Thank you to all property managers that completed our 2010 survey. Your responses have been invaluable in the preparation of our new Pets Playground online holiday accommodation directory. The Internet represents a very important vehicle for holiday venue operators. Nearly all now have their own websites and most use the internet extensively to reach prospective guests. Recognising their capacity to reach and influence holiday seekers, many list their properties with large online travel directories, and have had much to contribute of their experiences.

Read on for the survey report.

A survey of pet friendly holiday venue operators was completed in March 2010 by 78 property managers. It clearly demonstrated that:

Website

• Most holiday venues recognise the importance of online representation. 83% have their own website

Promotion

Most holiday venues recognise that promotion through the internet is the way to reach the most new customers, and understand that thei is where holidaymakers are looking to plan their holidays.

• 56% choose to list their properties with online travel directories
• 41% print pet-related publications
• 33% printed flyers
• 22% newspapers and magazines

However having a happy customer is imperative - 77% of respondents indicate that many of their bookings come through word-of-mouth. Most respondents (72%) also list their rental properties with local tourist information centres. Understandably, many property owners also choose to advertise in pet-related print publications.

% bookings from online travel directories

Most property owners indicate that online travel directories bring them a lot of bookings:

• 63% of respondents indicated that they attracted more than 40% of their bookings from online travel directories. 40% of these respondents claim that more than 80% of their bookings come from online travel directories
• 5% indicated that they attracted less than 20% of their bookings through online travel directories

Online travel directiories: 

Most property owners recognise that listing with online travel directories is the ay to get business. Things that they like the most about online travel sites include:

• Promotion and exposure to target market
• Reduce the workload by handling bookings
• You only pay for confirmed bookings, and have security knowing that you don't have to chase people for payment
• saves valuable time on responses to enquiries
• easy for property owners to update listings
• being able to promote immediate vacancies at a cheaper rate
• lots of bookings

However the things property managers commonly dislike about online travel directories include:

• High referral fees, or paying annual fees with no guarantee of success
• Continual upselling/paying for value-added services (like increased exposure)
• Sites too complex for many users
• not being able to handle multiple rooms/suites on a property (and therefore having meaningless rates and availability calendars)
• complex listing requirements and maintenance
• having to wait for payment if a customer books their holiday in advance

Remuneration for bookings

When asked how a holiday venue prefers to remunerate online travel directories for confirmed bookings, 83% were in favour of a 'success-based' rather than a fixed annual fee-based arrangement. Of those respondents that prefer remuneration upon success:

• 40% prefer to pay a fixed percentage of total booking revenue
• 35% prefer to pay a fixed rate per night booked
• 25% prefer a fixed rate per booking