Why choose Gable Holidays Ltd?

 

There are lots of websites offering holidays direct with the owner across the globe – but that’s precisely why we think our sites have the edge! Each of the Gable Holidays sites, like Menorca Holidays Direct, ONLY offers direct holidays to that single location. So Menorca Holidays Direct offers direct holidays just on Menorca, Mallorca Holidays Direct just on Mallorca, and so on. So that means your property is no longer competing with thousands of others, in different locations, but just with other villas and apartments in that location.

Also, we go out of our way to make each location an attractive destination, and which of the global letting sites can say that? We provide up to date news from the island or country, plus an exclusive, printable guidebook that provides holidaymakers with all the important information they need to enjoy their stay – places to see, things to do and safety and contact information.

Our website has been designed to be welcoming, easy to use and promote your property to it’s best advantage. We don’t charge extra for photos – we believe good photography is key to attracting holiday lets and don’t see why you should be penalised for that! We also produce a monthly newsletter that clients can sign up for which details the latest properties and special offers, so we proactively promote your property too.

Finally, with our roots well established in the tourist industry and a background in marketing and website development, we believe Menorca Holidays Direct and our sister sites can offer everything you need to successfully attract lets for your holiday home.

 

How do I put a special offer on my property?

Special offers are a great way to promote your property. Some clients only ever look in the special offer section!

You might have a few weeks left you want to put a special price on, or just offer a flat rate reduction. Either way, you property page will be updated with an eye catching 'special offer' roundel, and will be automatically featured in the 'special offer' search.

Simply log on to your property advert b yentering your username and password in the top right boxes on the homepage. Then click on the 'My Properties' black tab in the navigation and again on your property reference code. This will take you to your advert section where you can amend the wording of your ad. We suggest putting a note about the special offer at the top of your description and detailing what the offer is...for example it might be '10% off early bookings' or 20% off the last weeks in the low season.

Then click onto the 'pricing' section of your advert and select the season you want to promote. You can click into the discount column and add your discount there - 5, 10, 20 or any other percentage you like! The offer will automatically be applied to the whole season, and the special offer roundel will show the specific dates. If you want your offer to apply over more than one season, just add the discount as before and the special offer roundel will automatically show the dates for the correct season.

If you want to promote just a specific period that is shorter than one of your seasons, just add this as a new season, and apply the discount. For example, September and October may be priced the same, but you want to apply a special offer just to the first two weeks in September. In this case, rather than apply the offer to the whole September/October pricing season you already have set up, just add a new season for the first two weeks of September and add the appropriate discount. (You will need to adjust the other season dates so that they don't overlap with your 'new' season...in other words, if you add a new season which is 1-14 September, you need to make sure your original September/October season now goes from 15 September  end October!).

It doesn't cost anything to add a special offer to your property advert page and you can add and remove special offers at any time. Remember to remove them after your offer period has expired though, or people might think you mean next season! (It happens, trust us!)

If you want to add a special offer to your advert and then feature it on the homepage, this costs £25 per week. Please contact us to arrange this!

What happens when someone makes an enquiry?

You will be automatically notified on email when someone makes an enquiry or asks you a question.

Obviously it’s important to get back to them as quickly as possible to provide a good service and try and secure their booking.

You will see their name and email address on the email that comes through to you from the Menorca Holidays Direct website and will be able to respond to them directly.

What happens when someone makes a booking?

When someone makes a booking online, the ‘check availability’ calendar will be automatically updated to show the new dates as unavailable.

The Menorca Holiday Direct website will email you with the details of the client and their booking. It will then be up to you to respond to them and accept (or not!) their booking. If you accept the booking, you need to log on to update your bookings and change the status of the booking to confirmed. You need to arrange to take either a deposit, or the full payment from your clients (depending on how far in advance they have booked. Usually people request full payment if it's 8 weeks or less until the holiday dates).

Once you have received their deposit, then you can contact your clients again to confirm their booking and pass on any extra information, such as a set of directions to the property and instructions on where they can find the key. It is important to provide contact details for your management agent, including a 24 hour emergency number if possible, and your own contact details.

How do I feature my property on the homepage?

To give your property a boost, or get rid of your last few weeks, you might like to invest in a slot on the Menorca Holidays Direct homepage. It’s a case of spend a little to get a lot – hopefully!

Of course, by appearing on our homepage you give your property the best possible chance of being selected, as everyone who visits the site will see it.

You can feature your property on the homepage when you first create your ad, or whenever you feel like it! It costs just £25 for a week.

If the homepages slots are already booked, we will let you know when the next slot is available.

You can also choose to feature in the ‘special offer’ box on the homepage if you want to.
To feature your property on the homepage, you must have already registered with us, and created your Advert. If you have already done this, then log on and go to your Ad section to arrange to feature your property or contact us and we can arrange this for you.

How do I feature my property in the newsletter?

Each month we create a newsletter that goes out to all the holidaymakers in our database. These are people that have specifically asked to receive this information, so are really hot prospects!

You can feature your property in the newsletter when you first create your ad, or anytime you fancy it! Just contact us to let us know.

Each month, we pick the first 10 people in the queue who want to promote their recently listed holiday property, or the fact that they have a special offer. We’re sorry, but you can only appear in one section, not both. However, if you also want to feature your property on our homepage, you can do that too, as either a featured property, or as a special offer.

Sometimes, the newsletter for the current month may already be full. In this case, you will be top of the list for the next month.

If you would like to go into the next newsletter, it costs just £25 and you must have already registered with us, and created your Advert. We will then contact you to tell you the next available slot.

Tips for your Menorca Ad

There’s really just one thing to remember when creating your property showcase ad page – what would YOU want to know? Most people who own a holiday property abroad let it out sometimes to friends and family, so think about what you would tell them about your place…and put it in your advert!

Really, you can’t have too much detail. The more information you provide about your holiday home, the more it will seem like a potential holiday home for your clients. So try to put down all the things that attracted you to the property in the first place…was it the stunning location, great views, proximity to the beach…or distance from everyone else! The more information, the better.

We have tried to guide you with prompts on the pages where you create you ad, but it’s often the little things that make a difference. The bar in your swimming pool, outdoor hot-tub or luxurious en-suite might be just the thing your client is looking for!

The second thing that’s really important, is photos, and this is something that people often get wrong. So, here’s a few key pointers to consider:

1. Use up to date photos – they will help clients to recognise your property and to find it more easily.
2. Take them on a sunny day! Almost without exception, properties let better if the photos show a nice blue sky in the background and are well lit by a sunny day.
3. When taking pictures, open all the windows. This makes the property look more welcoming from the outside and the rooms look better lit on the inside.
4. Dress the rooms – or at least make sure they are clean and tidy. Keep your personal effects to a minimum, put away clothes, towels, hide your toothbrushes and make the beds!
5. Outside, dress the garden! Lay out your outdoor furniture, make sure the garden is tidy and if possible, take photos when the garden is looking lush and filled with plants and flowers.
6. Perfect the pool shots. Take snaps of the pool when it is clean, empty and with no children, toys or pets swimming in it (we see all sorts you know!)
7. Make sure you choose the best photo as your main one on the advert. Usually, this will be one of the of the front or back of the villa that if possible also shows the pool. You can add an unlimited number of photos, but make sure they are all of the same standard.

If you have any questions or problems creating your advert, then please contact us.

What if I want to withdraw my advert?

You can withdraw your property from the Menorca Holidays Direct website at any point by logging on to your advert page and removing the tick from the ‘publish’ box on the property overview page. Your ad will not be deleted from our system, merely removed from the public facing section of the website.

We’re sorry, but we’re not able to refund any part of the advertising fee you paid when you ad was created for any unused part of the period you initially paid for when you created your advert.

You can also temporarily suspend your advert by taking the same steps as removing your ad. Then when you want to reinstate it, as long as their is remaining time paid forin your original advertising period you can re-tick the 'publish' box and the ad will re-appear on the website.

How do I sign up for the free month trial?

It's really simple. Just click on the black 'Advertise your Property' tab in the left hand side navigation. This will take you to a page where you can register and choose your advert term.

Just click on the '1 month free trial' button and go on to register. We ask you to choose whether you would like to advertise for 6 or 12 months AFTER your free month's trial. That's because we hope the trial will be successful and you will want to continue to advertise! You will not be charged or have to pay anything until your free month is up.

After this, we will email you and ask you to go back onto the website and select either the 6 or 12 month button and you will then be asked whether you want to pay offline by cheque, or online through Worldpay, our secure payments partner.

The section where you create your ad has some pointers in to help you enter the correct information and make sure your advert has maximum impact! Why not register and create your ad right now ? (There's no time like the present!)

How do I add a personal booking?

We have recently updated the website to make it easier for owners to add their own, and private, bookings. Previously, you had to log onto the website, and go through the same process as a client wanting to book - which was to go to your own property on the website and make the booking as if you were a client.

Now, however, you can log on, then using the black buttons that make up the owners' navigation, which are only visible to you once you are logged on, and choose 'Add booking'. 

To see the whole process and how it works, look at the screens below which show a step by step process for a booking (this was put on as a test, but the process is exactly the same!).

Adding a booking

1. The system will show up as you when you log in
2. Make sure you select the property you want to book against (usually just your property reference, unless you have multiple properties on the system!)
3. Change the status to confirmed if it is your personal booking, or leave as pending if it is a private booking.
4. NOTE : Pending bookings WON'T block off the dates on the availability calendar on the front end of the website, so that way the dates will still show as available until you receive the deposit and change the status to 'confirmed'.

 

Booking overview

1. This shows you all bookings and you can amend status by clicking the 'update' status tab, or change the details of the booking under 'modify bookings'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Booking list

1. The really important thing here, and often missed is to ensure you select the correct period you want to view the bookings for using the 'select date range' boxes, on the top right of this screen.
2. It shows the current month as a default, but if you want to view your bookings for the whole year, for example, enter 2009-01-01 in the first box and 2009-12-31 in the second box.

 

 

 

 

 

How do I change the status of bookings on my property?

If you want to change the status of your personal, or any other bookings, go to 'My Bookings' under the black tabs in the navigation.

This will show you a list of all your bookings, both personal and client bookings.

Click on the booking number in the list and then on the following page you will see a drop down menu called 'change status'.

Bookings can be shown as pending (provisional), confirmed, cancelled or refunded. Just click the drop down menu and select the correct option, then press save.