Cottage.com or on our own

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
Kilm
Posts: 44
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 4:23 pm

Post by Kilm »

It's worth remembering that Cottages also list your property on AirBnb / Booking.com and hundreds of other portals as well.

I moved from my local agent who was giving me 87% occupancy each year to Cottages.com for a variety of reasons, booking occupancy (believe it or not) not being one of them.

Whilst my start with Cottages was utterly awful in terms of how they handled me joining them and that I sent an email within four months saying "See you later, forget your termination fee too", I got moved onto a direct manager who now handles my property directly and links directly in with me.

I also negotiated the initial contract, and after the mess, got a few more wrangles in on the contract so I have a good commission rate, unlimited owner weeks, a no-fee termination period for them to prove they've pulled their socks up and a higher rate of payment on the dog fee of £30.

Because of the direct manager, the level of service is now excellent and the DM is superb at what they do. The bookings are still poor however, but personally I'm okay with that as the house needs a break whilst we refurbish and think of how we want to take it forward.

Anyway, as mentioned, they also list on AirBnB, so I'd check that your property is on there.

Oh, and my property team who clean and maintain the place also look after a good number of Cottage.com properties in the area and they say the same thing - they all started out poorly until they got the first few Revoo reviews in from Cottage bookings, then the bookings came in thick and fast.

We shall see.
Statto
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jul 27, 2019 12:50 pm

Post by Statto »

Thanks for all your input. We've decided to go it alone next season (using Airbnb, local tourist board (who don't charge Commission) and maybe HL and see how it goes.

Cottages didn't really seem bothered we wanted to terminate, as I thought they have too many properties.
Barney
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2019 8:49 pm

Post by Barney »

Kilm wrote:It's worth remembering that Cottages also list your property on AirBnb / Booking.com and hundreds of other portals as well.

I moved from my local agent who was giving me 87% occupancy each year to Cottages.com for a variety of reasons, booking occupancy (believe it or not) not being one of them.

Whilst my start with Cottages was utterly awful in terms of how they handled me joining them and that I sent an email within four months saying "See you later, forget your termination fee too", I got moved onto a direct manager who now handles my property directly and links directly in with me.

I also negotiated the initial contract, and after the mess, got a few more wrangles in on the contract so I have a good commission rate, unlimited owner weeks, a no-fee termination period for them to prove they've pulled their socks up and a higher rate of payment on the dog fee of £30.

Because of the direct manager, the level of service is now excellent and the DM is superb at what they do. The bookings are still poor however, but personally I'm okay with that as the house needs a break whilst we refurbish and think of how we want to take it forward.

Anyway, as mentioned, they also list on AirBnB, so I'd check that your property is on there.

Oh, and my property team who clean and maintain the place also look after a good number of Cottage.com properties in the area and they say the same thing - they all started out poorly until they got the first few Revoo reviews in from Cottage bookings, then the bookings came in thick and fast.

We shall see.
They get decent bookings in our area but because of the commission rate as many others have detailed the owner gets a poorer return than they do with other companies making it not worthwhile. Family of four and two dogs paid £38 per night which didn't cover the heating/ electricity bills let alone the wear and tear. We lost money on that guest who whilst with us said how marvellous it was and how it had worked out so well for them while the builders completed their home.
Their admin staff take ages to action certain changes. When a dispute arises they always take the side of the guest however in the wrong they are. In fact they become very obtuse and threatening we found.
They do list the property on numerous websites but when you finish with them they are in no rush to get their partner websites to remove the listing which caused us a significant problem.
Kilm
Posts: 44
Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 4:23 pm

Post by Kilm »

Barney wrote:
Kilm wrote:It's worth remembering that Cottages also list your property on AirBnb / Booking.com and hundreds of other portals as well.

I moved from my local agent who was giving me 87% occupancy each year to Cottages.com for a variety of reasons, booking occupancy (believe it or not) not being one of them.

Whilst my start with Cottages was utterly awful in terms of how they handled me joining them and that I sent an email within four months saying "See you later, forget your termination fee too", I got moved onto a direct manager who now handles my property directly and links directly in with me.

I also negotiated the initial contract, and after the mess, got a few more wrangles in on the contract so I have a good commission rate, unlimited owner weeks, a no-fee termination period for them to prove they've pulled their socks up and a higher rate of payment on the dog fee of £30.

Because of the direct manager, the level of service is now excellent and the DM is superb at what they do. The bookings are still poor however, but personally I'm okay with that as the house needs a break whilst we refurbish and think of how we want to take it forward.

Anyway, as mentioned, they also list on AirBnB, so I'd check that your property is on there.

Oh, and my property team who clean and maintain the place also look after a good number of Cottage.com properties in the area and they say the same thing - they all started out poorly until they got the first few Revoo reviews in from Cottage bookings, then the bookings came in thick and fast.

We shall see.
They get decent bookings in our area but because of the commission rate as many others have detailed the owner gets a poorer return than they do with other companies making it not worthwhile. Family of four and two dogs paid £38 per night which didn't cover the heating/ electricity bills let alone the wear and tear. We lost money on that guest who whilst with us said how marvellous it was and how it had worked out so well for them while the builders completed their home.
Their admin staff take ages to action certain changes. When a dispute arises they always take the side of the guest however in the wrong they are. In fact they become very obtuse and threatening we found.
They do list the property on numerous websites but when you finish with them they are in no rush to get their partner websites to remove the listing which caused us a significant problem.
What do you mean, £38 per night? As in, they paid £38 per night for their stay or £38 for the dog fee?

An update now that I'm bedded in well with Cottages:

1. The Owner Services are pretty bad, but as I mentioned, I got a Direct Manager so my service is excellent - I even sent him a case of beer because he was all over it.

2. My bookings are excellent. Now that it's warmed up with some guest reviews giving me 5 stars, I'm getting them thick and fast and my year ahead is very healthy.

3. My contract still stands, so unlimited owner bookings, lower commission rate (I'm down somewhere about 16%) and higher payment of the dog fee, plus I can take my own bookings, which I routinely do. So I'll take 10% off the list price for the direct guest and make an extra 6% for myself.

I would recommend going with Cottages, but be prepared for some teething issues at the start in terms of your listing description, etc.

In terms of your issue over partner listings being slow to be removed, the workaround for that is that when you cancel with them, you confirm that your calendar is closed - they block off all dates and it can't be booked. Might mean you have a duplicate listing on a site if you then do it yourself, but at least you won't be getting people turning up for bookings. I had them do that for me for a period for some renovation work and it worked smoothly.

No company is perfect, and the bigger they are, the worse they tend to be, but I've learned not to go with the local company because politics will always cause problems for that.

Overally, I'm very happy with Cottages.

They also handled the whole Covid-19 from my own perspective, really well, and all my guests were taken care of with refunds or deferrals.
Barney
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2019 8:49 pm

Post by Barney »

Kilm wrote:
Barney wrote:
Kilm wrote:It's worth remembering that Cottages also list your property on AirBnb / Booking.com and hundreds of other portals as well.

I moved from my local agent who was giving me 87% occupancy each year to Cottages.com for a variety of reasons, booking occupancy (believe it or not) not being one of them.

Whilst my start with Cottages was utterly awful in terms of how they handled me joining them and that I sent an email within four months saying "See you later, forget your termination fee too", I got moved onto a direct manager who now handles my property directly and links directly in with me.

I also negotiated the initial contract, and after the mess, got a few more wrangles in on the contract so I have a good commission rate, unlimited owner weeks, a no-fee termination period for them to prove they've pulled their socks up and a higher rate of payment on the dog fee of £30.

Because of the direct manager, the level of service is now excellent and the DM is superb at what they do. The bookings are still poor however, but personally I'm okay with that as the house needs a break whilst we refurbish and think of how we want to take it forward.

Anyway, as mentioned, they also list on AirBnB, so I'd check that your property is on there.

Oh, and my property team who clean and maintain the place also look after a good number of Cottage.com properties in the area and they say the same thing - they all started out poorly until they got the first few Revoo reviews in from Cottage bookings, then the bookings came in thick and fast.

We shall see.
They get decent bookings in our area but because of the commission rate as many others have detailed the owner gets a poorer return than they do with other companies making it not worthwhile. Family of four and two dogs paid £38 per night which didn't cover the heating/ electricity bills let alone the wear and tear. We lost money on that guest who whilst with us said how marvellous it was and how it had worked out so well for them while the builders completed their home.
Their admin staff take ages to action certain changes. When a dispute arises they always take the side of the guest however in the wrong they are. In fact they become very obtuse and threatening we found.
They do list the property on numerous websites but when you finish with them they are in no rush to get their partner websites to remove the listing which caused us a significant problem.
What do you mean, £38 per night? As in, they paid £38 per night for their stay or £38 for the dog fee?

An update now that I'm bedded in well with Cottages:

1. The Owner Services are pretty bad, but as I mentioned, I got a Direct Manager so my service is excellent - I even sent him a case of beer because he was all over it.

2. My bookings are excellent. Now that it's warmed up with some guest reviews giving me 5 stars, I'm getting them thick and fast and my year ahead is very healthy.

3. My contract still stands, so unlimited owner bookings, lower commission rate (I'm down somewhere about 16%) and higher payment of the dog fee, plus I can take my own bookings, which I routinely do. So I'll take 10% off the list price for the direct guest and make an extra 6% for myself.

I would recommend going with Cottages, but be prepared for some teething issues at the start in terms of your listing description, etc.

In terms of your issue over partner listings being slow to be removed, the workaround for that is that when you cancel with them, you confirm that your calendar is closed - they block off all dates and it can't be booked. Might mean you have a duplicate listing on a site if you then do it yourself, but at least you won't be getting people turning up for bookings. I had them do that for me for a period for some renovation work and it worked smoothly.

No company is perfect, and the bigger they are, the worse they tend to be, but I've learned not to go with the local company because politics will always cause problems for that.

Overally, I'm very happy with Cottages.

They also handled the whole Covid-19 from my own perspective, really well, and all my guests were taken care of with refunds or deferrals.
£30 per dog per night is a decent amount, if it's per stay then it's hardly worth bothering with especially when compared to kennel fees.
Take a look at the cost of Airbnb properties in the area, see how much they are charging for a stay, work out the nightly rate, take off 3% and that's what the hosts are receiving. Now compare that to a cottages property , maybe your own, in same area - take off 16-18% plus vat so lets say 20 % inc. ( there's further costs with cottages but we can ignore for purposes of this eg). The difference is what you're missing out on.
I can screen the people booking with Airbnb which has be very handy to reject those with bad reviews - there is nothing similar with cottages. My neighbour who rents his farmhouse out with cottages wished he had been able to do so as a forthnight ago a group caused thousands of pounds worth of vandalism damage and were a complete nuisance.
I was able to increase the nightly rate by up to 50% on last years, I choose my rate and can change whenever I want. I asked Cottages to increase my nightly rate which they refused to do because the local expert on the pricing team believed it was at the correct level. With Airbnb I get two and a half times more per night because guess what I'm the expert on my area and property so now what it's worth.
If anything goes wrong Airbnb are great at dealing with it and I've had to make a claim for some accidental damage - they paid out within two weeks so I didn't have to claim on my insurance.
Cottages disappeared over the hill when a guest booking through them caused damage - oh dear they said good luck with getting them to pay, thanks for calling.
Airbnb paid 1/4 of the income due during lockdown which was nice.

I could go on but it's not worth it because what's important is that a host is happy with who they're with.
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