Anton Redman Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 We have just booked a week away at short notice in Spain. Used a site recommended by friends who have three gites in France. Of the dozen or so apartments that fitted our bill less than a third had up-to-date availability calendars on line. Apart from blocking out Christmas 2009 some had not been touched since November 2008 others were un touched since February. Where the apartments had there own sites the calendars were not better thereResult we filled in and sent off about a dozen enquiries of which 4 had the early June period we wanted. Next time we will probably not bother with the sites with calendars that are weeks out of date.Just a thought. Why do people not keep at least one site with the properties availability ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave21478 Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 A lot of people just arent internet-savvy. I was at a meeting last nght with the local tourist office and owners of all the gites in the area. (Well, those that bothered to attend) and I would say about 40% of them simply had a very poor grasp of the online world, with some of them not even having any internet access at all.They were the ones with plenty of un-rented periods this season.Another reason, and one that I have been guilty of in the past was when I signed up to a letting-site which turned out to be rubbish. Despite keeping it up to date, I never got any enquiries from it at all. It turned out to be marketd at the wrong clientele for me really. Anyway, I just gave up with it and let the subscription expire with several months still to run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apero Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 [quote user="dave21478"]A lot of people just arent internet-savvy. I was at a meeting last nght with the local tourist office and owners of all the gites in the area. (Well, those that bothered to attend) and I would say about 40% of them simply had a very poor grasp of the online world, with some of them not even having any internet access at all.They were the ones with plenty of un-rented periods this season.Another reason, and one that I have been guilty of in the past was when I signed up to a letting-site which turned out to be rubbish. Despite keeping it up to date, I never got any enquiries from it at all. It turned out to be marketd at the wrong clientele for me really. Anyway, I just gave up with it and let the subscription expire with several months still to run.[/quote]Given the economic times we are in; it is utter madness not to update on availability at least weekly. If you pay to be listed on any site it is also madness not to update availabiility weekly, why pay to list and not do the basics....... I would never enquire to anyone who could not do this simple task. On free listing sites it also is important. It only takes a few minutes each week and most sites shoot you up to the top view doing this. One booking alone recoups your investment + €£ in the bank. Our neighbour is doing very well doing this task each week, perhaps those who are not getting bookings should have a re-think, their bank accounts would benefit. Why waste marketing money without doing your homework on a letting site which has the wrong clientele - just plain stupid non-internet-savvy numpties IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave21478 Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Because after 7 months of keeping it religiously updated along with the other sites I use, I had failed to receive even a single enquiry through them, never mind any bookings. There was simply no point in continuing with them. Yes, I might have lost a booking through not updating it towards the end, but I find that unlikely in the extreme.And before you go jumping to your ill-informed conclusions...."Why waste marketing money without doing your homework on a lettingsite which has the wrong clientele - just plain stupidnon-internet-savvy numpties IMHO."I didnt pay a penny for the subscription. I signed up to advertise further afield, and it didnt work out. No money lost, no harm done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted May 24, 2009 Share Posted May 24, 2009 Methinks that perhaps Apero posted after a few aperos! [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo Taylor Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 There is an advantage to NOT keeping availability calendars updated... [:D]A week ago I had an enquiry for two weeks in September, Sunday-to-Sunday. If my calendar had been up-to-date, they'd have looked elsewhere. As it happened, I phoned them and converted to two later weeks, with Saturday changeover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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