Anybody who owns and lets out a holiday house, will be confronted with the question of how to get people to find their venue amongst all the other holiday establishments. This is not always easy, or cheap, as anybody starting out will find out soon enough.

There is of course the option of an advert in the print media, whether it is in a magazine or newspaper, and this does work, but it also has some serious drawbacks. Firstly it is expensive and it is something that you have to continuously work at. The print media is not the ideal vehicle for promoting your establishment as any potential visitors will still want to find you online to see more about your venue.

“Just get a website”, is a call that is often made, and at face value it would appear that this is not a bad option. After all, all you need to do is pay somebody to set up a 3 or 4 page website showcasing your property, then wait for people to find you on Google and sit back and watch the holiday bookings roll in. Sounds easy, but of course there is a catch. The problem is that if your website does not appear on the first page (or possibly the second or third) of Google, then you are not going to get many visitors to your website at all.

Holiday Accommodation is a fiercely contested battleground in the Google search results. There are thousands of websites all trying to be on the first page of Google, some of which are well established and have been around a long time. It is unlikely, although not impossible, that your little website is going feature against some of these established websites who have a budget to pay for search engine optimization.

Other options exist, such as free adverts on the online classified websites, but the free ads quickly get pushed down the line and you have to constantly resubmit your ad for it to be found. Online Holiday Directories can be a good option, however be careful when choosing which directories to advertise on. Some will offer a free listing and you only pay a percentage of you booking. This is usually between 12 – 18% and can ultimately work out very costly.

Other directories charge a monthly or annual fee for you to advertise. This is definitely the better option. You know exactly how much you are going to pay and it is normally a fraction of the commission based directories. You can expect to pay between R100 and R200 per month for an online directory of this sort. You can view a great example of one such directory which offers holiday accommodation on the North Coast of KZN, but there are many others out there which would do a similar job.

So what is the final verdict? What is the best way to advertise your holiday accommodation? Consider the following: You don't need your own website. Sign up to one or two directories that charge a fixed monthly fee (As long as the fee is reasonable). Let them do the advertising for you. You will soon know if one of them is not working for you and then change to another website. If you also do other traditional advertising, such as notice boards, print media etc, then get your own website as well so that it is easy to direct visitors to see your venue and your venue only. Don’t send them to your page on an online directory as they may then decide to look around at what else is on offer.

Some food for thought.

Nothing can ruin a holiday quicker than arriving at your destination only to find that the accommodation you just booked doesn’t exist or is already occupied by somebody else who has never heard of the so-called agent you just rented the property from. Fortunately there are ways to prevent this from happening by following a few simple guidelines.

Whether you are looking for holiday accommodation in Margate or a guesthouse in the Kruger Park, it is worth taking a few extra precautions before making that booking, for your own peace of mind.

Be very cautious when booking accommodation from a website that offers free classifieds. It is just too easy to create a fake listing with details sourced from a legitimate website then post the listing as a classified ad with any payments going straight into the fraudsters bank account. Once you make payment, you will never hear from them again.

It is rare, although not impossible, for a con artist to sign up with a website where they have to pay for their listing. One thing scammers do not like doing is giving out their details and they generally have to do that if they want to subscribe to a holiday accommodation website. 

Another indication is if the email address of the “agent” is a free email address such as gmail or yahoo mail. A fraudster will certainly not want an email address that can be traced back to them, but be aware that a lot of legitimate establishments make use of gmail addresses so this on its own is not a reason to not make a booking with that home owner or agent.

If making your booking from a holiday letting agent, make sure they have been in business for more than a year at least. Most legitimate letting agents will have their own website and it will not be a free website that can be easily “disposed” of. They will also have a large number of holiday accommodation listings on their website to choose from. Don’t be afraid to ask for a referral.

Google the name of the place you are intending to stay at and make sure that the information you receive from other websites matches the information you have received from the person who is claiming to be the agent or home owner. Google the name, telephone number and email address of the owner or agent. If they have been implicated in any wrong doing it is not uncommon for somebody to have posted this information on a forum somewhere.

Remember, the age old adage of “if its too good to be true, then it probably is”, definitely applies to booking your holiday accommodation. If anything seems off to you, then rather walk away from the deal than risk ruining your holiday just to save a few bucks.

A good source of information for travellers, particularly if going on an international holiday is the website, www.tripadvisor.com