Isle of Wight Vacations

It's the same problem for us with privately owned caravans on a holiday site with clubhouse, swimming pools, laundry and so on. I have chosen to say No to some of the amenities such as pools, even though we have photos of the pools in our listings. There are several reasons for this decision:

1 - for many of these amenities, if you tick Yes, Booking.com wants you to enter the opening and closing times each day of the week - opening times might vary throughout the year and there are times of the year when some amenities are closed - it takes a lot of time to set all the different times, especially as we have a lot of properties, and it's more to check and change every year (or more often)

2 - these types of holiday parks are well known in the UK and the facilities are similar in all of them - most people who book this type of accommodation will have a good idea what facilities are available - therefore we don't really need to advertise all the details

3 - we can put some general information in our property descriptions - however, people often don't read that

4 - the facilities and amenities show up only in the facilities tab on the listing - and although it's there, people don't read it, as proved by people asking questions

5 - Booking.com write your descriptions - they do not know the properties or locations so often get things wrong - this can lead to guest disappointment

6 - the facilities are not used in filters, so won't help with rankings etc - guests search for location and dates, then get shown everything in that area ....

They say "A photo speaks a thousand words" - add a few photos of the site, and put some info in your descriptions - that should be enough

The number 1 source of information will be hosts / partners in your area .... look for similar properties with an established history of holiday lettings ..... check their pricing and minimum stays throughout the year ..... check on Booking.com and AirBnB etc etc ..... build a big spreadsheet .... it takes time to do this, and as you go along, you'll find several properties with similar settings and spikes in pricing .... you'll also find the odd ones out where they keep the same price all year round and ignore the pricing spikes .... on airbnb, booked dates are crossed out so you can check how popular certain dates are quite easily .... be aware of pricing differences between airbnb and booking.com because of booking.com's higher fees .... be aware that airbnb displays the nightly price plus a service fee ....

If you expect guests from the UK, search on Google for "school holiday dates uk" .... they can vary in different parts of the UK, so you will see lots of results for each local authority .... but most will be similar dates

Adding a property on Booking.com or AirBnB etc is "passive advertising" .... you're sitting back and waiting for people to find you .... get out there, advertise in the real world, show people that you are there .... people book holidays .... give them a reason to book a holiday with you rather than with someone else ....

Your own website - and where you say "book now", that can link through to your Booking.com listing

Social media - post often, build an audience, link through to your Booking.com listing, people will book

Join with other hosts locally to market all properties in the area

Do what we did before the internet was invented - traditional advertising

Some of us use multiple platforms - yes, it's worth doing - you will need to sync the calendars, but bear in mind that the Booking.com calendar sync is broken, so always block dates manually

There are already several discussions about the reviews system - you may like to read them, but it won't do any good because booking.com do not care about partners

Search the partner community for "no show" and "payments by booking.com"