PDA

View Full Version : Where to advertise ?



packmanuk
06-10-2002, 00:17
I've just bought a 4 bedroom villa near Orlando and i'm looking to get some rentals in to help pay the mortgage. I've looked at a few websites that put adverts online for owners but was wondering which were the best. Can someone please let me know of some good online websites that advertise villas for owners.

Thanks in advance,

Mark

esprit
06-10-2002, 04:03
Asking what is a good website is like asking how long is a piece of string!! They come and go and it is hard to find one that performs reliably and consistantly. Some go straight to the top of the search engines and go great guns for a while , then will drop right down again. Others will perform really well for you initially but they will take too many homes on and you will just drown in a sea of houses. Some people will swear by sites that others will find totally useless. There is no rhyme or reason to it.

Firstly I would say sign up for anything which does a free trial. That is the only way to know whether a website is going to perform for you. It is really annoying to put money up front never to get a solitary enquiry from them never mind a booking.

I am going to list you the websites I am on and response this year

www.holiday-rentals.com ( 4 bookings-subscription cost £175)
www.evilla-rentals.com ( 2 bookings- subscription cost £70)
www.orlandovillas.com ( more than 10 bookings I would say ( John could tell me!!) ( referral fees you know about)
www.**** ( 5 bookings- free at the moment)
www.floridavilla.com ( 1 booking - free trial and free if you put two car hire bookings through them)
www.homesneardisney.com ( 1 booking- $80)
www.findvacationrentals.com and www.vacationrentals.com - free trials, no bookings yes but some enquiries.

The rest came from my own website, repeat bookings and friends of past guests, referrals, friends and work colleagues.

What works for me may not necessarily work for you however. It has to be a matter of trial and error at the beginning and a lot is down to luck.

esprit
06-10-2002, 04:05
That is weird, why has one website name been blanked out in my above reply???
OK, it is the same name as this one except co.uk not com!!!

fiona
06-10-2002, 04:50
I have tried vrbo - not one booking
currently on A1 - ditto!
am on frbvo - £75 per year - used to be good - 1 booking this year which is for Easter which I could let 200 times over!

do a search over several weeks and see who keeps coming up. And as Julie says, sign up with anyone who will offer a free trial.

Have you got a good website? Start pushing it yourself, but it does take time. also don't forget word of mouth - school, doctors, library, etc.

orlandobabe
06-10-2002, 06:15
the one with the stars are not taking anyone else. I know-I asked

floridadreamvilla.co.uk
06-10-2002, 12:42
The one with stars have closed their books to new villas as OB says.

floridadreamvilla.co.uk
06-10-2002, 14:00
Julie:

You've had 13 seperate bookings from OV although some of these may have been for more than 1 booking at a time.

esprit
06-10-2002, 14:59
Yes I thought it was more than 10, John. which makes you the most successful of my bunch this year, though quite a few were at the beginning when there was less competition house wise.
To be frank a lot of the better sites now have closed their books. However they do have a waiting list as people leave so it is worth getting your name down.
I gave up on A1 last year, Fiona. They still keep emailing me!!

packmanuk
06-10-2002, 15:14
Thanks for the info. It also seems that I can't register my home (4 bedroom) with http://www.orlandovillas.com/ as they are also not taking on any new homes at the moment. Is this likely to change ?

esprit
06-10-2002, 15:36
Occasionally someone will sell their home and leave a site or very rarely will be ejected for abuse but we tend to cling onto our places with the good sites!!. I think OV have set up a sister site which is still taking on homes. Try the Florida Vacation Rentals link.

floridadreamvilla.co.uk
06-10-2002, 16:10
Pacman:

We're still taking on 4 bed villas on our sister site www.vacation-rental-villas.com .

chris
06-10-2002, 19:29
John
I was wondering whether Orlando villas enquiries are allowed to be shared with owners on vacation-rental-villas.com eg if a party is wanting say 2 4 bed homes and there is only one home from the same subdivision on each site.

Chris

floridadreamvilla.co.uk
06-10-2002, 21:30
Chris

I think we'd be happy enough for that to be done in the circumstances you quote. If it was just a sungle 4 bed enquiry then we would say no as that would not be fair to the 4 bed owners on the site the enquiry came from.