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muirford

Well-known member
Joined
May 22, 2008
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I got this notice yesterday - 3 days before my Bronze membership is due to expire/auto-renew. A Silver listing is $480 - that is the next level and includes a website link.
"Starting today, all Bronze memberships with a bonus website link will revert back to a regular Bronze membership. We hope that you have enjoyed trying this free bonus feature."
 
angry_smile.gif

They just don't bring me business, period. I didn't renew, I didn't renew BBONLINE and I am trying again BnBfinder mainly because of their fine marketing/web presence.
I am doing more with my own marketing than using ANY directory, so they better watch it, plenty of inns are and will give them the shaft! The greedy SOBs
 
They are going to be losing big time. If I were still in the game, they would not be getting my $$. These days it hardly seems worth it. More and more are dropping them. The big guys just don't care about innkeepers, money is the name of the game to them.
 
I had planned to go Bronze after the 3-month free "please come back" Silver I had expired. They had added the web site link and I was going to send a check. They did an auto-bill (as a monthly) when the trial ended. I was surprised with an email that said my cc had been charged as a service - I expected a you are about to expire, would you like to sign up for.
I was my usual sweet, calm explosion - and this was when the Silver was $400. The answer I was given was "Most innkeepers appreciate us just taking care of it." That was my goodbye. I went with BNBFinder a couple years ago - they DO get publicity - as my shotgun marketing. I have dropped all others and the rest of my marketing is interest specific web sites and publications. NONE of them charges that much!
 
I have left 3 messages last week and this week to chat about the way they list their secondary listings above my primary page listing. I'm still waiting on a return call.
 
I have left 3 messages last week and this week to chat about the way they list their secondary listings above my primary page listing. I'm still waiting on a return call..
I guess you are way beyond blue by now from waiting. It is OK to take a breath.
 
I have left 3 messages last week and this week to chat about the way they list their secondary listings above my primary page listing. I'm still waiting on a return call..
I guess you are way beyond blue by now from waiting. It is OK to take a breath.
.
gillumhouse said:
I guess you are way beyond blue by now from waiting. It is OK to take a breath.
I hate this company! Tell me why I keep giving them money again?
 
I have left 3 messages last week and this week to chat about the way they list their secondary listings above my primary page listing. I'm still waiting on a return call..
I guess you are way beyond blue by now from waiting. It is OK to take a breath.
.
gillumhouse said:
I guess you are way beyond blue by now from waiting. It is OK to take a breath.
I hate this company! Tell me why I keep giving them money again?
.
Bob said:
gillumhouse said:
I guess you are way beyond blue by now from waiting. It is OK to take a breath.
I hate this company! Tell me why I keep giving them money again?
Because everyone tells you they send you so much business and innkeepers are afraid to say NO to just find out how necessary (or not) they are. It mattered not for me - but I am in Podunk and do not have high asperations. I am happy if the house supports itself and pays the insurance, marketing, utilities, etc. If there is aything extra I usually puke it away on the kids organizations and charities in town.
 
Also disappointing...
I can't remember the last time that I searched for a B&B/inn and their own listing didn't pop up ahead in a search above their directory listing (if they had one). If you're out there doing good web marketing, social networking, blogging, and using the other free avenues available, I think these directories will fade away.
 
angry_smile.gif

They just don't bring me business, period. I didn't renew, I didn't renew BBONLINE and I am trying again BnBfinder mainly because of their fine marketing/web presence.
I am doing more with my own marketing than using ANY directory, so they better watch it, plenty of inns are and will give them the shaft! The greedy SOBs.
Our BBon line comes due in January and we will not be renewing....sometimes they don't even come into the top 10 referral sites and they are the most expensive. Dropped BB.com several years ago and never looked back.
I'll start a new thread with this next question but for now let me ask if anyone else has received an e-mail from Flip Key (the TA rental site) with an offer for a free listing in exchange for a 3% kickback whenever anyone books because of the listing?
 
angry_smile.gif

They just don't bring me business, period. I didn't renew, I didn't renew BBONLINE and I am trying again BnBfinder mainly because of their fine marketing/web presence.
I am doing more with my own marketing than using ANY directory, so they better watch it, plenty of inns are and will give them the shaft! The greedy SOBs.
Our BBon line comes due in January and we will not be renewing....sometimes they don't even come into the top 10 referral sites and they are the most expensive. Dropped BB.com several years ago and never looked back.
I'll start a new thread with this next question but for now let me ask if anyone else has received an e-mail from Flip Key (the TA rental site) with an offer for a free listing in exchange for a 3% kickback whenever anyone books because of the listing?
.
I don't know because I delete Flip without opening. I am keeping bnbfinder as my shotgun marketing. Just got renewal notice and my level is still $199. That is about my tops (for now) for a shotgun listing. My best producing targeted site costs $40 for the year.
 
angry_smile.gif

They just don't bring me business, period. I didn't renew, I didn't renew BBONLINE and I am trying again BnBfinder mainly because of their fine marketing/web presence.
I am doing more with my own marketing than using ANY directory, so they better watch it, plenty of inns are and will give them the shaft! The greedy SOBs.
Our BBon line comes due in January and we will not be renewing....sometimes they don't even come into the top 10 referral sites and they are the most expensive. Dropped BB.com several years ago and never looked back.
I'll start a new thread with this next question but for now let me ask if anyone else has received an e-mail from Flip Key (the TA rental site) with an offer for a free listing in exchange for a 3% kickback whenever anyone books because of the listing?
.
Silverspoon said:
Our BBon line comes due in January and we will not be renewing....sometimes they don't even come into the top 10 referral sites and they are the most expensive. Dropped BB.com several years ago and never looked back.
I'll start a new thread with this next question but for now let me ask if anyone else has received an e-mail from Flip Key (the TA rental site) with an offer for a free listing in exchange for a 3% kickback whenever anyone books because of the listing?
Dropped bbon line several years ago as it was not in my top 10 either! I have received several emails and frankly have not opened the last few, but the last mail I got with a calendar had the same 60 day trial they have been marketing for a year or two.
 
angry_smile.gif

They just don't bring me business, period. I didn't renew, I didn't renew BBONLINE and I am trying again BnBfinder mainly because of their fine marketing/web presence.
I am doing more with my own marketing than using ANY directory, so they better watch it, plenty of inns are and will give them the shaft! The greedy SOBs.
Our BBon line comes due in January and we will not be renewing....sometimes they don't even come into the top 10 referral sites and they are the most expensive. Dropped BB.com several years ago and never looked back.
I'll start a new thread with this next question but for now let me ask if anyone else has received an e-mail from Flip Key (the TA rental site) with an offer for a free listing in exchange for a 3% kickback whenever anyone books because of the listing?
.
Silverspoon said:
Our BBon line comes due in January and we will not be renewing....sometimes they don't even come into the top 10 referral sites and they are the most expensive. Dropped BB.com several years ago and never looked back.
I'll start a new thread with this next question but for now let me ask if anyone else has received an e-mail from Flip Key (the TA rental site) with an offer for a free listing in exchange for a 3% kickback whenever anyone books because of the listing?
Dropped bbon line several years ago as it was not in my top 10 either! I have received several emails and frankly have not opened the last few, but the last mail I got with a calendar had the same 60 day trial they have been marketing for a year or two.
.
I took advantage of the free listing a couple of years ago but it didn't drive the kind of guest my way that I am looking for so I dropped it after about 90 days of free listing. This offer is different:
"Fli pKey is introducing a new, free listing plan that allows you to list your property without any upfront costs or annual fees. You will only pay a small 3% fee on each booking you receive. The free listing plan also includes use of our messaging and payments platforms, so you’ll manage all aspects of your vacation rental right from your Fli pKey account."
Looks like FK manages the $$$ and makes deposits into your bank account from the guests payments. Sounds like another layer of complexity to the booking process and all initial communication with the prospective guest is anonymous using only FK channels.
What do you think?
 
angry_smile.gif

They just don't bring me business, period. I didn't renew, I didn't renew BBONLINE and I am trying again BnBfinder mainly because of their fine marketing/web presence.
I am doing more with my own marketing than using ANY directory, so they better watch it, plenty of inns are and will give them the shaft! The greedy SOBs.
Our BBon line comes due in January and we will not be renewing....sometimes they don't even come into the top 10 referral sites and they are the most expensive. Dropped BB.com several years ago and never looked back.
I'll start a new thread with this next question but for now let me ask if anyone else has received an e-mail from Flip Key (the TA rental site) with an offer for a free listing in exchange for a 3% kickback whenever anyone books because of the listing?
.
Silverspoon said:
Our BBon line comes due in January and we will not be renewing....sometimes they don't even come into the top 10 referral sites and they are the most expensive. Dropped BB.com several years ago and never looked back.
I'll start a new thread with this next question but for now let me ask if anyone else has received an e-mail from Flip Key (the TA rental site) with an offer for a free listing in exchange for a 3% kickback whenever anyone books because of the listing?
Dropped bbon line several years ago as it was not in my top 10 either! I have received several emails and frankly have not opened the last few, but the last mail I got with a calendar had the same 60 day trial they have been marketing for a year or two.
.
I took advantage of the free listing a couple of years ago but it didn't drive the kind of guest my way that I am looking for so I dropped it after about 90 days of free listing. This offer is different:
"Fli pKey is introducing a new, free listing plan that allows you to list your property without any upfront costs or annual fees. You will only pay a small 3% fee on each booking you receive. The free listing plan also includes use of our messaging and payments platforms, so you’ll manage all aspects of your vacation rental right from your Fli pKey account."
Looks like FK manages the $$$ and makes deposits into your bank account from the guests payments. Sounds like another layer of complexity to the booking process and all initial communication with the prospective guest is anonymous using only FK channels.
What do you think?
.
Silverspoon said:
I took advantage of the free listing a couple of years ago but it didn't drive the kind of guest my way that I am looking for so I dropped it after about 90 days of free listing. This offer is different:
"Fli pKey is introducing a new, free listing plan that allows you to list your property without any upfront costs or annual fees. You will only pay a small 3% fee on each booking you receive. The free listing plan also includes use of our messaging and payments platforms, so you’ll manage all aspects of your vacation rental right from your Fli pKey account."
Looks like FK manages the $$$ and makes deposits into your bank account from the guests payments. Sounds like another layer of complexity to the booking process and all initial communication with the prospective guest is anonymous using only FK channels.
What do you think?
3% is not bad at all given they are providing a free listing - no income, no expense! The issue here would be the guest info. If they keep all the data private it can be a pain to deal with if you must contact them ASAP for some reason. If you can have their contact info then I see no real issue. Not to get on another tangent here but this reminds me of issues I had when I used ho tel s.com/Ex ped ia which both took payment and sent the $ to my bank upon check in. I had no means to contact the guest, no idea as to when they would check in etc. and getting that info was like pulling teeth. I deal with boo king. com now and I get all the data, I take payment and get an invoice each month. While I like not having to make a payment, getting the data is much more important to me.
 
angry_smile.gif

They just don't bring me business, period. I didn't renew, I didn't renew BBONLINE and I am trying again BnBfinder mainly because of their fine marketing/web presence.
I am doing more with my own marketing than using ANY directory, so they better watch it, plenty of inns are and will give them the shaft! The greedy SOBs.
Our BBon line comes due in January and we will not be renewing....sometimes they don't even come into the top 10 referral sites and they are the most expensive. Dropped BB.com several years ago and never looked back.
I'll start a new thread with this next question but for now let me ask if anyone else has received an e-mail from Flip Key (the TA rental site) with an offer for a free listing in exchange for a 3% kickback whenever anyone books because of the listing?
.
Silverspoon said:
Our BBon line comes due in January and we will not be renewing....sometimes they don't even come into the top 10 referral sites and they are the most expensive. Dropped BB.com several years ago and never looked back.
I'll start a new thread with this next question but for now let me ask if anyone else has received an e-mail from Flip Key (the TA rental site) with an offer for a free listing in exchange for a 3% kickback whenever anyone books because of the listing?
Dropped bbon line several years ago as it was not in my top 10 either! I have received several emails and frankly have not opened the last few, but the last mail I got with a calendar had the same 60 day trial they have been marketing for a year or two.
.
I took advantage of the free listing a couple of years ago but it didn't drive the kind of guest my way that I am looking for so I dropped it after about 90 days of free listing. This offer is different:
"Fli pKey is introducing a new, free listing plan that allows you to list your property without any upfront costs or annual fees. You will only pay a small 3% fee on each booking you receive. The free listing plan also includes use of our messaging and payments platforms, so you’ll manage all aspects of your vacation rental right from your Fli pKey account."
Looks like FK manages the $$$ and makes deposits into your bank account from the guests payments. Sounds like another layer of complexity to the booking process and all initial communication with the prospective guest is anonymous using only FK channels.
What do you think?
.
Anything associated with T A I would avoid. You all complain about dropping the other gorillas so why would you want to deal with fli p k? My friends have all dropped bb on line and are considering doing the same with the other one. Big companies don't care about the little guy. It is all about THEIR bottom line.
 
I don't like the increase in rates either, but people read and book based on reviews. I get all kinds of bookings using the B&B.com widget on our website.
 
I don't like the increase in rates either, but people read and book based on reviews. I get all kinds of bookings using the B&B.com widget on our website..
I finally took the widget off my site. The last review was posted in 2011. That's worse than not having any reviews!
 
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