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Morticia

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Maybe I've asked this before but if you are using TC and you have access (like on RK) to the stats on clicks on the TC link do you notice that one person will click the link 10 times for the exact same date, one right after the other? Or, am I misreading that? I can't figure out what is going on there, but it's 50 cents per click and then they don't book!
I have added a direct link to the vanilla RK page to keep this from happening, but most people just keep clicking. This is an example of what I mean. This person did the same search 5 times last night, and again today. Finally clicked thru to my rez page at the end.
Availability Search Sat 9/14/2019 - Mon 9/16/2019; 2 nights; 98.11.137.239; 9 hours ago
Availability Search Sat 9/14/2019 - Mon 9/16/2019; 2 nights; 98.11.137.239; 9 hours ago
Availability Search Sat 9/14/2019 - Mon 9/16/2019; 2 nights; 98.11.137.239; ; 9 hours ago
Availability Search Sat 9/14/2019 - Mon 9/16/2019; 2 nights; 98.11.137.239; ; 9 hours ago
Availability Search Sat 9/14/2019 - Mon 9/16/2019; 2 nights; 98.11.137.239; ; 9 hours ago
Availability Search Sat 9/14/2019 - Mon 9/16/2019; 2 nights; 98.11.137.239; /; /reserve 1 hour ago
Availability Search Sat 9/14/2019 - Mon 9/16/2019; 2 nights; 98.11.137.239; /; /reserve 1 hour ago
Availability Search Sat 9/14/2019 - Mon 9/16/2019; 2 nights; 98.11.137.239; 2 hours ago
I see this happening everyday. And sometimes it's the same IP address day after day. Or, they look at 2 days in Oct, then 4 days in Sept, then 5 days in Oct, etc. It's really rare (probably 5 reservations since I started this back in May) that anyone books thru TC. But, they spend a lot of time clicking!
Any ideas?
 
Morticia I started with this connection, RK and TA cost per click, maybe a month or two before you started. Now honest, probably lazy, never looked at the details such as you show above. I think my bid per click was a little less, my interest was to get my prices to show on TA more than if (or not) I actually got clicks through the system. I don't know how many reservations I've gotten through them, but it has been a busy summer, so either it helped or this was just the summer everyone chose our area to visit.
Assuming some problem is not causing many clicks on the same search (you could ask John) it may be that the IP address represents the host/server rather than an individual. I'm thinking maybe I click, look at your property, look at someone else and then go back to you to compare the offering, just a guess. Also perhaps one person looks, tells wife, husband or buddy and they go look as well, even on the telephone it seems to take several calls to make a booking.
Maybe the question to ask is, how was business overall? Has any improvement been worth the cost of the clicks?
 
Could that be TA trying to check your rate to display?
 
I'm not sure. Yes, our prices are now visible, so that helped. Did we have a better summer than last year? No, not really. We're paying about $75/month to TA. I'd say that means we're paying about a 40-50% commission on the one booking we get that I can definitely say came from the TC link because most people pick the room for $149. It's less than we would pay for a business listing, but it's still on the high side for the traffic we see coming directly from TC.
Now, that one I posted here DID book on our reservation system, not the one on TA. So, they did, eventually, click on my reservation link on the TC page, but they clicked that TC link all of those times first.
I can see, 'Hey, come and look at this one,' followed by, 'Well, what else is available?' etc except it really looks, if I catch it while it's happening, like they just keep going back to TA to put in a new date, then clicking the link again instead of using the date search feature on the RK page.
OTOH, I did get a 6 night reservation that pretty much paid for the whole year. ;-)
I was trying to figure out a better way to get the guest to leave the TC reservation page and go to our page and stay there instead of flipping back and forth again and again.
I know in 6 weeks the clicking will drop right off as the season ends, so I'll have a look at things to see if this is a good system for next season. Maybe turn it off until April. And select only US and no other countries.
I have noticed we have dropped way down the list on TA. We were showing up 3-4 at the beginning, now they have us around 8-9.
 
I'm not sure. Yes, our prices are now visible, so that helped. Did we have a better summer than last year? No, not really. We're paying about $75/month to TA. I'd say that means we're paying about a 40-50% commission on the one booking we get that I can definitely say came from the TC link because most people pick the room for $149. It's less than we would pay for a business listing, but it's still on the high side for the traffic we see coming directly from TC.
Now, that one I posted here DID book on our reservation system, not the one on TA. So, they did, eventually, click on my reservation link on the TC page, but they clicked that TC link all of those times first.
I can see, 'Hey, come and look at this one,' followed by, 'Well, what else is available?' etc except it really looks, if I catch it while it's happening, like they just keep going back to TA to put in a new date, then clicking the link again instead of using the date search feature on the RK page.
OTOH, I did get a 6 night reservation that pretty much paid for the whole year. ;-)
I was trying to figure out a better way to get the guest to leave the TC reservation page and go to our page and stay there instead of flipping back and forth again and again.
I know in 6 weeks the clicking will drop right off as the season ends, so I'll have a look at things to see if this is a good system for next season. Maybe turn it off until April. And select only US and no other countries.
I have noticed we have dropped way down the list on TA. We were showing up 3-4 at the beginning, now they have us around 8-9..
For me the summer was wonderful, seemed much more traffic in our area, so maybe nothing to do with TA, but all months were good and June was double last year so I'm happy. TA seems to have several choices in how places are ranked, not sure how the arrive at their numbers, by traveler (review?) ranking we have been in the one to three range, but for our area we are cheap at least on busy weekends with prices more in line with those that get poor reviews, suppose that brings in folks too. Never really figure out how folks respond on the internet or choose their bookings
 
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