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Post by CathyH on Nov 7, 2015 0:05:27 GMT
I decided to list on "Holiday Lettings" and was getting around 40:60 bookings HL:Airbnb. I much prefer Airbnb as there is at least some incentive for guests to be 'good' guests due to review system - even with all its flaws, it at least has those guest profiles and reviews - few of the other sites have this two way review process. HLettings guests are more likely to approach the booking as a simple transaction, like booking a hotel, and I find I have to swap a few emails first to check out things will be a good fit. They're a bit surprised at my approach (of needing info about them, their stay etc) but they've turned out to be great guests, in the main. In the past couple of months however, I've found that Tripadvisor has become the umbrella and we've been automatically listed on another four sites - including flipkey. Our current guest came that way, and this was a bit of a surprise. Turns out much of the detail on our listing hadn't been migrated across, so there was a bit of misunderstanding based on what I believed they'd understood from the listing I thought I had, and what was actually there. So - if you're listed in any of the Tripadvisor group, do check what your listing actually looks like!
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Post by WillUTravel on Nov 24, 2015 18:44:17 GMT
I had a similar issue with FlipKey. I got tons of one time messages, and then no response ever again... I just don't understand how it works and it feels as though it has been invaded by bots, but i don't see the advantage to that.
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Post by salvia on Dec 2, 2015 11:37:55 GMT
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Post by jstef368 on Dec 9, 2015 22:51:41 GMT
Great info!! I was wondering how the other sites stacked up and if anyone used them so this is a great thread!! Glad I chose Airbnb as my primary way of listing... I'll probably just stick with it solely for a while.
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Post by High Priestess on Dec 10, 2015 1:26:08 GMT
Welcome to the forum, jstef! I'm glad that info helped you.
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Post by Ricky on Dec 14, 2015 15:52:37 GMT
I have 14 listings on Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia. I get 90% of my bookings from Booking.com and Expedia. Payment processing and accepting credit cards was a challenge at first, but I solved this problem and actually built out a company to help other short term rental operators take advantage of the new boom in short term rental opportunity on Booking.com and Expedia. Here is my website that explains how everything works www.ststays.com |
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Post by ststays on Dec 14, 2015 16:05:48 GMT
Also to add, I have used Wimdu, FlipKey, HomeAway and Tripadvisor in the past. I concur with the general sentiment of the other posts. I didn't receive many bookings from these sources and decided it wasn't worth my time to maintain so many different processes for low value. www.ststays.com can synch with over 30+ sites, however we only list our clients on the sites that actually provide results, and from my experience and our clients experience Booking.com and Expedia tend to pay the bills. Airbnb used to be great and still fills in the gaps, but listings in my area became very saturated driving prices really low. My units are located in Toronto and Ottawa Canada. Hopefully Short Term Stays can help solve some of the pain points outlined in this thread by creating a platform that is as simple to use as Airbnb and actually delivers booking results. Your feedback is welcome! |
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Post by High Priestess on Dec 14, 2015 17:20:38 GMT
Thanks for telling us about your company, Ricky. That sounds great. It's very good to know about. Do you allow listings of all kinds of short term stays, rooms in houses as well as whole apartments/houses, or are you oriented mainly to just whole units? It seems to me that a lot of the platforms are oriented to whole apartments/houses, but what I would like to see, are other options for those who rent out a room in their home. I think it would be healthy for AIrbnb to have some competition in this respect.
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Post by ststays on Dec 14, 2015 19:25:29 GMT
Hi Deborah, Currently we only support whole apartments/houses. However a lot of requests have come for us to support rooms, and we are working on rolling out an offering to cater to this. We know from insideairbnb.com/ that approx 40% of listings on airbnb are rooms so it is a sizeable market. We are looking at building processes with Hostel World, Couch Surf and other sites that support the room model. Our platform already sync calendars with these sites so we are at the stage to handle our customer support and listing management on these channels. I will be sure to post back here when our solution is ready. |
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Post by apricotnelli on Jan 10, 2016 13:22:54 GMT
I do get bookings from Wimdu. Maybe its a geographic thing as Wimdu is I think German and I get German and French guests booking through Wimdu. I had a bad experience with them this month
I had a confirmed booking three night weekend in Jan since Dec 21 2015. The booking was for 8 Jan start. The guest had been sent my address and exchanged emails. As it happens I got a cry for help from a former guest - a student in the middle of her exams who was very unhappy in her accommodation. She wanted 2 weeks. I fitted her in by giving her my room for a few nights but it was not great. I didnt really want to move her.
Wimdu got onto me on the 6th jan and said the guest payment had failed and would I waive the cancellation fees. I said yes but that they had confirmed the booking and they had given out my contact details/ What was their process for confirming bookings . they never replied to this or to my requests to escalate to a manager. I asked why it took from the 21st to the 6th to find out that they had been refused payment. No reply. I tried to escalate this. They promised a call from a manager then I got an email
I am considering delisting from them as their processes are poor. In the summer I dont need to lose a weekend booking 2 nights before due to the websites fault. Very unprofessional...
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Post by debih on Jan 11, 2016 0:44:36 GMT
perfectplaces.com is another listing site.
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Post by apricotnelli on Jan 31, 2016 10:26:25 GMT
I think more people are using all the sites. Lately I have had no airbnb bookings but have got repeat business from Wimdu and bookings from homestay.com. Homestay seems to hit a different market. At a quiet time of the year its been worth having these sites listed. I also got a real enquiry from flatclub. I had thought I had my listing unpublished there as I had never even got an enquiry from them
I couldnt take the guy as I was already booked for some of the nights but it was a real reservation.
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Post by apricotnelli on Jan 31, 2016 10:35:45 GMT
I think that Perfectplaces is for full listings only not for rooms in your home ? Maybe we should split this thread. It is different letting rooms in our home rather than an entire place (apartment or house or unfinished garage  ) |
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Post by Marion on Feb 14, 2016 18:00:54 GMT
Did the split you suggested ever happen. I am in the midst of reading the complete site and not very good at navigating is so far.
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Post by High Priestess on Feb 14, 2016 21:23:35 GMT
Marion and Apricotnelli--- folks are free to start another thread at any time---but I don't see a need to have short term rental platforms listed in two totally separate threads based on type of listing. Some of the platforms allow bothg types, and platforms are also changing in terms of what they list, and hosts themselves may have different listings. So I think it is less confusing to talk about all short term rental platforms in one place.
However like I say anyone can start a thread on anything at any time.
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