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Hey everyone once more! I love dwelling around here and reading. I have learned a lot during my week here.
A few questions. I was brainstorming today.
Do you advertise your listing only through airbnb? Or do you promote it in other websites? I saw this today and it seems like a good personalized idea if you can put the time and effort: http://www.rosecottagestudio.com/ (She has a listing in airbnb and also a personal site for it)
Slight off topic, 4 out of 5 guests finally wrote their reviews and i am so happy about it! Off to a good start with really heartwarming words and 5 stars. Only thing i need to figure out is how to attract more people during the “dead” months here in Kalamata.
I haven’t listed much on other sites, mostly because I know that would mean a lot more time involvement. If I was doing this as a main source of income or if I was dependent on it, I would 100% diversify and have myself listed on several sites. But since this is supplemental income and it works for me, I like the ease of being on 1 site. It will be easier with taxes having just one source to keep track of. Plus, making sure that you don’t double book even with synced calendars could be a concern. It all depends on your needs and time able to commit.
So far I have cross listed on VRBO. In 2.5 months I have gotten 4 bookings through there (as opposed to 30+ on Airbnb). It has helped to fill some vacant nights though, and isn’t much more work to maintain once you get the listing up, so I think it’s probably worth it.
In the US…We only book through Airbnb but are listed on our county’s tourism website and on the state’s tourism website. We also have our own website that directs inquiries to the Airbnb listings.
We don’t use any other listing sites. But I have the photographs and blurb saved on my computer so I could quickly list elsewhere if anything happened to Airbnb. We have our own site which at the moment links to the Airbnb listing.
But I promote the rental regularly on social media which I suspect brings more bookings than other sites would.
What would you say the ratio is for bookings you receive with bookings.com, Airbnb, and Homeaway, and how are their fee structures? Mine is probably 95%+ Airbnb and 5% VRBO.
I’m using Flipkey and Tripadvisor. I’m having quite a few guests from these sites staying for longer periods and paying really well. The typical guests are middle class families with older children.
It’s fast and free to create an account with them:
Tiscover is giving us some clients.
It is similar to booking.com but based in Germany, and focused on the Alps region.
Our local tourist office has it own site, and people that want to stay in this region often use the site of the tourist office to look for a place to stay.
I allow bookings from all of these sites, I do not direct them to AirBnB. I prefer bookings that go direct trough our site or the tourist office.
I also encourage AirBnB (and other sites) guests that want to return, to contact me direct, this will save us and them the extra booking fees.
Tripadvisor
Stayz
Aura
100% Airbnb bookings and have declined 2 requests (stayz & aura)
1 enquiry from tripadvisor didn’t follow up. No other enquiries.
It’s taking a lot of time to keep all 4 sites updated. I prefer using Airbnb and will hopefully suspend the others if Airbnb continues to go as well as it is. (since april)
I do not have to pay a separate fee.
Guests have to pay €1,30 tourist tax per night. This money is used to fund the tourist office (and everything that belongs to it like the website, marketing for the region, attendance at tourist exhibitions etc etc).
