best holiday house sites please

[mistry girl]

We have a client who is currently advertising her holiday property with owners direct, but would like another site, to try and secure more bookings this year. We have suggested amivav, to perhaps capture some french and belgian visitors, but could anyone recommend the best sites to advertise with, for good success?

[bornintheuk]

We have had some success with Brittany Ferries (Holiday France Direct) on their commission scheme. Only £29 per booking whether 1 week or 3.
It would seem from a number of posts that everyone has different results with different websites, whether it depends on type of property, location or pricing seems to be unknown.
Its a strange business to get a firm position on who's best

[kevsboredagain]

It would seem from a number of posts that everyone has different results with different websites, whether it depends on type of property, location or pricing seems to be unknown.
Its a strange business to get a firm position on who's best

+1

[mistry girl]

Yes, I know what you mean. Have any of you had experience with air b&b, or is that more for house or apartment swopping?

[Jensen]

Yes, I know what you mean. Have any of you had experience with air b&b, or is that more for house or apartment swopping?

My mate swears by it for renting his terraced house out up in the North of England ! We have been on their website as a result of and not a sausage yet !!

[kevsboredagain]

Yes, I know what you mean. Have any of you had experience with air b&b, or is that more for house or apartment swopping?

For France, I've had a couple of bookings this year through AirBnb. I put higher rates on there to cover fees but some people still perceive it to be a cheap way of renting for some reason. Nothing to lose by listing there.

[Francois]

We have a client who is currently advertising her holiday property with owners direct, but would like another site, to try and secure more bookings this year. We have suggested amivav, to perhaps capture some french and belgian visitors, but could anyone recommend the best sites to advertise with, for good success?

Hello,

I advertise my accommodation on Airbnb which attracts mostly foreign guests and on Leboncoin which attracts exclusively French guests. Each of these two sites represent more or less half of my guests per year.

Requests from Leboncoin have to be managed with some attention because some of them are spams but I also faced some tentative of hacking of my Airbnb account. Therefore, the unsecure reputation of Leboncoin is not worst than other sites and ... advertising is free !

Best regards,

François

[GRL]

I have used Leboncoin and all I got were a handful of enquiries that were all unsuitable ie over occupancy or dates already booked. I may go back on though simply because it is free and at some point I may get a booking.

Airbnb brings in a few bookings but some-one has left a 2* review saying we are more expensive than other properties locally. Maybe we are but maybe that is because we sleep 5 and are not just a spare room for 2 in some-one else's house and we provide a whole raft of things that I doubt others locally do.

Brittany Ferries is beginning to bring in some bookings now (and out of peak season which is nice).

Just listed with PawsAbroad - nothing as yet although I am getting hits on the website from my advert.

Several repeat bookings.

Some bookings and interest through social media.

Otherwise things are very slow this year but looking at everyone else in the region it would seem that few people are booking up fast. I really need to get on at least one big site - Owners Direct was going nowhere for us so I may try Holiday Lettings on commission. OD used to be our bread and butter but it just proves how this industry is changing and I am not sure I am keeping up.

[bornintheuk]

Otherwise things are very slow this year but looking at everyone else in the region it would seem that few people are booking up fast. I really need to get on at least one big site - Owners Direct was going nowhere for us so I may try Holiday Lettings on commission. OD used to be our bread and butter but it just proves how this industry is changing and I am not sure I am keeping up.

This shows how variable things are across regions as well as types of accommodation as we have 2016 almost complete and our friends across in the Dordogne are also seeing lots of bookings this time of year.

[French Cricket]

Interesting - it's the same for us, bornintheuk ... and I notice that you and I share a niche - ie couples, with no children. That market appears to be strong.

I've had two listing site bookings (OD) for 2016 but apart from that, this is the first time that all my bookings have come from our own website via organic searches, which is more than gratifying - in fact I'm dead chuffed . It would be interesting to know where your bookings are coming from, bornintheuk, as certainly here none of the listing sites are performing for what you might call the 'non-niche' rentals.

[bornintheuk]

Interesting - it's the same for us, bornintheuk ... and I notice that you and I share a niche - ie couples, with no children. That market appears to be strong.

I've had two listing site bookings (OD) for 2016 but apart from that, this is the first time that all my bookings have come from our own website via organic searches, which is more than gratifying - in fact I'm dead chuffed . It would be interesting to know where your bookings are coming from, bornintheuk, as certainly here none of the listing sites are performing for what you might call the 'non-niche' rentals.

Hi FC, its a little complicated in our case. I will PM you.

[isplumm]

Hi,

Well this is my first year (we did rent a few weeks last year, but only finished renovating in August).

I use Chez Nous - most of my bookings have come this way - but am also on LoireLife / Holiday Lettings (suspect waste of time as they are way more expensive than booking direct), Brittany Ferries (they take £29) and a few other smaller sites.

Not sure how many weeks people have booked, but I now have 5 weeks booked for this year - is that good for this time of year?

Thanks Mark

[kevsboredagain]

Not sure how many weeks people have booked, but I now have 5 weeks booked for this year - is that good for this time of year?

I would say that's fairly normal for the end of January. Hopefully your other summer weeks will fill up soon. I notice you've got a weekend booking in the middle of August. You might find you end up with the weeks either side of that empty, unless you're lucky. It depends if you take mostly Brits or French guests too.

[isplumm]

I notice you've got a weekend booking in the middle of August. You might find you end up with the weeks either side of that empty, unless you're lucky. It depends if you take mostly Brits or French guests too.

Unfortunately that is us - it is my parents 50th wedding anniversary & my mum's 70th so she is having a party - so no real choice!

As to French visitors - well have had a few enquire via ArBnB - but nothing else - thinking of using Amivac - no idea what that is like?

Thanks Mark

[Old Bill]

We have 9 weeks booked for next summer, which is fine at this stage. We have very recently had an inquiry for late May/early June, but it looks like coming to nothing because air fares to Southern France are greatly inflated at that time on account of Euro 2016 football. Are others experiencing the same issue?