Rental Websites

[Paddy]

holidayaccommodationinfrance.com is very good. I have all my bookings from there.
Paddy.

[Karen Viney]

French Connections I am not so keen on because of their antiquated operation. If you want to change text on your ad they have to do it for you and charge you. Their customer service has been consistently poor, emails can take several days to be answered, if at all. But they bring in enquiries. The trouble is that as they don't offer an availability calendar those enquiries may all be for the same 8 weeks in the summer.

I heard that French Connections is planning to upgrade to the 21st century soon, and you will be able to change your ad ?

We are most disappointed to hear you describe our customer service as 'consistently poor'. We did our own 'independent' research a few months ago with (what we consider to be) competitor sites and our response times were better than the other sites we tested. I wonder if you are meaning that you are dissatisfied with our updates service and not our customer service in general?

We recognise that our updates service is one where owners want to be more 'hands on' and our new site, launching next month will address this as owners will be able to update much of their own details. Early in the new year, in Phase 2 of our upgrade, owners will also be able to change their text too.

Oh.. and btw, the new site has an availability calendar too.

If forum members have customer services issue complaints, we would really like to hear about them. Please send me a personal message with your individual problem/complaint and I will personally look into any issues for you and respond back to you by email.

Karen Viney
Marketing Manager
French Connnections

[paolo]

I wonder if you are meaning that you are dissatisfied with our updates service and not our customer service in general?

No, I have been disappointed with both. In the past I have had to send reminder emails to get a response to a question, and had to wait several days to get an answer, if one came at all.

As an example, on December 31st 2003 I emailed my rate changes for 2004 - that is a pretty important time of year when people start thinking about their summer holidays.

On January 6th I emailed again, asking why the changes had not been made, and why my email had not been acknowledged.

On January 7th, I got a response, and on January 9th the changes were made.

With any of my other online ads I could have made the changes instantly, and, in my experience, I would also get a same-day initial response to a question.

I look forward to the live update feature on French Connections and hopefully it will free up people to respond quickly to advertisers' correspondence.

If forum members have customer services issue complaints, we would really like to hear about them.

See above!

[paolo]

Note to the above post:

If you're new to this discussion, bear in mind that I have been very happy with the level of enquiries I get from French Connections. So my point is not 'avoid FC', it's 'come on FC, join the 21st century!' It sounds like the new site will do just that.

[John Borg]

Paolo,
I have never had anything to do with FC, so without showing any disrespect towards them, this is another fine example of the strength of this forum. Yes, consumer power works when we, the consumer (everyone is a consumer some way or another) make our grieviences (I hope I spelt it right, you've got to be carefull here now a days - and no, I can't be bothered to run it through the spell check!) heard!
The word is spreading, and yes, this forum is making a difference - for the better, of coarse.
Hats off to Paolo - again!

[tansy]

All I can say from reading this through..Karen Vinney seems to have some ruffled feathers...I am ALWAYS looking to increase traffic ...but I'm afraid FC is still not getting my business - a few apologies and we realise that we've made some mistakes and we are doing everything we can by relaunching the site - would not go amiss.

Marcella and Ross at hoilday-rentals ALWAYS have the time to speak to you when you ring in even with a triviality or if they are busy will always answer emails within hours.

So Karen the only thing I can say is ZEN...and perhaps hold your hands up - it appears that some genuine issues have been raised. FC seems to be quite happy to take money from folk for a service...surely improving service is the name of the game?

[Alan Knighting]

Yes, I originally signed up through Vacances France but all the information sheets and forms were headed with the names of both Vacances France and French Connections and my subscription gave me an entry on both websites. Everything indicated that they were one and the same thing except that one was in French and the other in English, even my property reference number is the same on each website. I make no complaint; I got entries on two websites for the price of one. Nor have I any complaint about the results; they have been very good and that is “the name of the game�.

I have just checked; my entries on both website are still there and both have been updated for 2005.

I would like editorial control over text and pictures and I would prefer the “custard� background to go. For the convenience of the customer I would really like an availability calendar.

There are two questions running here. The first is; how good is a website from a technical point of view? The second is; how good is a website from a marketing point of view, i.e. does it attract business? It seems that VF/FC have a low rating on the first but I find they rate very highly on the second.

It will be interesting to see whether or not the results (bookings) are enhanced once the VF/FC websites have been “upgraded� and “improved�. It is results (bookings) I am most interested in.

Alan

[paolo]

It will be interesting to see whether or not the results (bookings) are enhanced once the VF/FC websites have been “upgraded� and “improved�. It is results (bookings) I am most interested in.

Alan,

All things being equal, an improved site will result in increased enquiries. The better the user interface for potential renters, the likelier they are to come back and use it again. If you can do things like search by availability, or a narrower location, and other criteria, it saves a lot of time and tedium.

For instance, French Connections lists 90 4-bedroom properties in Provence. That's an awful lot of information to wade through. It would be much more user-friendly if you could narrow the search by drilling down to a more specific location, or specify a maximum price, or see a thumbnail pic. Hopefully this sort of thing will be included in the new site.

And that's just for the accommodation-seeker. It will be good for owners too, because you are unlikely to be found amidst 89 competitors, even if you are just what someone is looking for.

I've seen an awful lot of listing sites and my advice to them all would be - do it like holiday-rentals.com. And one day I think they all will.

[Alan Knighting]

Paolo,

I don't argue with anything you say. You clearly know much more than I do about the internet and about marketing. I totally agree that the better the internal search engine the better service is being given to the client, and to the advertiser.

OK! It turns out I am with Vacances France rather than French Connections.

I sent an e-mail to Vacances France this morning and I had a comprehensive reply within the hour. In anybody’s book, that is not a bad service.

Perhaps holiday-rentals.com is the answer to a maiden's prayer, I don't know! If things go wrong with FC/VF I will have to find out because I want bookings and I will move at the drop of a hat if I need to.

Alan

[paolo]

Alan,

It's good to have you back by the way, hope the frozen north wasn't a shock to the system after four years away.

I'm not saying holiday-rentals will necessarily get you better results, but I think it is the best designed site for the user (potential renter). But that's a minor consideration if the site doesn't pop up for searches relevant to your rental property.

[Alan Knighting]

Paolo,

It's good to have you back by the way, hope the frozen north wasn't a shock to the system after four years away.

Thanks for that. France Telecom is promising me 24/7 ADSL for early December. Oh dear, that might mean more contribution to the Forum.

The trip was good, apart from the nose-to-tail traffic of the UK, and the frozen north wasn’t frozen after all. Warmer than here overnight but during the day was another thing altogether. The coldest place by far was the West Midlands. Apart from the funeral of my 62-year-old sister-in-law we took in Wentworth Golf Club for lunch (lovely), an evening spin on the London “Eye� (stunning) and dinner at the “Oxo� tower (trendy).

Strange, but as we approached Monflanquin my wife Joan said that visiting England was not like going home but coming back here was exactly that. Are we becoming “integrated�? By the way SpeedFerries is quite basic but well organised, smooth, fast and cheap. I would recommend it to others.

Re. FC/VC and holiday-rentals. If they are equal in results but if one is better than the other for the user it is no mystery which one I would opt for. For now I am happy where I am but that’s not cast in stone.

Guests are arriving early this evening so I had better go and light the fires for them.

Alan

[Karen Viney]

We are a company that is genuinely concerned about offering good customer service and if we have made any mistakes or upset anyone we want to know about any problems our clients have encountered (and we will put try and put things to right where we can and/or apologise if it is found to be necessary).

I am sure you can understand that we can’t use this forum to address personal wrongs but we would be happy for anyone (as said in previous posting) to send a personal email direct to me and I will look into any specific problem(s) that anybody has experienced.

We do know that our updates system is one that clients want us to change and we have reacted to that demand. The new site will allow clients to make many of their own alterations to their advertisements and in the New Year that will include text changes.

We can’t be doing everything wrong for clients as 90 % of our advertisers renew and 75% of new applicants come from recommendations. This month we have had a record month for new applications and that’s before people have even seen the new site because we do get results. We know the site needed modernising and the new site will address all the issues that are being raised here in this forum.

The new site will include

· An availability calendar,
· Maximum and minimum price searches
· Thumbnail pics in point of sale index and
· More drill down refined searches (meaning that the surfer will get a list of ‘ideal’ properties) which is better for the owners too (see paolo’s posting above)
· Specific activity searches

Please just be a little patient for a week or so and have a look at the new site when it launches. I don’t think anyone will be disappointed and we would value your constructive feedback.

Kind regards
Karen Viney
Marketing Manager - French Connections

[tansy]

Karen - please do tell us when the new look is launched - I will certainly take a look...good luck with it all - sounds like some good improvements are on the way.

btw - I hadn't realised Wentworth Golf Club had shifted to the North! You were in my old patch Alan...should imagine the Autumn colours were good?

[Alan Knighting]

Tansy

btw - I hadn't realised Wentworth Golf Club had shifted to the North! You were in my old patch Alan...should imagine the Autumn colours were good?

No, Wentworth Golf Club hasn’t been moved. We stayed with friends in Surrey on the way home. The Autumn golds were quite impressive.

Alan

[Alan Knighting]

Karen,

Thank you for alerting me to the fact that I am not a client of French Connections but of Vacances France.

I understand that French Connections and Vacances France are to be separated and that the Vacances France pages are to be removed from the French Connections site. Those pages will be moved onto a newly integrated bilingual (English/French) site - www.vacationfrance.com and www.vacancesfrance.com.

Also, I understand that the site is in course of being redesigned and upgraded. It would be nice to have a Website which equalled the attractions of the area and the quality of my properties.

It remains to be seen whether or not the Search engine ratings and the booking levels are maintained. I do hope so because the Internet is my second best source of bookings. By far my best source is returns and personal recommendations.

Alan