|
Tell A Friend
Link to Us
Links
|
I've been using the Villarenters system for a
while now, and use it for about 12 properties I manage
for the owners.
Don't be misled by the term robot secretary: that only
kicks in once they've made a booking. All the usual
correspondence prior to booking takes place, it's just
that once they book online all the reminders for
deposits and the balance are done automatically, and the
directions are sent out automatically once the balance
has been paid. I think the Villarenters system is
brilliant and while there are sometimes glitches the
team behind the system are good at responding to
requests for additional features and this year a lot of
new features are going to be added. Villarenters
have also made it possible now for you to take manual
payment for free for your own bookings, but you can
still take credit cards for 3.25%. I haven't come across
anything to match it so far.
Later this year Villarenters will be introducing
a create your own website feature for free. I also like
the automatic discounts feature, the optional or
mandatory extras (for example cleaning or optional cot
rental etc.).
I don't work for Villarenters, I promise! |
I think it's worth pointing out that you can separate
the two functions of Villarenters: that of a
booking engine and that of a listings site. in a few
months Villarenters will be setting up
RentalSystems.com so people who don't want to generate
bookings through Villarenters (and pay 10%) can
just use RentalSystems and all the associated tools
(live calendar, automatic bookings, discounts, add-ons,
robot secretary, credit card acceptance) and it's also
worth knowing that if you take manual payment by cheque,
paypal or bank transfer the system is entirely free for
your own bookings.
|
Villarenters is not good for me mate, didn't
have any enquiries for 6 months let alone
bookings.
|
We found Villarenters a
disaster. They seem totally obsessed with their systems
at the expense of actually delivering bookings. We were
on Villarenters for more than a year before we
got 2 supposed bookings - they turned to be enquiries
which then had to be cancelled by the guests when it
turned out that our property wasn't right for them. In
our experience 90% of guests want to have some
communications with the owner before actually booking
and this site just isn't geared up for that. (Owner in
Bavaria)
|
Villarenters is my prime booking engine. The
site works well and is well run on the whole, but what
is perfect?
very consistent and they put their money where their
mouth is with advertising.
Consistently high ranked. As an an advertiser I am
pretty satisfied. However as a rental system's partner
(well that is another story). (Owner in Spain) |
I am beginning to think the Rentalsystems
platform is not good as expected. Here follow some
observations:
- their rating system is only one-way: the owner cannot
rank his tenants (can only answer to reviews) and these
are left quite alone to comment their experience and to
rate it through a 1 to 5 star score. This will affect
the property listing trough a Villarenters
ranking that will list only few properties in the
highest posirions, leaving all the others not ranked by
tenants on the bottom of the list, quite invisible.
- the customer care does not answer directly quite ever.
It's almost impossible to talk directly to some of them
to require some assistance online.
- they are quite expensive, taking into account that
there is no human interaction during the booking
process.
- even if our property is one the unique in Zanzibar
using this system, we receive much more bookings by some
other rental websites than by them.
In few words, the Rentalsystems website is too ambitious
in comparison to the results it brings.
And, last but not least, look at their Alexa rank
recently: it is slowly but dramatically falling down...
Why?
|
Be careful if you use Villarenters as a property
owner. If they get you a booking they take their
commission out of the deposit. Therefore if the renter
subsequently cancels, you are left with very little and
may not be able re-let the week even after having
reserved it for many months and possibly turned down
other bookings in the meantime. Also, if they get you a
booking they charge 10% plus VAT, which is supposed to
be for their commission and their credit card charges.
However, they have recently introduced a BOOKING FEE, to
cover the credit card charge (they say) of £15.00 per
booking, which is payable by the renter. So they are in
effect charging a credit card fee twice - firstly
included in the 10% commission from the owner and
secondly in the £15.00 from the renter. They encourage
you to put your own bookings through their site, but by
doing this, your guests will still have to pay their
£15.00 booking fee for the privilege of doing so. And
if you decide to become an affiliate (where you
recommend other owners to them) they don't pay you your
affiliate commission, which is supposed to be paid
automatically. When you recommend someone, you send
that person a link to click on to load their property
and you are supposed to get 2.5% commission on all
bookings they generate for that person. However, I
recently referred a friend, who then got 2 bookings
through Villarenters, but Villarenters did not recognise
the fact that I had referred that person and I had to
chase them up for the commission, which they eventually
paid. They are a very difficult company to contact by
telephone, but I eventually found out that their
telephone number is 01664 484959 or 0044 1664 484959 if
calling from outside the UK. I am not a great fan of
Villarenters, but have stayed on their website and
increased my prices by 10% to cover their commission.
(Owner in Paphos) |
I have used villarenters for some years now. I have
found that I do get plenty of bookings through them.
Yes - they do take a commission and I was not happy when
they introduced fees for security deposits which either
you or the renter pays. If I did not have to use an
agent - I would get the renters to hand over the
security deposit in cash when I handed them the keys.
With my own bookings I give renters the choice of using
the VR system or paying me direct. As this latter option
is cheaper for them and more profitable for me most go
for paying me direct.
|
| |
| |
|
