I Was Shocked

[JBloggs]

What company doesn't give you that sale pitch. Did you do well before TA came into your life? Do you feel or know for sure that they bring you the best of people the cream of the crop? Do they bring you the guests you want? In enough numbers to pay more than pay the cost of ta?
I have found the people I get that use T A are general younger and lazy . Don't now how to make up their own minds. We don't have a booking from TA We don't have an enhance business listing. I live with out them very nicely. I think they are thorns you have to be very careful with their people. take a survey find out where your people came from. How do they reach you. You may be surprised where they find you most. I know we were ..

May be that word was not thee best to use . More like impatient.? But when you are young you are impatient.
.

May be that word was not thee best to use . More like impatient.? But when you are young you are impatient.

I was actually thinking the opposite and thinking thorough. Also thinking older, not younger.

 

[MtnKeeper]

we pay a lot to boo king dot com for boo kings. If we can direct people to our own website instead, the monthly payment is way worth it. We just signed up so not sure yet..

One benefit of TA business listing is that you also get to do Trip Con nect if you want. While it doesn't guarantee a booking like the fee paid to book dot com, I wonder if the amount you save in commissions to them will far outweigh the listing. Anyone have any experience with this yet? We haven't been able to do Trip Con nect because SuperInn doesn't work with it but we are switching so that we can do it if we want.

 

[EmptyNest]

we pay a lot to boo king dot com for boo kings. If we can direct people to our own website instead, the monthly payment is way worth it. We just signed up so not sure yet..

One benefit of TA business listing is that you also get to do Trip Con nect if you want. While it doesn't guarantee a booking like the fee paid to book dot com, I wonder if the amount you save in commissions to them will far outweigh the listing. Anyone have any experience with this yet? We haven't been able to do Trip Con nect because SuperInn doesn't work with it but we are switching so that we can do it if we want.
.

I don't know anyone using it ...but it just means giving them more money. :-(

 

[Breakfast Diva]

we pay a lot to boo king dot com for boo kings. If we can direct people to our own website instead, the monthly payment is way worth it. We just signed up so not sure yet..

One benefit of TA business listing is that you also get to do Trip Con nect if you want. While it doesn't guarantee a booking like the fee paid to book dot com, I wonder if the amount you save in commissions to them will far outweigh the listing. Anyone have any experience with this yet? We haven't been able to do Trip Con nect because SuperInn doesn't work with it but we are switching so that we can do it if we want.
.

I have been using TC for about 4 months. I'm sure it's because we're in a rural location and TA doesn't quite know what to do with us. It's been pretty useless. This month, TC charged my card about $3.00 Nobody is clicking.

 

[MtnKeeper]

we pay a lot to boo king dot com for boo kings. If we can direct people to our own website instead, the monthly payment is way worth it. We just signed up so not sure yet..

One benefit of TA business listing is that you also get to do Trip Con nect if you want. While it doesn't guarantee a booking like the fee paid to book dot com, I wonder if the amount you save in commissions to them will far outweigh the listing. Anyone have any experience with this yet? We haven't been able to do Trip Con nect because SuperInn doesn't work with it but we are switching so that we can do it if we want.
.

I don't know anyone using it ...but it just means giving them more money. :-(
.

If you have to pay book dot com a commission, you are giving them your money too. So the business question is which one costs you the most and from which one do you get the most income? This will determine who you should spend your money with. TA is and will continue to be the industry giant and if I make tons of money from having a listing with them and getting direct bookings, then it's worth it. If I pay $285 to a local chamber and get squat then it was a bad business decision. Not liking how big a company has become is not a reason to discount their services.

 

[EmptyNest]

we pay a lot to boo king dot com for boo kings. If we can direct people to our own website instead, the monthly payment is way worth it. We just signed up so not sure yet..

One benefit of TA business listing is that you also get to do Trip Con nect if you want. While it doesn't guarantee a booking like the fee paid to book dot com, I wonder if the amount you save in commissions to them will far outweigh the listing. Anyone have any experience with this yet? We haven't been able to do Trip Con nect because SuperInn doesn't work with it but we are switching so that we can do it if we want.
.

I don't know anyone using it ...but it just means giving them more money. :-(
.

If you have to pay book dot com a commission, you are giving them your money too. So the business question is which one costs you the most and from which one do you get the most income? This will determine who you should spend your money with. TA is and will continue to be the industry giant and if I make tons of money from having a listing with them and getting direct bookings, then it's worth it. If I pay $285 to a local chamber and get squat then it was a bad business decision. Not liking how big a company has become is not a reason to discount their services.
.

I never used any booking places. And I only paid for listing that brought me business. If I were in business today I would NOT use any of them. I know plenty of people who use none and they do just fine without them.

 

[JBloggs]

we pay a lot to boo king dot com for boo kings. If we can direct people to our own website instead, the monthly payment is way worth it. We just signed up so not sure yet..

One benefit of TA business listing is that you also get to do Trip Con nect if you want. While it doesn't guarantee a booking like the fee paid to book dot com, I wonder if the amount you save in commissions to them will far outweigh the listing. Anyone have any experience with this yet? We haven't been able to do Trip Con nect because SuperInn doesn't work with it but we are switching so that we can do it if we want.
.

I don't know anyone using it ...but it just means giving them more money. :-(
.

If you have to pay book dot com a commission, you are giving them your money too. So the business question is which one costs you the most and from which one do you get the most income? This will determine who you should spend your money with. TA is and will continue to be the industry giant and if I make tons of money from having a listing with them and getting direct bookings, then it's worth it. If I pay $285 to a local chamber and get squat then it was a bad business decision. Not liking how big a company has become is not a reason to discount their services.
.

That is the conundrum we are in. Before BnBfin'er redid their site we actually did okay with them, when most on here were not, we did. Then we went off the radar.
When bedandbrek.com stopped using our state in their ads/keywords we fell off of there. I go on and I go off, and so far NONE of them have brought us business. Our CVB acts like they do and I have the stats on the click throughs and the non existent emails from the contact on their page. Same ol' now Google, it is one thing that is working!
I have shared with aspirings that I can tell them where to NOT waste their money. One person asked me why I hadn't done Groo'pin, as that has been fantastically successful for other B&Bs! (This is where it is difficult as we speaketh a different lingo to those not already in the business and spending their dinero)
Some here boast that Bo'kin.com brings business, or does it just redirect business through them that had already found you?
-note i purposely spelled things wrong-

 

[Silverspoon]

we pay a lot to boo king dot com for boo kings. If we can direct people to our own website instead, the monthly payment is way worth it. We just signed up so not sure yet..

One benefit of TA business listing is that you also get to do Trip Con nect if you want. While it doesn't guarantee a booking like the fee paid to book dot com, I wonder if the amount you save in commissions to them will far outweigh the listing. Anyone have any experience with this yet? We haven't been able to do Trip Con nect because SuperInn doesn't work with it but we are switching so that we can do it if we want.
.

I don't know anyone using it ...but it just means giving them more money. :-(
.

If you have to pay book dot com a commission, you are giving them your money too. So the business question is which one costs you the most and from which one do you get the most income? This will determine who you should spend your money with. TA is and will continue to be the industry giant and if I make tons of money from having a listing with them and getting direct bookings, then it's worth it. If I pay $285 to a local chamber and get squat then it was a bad business decision. Not liking how big a company has become is not a reason to discount their services.
.

I never used any booking places. And I only paid for listing that brought me business. If I were in business today I would NOT use any of them. I know plenty of people who use none and they do just fine without them.
.

That would be us. We have joined the regional Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber in a popular town near us, but that's it. I discontinued all the other paid sites like Bnb on line.com and bed and breakfast dot com because they just could not drive visitors to our web site and give us bookings the way the Chambers do. Go ogle still wins out when visitors have some idea of what they are looking for.

 

[Flower]

we pay a lot to boo king dot com for boo kings. If we can direct people to our own website instead, the monthly payment is way worth it. We just signed up so not sure yet..

One benefit of TA business listing is that you also get to do Trip Con nect if you want. While it doesn't guarantee a booking like the fee paid to book dot com, I wonder if the amount you save in commissions to them will far outweigh the listing. Anyone have any experience with this yet? We haven't been able to do Trip Con nect because SuperInn doesn't work with it but we are switching so that we can do it if we want.
.

I don't know anyone using it ...but it just means giving them more money. :-(
.

If you have to pay book dot com a commission, you are giving them your money too. So the business question is which one costs you the most and from which one do you get the most income? This will determine who you should spend your money with. TA is and will continue to be the industry giant and if I make tons of money from having a listing with them and getting direct bookings, then it's worth it. If I pay $285 to a local chamber and get squat then it was a bad business decision. Not liking how big a company has become is not a reason to discount their services.
.

I never used any booking places. And I only paid for listing that brought me business. If I were in business today I would NOT use any of them. I know plenty of people who use none and they do just fine without them.
.

Add me to your list I do none of them yet I do fine.
Yes there are time I think should I ? But for the most part I feel we are ok
Bo.calm has it problems with Inns having to deal with double bookings I know cause we get their guest as a result. When I see how much they pay out I find it hard to justify the pay out. Also You never have the chance to screen the people at all. I am a vacation area what helps also.

 

[Madeleine]

we pay a lot to boo king dot com for boo kings. If we can direct people to our own website instead, the monthly payment is way worth it. We just signed up so not sure yet..

One benefit of TA business listing is that you also get to do Trip Con nect if you want. While it doesn't guarantee a booking like the fee paid to book dot com, I wonder if the amount you save in commissions to them will far outweigh the listing. Anyone have any experience with this yet? We haven't been able to do Trip Con nect because SuperInn doesn't work with it but we are switching so that we can do it if we want.
.

I don't know anyone using it ...but it just means giving them more money. :-(
.

If you have to pay book dot com a commission, you are giving them your money too. So the business question is which one costs you the most and from which one do you get the most income? This will determine who you should spend your money with. TA is and will continue to be the industry giant and if I make tons of money from having a listing with them and getting direct bookings, then it's worth it. If I pay $285 to a local chamber and get squat then it was a bad business decision. Not liking how big a company has become is not a reason to discount their services.
.

That is the conundrum we are in. Before BnBfin'er redid their site we actually did okay with them, when most on here were not, we did. Then we went off the radar.
When bedandbrek.com stopped using our state in their ads/keywords we fell off of there. I go on and I go off, and so far NONE of them have brought us business. Our CVB acts like they do and I have the stats on the click throughs and the non existent emails from the contact on their page. Same ol' now Google, it is one thing that is working!
I have shared with aspirings that I can tell them where to NOT waste their money. One person asked me why I hadn't done Groo'pin, as that has been fantastically successful for other B&Bs! (This is where it is difficult as we speaketh a different lingo to those not already in the business and spending their dinero)
Some here boast that Bo'kin.com brings business, or does it just redirect business through them that had already found you?
-note i purposely spelled things wrong-
.

Bo'kin is hard to figure. Last year almost every guest who booked thru there either called me right before or right after they made their rez and wanted a particular room. Last week we had a nasty bitch who wanted an upgraded room and flat out refused to pay for it. DH moved her because he didn't want the fight and the lingering gloom. Probably how she gets everything in her life, making people miserable. She didn't want the breakfast either and pouted until her friends agreed to eat what she wanted so DH wouldn't be pulling out pans for just her.
This month alone, we have 20+ room nights from bo'kin. The most ever. None of them, other than last week, has had any issue with the room or the food. (We took most of our rooms out of the mix to keep guests from having to go upstairs as they are almost all hotel people who think there is an elevator or bellhop.)
bedandbrek and TA are the biggest directors of traffic, based on what guests say, no tracking happening here. We don't pay for TA. We only have a silver membership with bedandbrek.
When we get ready to go on the market, then I will list on every vehicle possible to get the occ numbers up. Right now I'm happy with the occ numbers. It's enough work for us and almost enough money.

 

[MtnKeeper]

we pay a lot to boo king dot com for boo kings. If we can direct people to our own website instead, the monthly payment is way worth it. We just signed up so not sure yet..

One benefit of TA business listing is that you also get to do Trip Con nect if you want. While it doesn't guarantee a booking like the fee paid to book dot com, I wonder if the amount you save in commissions to them will far outweigh the listing. Anyone have any experience with this yet? We haven't been able to do Trip Con nect because SuperInn doesn't work with it but we are switching so that we can do it if we want.
.

I don't know anyone using it ...but it just means giving them more money. :-(
.

If you have to pay book dot com a commission, you are giving them your money too. So the business question is which one costs you the most and from which one do you get the most income? This will determine who you should spend your money with. TA is and will continue to be the industry giant and if I make tons of money from having a listing with them and getting direct bookings, then it's worth it. If I pay $285 to a local chamber and get squat then it was a bad business decision. Not liking how big a company has become is not a reason to discount their services.
.

That is the conundrum we are in. Before BnBfin'er redid their site we actually did okay with them, when most on here were not, we did. Then we went off the radar.
When bedandbrek.com stopped using our state in their ads/keywords we fell off of there. I go on and I go off, and so far NONE of them have brought us business. Our CVB acts like they do and I have the stats on the click throughs and the non existent emails from the contact on their page. Same ol' now Google, it is one thing that is working!
I have shared with aspirings that I can tell them where to NOT waste their money. One person asked me why I hadn't done Groo'pin, as that has been fantastically successful for other B&Bs! (This is where it is difficult as we speaketh a different lingo to those not already in the business and spending their dinero)
Some here boast that Bo'kin.com brings business, or does it just redirect business through them that had already found you?
-note i purposely spelled things wrong-
.

Bo'kin is hard to figure. Last year almost every guest who booked thru there either called me right before or right after they made their rez and wanted a particular room. Last week we had a nasty bitch who wanted an upgraded room and flat out refused to pay for it. DH moved her because he didn't want the fight and the lingering gloom. Probably how she gets everything in her life, making people miserable. She didn't want the breakfast either and pouted until her friends agreed to eat what she wanted so DH wouldn't be pulling out pans for just her.
This month alone, we have 20+ room nights from bo'kin. The most ever. None of them, other than last week, has had any issue with the room or the food. (We took most of our rooms out of the mix to keep guests from having to go upstairs as they are almost all hotel people who think there is an elevator or bellhop.)
bedandbrek and TA are the biggest directors of traffic, based on what guests say, no tracking happening here. We don't pay for TA. We only have a silver membership with bedandbrek.
When we get ready to go on the market, then I will list on every vehicle possible to get the occ numbers up. Right now I'm happy with the occ numbers. It's enough work for us and almost enough money.
.

Do you find that most of the book ing com guests are from the US or are they from England and Europe. We've seen a huge decrease in that demographic and notice that our competition's reviews are typically all from overseas and they have everything with them. Also, do they give you all the info you need and do you receive it by fax like someone told me? Trying to decide if after this foliage season we'll be trying them out but our business keeps growing and we're doing well so I'm not inclined to at this moment but don't want to fall behind the 8 ball and then I'm sorry I didn't.

 

[Flower]

I get the listing itself for free...

Just as FB sends unpaid posts only to a few "friends", I bet TA will eventually only list some free lodging in a town, but not all. You'll have to pay for a business listing to guarantee being listed. Just a prediction, but we all know how these guys think..

Remember that TripAdvisor is a site for travelers, not a site for businesses. TA lists us "for free" not for our benefit, but for the benefit of our guests who might like to review us (good or bad), and for their members who are "scrutinizing" (cross-thread linkage...) the possibilities for their travel....
.

Remember that TripAdvisor is a site for travelers, not a site for businesses.

TA is a site for profits for its owners, of course. They make money from the businesses, as well as the travelers (through Booking bookings). So they WILL, I predict, eventually stop listing 100% of non-paying lodging. Leaving a few non-payers off the list won't hurt them a bit with the travelers.
I'm not blaming them. It's what business people do. They try to squeeze out all the profits they can. And forcing businesses to pay them to be guaranteed a listing is a logical next step.
.

I really do hope they stop their free listing. I am totally against them using my business on there so called free listing. I have never asked them to do this as a matter of fact I asked for years for them to remove my listing. As I have never given them permission to us my name for their profit. So if they were smart and a good company they would of never use any ones business for their gain. Free or not .They are a directory of sorts . Also now I understand they are trying to be a booking engine also the concept of people telling others on such a large scale is many times like gossiping some times when you read those reviews you got to wonder.. really ? or OMG really you think you were up set?
Then there are people that say well if there are a few bad reviews that is ok? I just skim through them . Why is that why do you even read them ? Oh well Life goes on and we all are forced to deal with people that can't or don't know how to talk to hosts about a problem they have. A problem they have cause they are to shy or really it is not that bad.? Oh well time to move on.

 

[Madeleine]

we pay a lot to boo king dot com for boo kings. If we can direct people to our own website instead, the monthly payment is way worth it. We just signed up so not sure yet..

One benefit of TA business listing is that you also get to do Trip Con nect if you want. While it doesn't guarantee a booking like the fee paid to book dot com, I wonder if the amount you save in commissions to them will far outweigh the listing. Anyone have any experience with this yet? We haven't been able to do Trip Con nect because SuperInn doesn't work with it but we are switching so that we can do it if we want.
.

I don't know anyone using it ...but it just means giving them more money. :-(
.

If you have to pay book dot com a commission, you are giving them your money too. So the business question is which one costs you the most and from which one do you get the most income? This will determine who you should spend your money with. TA is and will continue to be the industry giant and if I make tons of money from having a listing with them and getting direct bookings, then it's worth it. If I pay $285 to a local chamber and get squat then it was a bad business decision. Not liking how big a company has become is not a reason to discount their services.
.

That is the conundrum we are in. Before BnBfin'er redid their site we actually did okay with them, when most on here were not, we did. Then we went off the radar.
When bedandbrek.com stopped using our state in their ads/keywords we fell off of there. I go on and I go off, and so far NONE of them have brought us business. Our CVB acts like they do and I have the stats on the click throughs and the non existent emails from the contact on their page. Same ol' now Google, it is one thing that is working!
I have shared with aspirings that I can tell them where to NOT waste their money. One person asked me why I hadn't done Groo'pin, as that has been fantastically successful for other B&Bs! (This is where it is difficult as we speaketh a different lingo to those not already in the business and spending their dinero)
Some here boast that Bo'kin.com brings business, or does it just redirect business through them that had already found you?
-note i purposely spelled things wrong-
.

Bo'kin is hard to figure. Last year almost every guest who booked thru there either called me right before or right after they made their rez and wanted a particular room. Last week we had a nasty bitch who wanted an upgraded room and flat out refused to pay for it. DH moved her because he didn't want the fight and the lingering gloom. Probably how she gets everything in her life, making people miserable. She didn't want the breakfast either and pouted until her friends agreed to eat what she wanted so DH wouldn't be pulling out pans for just her.
This month alone, we have 20+ room nights from bo'kin. The most ever. None of them, other than last week, has had any issue with the room or the food. (We took most of our rooms out of the mix to keep guests from having to go upstairs as they are almost all hotel people who think there is an elevator or bellhop.)
bedandbrek and TA are the biggest directors of traffic, based on what guests say, no tracking happening here. We don't pay for TA. We only have a silver membership with bedandbrek.
When we get ready to go on the market, then I will list on every vehicle possible to get the occ numbers up. Right now I'm happy with the occ numbers. It's enough work for us and almost enough money.
.

Do you find that most of the book ing com guests are from the US or are they from England and Europe. We've seen a huge decrease in that demographic and notice that our competition's reviews are typically all from overseas and they have everything with them. Also, do they give you all the info you need and do you receive it by fax like someone told me? Trying to decide if after this foliage season we'll be trying them out but our business keeps growing and we're doing well so I'm not inclined to at this moment but don't want to fall behind the 8 ball and then I'm sorry I didn't.
.

Do you find that most of the book ing com guests are from the US or are they from England and Europe. We've seen a huge decrease in that demographic and notice that our competition's reviews are typically all from overseas and they have everything with them. Also, do they give you all the info you need and do you receive it by fax like someone told me? Trying to decide if after this foliage season we'll be trying them out but our business keeps growing and we're doing well so I'm not inclined to at this moment but don't want to fall behind the 8 ball and then I'm sorry I didn't.

You can get the reservation info from an email, you have to ask your account rep for that. You can pay via check rather than giving them access to your checking account. You have to demand that.
You get all the info you need except the state. But you get the zip code so you can look it up. CC info is given, no ccv.
Most of our guests are from this state or VA. It's stupid. I signed up to get the Euro crowd and I get people who live 20 miles away who drive by here to get to work. Or, like this weekend, someone who had been coming to this area for years but couldn't figure out how to search for individual properties.