Search found 117 matches

by Stewart
Tue Jun 16, 2020 6:59 am
Forum: OTAs: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking, Tripadvisor, etc.
Topic: Success with subscription on homeaway sites?
Replies: 5
Views: 1659

We never had success with this company either as subscribers or via commission only. In our case I noticed that they had placed the cottage in the wrong geographical area (maybe 20 km error) and their help desk wouldn't accept that I knew where our property was located.
by Stewart
Wed May 06, 2020 4:20 pm
Forum: UK & Ireland
Topic: Scotland Coronavirus Grant Applications
Replies: 8
Views: 4869

Fife Council may have problems paying out

Contrary to my earlier post about a three week turnaround time for the application I haven't actually received payment. Application submitted 7th April. Confirmation that the cottage qualified was e-mailed to me on 23rd April. I thought that the application checking would be the time consuming bit a...
by Stewart
Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:15 am
Forum: UK & Ireland
Topic: Scotland Coronavirus Grant Applications
Replies: 8
Views: 4869

Fife Council made a payment to me after a three week processing time.
by Stewart
Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:38 am
Forum: Bookings
Topic: FudgePilot
Replies: 2
Views: 1874

FudgePilot

I have just used a Web tool to analyse the latest 1000 5* and 1000 1* Sykes reviews on Trustpilot. I'm not boasting perfect arithmetic here but the general picture appears to be this. 1) The latest 1000 5* reviews have all been generated in the last three days. 2) Only 360 1* reviews have been publi...
by Stewart
Fri Apr 03, 2020 6:12 pm
Forum: Bookings
Topic: Official. Sykes is a Great Company
Replies: 4
Views: 2480

Or maybe call centre staff creating "verified" ratings instead of answering the phones. The world may run out of hotmail and gmail addresses!
by Stewart
Fri Apr 03, 2020 5:27 pm
Forum: Bookings
Topic: Official. Sykes is a Great Company
Replies: 4
Views: 2480

Official. Sykes is a Great Company

There is something very odd going on at Trustpilot where the volume of very recent 5 star reviews for cuddly old Mrs Sykes is frankly amazing. Are ordinary folks doling out five star gratitude because they can now only shift their breaks forward and pay even more money to do so or they must be enthu...
by Stewart
Sat Dec 21, 2019 6:21 pm
Forum: OTAs: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking, Tripadvisor, etc.
Topic: Homeaway
Replies: 15
Views: 5844

Not Great in Fife, Scotland.

Square root of bugger all. Used them for three years from 2014 on subscription. 3 bookings certainly not more. Their location map wasn't accurate (20 miles out) and they couldn't give a rubber duck. I did get the impression that they had a better reach in S England and mainland Europe. Maybe that's ...
by Stewart
Sat Dec 21, 2019 6:13 pm
Forum: Bookings
Topic: ABNB
Replies: 3
Views: 3614

Forget anything more than "min 2 nights"

Apart from the odd outlier booking, ABB are only good at one and two nights only (at least for us). The longer gigs come from our own website. So they are a useful channel to market albeit with these caveats.
by Stewart
Sat Dec 14, 2019 9:57 am
Forum: Managing your property
Topic: Energy Performance Certificates - Anonymous Poll
Replies: 3
Views: 1984

Energy Performance Certificates - Anonymous Poll

What's the uptake on this? Please complete the poll. I know this was raised a year or so ago but was wondering if many people had "invested" in one of these or were getting harassed by "the authorities". This came from VisitScotland yesterday. http://links.visitscotland.mkt4809.c...
by Stewart
Wed Nov 20, 2019 4:28 pm
Forum: OTAs: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking, Tripadvisor, etc.
Topic: Is this channel to market completely sewn up by big players?
Replies: 22
Views: 7676

Thanks Zebedee and thanks to all who posted. As a footnote, I was completing my year end today and was pleased to see ABB are doing the majority of of one and two nights and at an average of £122/night compared to £85 to £95/night for three to seven night stays that come through our own website. To ...
by Stewart
Wed Nov 20, 2019 3:56 pm
Forum: OTAs: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking, Tripadvisor, etc.
Topic: What would You like
Replies: 16
Views: 5088

Sounds like a precursor to a groovy new OTA with magical ways to beat the market. I'm intrigued.
by Stewart
Tue Nov 19, 2019 11:38 am
Forum: OTAs: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking, Tripadvisor, etc.
Topic: Is this channel to market completely sewn up by big players?
Replies: 22
Views: 7676

Thanks SPJ. A considered, detailed and interesting response. I guess my frustration is that the big OTA's are an extant threat to owners' margin and cash flow. I thought that would be "discussion-worthy" but clearly not to a great extent. Maybe (as you say) people have got their heads down...
by Stewart
Thu Nov 14, 2019 7:15 pm
Forum: OTAs: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking, Tripadvisor, etc.
Topic: Is this channel to market completely sewn up by big players?
Replies: 22
Views: 7676

Nearly 2000 views and only a handful of replies. Frankly a bit crap. What has happened to this community?
by Stewart
Wed Oct 30, 2019 7:37 am
Forum: Managing your property
Topic: Christmas tips for decorations etc
Replies: 31
Views: 7765

We stick to nice lights and secular symbols such as a tree and holly.
Seems to work and we don't bring in food or drink now as it was never really commented upon or appreciated when we did. Keep it minimal. People want their own space not somebody's interpretation of it
by Stewart
Wed Oct 30, 2019 7:29 am
Forum: OTAs: Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking, Tripadvisor, etc.
Topic: Is this channel to market completely sewn up by big players?
Replies: 22
Views: 7676

Maybe a final observation

Looking again at the past few years ABB is worth between 10 and 15% (we do not use any other OTA's). In that time I have found that in our area anyway, 1) price trumps everything else (including off street parking, wet rooms, large telly, fast broadband, Netflix, expensive riser/recliner etc) 2) Mos...