have heard several rental owners say they have had good results from it. So who does read it?

[enid]

My mother used to buy it - not to read but just for the holiday cottage adverts - I think it still has this historic ' place to advertise/look for a holiday cottage' reputation - but perhaps superceded now by other formats?!

[tansy]

The folk that have a cottage in the grounds also read it ...the cottage for the staff that is!

Great place to advertise for a Nanny/Housekeeper/Chaffeur/ General Handy man etc....not that I have had cause to look for staff for myself of course!!!

[sazzleevans]

Hi
I advertised in last tuesdays issue and had two telephone enquiries and one confirmed booking with payment on its way...Cant be bad but its not that chip at £40 a shot.

Sarah

[sazzleevans]

Hi

Just a quick one. From my ad in the Lady I got three phone calls and one booking? So dont know if its really worth £40??

SARAH