Forum | Visit Tideswell

riverside on Advertising last minute availability

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:42:19 +0000

I was just about to post about advertising and saw this from Jill. I find Visit Peaks rubbish and have only ever had one booking from them in 3 years! I also can't stand their system, but keep it up to date nevertheless. Last year Lets Stay Peaks and Lets Stay UK were the best for bookings, although slower this year - sign of times? I don't advertise on any late deals sites. Would also be interested to hear what others think about that?

The reason I was going to post was to ask if anyone advertises on Home Away Holiday Rentals? They recently bought out Holiday Lets who did generate quite a few bookings for me. However, Home Away have been terrible to deal with - couldn't log onto to my new owners account or get anyone to answer phone for ages and when wrote in to complain no one has got back to me. In the three months I've been with them (since transferring from Holiday Lets) I've had only 3 enquiries and no bookings. I'd be interested to know if anyone has a more positive experience with them or negative.

One other site that is generating a lot of enquiries, but not yet bookings for me is A Taste of the Peaks. Anyone else use this? I stick with the Cressbrook site because it actually gets a lot of visits to my website but only one booking again in 3 years. One website that seems to be getting me bookings oddly is Dog Friendly Britain. If you take pets/dogs I would recommend this.

Finally, by far and away most of my enquiries now come directly from customers searching on google and finding my website. I've spent a long time looking at keywords, links and other SE stuff and I would recommend this as the way forward. Yes it is time consuming and needs constant attention, but it really does seem to pay off in the long run. I've now also started looking at the social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc and Trip Advisor as ways of promoting my website. I'll let you know how I get on.

riverside on New rules for providing DVD's etc

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:28:27 +0000

Hi Wendy here again. I've decided to be naughty and have removed any mention of DVD's from my site. I'll do the same as suggested, which is remove them when the inspection is done. Thanks for replying everyone.

admin on Attention all Members

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:57:49 +0000

[RINGMASTER COMMUNITY MESSAGING - Buxton - BC868 Incident number: 194 of 9.11.09] _ If you haven't joined Ringmaster it is probably a good idea to ... number at the bottom ....

Proprietors of guest houses and B&B's should be aware of man using the name of Mr. Ward, who continues to book accommodation in the area, running up large bills and leaving without making payment. He has done this at hotels recently and has now stayed at a guest house in Bamford, stating that he would pay cash but left halfway through the stay, taking the key with him.

Description: male, big build, reddish face with poor complexion, aged approx. 65 years, 5ft 9" tall, with brown hair but balding, wearing scruffy and smelly clothes, wearing big round glasses. He has a very strong Derbyshire accent. He was carrying his belongings in a bright fluorescent orange carrier bag. He had also smoked in his room.

On previous occasions he has been using a bright green Nissan Micra older version, but on this occasion he stated that he had arrived on the train.

If this man visits your premises, please contact the police straight away on 0345 123 33 33, as he owes money to these hotels. Please quote incident number: 194 of 9.11.09.

Thank you.

Trisha Mellor, B Division Community Information Officer,
Corporate Communications, Buxton Police Station

.

If you have any information relating to incidents or crimes, please call 0345 123 33 33.

In an emergency call 999. Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously on 0800 555 111.

For any queries or changes to community messaging contact details, please call 0345 123 33 33 and ask for your Divisional Community Information Officer.

candlelight on New rules for providing DVD's etc

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:21:07 +0000

Here I am again as promised, reporting back on the DVD licence rules. I asked the inspector about it the other day and it appears that you don't need a licence for DVD's you have got for free inside newspapers etc or for any videos you provide. However, you do need one for any other DVD's you've bought yourself and leave in the cottage for guests to watch. If you have multiple cottages, you need multiple licences and if you have a B&B with DVD's in each room, you need a licence for each room.

Hope this helps.

Jill.

candlelight on New rules for providing DVD's etc

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:14:33 +0000

I've got my inspection in 2 weeks and will ask the inspector about it then. I feel it's a bit of a rip off really.I don't see the difference between buying a DVD and leaving it in the cottage for others to watch and inviting a load of friends round to my house to watch it with me! I've been asking other cottage owners about the new licence and they either don't know anything about it or intend to ignore it.I'll post again when I've talked to the inspector about it.

Jill

candlelight on Advertising last minute availability

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:04:24 +0000

I'm sure you all get contacted as I do, by lots of different websites, all offering advertising possibilities for your cottage. I am thinking about subscribing to Lategetaway.com and I wondered if anyone has had any experience of the site. Has it brought you good results? Do you know of any sites which are particularly good, especially for late availability? I don't know if anyone else has found this, but the visitpeakdistrict site is not yielding the level of enquiries and bookings it once did and I'm not sure why.

Thanks in advance for any wise words!

Jill at Candlelight Cottage.

admin on New rules for providing DVD's etc

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:12:54 +0000

Has Visit Peak District given it's opinion at all?

riverside on New rules for providing DVD's etc

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:02:12 +0000

Sorry not been online for a while. I was told about it when I had my ETB annual inspection. I've decided for now to take any mention of DVD's off of the website, even though we are still supplying them. I guess that is a bit naughty but I don't want to have lock away the DVD's just to bring them out again when my family and I use the house. I guess I will just have to remember to hide them away next year when the inspection is done! Anyone else got any thoughts?

oldpiggery on New rules for providing DVD's etc

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:37:24 +0000

I've not seen anything about this. Do you have a web link to more information?

riverside on New rules for providing DVD's etc

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:27:16 +0000

Any one have views on this? I guess this is something we are going to have to do if we provide DVD's. Anyone know how to go about registering?

riverside on Broadband

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:23:31 +0000

Thanks. I still don't know what way to go. I'd love to know who currently offers it from the group and if people think it makes a difference to people booking or not. I've only ever lost one customer because we did not have it. I always send out feedback forms and it seems to be an issue that splits guests. Some say they would not like to see it others definitely yes. I guess more and more people will expect it and perhaps it's best to be ahead of the game. Good point about providing a desk or area to use it.

You mention attaching a filter to phone sockets. BT didn't mention anything about needing to do this. Also now worried about what people might get up to online! Don't suppose many, if any would do anything dubious and as you point out we could pinpoint exactly who was there. Also if we only offer wireless connection I assume it lets us off the hook anyway?

Hope your assessment went well - we had ours the other day too. An issue that came up was needing a licence for guests to view DVD's supplied by us. Anyone know anything about this? We have TV's and DVD's in three separate rooms - does that mean 3 licences - surely that cannot be right?

admin on Broadband

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:37:32 +0000

Broadband generally works in the same way whoever your provider is. You'll need a phone line and the broadband signal is squirted down that line. By attaching a filter to all your phone sockets , the telephone signal is separated from the bb signal ensuring your phone sounds ok and the bb signal is not corrupted by Aunt Mabel telling you about her knees.

Obviously in a s/c environment there is the phone issue - no you have one installed, and then the issue of bb usage .. some schemes offer unlimited use, which then gets over the problem of one customer using your monthly allowance. Other things to ponder is misuse of your line for dubious or illegal activities, unlikely I know but I suppose if you know who used the cottage when, then this would probably satisfy the cops!!

The last issue is wireless vs a wired connection. Wireless is more flexible and unless you are providing a computer to use too then guests will be bring a laptop which screams portability and wireless anyway. You'll need a secure connection and to communicate the password to your guests. A wired solutions means its secure by you'll need then to provide a desk or somewhere near the wired socket that people can use.

Easy eh? We did have our ETB Inspector here today who said more and more people are demanding broadband even s/c properties.

Let me know if I can be more help.

Pete

Jaret House

riverside on Broadband

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:13:34 +0000

Does anyone provide broadband? An increasing number of my guests are asking for it. Does anyone provide BT broadband and if so how does it work through the phone line? I guess that there is a separate connection for the broadband and do you have to give guests a key code to access the connection? I'd really appreciate some help if anyone is already providing broadband. What do people feel generally about offering it?

3newhouses on Late availability

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:17:02 +0000

Having had a couple of enquiries recently for end of August which we can't do, it struck me the Forum might be a good place for people to post news of late availability - if I had known of any it would have prompted me to pass on a phone number, instead of just referring to the Tideswell website. To start the ball rolling - we have the following still available in September:

5th - 11th

19th - 25th

26th - 2nd Oct

weeks or short breaks available.

Hope you think it's a good idea....

Julia

admin on Renewables/Eco projects

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:26:28 +0000

At the risk of double posting ... take a shufty at

http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/e.....-loans.htm