Using the Internet to Find your Vacation Cottage

“Why did you decide to come to us?” I asked.

“It was my eldest son, aged 11, who said he wanted to go to Scotland because he had heard about the Loch Ness Monster. So we said Ok” said Karin from Berlin.

Why people choose a particular holiday vacation is amazingly varied.

We know that people like to find owners’ sites direct if they can. But that means searching through to page 5 or 6 of most holiday pages on the internet. The big powerful holiday directories crowd out the first few pages.

Here are a few tips.

FAQ’s

Q Should I circularise my request to several properties at the same time and see what they say?
A. Many visitors do exactly this, but the text reveals to owners that they are using a circular enquiry. So many independent owners simply do not bother to reply. In a desirable location most owners can sell heir property many times over in the peak season.
Q. Should I find a property owner directly from the web or search through a directory?
A. There are 2 kinds of directory - an agency which takes the bookings and allows no direct contact with the owners and a directory which quotes e-mail and web addresses. The advantage with both kinds is that you’ll see many properties but agencies will stop you from contacting owners direct. They want a commission on the bookings, they’ll lose it if you contact the owner.
Q I can’t find owners sites when I search
A Go straight to page 3 or more of the search engine results to clear the Directory sites. You’ll find individual owners’ sites then.
Q. I want to find a property at the last minute, how should I search?
A. For Scotland look up the Cottage Guide and the Undiscovered Scotland web sites. These are both honourable bona fide directories with direct links to owners’ sites. The problem is that owners, like us I’m afraid, do not keep their availabilities up to date. Other directories cover other countries

We carry out research each year amongst our guests and others, Overwhelmingly they are experienced at internet booking of holiday properties or hotels, both here and overseas, and overwhelmingly they want to contact property owners direct through the web sites.

We know what our guests look for – it is a good location in the area they want, the right facilities and price, a warm welcome and a speedy helpful response.

They may search many different websites to start with, giving them a quick once over, and then going back to the ones they like for deeper investigation. All sorts of things can put them off a particular property but they often end up with a short list of two or three to choose between.

Our advice would be to try and narrow down your search as bit, to a smaller area of the country. In this way you can reach the individual owners’ websites more easily without going through masses of directories first. Using a term such as “Self catering Scotland” will be pretty hopeless, because it is too broad. You may need to go through the site descriptions on to page two or three to find your owners property. Don’t just pick the top sites of page one and then change to a different search term. The short site descriptions in, say, Google, are very useful.

But you can also find the directories useful for giving you plenty of options to start with, so long as they let you through to the owner’s site. If they don’t then they are an agency. But here, you are generally choosing on the basis of the photograph. It may not do the property or the location justice.

John Winkler http://holidaysscotland.blogspot.com