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JBloggs

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PLEASE DISCUSS this PEEPS...thanks, JB
 
I guess maybe I now have a vacation rental? 3% beats other booking sites.
 
Yes, saw this in one of the dozen pieces of mail from them in the last couple of months. Much better than the other booking sites and unless they do better than I think, it would be much cheaper than the $300 listing!
We recently had an innkeeper, B&B mgr, stay with us recently. The first afternoon she had bragged about Flipkey so the next morning over breakfast I asked her to give more details about this. I told her I originally had a negative impression about it but wanted to hear about her good results. At that point she said they do get bookings but not a lot and many are usually looking for discounts. In our discussion we surmised that these people were comparing the price of a full cabin (apt, condo, home) to having a single room. So they are thinking they should get the room at a bargain.
 
As far as I know, they are still offering the subscription option as well as the commission option. The commission option is very similar to that Air site. All communications must be routed through FK, you must use the FK Payment system, and FK holds the money until one or two days after your guest has checked in. The other big gorilla in the VR market, HA/VRBO, is also exploring a commission option. The talk on the VR forums is that most owners don't like the commission approach. It may be OK for the owner who is only casually renting their place on occasion, but most of the serious owners have well-established routines for vetting their renters, etc..., that are just not compatible with these commission approaches. Clearly it seems that FK and HA are going down this road as a way to increase their inventories of properties by attracting newbies and the casually-renting owners who don't want to pay the full subscription fee.
 
I guess maybe I now have a vacation rental? 3% beats other booking sites..
Madeleine said:
I guess maybe I now have a vacation rental? 3% beats other booking sites.
Well I was wondering about it. For years and years we get the mailing and emails about this, so who knows...I wanted everyone else's take on it.
 
As far as I know, they are still offering the subscription option as well as the commission option. The commission option is very similar to that Air site. All communications must be routed through FK, you must use the FK Payment system, and FK holds the money until one or two days after your guest has checked in. The other big gorilla in the VR market, HA/VRBO, is also exploring a commission option. The talk on the VR forums is that most owners don't like the commission approach. It may be OK for the owner who is only casually renting their place on occasion, but most of the serious owners have well-established routines for vetting their renters, etc..., that are just not compatible with these commission approaches. Clearly it seems that FK and HA are going down this road as a way to increase their inventories of properties by attracting newbies and the casually-renting owners who don't want to pay the full subscription fee..
Harborfields said:
As far as I know, they are still offering the subscription option as well as the commission option. The commission option is very similar to that Air site. All communications must be routed through FK, you must use the FK Payment system, and FK holds the money until one or two days after your guest has checked in. The other big gorilla in the VR market, HA/VRBO, is also exploring a commission option. The talk on the VR forums is that most owners don't like the commission approach. It may be OK for the owner who is only casually renting their place on occasion, but most of the serious owners have well-established routines for vetting their renters, etc..., that are just not compatible with these commission approaches. Clearly it seems that FK and HA are going down this road as a way to increase their inventories of properties by attracting newbies and the casually-renting owners who don't want to pay the full subscription fee.
Thank you HF
 
Yes, saw this in one of the dozen pieces of mail from them in the last couple of months. Much better than the other booking sites and unless they do better than I think, it would be much cheaper than the $300 listing!
We recently had an innkeeper, B&B mgr, stay with us recently. The first afternoon she had bragged about Flipkey so the next morning over breakfast I asked her to give more details about this. I told her I originally had a negative impression about it but wanted to hear about her good results. At that point she said they do get bookings but not a lot and many are usually looking for discounts. In our discussion we surmised that these people were comparing the price of a full cabin (apt, condo, home) to having a single room. So they are thinking they should get the room at a bargain..
Just saw one in my town (but not IN town) that rents a whole house for $165-$195/night. So, I could see where if my one ROOM was on there too no one would book here.
 
Another thought: For most B&B's and similar accommodation providers, the big advantage of listing with FK -- getting on TA -- doesn't really apply because you're probably already listed on TA anyway (whether you want to be or not!). Most VR owners don't qualify for a listing on TA directly (e.g. no one on site), so FK (or HL across the pond) appeals to them as a way to get on TA...
 
We were on FK for one year. We received lots of inquiries, but no bookings actually occurred as a result. In most cases the number of people exceeded our capacity, or we were already booked for the dates. I would say that it really is for vacation rental property, rather than B & B's. Most inquiries will involve children, so if you have rooms that cannot accommodate kids in with the folks, (like me) it won't work well for them. I have a maximum capacity of 14 people, and most requests were for upwards of 16-20 people.
Oddly, I am still getting the occasional inquiry from the site even though the email reply is disabled and we don't have an active account.
It may be a good option for those with larger Inns, larger rooms with space to add beds, or those who would like to experiment with a weekly booking model--people do use the site, but it didn't work for us.
 
We were on FK for one year. We received lots of inquiries, but no bookings actually occurred as a result. In most cases the number of people exceeded our capacity, or we were already booked for the dates. I would say that it really is for vacation rental property, rather than B & B's. Most inquiries will involve children, so if you have rooms that cannot accommodate kids in with the folks, (like me) it won't work well for them. I have a maximum capacity of 14 people, and most requests were for upwards of 16-20 people.
Oddly, I am still getting the occasional inquiry from the site even though the email reply is disabled and we don't have an active account.
It may be a good option for those with larger Inns, larger rooms with space to add beds, or those who would like to experiment with a weekly booking model--people do use the site, but it didn't work for us..
I used the free FK listing a couple of years ago and found the same thing to be true. All of the inquiries were better suited to a house rental, not a B+B. So I never paid up and never looked back.
 
We have so many vacation rentals in our area, I often recommend to people calling with families that it would be cheaper, more comfortable and better if they just did a VR. And they could be ocean front!
We have a separate cottage I could list, but again, it's mostly families with lots of people and I just don't want to field all the calls and have to justify why my cottage costs more per night than a whole 2 story VR.
 
We have so many vacation rentals in our area, I often recommend to people calling with families that it would be cheaper, more comfortable and better if they just did a VR. And they could be ocean front!
We have a separate cottage I could list, but again, it's mostly families with lots of people and I just don't want to field all the calls and have to justify why my cottage costs more per night than a whole 2 story VR..
Breakfast Diva said:
We have so many vacation rentals in our area, I often recommend to people calling with families that it would be cheaper, more comfortable and better if they just did a VR. And they could be ocean front!
We have a separate cottage I could list, but again, it's mostly families with lots of people and I just don't want to field all the calls and have to justify why my cottage costs more per night than a whole 2 story VR.
Good for you to offer a solution which would be better for them!
Those people only see the $$$ not what goes on behind the scenes like SERVICE, LICENCED, PROPERLY INSURED! I am sure there are some that are all of these things but just wonder the %.
That said, I am helping a friend rent his VR. Here there are no rules regarding VR (something I would like to see changed) so no license. I am showing him how much should be done to do this right. He is properly insured BTW.
We listed his place on VRBO about 4 mths ago and have gotten only 4 bookings out of dozens of inquiries. He wonders why, and frankly I do too. The price is right, the location is perfect for the niche we are marketing to... One thing I have surmised is the possibility some of the inquiries are trying to determine if they will have COMPLETE run of the place. Which to me (and my friend) mean they want to either bring more than the max or want to throw a party.
As far as the 4 bookings the 3 that have come and gone have all been adults only, quiet and very respectable of the property - aka ideal guests. But they have not all come due to to the VR directory. My friend has been advertising in many different venues to book his rentals, they just all point to the VR listing. On the quires that go no where I have little knowledge how they found the listing, of the 4 bookings only 1 was directly from the directory so far. Friend may go back to long term rentals but said he would give it a little longer to see how it pans out.
 
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