What has happened to Visit france.co.uk?

[Vitraux<DL><DT><a target=_blank href="http:www.bed-and-breakfast-in-the-dordogne.com" target=_blank>www.bed-and-breakfast-in-the-dordogne.com<A><DT><DT><a target=_blank href="http:www.stainedglassinfrance.net" target=_blank>w]

Hi all,

Does anybody know what has happened to this company, I registered with them last October and had lots of enquiries, and 95% of my bookings came from them, but since the beginning of this year I haven't had a sausage. It is such a shame because they were very good and I had an average of a couple of enquiries per week.

 

These are the only paid English site I am with so I am getting a little nervous now, although I realise it is early days yet for the season.

 

I am on some trial periods with various other sites but to be honest they don't seem to be as good as visit france used to be, any suggestions would be gratefully received.

 

Ann

[Lizzie15]

[quote]Hi all, Does anybody know what has happened to this company, I registered with them last October and had lots of enquiries, and 95% of my bookings came from them, but since the beginning of this year...[/quote]

Hello. They are alive and well as far as I know, I advertise with them too. Do you update your site? You can visit and check the statistics to see how many people have viewed your listing and check website clickthroughs, if appropriate.They seem to ring up to check that everything's Ok fairly frequently too.Seems odd that you've not had any enquiries

Good luck

 

[Cerise]

Actually, I'm finding the same thing as Ann - we have always had loads of enquiries (and bookings) from Visit France, but suddenly - zilch.  I update the wretched thing and the calendar and we seem to get the same number of people looking at the site, but recently no enquiries.  I am getting a bit paranoid in case they are not getting through as I can't believe we have suddenly become less attractive.  They are certainly alive and well as they have just sent me a new invoice - but since the site has changed things don't seem the same and I wonder if the site is functioning correctly.  I will make some enquiries and see if I get a response.

Maggi

[Coco]

Same here!!  I know a few weeks ago people were complaining about the site since it was revamped.  I have always had a large percentage of my bookings from them but so far this year only 6 enquiries, which I checked out today when I was about to renew my membership.  Last year I paid £117.50 (inc a link to my website)  This year it's £145 which seems a bit steep to me, so although it expired in 6 days I'm a little reluctant to renew - that's a lot of money for one site, especially if a lot of other people have noticed a dramatic downturn in enquiries from that particular site.  I've actually taken 14 nights more bookings in the same period this year as last year, just none via VF!!

And no one's EVER phoned me to see if I'm happy with everything!!!

[Me0wp00]

My mums had the same problem, she's always had very good regular bookings from LF, this year I think two enquiries of a dubious nature and one booking. We always used to speak with Kate at VF and she arranged a pay per enquiry as we didn't want to pay for the full subscription for the number of bookings, we couldnt put a link to a website and also not a phone number, so kate could arrange invoicing, seemed fair enough for £4.25 a go. Last week the other guy Ben phoned mum to see how things were going *a first* and then proceeded to tell her pay per enquiry wasn't worth the bother to him and so if she didnt pay the subscription they were going to take the ad off. He also told her it was more suited to gites than bnb's which we already know from their negative response to changing the calender to show when only one room is booked, *buy another page*. Mum queried the statistics being so high, something like 1200 people looking at the site in a week with no enquiries, he didnt reply with a valid reason, I think they are more likely to be spiders, automated computer robots that look at sites to maintain positions in the search engines.

I think kate has left and ben's getting greedy. He seemed to think mum's 14 bookings from Lf last year was excellent and it was worth her paying the sub costs. We're inclined to think not this year.

[Lizzie15]

Mmmm...This seems a bit weird- totally different responses,surely the way the site is run would be the same for both b and b's and gites?It's the same cost?

 

[Quillan]

I have raised a post on their forum with links to the five threads here that are complaining about their service and I have invited them to reply. I am rather interested to see if they do reply or if they 'pull' my post. To see the post you must go to your owners page and the forum is at the bottom. Why not also raise your issues there.

It seems to me that LF could do the same thing and advertise gites and B&B's it would also help people who want to come to France and experience the things talked about in the magazine, it would also raise their profile even more on the net. Perhaps it could boost their magazine sales like via a discount system for those who already take the magazine get cheaper adverts.

[Monsieurmousseux]

I, too, have posted on VF's owners' forum, with no reply to my complaints and queries.

We have had a number of "looks" at our page, and a number of people going on to the "enquiries" page - then not making any enquiry. It doesn't make sense, yet they (VF) claim that people look at the enquiries page just because they are curious!! If it was just curiosity, there wouldn't be so many people visiting the enquiry pages of so many property owners, surely, although without detailed analysis, it's impossible to be certain.

I am very disappointed that nothing of interest has come through from VF, and unless there is a marked upturn very soon, we shan't be advertising with them again. That said, we've had nothing from other sites we advertise with, either, including all the freebie sites and one other paying site.

Comments elsewhere about supply outstripping demand must be taken seriously, and also the fact that many holiday-makers are drifting towards eastern Europe at the moment.

There is no point throwing good money after bad, though, and if there is no upturn in demand, I can't see that we shall continue with our B&B.

We have not a single booking for 2005 from web advertising.

[Vitraux<DL><DT><a target=_blank href="http:www.bed-and-breakfast-in-the-dordogne.com" target=_blank>www.bed-and-breakfast-in-the-dordogne.com<A><DT><DT><a target=_blank href="http:www.stainedglassinfrance.net" target=_blank>w]

[quote]I have raised a post on their forum with links to the five threads here that are complaining about their service and I have invited them to reply. I am rather interested to see if they do reply or if ...[/quote]

Hello Again,

Ann here, I  posted my concerns on the Visit France Forum 2 weeks ago, I have just had a look and funnily enough my thread seems to have mysteriously dissappeared, I couldn't see yours either Quillan.

 

Do you think these people were only good until they had relieved us of our hard earned cash, that's the feeling I am getting, if they are having problems with their server or website and they are addressing them then fine, but why not send their advertisers an e mail explaining this and offer a discount or refund while this is going on.

 

I feel that whilst they were wooing me with their free trial I had lots of enquiries, but now i am a fully paid up member not a sausage.

 

Look forward to lots of interesting replies.

 

Ann

[Quillan]

Mine is still there http://www.goholidays.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39 and apart from somebody saying 'here, here' there is no responce from VF. Mind you as it's only two people who run the whole thing we won't hear anything for a couple of weeks if at all.

[Alan]

I check there forum once in a xhile for what its worth, i have just posted the following there

 

Up until January things seemed to be working well, but since then is all seems to have gone down hill. We have had 4 enquiries since the new year and no bookings, out of the 4 enquiries one was a spoof 2 were people you had thought we were in the mountains and the other was a general enquiry for prices for May June and July no firm dates. I must say however last year most of my booking for the bed and breakfast were all made within 4 weeks of the commence date, and this site came up trumps. The advert was placed in May on the free trail and by the end of July I received 38 nights bookings

Up until January I was very please and have received about 26 nights bookings for June and July , six months in advance for bed and breakfast i feel is very good based on my previous years where bookings were made with a 4 week period.But I am starting to loose faith in the site, they do not know the meaning of customer service, as we never get any feed back on this forum or the updating site. The site must be netting more than 55000 pounds plus based on 99 pounds for an advert but if its not careful a lot will not be renewing there adverts.

Just some simply words of acknowledgement would not go a miss, this virus the site was hit with back in January that I have read about, what was it Also what is the point of there forum really, never get any feed back from Ben

 

i had no idea the costs have now gone up to 145 pounds

 

[Monsieurmousseux]

Quillan is right about them being a small company who take a long time to respond to anything. They even kept our ad live for months after the trial expired. Even when I took a long time to pay for the year's ad, they did not chase me. (It was due to computer breakdown, by the way!)

And as for costs, I paid £116.32 in February for our year's ad.

[Sued]

How very strange - this is a copy of my posting in the Gite Owners Forum , seems we are all thinking along similar lines???:

Has anybody else noticed the weird and wonderful times that people 'appear' to be 'looking' at your advert on Visit France website?

I seem to have views 3 and 4 times a day everyday (including Christmas Day!) yet I have only ever had 1 successful booking.  My house and advert aren't that bad surely!! 

I noticed for example that today somebody has viewed my page 3 times at 03.00, 06.00 and 09.00.

Am I being paranoid or is there some sort of system that can automatically make it look like we have tons of traffic? ...............

There were some interesting replies to my posting.

Somebody has mentioned spiders, which is the word I was looking for I was  - yes I think there are great big spiders crawling all over my property!!!

I for one will not be renewing my subscription.

[Monsieurmousseux]

I do hope Ben at VF is reading this.

Although, given the complete silence from the company on their own forum, I doubt it would make the slightest difference.

If I lived over there, I might be thinking of paying a visit.

[mascamps.com]

Is it just VF, or is it all the listings services that aren't performing?

We have two categories of listing:

     1) pure listing services ie those that list your details but don't handle the booking itself; and

     2) booking systems ie which have a "book it" button or equivalent.

Thus far this year, we haven't received anything from the first type but are doing quite well with the second. I wonder if it's that potential guests are starting to prefer the sites that will let them book as opposed to those which just let them enquire?

We're even on one site which lets us list rooms under both headings. We've never received a booking from them via the pure listing service yet are getting more and more from the booking service.

It strikes me that, if it's not just VF that's affected, it might be that people have changed their booking habits and prefer to book their Ryanair/Easyjet/etc. flight and immediately book a place to stay corresponding to their flight dates.

 

Arnold

 

[Coco]

Now how weird is this?  Call me paranoid or a sceptic BUT Kate called today to ask if I would be renewing my ad which expires next week.  I told her I was still thinking about it because I have had so few bookings from them this year.  Tonight I've looked at my emails and 3 VF enquiries, more than I've had in the last 3 months.  I also took a phone BOOKING and at the end of the booking the lady said "Oh by the way, I found you via the Visit France site"  Now she is the FIRST PERSON EVER to a) remember where she found me and b) tell me unprompted.  Still, a booking's a booking I suppose and I've asked for a 50% deposit which I will expect to receive before I  renew my ad - just in case

BTW Vitraux, I checked out their site today and you'll be pleased to know that your property is on the fron page of the whole site at the moment, so that may help generate more enquiries!

[Me0wp00]

haha funny eh, my mum had a phonecall from someone from VF today, not ben and not kate, Think he was called James. Everything ok with the site, are you going to pay for your advert now as we cant do pay per enquiry as kate said, etc etc, very pushy and my mum kept telling them to take her off the site as she was only going to pay per enquiry. Also said how we were commenting on here about the site, they said they had read the forum here and it is only a very small number of people complaining !! Ho hum I think not....

Also the stats are rubbish, it appears its the number of clicks it records and that can just be when someone searches for an area, not the particular property.

Anyway it ended that he didn't want to lose mum's business but he didnt think they were going to do pay per enquiry but he'd leave the page up until kate had time to see if they could do anything for her.

It's weird how we're getting phonecalls all of a sudden. I'd be very dubious about bookings that happen in the next few weeks and yes coco, I'm telling mum to make sure she takes deposits.

[Vitraux<DL><DT><a target=_blank href="http:www.bed-and-breakfast-in-the-dordogne.com" target=_blank>www.bed-and-breakfast-in-the-dordogne.com<A><DT><DT><a target=_blank href="http:www.stainedglassinfrance.net" target=_blank>w]

[quote]Mine is still there http://www.goholidays.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39 and apart from somebody saying 'here, here' there is no responce from VF. Mind you as it's only two people who run the whole th...[/quote]

Hi there,

Look again Quillan, I had a look yesterday and yes your reply was there, but today I had another look at the forum to see if there were any replies and your message doesn't seem to be there

It is such a shame because I think they are a really good site and perhaps they are just having problems with servers and things, but if only they would let us know then we wouldn't have to do this. Lack of communication is the worst thing in business.

I have only been in this business for 8 months so I have no comparisons but as they were so good last year and only stopped with the enquiries in January there has to be some kind of reason why and looking at the thread January seems to be the common denominator.

Let's hope they fix whatever the probem is and get back to feeding us with quality enquiries.

 

Ann. 

[Quillan]

I posted the following,

See my post that pointed to further complaints has been deleted.

Obviously Ben does not like to see critism of his website. He was given the opertunity to answer both here and on the other website but declined to do so. It would seem that he is keen to take your money after which they don't give a toss.

Now Ben , don't delete this just give us all some answers, even if it's a one liner it's better than ingnoring your csutomer base completelty. You owe us, we pay your wages.

I expect his answer as allways is to delete things he does not like.

We will see

[Monsieurmousseux]

I have commented on this over on the thread concerned. I didn't realise straightaway, but a post of mine which followed Quillan's has also been pulled, along with the "here, here" post. I suppose they wouldn't have made sense without Quillan's post, anyway.

[Vitraux<DL><DT><a target=_blank href="http:www.bed-and-breakfast-in-the-dordogne.com" target=_blank>www.bed-and-breakfast-in-the-dordogne.com<A><DT><DT><a target=_blank href="http:www.stainedglassinfrance.net" target=_blank>w]

Hello again,

It seems Ben has replied at last on the visit france forum, this is part of his reply:-

Some businesses have unbeatable location or product offerings which simply market themselves. These are probably not relevant to this discussion. Some generate 4 figure numbers of enquiries. Those people don't contribute here - presumably too busy!

Of the rest, the individual merits of a property are a most variable commodity, and owners should try to make an accurate assessment of the market, competition, season duration etc, in order to start out with a realistic idea of the venture's cashflow.

Main drivers are: Region; proximity to the sea; proximity to channel ports and UK-linked airports; regularity of use of 'daily priority update' [mentioned below]; property features such as: en-suite bathroom[s], four poster, special property/setting/grounds, swimming pool, good food, fishing; presentation to visitors in the website - eg detailed prices, availability, comprehensive desciption, plenty of [hopefully well lit and sharp] pictures.

So a coastal property with a pool and good communication links is likely to generate more bookings than an inland cottage off the beaten track with no pool! Hopefully, the property also cost an awful lot less, and your income requirement from it is similalrly reduced.

The daily update is important for some properties

 

My reply is this

We don't have a pool but have quality accommodation and are only 5 minutes drive from Bergerac Airport,  I update my visit france site every day and have 4 special offers running at all times, which again I change and update every 14 days.

Ben's reply does not address the real problem here which is that the bookings have dried up since JANUARY 2005 - we want to know why and not that our properties are possibly not good enough - that is rubbish. :?

Lets have a proper reply please Ben or at least a partial refund, visit france is the most expensive site I am with and I was happy to pay last October because they seemed to be well run and were always on the first page of any search. We had lots of enquiries and 90% of these turned into quality bookings. - this all stopped in January.

So what has happened - there must be a reason - can you please just let us know - there is no shame in admitting  there is something wrong with the site

 [b]nobody is perfect.[/b] :twisted:

Ann

[Coco]

Now I'm asking again What has happened to Visit France?   Turn and turn about.  I've had 14 enquiries in the last few weeks and 4 of those have turned into bookings.  Has anyone else experienced an improvement or am I just lucky?  I have to say, I've had lots of enquiries from other sources too, so perhaps everyone is just starting later this year.  Not that I'm complaining.

Just one comment about VF though.  I thought that updating your site or calendar was supposed to take you to the top of the page.  I've never yet managed to get myself onto the very front page and having just checked, within 5 seconds of updating, I was 4th on the basse normande B&B page and not even on the first page of the "any accommodation basse normandie" page.  I can't believe that that many people updated simltaneously.  And it doesn't work at all on the special offers or late availability pages, you just go to the end and sit there.  Not a lot of good if you're trying to offer accommodation for say THIS weekend!  Anyone know how it works? 

[Deby]

Coco,

What you need to do is

1) update your calendar,

then

2) go to the Admin Home Menu,

then

3) Click on the Update Now button

and voila!

Obviously, when other members do this, you then pushed down in the pecking order.  One thing to note, you can only do this once a day (I believe) to influence your position.

Hope this helps,

Deby

[Coco]

Thanks Deby - top of the heap at 10 to midnight!!!!  Still, perhaps I'll catch some American browsers!  Just got another VF enquiry turned into a 2 room, 2 night booking, so that's covered the cost of the renewal - any more now is profit for the next 11 and a half months, so perhaps it was worth it after all!!

[mascamps.com]

Much as I always say that I'm too stingy to pay more than 50€ for an advert, 'yall have convinced me that perhaps visitfrance is worth paying for and the ad is now live.

How do I pay for the thing? There's no invoice listed in admin and I've clicked on everything looking for a "pay" button to no avail.

 

Arnold