View Full Version : Sorry to have to post this!
LittleTink
25-09-2003, 02:03
Hello, can I just make a suggestion - when you scour through all the beautiful villas and you decide on the villa/s you want to contact to see if the dates you want are available - if that villa is booked - can the owner/agent ask the enquirer if they would like their enquiry posted out to all other villa owners BEFORE they actually do it.
I am sorry if this seems petty - but when you have spent such a large amount of time deciding on what you want - Its irritating that then you find your mail box full and e-mails being bounced left right and centre.
I am sure this is going to upset some people - and I apologise - but it would just be courteous to ask first.
Karen:D
Karen
When you fill out the form, there is a box to check if you want your enquiry passed on, just
wonder if you may have ticked it ?and not realised, ??? I did that once by mistake
Chris
Hi Karen,
If we receive a specific enquiry that we cannot do we are obliged to forward the email so it can be sent out to other owners in case they can help the enquirer. Sorry if you were overwhelmed by the response[:I]
LittleTink
25-09-2003, 02:29
Chrisj, yep made sure I had NOT ticked the box.
Ruth - I know what you are saying and didnt want to open a can of worms - HONEST! [:I] But if I wanted all the other villas to e-mail me then I would have contacted them myself!
Just something to keep in mind and save you all some time!
Karen
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
25-09-2003, 02:33
We get hundreds (some days thousands) of enquiries a day through the site and it's just not realistic to follow each one up as you suggest. The enquiries are only ever re-circulated if an owner whose villa you enquired about does not have availability for your dates as we don't want any of our owners to lose out on any potential bookings.
There's not an easy answer to this as we do find that the overwhelming majority of enquirers love the response they get to their enquiries and enjoy spending the time whittling the list of villas down to ones they really like and then going on to book one of these :).
It does actually say at the bottom of all enquiry forms:
If the owner is already booked for the dates you require, your details may be passed to the private owners of similar villas advertised on Orlando Villas / Villas Florida who may be able to meet your requirements - NO information will ever be passed to 3rd parties.
We have a code of conduct for replying to enquiries that all owners are supposed to adhere to - these, amongst other things specify that owners should only respond if they have availability for the dates requested and not do an email along the lines of "if your dates are flexible..." - this seeks to limit the number of responses to those that are actually relevant to the original enquiry.
quote:Originally posted by LittleTink
Hello, can I just make a suggestion - when you scour through all the beautiful villas and you decide on the villa/s you want to contact to see if the dates you want are available - if that villa is booked - can the owner/agent ask the enquirer if they would like their enquiry posted out to all other villa owners BEFORE they actually do it.
I am sorry if this seems petty - but when you have spent such a large amount of time deciding on what you want - Its irritating that then you find your mail box full and e-mails being bounced left right and centre.
I am sure this is going to upset some people - and I apologise - but it would just be courteous to ask first.
Karen:D
I always look at the villa that has passed the enquiry on. If my villa doesn't fit the profile in terms of cost, extras etc. then I don't respond.
Andy & Arlene
25-09-2003, 02:34
Chris is correct.
If you did not want your enquiry passed on, you must leave the box blank. It seems you may have ticked it, hence all the owners replying. Once this happens, it is then passed on automatically to all relevant owners.
I'm with Karen [}:)] I was flooded with emails when I hadn't ticked the box. I'd rather contact a few owners amd if their villas aren't available I'll contact some more. At least that way I'm in control of the process;)
LittleTink
25-09-2003, 15:20
Told you I was opening a can of worms!
I MOST definetly did NOT tick the box - all I am saying is I would have appreciated being asked BEFORE my e-mail addie got posted to other villa owners.[8)]
Floridadreamvillas - quote
If the owner is already booked for the dates you require, your details [u]may</u> be passed to the private owners of similar villas advertised on Orlando Villas / Villas Florida who may be able to meet your requirements - NO information will ever be passed to 3rd parties.
Think the key word there is MAY be passed onto private villas.......
Thank you all for your replies.
Chris7 - glad I wasn't on my own! thank you for your response:D
Karen
Must admit I have had a lot of responses, but was never flooded. My wife booked this year
and she was very specific with what she put down as our requirements, This meant that the
emails we got matched what we asked for. A few were a day out, and in the end she shifted
our holiday by a day so we could have the particular Villa she liked.
If I did have a minor gripe, it would be that some owners forgot to put an OV Ref number
when they replied, and fearing I was being passed onto who knows just deleted them.
Its a hard one this, I can understand your issue.
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
25-09-2003, 17:09
That's very true - the word "may" is deliberately there because we do not definitely refer you to other owners if the original owner does not have availability. It may be that, for example, you have already done a general enquiry for this house size on our sites, in which case we won't re-circulate your enquiry again.
We take on board all the comments made here and will certainly be taking them into account - we positively encourage user feedback as without it we would only be guessing as to what people want based on our own instincts as renters and owners.
I would, however, re-iterate the overwhelming majority of enquirers are more than pleased with the way the current system works and at the end of the day despite our best efforts you cannot please all of the people all of the time.
quote:Originally posted by LittleTink
Think the key word there is MAY be passed onto private villas.......
florida4sun
25-09-2003, 19:37
I do enquireis every now and again if we are double booked. Yes some times we get a lot of answers but it only takes 20 seconds or so to delete them.
Martin
huckleberry house
25-09-2003, 22:32
How can I tell when the enquiry has been passed from another owner,I get the general enquiries and the 5 bed enquiries that have a ref number but say they were generated by the "ask all owners tick box" but how do I tell that they have come from an owner? Also if it was obligatory to have a rental calendar then presumably this problem would be resolved as renters wouldnt bother enquiring if they could see the villa of their choice wasnt available.
Lesley
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
25-09-2003, 23:00
Lesley
We have thought long and hard about rental calendars and the general concencus amongst owners is they are a bad idea. I won't go into the why's and wherefore's here as it has already been discussed on the owners area.
I have recently added my rentors calendar to my OV page and I still get direct enquiries for dates that I am booked. So I'm not convinced this would solve the problem :(
I have been on plenty have sites that have a calendar and 90% of people don't bother to look at them!
When ive looked if there is a calander I have always checked, way I look at it, if they
are booked when I want saves me wasting an email and time
neilandkay
26-09-2003, 07:45
If I have a direct enquiry to my home only, and I don't have availability, I always reply asking if they would like me to pass their details on or would they like to go back to the website.
Personally I feel that if it were me I would want to make the choice. I would also not like to have my email address passed on without my consent.
Also if someone has taken the time to select my home only (without ticking the ask other owners box), then I would think that they have some criteria that they are looking for.
That's what I think, but everyone is different.
huckleberry house
26-09-2003, 10:16
I am aware of the reasons why some people disagree with rental calendars,but I have never had an enquiry for a period that I was booked ,either from this site or the other sites I am listed on where I use the calendar, so some renters must use them in order not to waste their time or be disappointed.
I still dont know how to recognise a passed on enquiry,could someone enlighten me.
Lesley
distinct dreams
26-09-2003, 11:08
I believe Little Tink has a valid point.
When I go to rent a villa, I choose several villas and ask specifically for them. :)
If I am unlucky enough that they are all booked, I would much rather go back and choose a few more myself than have loads of e-mails from any owners who have availability.:(
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
26-09-2003, 12:44
One thing we never do is pass on email addresses without consent. We would never do this, even if asked to do it as I agree it is unacceptable behaviour.
The enquiry form clearly states in bold text what we intend to do and so no-one can be in any doubt about it.
quote:Originally posted by neilandkay
I would also not like to have my email address passed on without my consent.
As John says, we never pass on enquiries without consent. We do clearly state that the enquiry may be passed on to other owners. We never pass on to a 3rd party under any circumstances.
At this time, we are not planning on changing the way we operate this - as has already been stated we get hundreds of people that email us thanking us for all the responses, and perhaps 1 overy 3 or 4 months (including this topic) where someone is not so pleased about it. Even those that are not so happy about getting lots of replied are not greatly upset about it - rather just an inconvenience.
Based on that level of response we would prefer to leave as is, but we need to encourage owners to think more carefully about replying to general enquiries before doing so - and make sure their home exactly fits the requirements of the enquirer. All owners are able to quickly look-up the villa where the original enquiry came from and decide whether their own house is a close match.
huckleberry house
26-09-2003, 14:16
Roger
Does this mean that when I get an enquiry that says,5 bed enquiry generated by the tick all owners box but also states a villa reference number,that the enquirer hasnt necessarily ticked the box? are these the enquiries that have been ploughed back into the system or have they genuinely ticked the box as well as asking about that particular villa,how can I tell the difference?
Lesley
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
26-09-2003, 14:52
Lesley
They are not differentiated at the moment - that's a good suggestion - I've just implemented it on the site :).
If the GE is as a result of someone ticking the send to all x bed owners box, the enquiry email will include:
This general enquiry was generated by the ask all owners tick box for villa ref: 3
If it is as a result of an owner sending a villa specific enquirty back to us for re-circulation the email will include the following text:
This general enquiry was generated by the owner of villa ref 3 sending the enquiry back to us because they were already booked for those dates.
huckleberry house
26-09-2003, 15:23
Thanks John,or Sarah.That will help with knowing how to draft a reply to the enquiry:):)
Lesley
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
26-09-2003, 16:16
:D
Would it not be possible to have a box for ticking to indicate enquiry not to be passed on?
Jeff
LittleTink
27-09-2003, 02:36
[:I]Should I be running for the hills at this point!
Karen
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
27-09-2003, 03:18
Yes :D:D:D (only joking!)
quote:
Should I be running for the hills at this point!
I do the same as Kay and when I email an enquirer back if I do not have availability I ask them if they would like me to forwards their enquiry to other villa owners on OV. Quite often a little bit later I see they have done a general enquiry anyway.
This is what I would like someone else to do if it was me enquiring:)
Karen
I agree, thats nice that you make the offer. As for us I have ticked the box before and
was pleased I had. As this thread has said, its hard to please everyone and I can understand
both sides. All I can do is comment from my own experience. If it wasnt for this site we
would not have had the best holiday we have had in years, and also we would not be going
back next year for 3 weeks. Its a fine line trying to please everyone but I think on the
whole this site does that. Thats what I think and I have said so to John or is it Sarah
:D
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
28-09-2003, 03:17
You have - and it's very much appreciated Chris :)
quote:Originally posted by chrisj
Thats what I think and I have said so to John or is it Sarah
:D
Your more than welcome. I am one to complain like everyone else, but I also say
thankyou as that to me is as important.
chrizzy100
28-09-2003, 04:42
quote:Originally posted by chrisj
When ive looked if there is a calander I have always checked, way I look at it, if they
are booked when I want saves me wasting an email and time
I was looking for a place in case it was needed...and I only looked at the ones with calanders.....I like seeing the calanders it saves a lot of time with weeding out place already booked....and not taking up owner time if you're not sure you'll need to rent.....
I am very anti having an online calendar showing when my home is and is not occupied. It is not only honest guests who can use the info, but also burglars have been known to use rental home calendars to determine when a home is unoccupied and therefore ripe for the picking!!!
As far as I am concerned it is almost the same as me putting a sign on the front lawn that says "Unoccupied until mm/dd/yy - all yours - come and get it!!"
That's also why I have light timers outside and inside my home, just to keep any would be burglars guessing as to whether anyone is there or not!! I also have a monitored alarm system so can't do any more than that. :D:D
Carla
Thats wise about the lights, we have them all over our house so it looks as though people
are in, also have a monitored alarm system. When we go away I have a neighbour even move my
car around on the drive so it looks as though someone is around
steph_goodrum
28-09-2003, 14:59
Tink
I hope you won't let your experience put you off using the site for future enquiries as I'm sure you'll agree that it has one of the best selection of homes where you can actually deal with the owner that I've ever seen.
One way round the problem in future which would work as you are aware of how the system works would be any any future enquiries that you make to put a note in the "comment" box on the enquiry form stating that in the case of non availability "please advise but do not pass back for general circulation" - that way the owners who received your specific enquiry would realise and as your comment would be on the form the owners of the site would be aware you didn't want it circulated. Hopefully that would solve your problem of tooo many mails but let you know to try a few other villas to find what you are looking for.
Hope this helps
chrizzy100
28-09-2003, 19:34
quote:Originally posted by Carla
I am very anti having an online calendar showing when my home is and is not occupied. It is not only honest guests who can use the info, but also burglars have been known to use rental home calendars to determine when a home is unoccupied and therefore ripe for the picking!!!
As far as I am concerned it is almost the same as me putting a sign on the front lawn that says "Unoccupied until mm/dd/yy - all yours - come and get it!!"
That's also why I have light timers outside and inside my home, just to keep any would be burglars guessing as to whether anyone is there or not!! I also have a monitored alarm system so can't do any more than that. :D:D
That is a very good reason not to have one.....we just don't have crime here.....I sometimes forget I'll have to change my way of living somewhere else.....I'm losing my streetwise......:(
I hadn't thought about the security aspect (I think most of you don't want to put calendars up so other's can't see how full you are[}:)])
For what it's worth, I favoured villas who did have on-line availability so I could check first before mentally "deciding" on a property.
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
29-09-2003, 18:40
The security aspect is why I did not specifically say about the reason we do not have online calendars. I don't want people going away thinking the villa communities are crime ridden and unsafe - in fact they are amongst the safest places you are every likely to go - we always feel very safe when in the US - but as with everywhere else in the world if an unsavoury person sees an opportunity they will seize it and online calendars along with pictures and descriptions of where the villas are are just such an opportunity :(.
In our experience the majority of enquirers ignore calendars and make the enquiry on the off-chance there has been a calcellation or something. I know on our own villa website we clearly state in large letters we are fully booked for 2003 but that does not stop lots of enquiries coming in for 2003 dates anyway, let alone all the phone calls we take for 2003 dates too. Not saying we mind this at all (we LOVE talking about Florida anyway :D) but just saying it to illustrate the point.
Personally, I never feel as safe anywhere else, as I do when at my home in Florida. I approach the security aspect in the same way as I would anywhere else, and would never deliberately give anyone any information that they could use against my home!!
It's very rare to hear of crime against the homes in Florida, but that is still no reason to give a potential burglar information that might be useful to him/her. :D:D
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
29-09-2003, 20:30
Absolutely Carla :D!
Also, many people can be flexible in their dates if they specifically want "your" villa!
Thats what happened to us Fiona, we moved our holiday so that we could have the villa
my wife wanted
Chris
josephinekelly
30-09-2003, 15:57
I put a request in Special Requirements, that the villa be either fenced or not able to be overlooked by the houses any side or by walkers past. I received about 60-70 replies and was pleased to get them, but on making enquiries, only about 15-20 really complied with this, so I had quite an effort sorting out which those were. Some were positively evasive on the issue!
I can understand the temptation of going for a 'blanket' approach and sending the details anyway to all enquirers regardless, but this does leave the recipient with quite a task of sifting through. Maybe the word 'special' could be replaced with 'essential' or 'specific'.
[?]
huckleberry house
30-09-2003, 17:30
Hi Josephine
Yes ,it must be very frustrating when you have taken the time to request something specific to be offered properties that dont match that requirement.Unfortunately owners regard getting a reply back the fastest as being the best method and in their haste sometimes fail to scroll down properly and see whether they match any requests,in all honesty they are not only wasting your time they are wasting their own as presumably wont gain the booking.There might be some element of feeling better if they have sent xx amount of responses that day but enquiry to booking ratio wise the figures must be low for these owners.Unfortunately no matter what you labelled the box I dont think this type of owner will notice ,n the belief that they wont get the booking if they dont reply(which is true)
Hopefully the more feed back like this we see from recipients the more time people will take to ensure that their replies are worthwhile.
I dont personally recall seeing your enquiry but perhaps it was on orlandovillas rather than villasflorida.
Lesley
josephinekelly
01-10-2003, 15:43
Thank you for your reply Lesley. I have thought a lot about how this could be put right and have come to the conclusion that there are main criteria which affect a decision to rent a villa. These are not unlimited, but would fall into maybe the following categories:
[u]General</u>: Availability, Price, Location, number of Bedrooms and Bathrooms, Pool size, Fencing or Privacy, Floor Plan
[u]Facilities</u>: TV Sets, Spa or Jacuzzi, Barbecue, number of Sunbeds and Chairs by pool, additional attractions which owner thinks would influence, plus photos.
Most of the other things are more or less common to all villas, but I think if there was a standard first page or something which included all the above information, it would make looking for a villa so much easier. Subsequent pages could include elaboration. These criteria would be of different order of importance to different people, but would ensure that there is a level playing field to begin with.
Do others have views on this?
I think a common format is very helpful and a floor plan would also be useful so you can decide how far away granny and the kids can be put from mum & dad;)
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
01-10-2003, 19:07
The adverts are already a common format and we have lots of emails saying how much easier the advert format is when deciding on a villa than having to trawl through individual villa owners websites for details :).
I think most people choose a villa not only by facilities available but also by the look and feel of the villa and if it's somewhere they could feel at home with. There are so many categories of extras we could insist owners list but at the end of the day there will always be owners with things we have not thought of.
We want to give owners a chance to 'sell their dream' to enquirers, not merely list features which just has the effect of comodotising the villas whicn in my opinion is totally against what having a villa in Florida is all about.
Floorplans are a good idea but not all owners have a copy of them so it would be difficult to enforce and also they tend to have to be huge graphic files if you want anyone to be able to see the details on them which slows down the loading of advert pages and puts people off looking at the adverts - they will just click off to a faster loading page which is no good for anyone.
It's interesting to hear all the suggestions coming in but at this time we do not feel it is time to change a tried and tested formula which works very well for the majority of guests and owners :D.
chrizzy100
01-10-2003, 21:08
quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
The adverts are already a common format and we have lots of emails saying how much easier the advert format is when deciding on a villa than having to trawl through individual villa owners websites for details :).
I think most people choose a villa not only by facilities available but also by the look and feel of the villa and if it's somewhere they could feel at home with. There are so many categories of extras we could insist owners list but at the end of the day there will always be owners with things we have not thought of.
We want to give owners a chance to 'sell their dream' to enquirers, not merely list features which just has the effect of comodotising the villas whicn in my opinion is totally against what having a villa in Florida is all about.
Floorplans are a good idea but not all owners have a copy of them so it would be difficult to enforce and also they tend to have to be huge graphic files if you want anyone to be able to see the details on them which slows down the loading of advert pages and puts people off looking at the adverts - they will just click off to a faster loading page which is no good for anyone.
It's interesting to hear all the suggestions coming in but at this time we do not feel it is time to change a tried and tested formula which works very well for the majority of guests and owners :D.
Can people put links to their own web pages on this site in their adverts not on the furums because I know that is unfair ...?
People can go into more detail with their own webpage....one of the people who has a home the same place I have and the same home....has a great web page....I use it to work out sizes of beds etc that I'll need to buy....hehehehe...she has a floorplan...and everything loads very quick....
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
01-10-2003, 21:32
No, we do not allow people to put links to their website, email or telephone numbers in adverts because of the way our owner referral fees work - the whole system is based on trust, but to be able to do that properly, the owner needs to be clear where the enquiry originated so they can correctly account for their referral fees. The owners only pay on results (i.e. bookings) which is the only real fair way to operate a site like this.
The owners are not limited by the amount of text they can put on their advert so there is plenty of space for as much detail as they are ever likely to have on their own websites :).
chrizzy100
01-10-2003, 21:41
quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
No, we do not allow people to put links to their website, email or telephone numbers in adverts because of the way our owner referral fees work - the whole system is based on trust, but to be able to do that properly, the owner needs to be clear where the enquiry originated so they can correctly account for their referral fees. The owners only pay on results (i.e. bookings) which is the only real fair way to operate a site like this.
The owners are not limited by the amount of text they can put on their advert so there is plenty of space for as much detail as they are ever likely to have on their own websites :).
Well that seems very fair....I would of looked myself before asking ....but my PC is on a go slow today.....and I could not open the advert pages....I did send her a link to this site ....do you still have any openings.....there's not many houses here from The Village at Tuscan Ridge...
floridadreamvilla.co.uk
01-10-2003, 22:25
We are still taking villas on www.villasflorida.com at the moment if you want to add your details :).
chrizzy100
01-10-2003, 22:49
quote:Originally posted by floridadreamvilla.co.uk
We are still taking villas on www.villasflorida.com at the moment if you want to add your details :).
I'll send that link to her again....thank you.....I don't think I explained that you could put an advert on here....I'll do that right now.....:D