Why is TA pestering me to list my B&B on their vacation rentals site ?

Had a call from TA last week saying I could add a page to their site for my B&B and any bookings would only cost me 3%. Seemed like a good idea so I started to go through the registration process (although a little confused when they needed all my details again).
After I registered and logged on I realized it's their Vacation Rentals site that I'm being asked to join. This seems pointless to me, firstly people searching for a B&B wont be looking on this site, secondly I don't want people turning up here thinking they're renting the whole house. The sales guy assured me that B&Bs can go onr, but when I do a search for my area not 1 B&B is listed.
When I actually tried to set my property up it's clear the system is designed for vacation rentals, for example I have to add each bedroom as a seperate property, it's ludicrous.
The guy on the phone was so insistent that in the end I just kept repeating "I'm not listing my B&B on a vacations rental site" over and over until he slammed the phone on me.
What is going on? It's clearly TA's site I'm being asked to register on, but is this an over zealous sales man or agency on commission. Anyone else experienced this?

A client of mine has a different type of issue. She has a B&B but signed up with the vacation rental thing...of course she didn't ask me first... I was trying to put a review widget on her site at her insistence. Well not possible with this kind of listing. She has been trying for weeks to switch her to a bb listing and nothing is happening. Of course she just wants the free listing so I know it wont be happening any time soon.
so can I go in and post a review so she shows up????

EN, it can take months for a new listing to show up on TA and until it does, you will not be able to post a review.

A salesman who initiated the conversation slammed the phone down on YOU??????
Someone is in the wrong job!

EmptyNest said:

A client of mine has a different type of issue. She has a B&B but signed up with the vacation rental thing...of course she didn't ask me first... I was trying to put a review widget on her site at her insistence. Well not possible with this kind of listing. She has been trying for weeks to switch her to a bb listing and nothing is happening. Of course she just wants the free listing so I know it wont be happening any time soon.
so can I go in and post a review so she shows up????.

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You need someone to request it from TA. Especially someone who has a lot of reviews. It often carries more weight.

I thought about listing our vac rental.
Then I checked others listed there vs their prices on their own site or on Air.
Unexplainable differences in price. TA on the way over the top side. Plus reviews from unhappy campers re: booking ease or lack of.
I'll stick with where we list now.

Generic said:

EmptyNest said:

A client of mine has a different type of issue. She has a B&B but signed up with the vacation rental thing...of course she didn't ask me first... I was trying to put a review widget on her site at her insistence. Well not possible with this kind of listing. She has been trying for weeks to switch her to a bb listing and nothing is happening. Of course she just wants the free listing so I know it wont be happening any time soon.
so can I go in and post a review so she shows up????.

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You need someone to request it from TA. Especially someone who has a lot of reviews. It often carries more weight.
.

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true - ive had various people listed who had been trying to get on for ages with no luck - an outside customer's listing seems to have a 48 hour turnaround compared to weeks from the actual business.

This site is a complete waste of time. Try Booking.com (they
are professional and produce).

Audrey Forrest said:

This site is a complete waste of time. Try Booking.com (they
are professional and produce)..

Click to expand...

only while you play their game
(1) watch out for that auto replenish know people who have been caught out.
(2) any cancellation for which you are entitled to charge they will be on the phone on the "customers" behalf to try and get you to do for free
(3) if you ever over book or have a problem ie family emergency plumbing disaster etc they will do their best to book the guest into the highest price property they can find and then make you pay the difference - they don't tell the guest this they just say "we will sort it look at our web site and pick what you fancy" they don't say single mother with 2 kids is footing the bill.
(4) - yes they are VERY good at marketing, features appearing all the time, distance to and so on - but always remember they are not your friend, you are merely a very small cog in an enormous machine

Jcam said:

Audrey Forrest said:

This site is a complete waste of time. Try Booking.com (they
are professional and produce)..

Click to expand...

only while you play their game
(1) watch out for that auto replenish know people who have been caught out.
(2) any cancellation for which you are entitled to charge they will be on the phone on the "customers" behalf to try and get you to do for free
(3) if you ever over book or have a problem ie family emergency plumbing disaster etc they will do their best to book the guest into the highest price property they can find and then make you pay the difference - they don't tell the guest this they just say "we will sort it look at our web site and pick what you fancy" they don't say single mother with 2 kids is footing the bill.
(4) - yes they are VERY good at marketing, features appearing all the time, distance to and so on - but always remember they are not your friend, you are merely a very small cog in an enormous machine
.

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When we had to move people to other properties I did so myself. Did not involve booking at all. Contacted guest, explained situation, told them we got them another lovely inn and that it was all paid for.
We used their deposit to pay the other innkeepers. Most of our friends will do the room rate at par if they are higher.
We still pay the commission as it's our problem not anyone else's.

Audrey Forrest said:

This site is a complete waste of time. Try Booking.com (they
are professional and produce)..

Click to expand...

There's no way I'm giving them 15% of my income.

Morticia said:

Jcam said:

Audrey Forrest said:

This site is a complete waste of time. Try Booking.com (they
are professional and produce)..

Click to expand...

only while you play their game
(1) watch out for that auto replenish know people who have been caught out.
(2) any cancellation for which you are entitled to charge they will be on the phone on the "customers" behalf to try and get you to do for free
(3) if you ever over book or have a problem ie family emergency plumbing disaster etc they will do their best to book the guest into the highest price property they can find and then make you pay the difference - they don't tell the guest this they just say "we will sort it look at our web site and pick what you fancy" they don't say single mother with 2 kids is footing the bill.
(4) - yes they are VERY good at marketing, features appearing all the time, distance to and so on - but always remember they are not your friend, you are merely a very small cog in an enormous machine
.

Click to expand...

When we had to move people to other properties I did so myself. Did not involve booking at all. Contacted guest, explained situation, told them we got them another lovely inn and that it was all paid for.
We used their deposit to pay the other innkeepers. Most of our friends will do the room rate at par if they are higher.
We still pay the commission as it's our problem not anyone else's.
.

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you understand how it is but have had situations with neighbours who are (1) new to online booking and the other new to BNB generally were under some kind of impression they were obligated to sort it out with them through booking.com - got that knocked on the head right quick!

They (or was it VRBO) called me several years ago. No way!
You are right on target about people thinking they rented the entire home as I have read a few reviews of B&B's that did give it a go.

Copperhead said:

They (or was it VRBO) called me several years ago. No way!
You are right on target about people thinking they rented the entire home as I have read a few reviews of B&B's that did give it a go..

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I wouldn't be doing a whole house rental - in my fridge and kitchen cupboards? not a fricking chance!

I've had two more calls from this guy, despite ticking a box during the online process saying I was not going to complete it.
He's clearly being prompted to call my by a computer system, as soon as I repeat my mantra "I'm not listing my B&B on a vacations rental site" he realises who I am and hangs up on me.

MHO
TA = how to take your money and give you less than nothing by giving you bad reviews when they think they are getting a five bedroom bnb for $200 a night

Guests this morning said they could not find any b&b's in the very popular tourist town 3 hours from here. I thought they meant they couldn't find one with any vacancy. No, they couldn't find them at all.
I asked how they did their research. Vrbo. That's how they searched. (Which makes wonder how they found us.)
I explained b&b's don't usually list on those sites because around here those are all whole house rentals, not inns.
They also didn't realize they were only an hour away from each place they were staying. Then they said they might just look up the inns and cancel the last couple of days at the motel. I told them about cancellations and how they should check on that before double booking themselves.
It's interesting to understand how guests do their research and what they're thinking. One thing being they had zero compunction about canceling without notice a room they've had booked for a month. They were going to check in and then just leave early and they expected their money back.

Audrey Forrest said:

This site is a complete waste of time. Try Booking.com (they
are professional and produce)..

Click to expand...

Audrey Forrest said:

This site is a complete waste of time. Try Booking.com (they
are professional and produce).

Click to expand...

Audrey Forrest said:

This site is a complete waste of time. Try Booking.com (they
are professional and produce)..

Click to expand...

SaveSave

Morticia said:

Guests this morning said they could not find any b&b's in the very popular tourist town 3 hours from here. I thought they meant they couldn't find one with any vacancy. No, they couldn't find them at all.
I asked how they did their research. Vrbo. That's how they searched. (Which makes wonder how they found us.)
I explained b&b's don't usually list on those sites because around here those are all whole house rentals, not inns.
They also didn't realize they were only an hour away from each place they were staying. Then they said they might just look up the inns and cancel the last couple of days at the motel. I told them about cancellations and how they should check on that before double booking themselves.
It's interesting to understand how guests do their research and what they're thinking. One thing being they had zero compunction about canceling without notice a room they've had booked for a month. They were going to check in and then just leave early and they expected their money back..

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I wear my thoughts on my face so it is not a good idea for me to ask too many questions.