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Accommodation in France - Book direct


Coco
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I'll leave a note in the mod section, but as I am sure you are all aware admin is sometimes away from the forum for several days at a time as he has other duties. I don't think there is anything to be concerned about but I'm sure you are keen to get started especially as I guess this is potentially a busy booking period.

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I got shouted down last time I said this but this is an example of exactly what I mean.

There are so many companies offering internet advertising ranging from a couple of hundred euros down to twenty or thirty per year bombarding my email address every day.

If a company/advertiser approaches you and offers what appears to be a great deal of business by advertising on their website then my attitude is put your money where your mouth is. If it's that great then fine I will give you a 5% or even 10% cut of any reservations I get through your website. If you are really that good you can make far more money out of me than me paying a fixed sum for a year’s subscription. If you are rubbish then you get nothing.

Who did get the 5 free slots? I rather suspect that those that did don't want to say else the rest of you pick on them.

Of course, as Dick alludes, it could all be grand conspiracy equal to ‘did man really walk on the moon’ and ‘did Prince Philip and Charles get Diana killed’ to name but a few [:D] .

 

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Well I don't think it would be too difficult to work out as they have the latest additions on the front page.  Interestingly, I notice Quillan that you are there - have you jumped the gun and paid, or are moderators getting preferential treatment?  I'll tell you this much - it was me that started the debate and I certainly haven't been offered a space - probably won't either for having suggested that they're not offering anything special for the £85, which, as you say Quillan, is fairly near the top of the price-range for advertising.  I know it's much more than covered by a single booking for gites but for B&B you want at least two or three bookings to make it even worth considering.
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I'll tell you this much - it was me that started the debate and I certainly haven't been offered a space - probably won't either for having suggested that they're not offering anything special for the £85, which, as you say Quillan, is fairly near the top of the price-range for advertising

There isn't an agenda - either you were one of the first five or you were not, there isn't any other meaning.

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I think you had to PM James to get your free advert but I might be wrong but if true how do you know you were really in the first five. I mean people may have read James's post and PM/emailed him straight away and they may never have posted in the thread. I don't think it worked just saying in this thread you were interested. I know there is at least one advert that belongs to a forum member. I am sure that if they want to say they have a free advert they will as I don't think it's for me to speak for them. The others, if they exist or not, I don't really know. Mind you I can see why they might not want to say as this is turning in to a bit of a witch hunt. I mean I can just see what will happen when others work it out they will say 'hang on I asked before you, I posted in the thread' etc, etc. even though they were knocking paying 85 pound to place an advert with LF but they don't mind if it's free  [:D].
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I cannot see anywhere on the first post that says the first 5 that pm me will get a free ad, I posted it first and that a was the next morning - what you are saying is 5 got there before me and Pm'ed him?I think not! the debate was just getting going then, I think there has been a bit of favourtism there, could the people who got the free ad identify themselves and we'll see when they asked for it and if t it was before me them I'll shut my mouth and accept defeat!!!
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Hear, hear Dick, or is it here here?  Anyway, I did make the initial complaint, then I had to go to England to see a very ill MIL so if I missed the free ad then that's shame but sobeit, all I would like to know is:  Did anyone get it?  If they did, good luck to them.  But why, as you say, is everything so secretive on this forum?  Lizzie is right, James suggested 5 free ads and she (thought) responded first.  If she didn't then why not just explain that?  This is yet again turning into a bit of an issue, through no fault of members but through the secretism, or non-response of the owners! [:@]

BTW Quillan, does that mean you did PM James and you DID get a free ad?

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[quote user="lizzy h"]I cannot see anywhere on the first post that says the first 5 that pm me will get a free ad, I posted it first and that a was the next morning - what you are saying is 5 got there before me and Pm'ed him?I think not! the debate was just getting going then, I think there has been a bit of favourtism there, could the people who got the free ad identify themselves and we'll see when they asked for it and if t it was before me them I'll shut my mouth and accept defeat!!![/quote]

I don't know if people Pm'ed James or even emailed him because obviously nobody has access to his personal stuff. Whilst I agree he does not say you had to PM him you could contact him in one of many ways, even by phone for instance. Likewise you may be correct in that it had to be the first five in this thread but it would be wrong to assume anything really wouldn't it.

As to secrecy, if people want to say they have a free ad thats up to them. You can do a deal with most magazines and news papers to advertise specially near to the publishing date likewise with some websites when they start up but the publishing companies don't go round saying who got what advertising space and for how much. So perhaps some got free advertising, some got a big discount, some got a small discount and others paid full whack. For all we know people who advertised may have had to agree not to say how much they paid, or didn't but thats between Archant and the advertisers.

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What a lot of fuss about nothing - we don't know that anything has or hasn't happened yet - can you all wait for James to give this matter his attention before you start getting excited.?

I have left a note in the mods section for him, asking if he could attend to this so everyone knows where they stand.

PS. Dick, this forum has never pretended to be a democracy and I don't know of a Francophile forum that is - but thanks - you won me a fiver ![:D]

 

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[quote user="Forum Admin"]

Perhaps I should offer say 5 forum users the opportunity to advertise on the site for a year for free....see how they get on.

 

[/quote]

Admin never did offer 5 free places, they said perhaps they should , not that they would. If Quillan has been offered one free or at a reduced rate good luck to him , afraid its none of our business. With time if the site does not pull in business then i expect like all others they will then try to rope punters in with special offers.

Like others though i would be reluctant to part with 85 pounds unless i see some results, coco you are correct in saying for  a gite 85 pounds is a drop in the ocean not so for B&B

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[quote user="Alan"][quote user="Forum Admin"]

Perhaps I should offer say 5 forum users the opportunity to advertise on the site for a year for free....see how they get on.

 

[/quote]

If Quillan has been offered one free or at a reduced rate good luck to him , afraid its none of our business.

[/quote]

Actually I only said I know of somebody, I never ever said it was me. Now if that person wants to step forward and identify themselves thats up to them. If it were me and after reading this thread I wouldn't. Some people were asked to place adverts prior to Forum Admin making an anouncment here to test the system. Likewise others have found the site and have paid to advertise.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Please can you let me know who you get all the bookings with too? I'd love to boost my bookings, as we all would and have advertised both cheap and expensive, and still no bookings, still its only our 2nd year, things could still improve!

This is my first posting so not sure how you would let me know without putting it on the page which i know you can't do? can someone advise?!!!

many thanks

Janet

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People can reply to you through a Private Message (PM)

On some forum software you get a notification when you log in that someone has sent you a message, but not this one. When you log on simply click on Private Messages to see if you have any. You will have in a moment, because I am going to send you one to find and reply to.

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