Villa rentals on CVO.com?

Ant1969 · Post by **Ant1969** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:47 pm

Has anyone had experience of renting their properties on CVO.com? What sort of response do you get?

We advertise on ownersdirect but things seem to be slow going this year.

Can anyone suggest any other avenues for picking up rentals?

e-richard · Post by **e-richard** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 7:45 pm

CVO.com has been quite effective for me in getting rentals, but its really only going to get folks who know Carvoeiro and are looking specifically for rentals in CVO. In fact it comes up consistently high in all search enigines for holiday rentals in CARVOEIRO.

But remember that many visitors are probably searching for more general "Algarve Rentals" and thats why you need additional advertising - and Owners Direct is a good example. Try perusing the forums at http://www.laymyhat.com/forum/ where this subject is widely discussed by a very International group.

I think you'll also find that there are many other owners claiming that 2007 has been a slow year, but the reasons are amazingly varied. For example, are we perhaps reaching a glut of private rentals, or are more people looking for packages and/or fully inclusive or what ??

Ant1969 · Post by **Ant1969** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 9:28 am

Thanks e-richard.

Had a quick look at LMH. Looks like it will certainly give some good pointers on all sorts of issues directly related to rentals.

tbbr · Post by **tbbr** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 11:41 am

USe both Holiday rentals and owners direct, now sold out until early sept which is when we visit.

Have notcied however that flight prices are higher this year so customers are looking for deals .
We offer wine etc.

tricky · Post by **tricky** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 12:17 pm

We used to regularly advertise on CVO.com but have now built up a bank of return guests and also we use it much more ourselves so don't really need to promote ourselves too much.
This however does create some problems in that its not worth paying an annual fee for advertising for the odd weeks we may have left so sometimes we have spaces we can't fill. (last two weeks in August for instance)
in the past we have used our local paper to fill the odd week.

wizzo · Post by **wizzo** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 1:05 pm

I only started advertising on this site last year and took a booking within the first fortnight.

If you take only a one week booking it has already paid for itself:!:

Roundy · Post by **Roundy** » Thu May 03, 2007 10:25 am

We visit CVO every year and try to get a different villa each time. The last 4/5 times I used CVO.com and has been very satisfied with the outcome.

However every time I post off my 25% booking deposit, I get a nagging fear that maybe this time I'm dealing with a con merchant and that not only would I lose quite a lot of money, but also end up arriving in CVO looking for a villa that may not actually be booked.

The point I am making is that people might be quicker to part with their dosh if there was a rating for previous rentals (administered by CVO.com)
i.e. Villa Spock - 20+ rentals, Casa Steptoe - 100 + rentals

If punters can see a rental history, it would reassure them that this is not a fly-by-night scam artist and thus feel happier about posting €1000 off to a complete stranger, who is 1000 miles away.

Michael Crane · Post by **Michael Crane** » Thu May 03, 2007 10:49 am

Roundy, surely your rating system would work against 1st time renters? How would they ever manage to get any booking without a rental history?

Roundy · Post by **Roundy** » Thu May 03, 2007 12:39 pm

Michael,

I agree that this system would be of little use to first timers. However if first timers had to submit proof of ownership when signing up to advertise on this site, then we would have some indication that they are bona-fide and not just somebody who has copied pictures from another site, made the fictional property available at a reasonable price and hey presto been inundated with deposits for many months of rental. Lets face it, if the property is bogus then there would be unlimited availability.
Sorry for being such a cynic but last year in Dublin, one chap made in excess of €50,000 in deposits from re-advertising an apartment that he himself had just rented for one month. Over 100 students arrived at the start of the new term thinking they had the apartment for the coming year, but in reality all they had was €500 less each.

Michael Crane · Post by **Michael Crane** » Thu May 03, 2007 1:31 pm

It always pays to be cynical.

I agree, some sort of verification process would give both parties involved peace of mind.

loretta · Post by **loretta** » Thu May 03, 2007 6:03 pm

Im now starting to worry

Gambrinus · Post by **Gambrinus** » Fri May 04, 2007 8:38 am

Thank you for this feedback, I will put your points across to Steen this weekend and we will see what we can come up with.

If you have any further suggestions, even if you are not sure if they are viable, please don't hesitate to post them.

Michael Crane · Post by **Michael Crane** » Fri May 04, 2007 9:14 am

Gambrinus wrote:Thank you for this feedback, I will put your points across to Steen this weekend and we will see what we can come up with.

If you have any further suggestions, even if you are not sure if they are viable, please don't hesitate to post them.

Perhaps Steen could compile a register of owner's home address and phone number.

laserblazer · Post by **laserblazer** » Fri May 04, 2007 9:54 am

How about if villa owners had to offer PayPal as a payment option. OK, they would have to pay the somewhat steep charge but it would protect the punter and maybe make them more inclined to book.

Gambrinus · Post by **Gambrinus** » Fri May 04, 2007 1:46 pm

laserblazer wrote:How about if villa owners had to offer PayPal as a payment option. OK, they would have to pay the somewhat steep charge but it would protect the punter and maybe make them more inclined to book.

That is the problem not only with Paypal but also with other credit systems - the providers of the system impose such high charges in the form of percentages. At the going rates somebody would have to pay something like €150 to €200 credit card charges for a two week peak season rental. That can be footed by the owner but will then inevitably be rolled over onto the rental customer through the rental rates, which are then at a disadvantage compared to the owners who do not have this associated cost in their rates.

The other question is, how safe is paypal really if you only set up a limited account and work from there?

This is where the property licencing becomes interesting - if a property is fully licenced and is issued with a licence number, and assuming that only legitimate owners would go to the trouble of obtaining a licence, you could theoretically embed that licence number to validate the correspondence between the buyer and the seller. The buyer could check the licence against the oficial database to verify that a seller is who he/she says he is.

Given the current state of affairs I would say that is utopic, but you never know....