Foreign Perspectives

One really big advantage of using a database driven approach to the Whole Earth Guide is that I get considerable development leverage from the existing B&B and self-catering listings sites. For instance, using the existing code base let me get the guide operational in a couple of days and there are already improvements visible on the listings sites courtesy of features that were needed for the guide.

Then there’s the global aspect of the guide site which will be leading to the listings sites supporting other countries before anyone applies for a listing. Already, Holland is an available option simply because of the Amsterdam article from the guide and Turkey will be following shortly.

In due course, there’ll even be an SEO advantage as it shouldn’t be that difficult cross-linking the trio of sites and that’ll let me start to use the website recommendations that I’ve been collecting from the properties listed on the accommodation sites over the last couple of years.

Finally, once I get the guide site operational, it’ll be easy to incorporate the information within it in other sites or create a new version targetted at other markets.

You always get a lot of peculiar phone calls around this time of year.

“I just booked a room on your website. Can you tell me if it has a bathroom?”. Well, no we couldn’t because they had quite literally just booked the room and it can take a few hours before we get the confirmation email or fax….. about 70% of the French who book online make phone calls within 5 minutes of making the booking to confirm that we’ve received it.

“I’m on your website right now. It says that there’s a room available. I want a room with a bathroom.”. Yes, it’s EUR 57. “No, it isn’t it says that it’s EUR 49”. That’s for the room with a shared bathroom, the room you want is EUR 57. “Can’t I have it for EUR 49?”. Well, no, but you can have the room with a shared bathroom for EUR 49. “But, I want an ensuite room”. Yes, that’s EUR 57….. We get a LOT of conversations like that one!

“I’m on your website right now. Can I book over the phone?” Yes, I just need a credit card and expiry date. “I’m paying by Cheques Vacances”. That’s OK, I still need a credit card number to guarantee the room. “I’m paying by Cheques Vacances I don’t need to give you a credit card number.” Yes, you do, we need it to guarantee the room…. after 10 mins of this he cancelled the booking that he hadn’t made.

“We’re here for the room.” Have you a reservation? “No, but we checked online a few days ago and you had rooms available today.” Yes, but we’re full today. Did you make a reservation?…. Surprisingly we’ve been getting a number of people lately who’ve just checked availability a few days earlier and assume that we won’t get bookings after they check.

A new development this year is that people are starting to book online whilst they’re on the way. Then they phone to check that we’ve received the reservation about a minute after they logout. Very confusing as the latest lot arrived about 10 minutes later.

The last time I flew on Aer Lingus it was way, way back in the mid 1980s and we only went with them because the alternative was actually going bust at the time.

Now, 20 odd years on and I book with them for next Wednesday and, guess what?, yup, that’s the very day that they might be going on strike!

Bit of a peculiar strike though. I gather that the Irish pilots are planning the strike because Aer Lingus is intending to start recruiting pilots from Northern Ireland. Now, that leaves them with an interesting dilema because they can’t back down from recruiting in NI as those pilots in NI would have quite a strong legal case for taking them to court for discrimination on the basis of nationality which is illegal under European law.

Oh well, perhaps I’ll try them again in another 20 odd years…

The French, by and large, take all their holidays between July 14th and August 18th (ie the penultimate Saturday in August).

This causes endless hassles for everyone in the accommodation industry in France. For one thing, just about everywhere is running at full capacity right up to August 18th and then all of a sudden they can be virtually empty. Stocking up is consequently a nightmare as on one hand you don’t want to run out of stuff, on the other hand you don’t want to be left with loads of perishables on August 19th.

The effect on the cash & carry is peculiar. Metro locally have truly awful stock control so now that the bulk of the holiday season is out of the way they now have the little soaps in stock which haven’t been on the shelves anytime since early July. You can tell that we’re not quite at the end of the main holiday season though because they still haven’t got any of the little bottles of shampoo and instead are still sitting with the same 20 boxes of body lotion (I was very tempted to mark the boxes to confirm that they are the same ones that have been there since June).

Anyway, one useful side-effect of this peculiar behaviour of the French is that a lot of places like ourselves can actually close for the final week of August and lose virtually no business.

Where’s everyone else though? Who knows? The English do keep coming during that final week in August and by the first week in September things are getting back to normal with the usual blip locally caused by the Visa pour L’Image photojournalism festival in Perpignan and various other events around the country designed to sort things out.

However, by mid-September the bulk of beach resorts are starting to close down for the Winter, despite there being high numbers of tourists (but few French ones) around locally until well into October.

One of the best things about the paid posts is that there are a fair number of them that I’d be writing anyway in due course. ‘Tis easy enough to pick these ones out as they’re a lot longer, more complete and get a photo or two.

I’ve even had someone offer to pay for one after I’d written it!

Now, the big question is how I can get people to sponsor the other websites directly….