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I find Facebook to be a difficult maze. I really don’t know what I am doing, but people use faceBook to find things, and business use Facebook to advertise. So i set up a page and list the 4 house names and write a blurb.
I just got an $8K booking for 18 days over 2 properties!!!
She checked me out on all the OTA’s, read reviews and then contacted me direct.
So it does work, but the big thing is to have a named property that they can find.
a three bed that is cute cosy and sleeps 6 doesn’t mean anything.
Website is next, anyone with any advice on how to do that?
I have a FB page and a website and have gotten a good amount of traction out of both. I hate having a FB page but it is a free blog, free publicity, and used by many, so I’m on there making it work for me. Lol
My site was thru Wix - easy to build but I didn’t like their booking engine in the long run. I’m now on WordPress and learning but liking it better so far.
No expenditure at all.
Made pages for the four place with their names and Grafton. Checked they were findable on google. Made sure contact details were accurate.
She found me on B.con.
Checked me on Airbnb.
Googled the name of the place she liked And found the page on face book.
Said she was appalled at the + 20% booking fee on Airbnb and there is a big push here at the moment to deal direct with small business.
She paid a 25% deposit and off we go!
Do you already have a Google My Business website/page? If not, I might suggest doing that next, before a website. Having one (it’s free) has helped a lot with the Google algorithm.
They wont list my properties as I do not have a sign out the front etc etc - have tried for the last year and find their consultant difficult to understand with a very thick accents and they just don’t get my listings. Have been trying to get listed for over 12 months.
I never understand that- why do companies task employees with taking calls whose accents are so thick they can barely be understood by customers whose language they are supposed to be communicating in? I’m all for equal opportunity hiring, but if someone sounds like they are speaking a foreign language, give them a desk job or written communications tasks, not one answering phones.
I’ve called my Canadian bank and Canadian govt offices where I found I was so struggling to understand what was being said that I finally had to say “I’m so sorry, but I’m having a very difficult time understanding you, altho I’m sure your English is quite fluent- could you please transfer my call to a native English speaker?”, which they then do.
Bummer. I did a page without any need to call them…just got a google voice number (so my cell wasn’t out there) and then a GMB page. The only twist is I had to list as a vacation rental agency, but I don’t have a sign.
The page has resulted in a lot of calls over the past two months.
Just curious. Why take long bookings on FB rather than direct, as they are tenants (assuming your law is 30 days)? Would they not find you via other marketing?
Very very small market here - only 19 houses. I have one property through an rental / accommodation page. Anything under 30 days attracts a VAT type fee. the demographic I have for this accommodation make Face book the only way they look for things.
