RENTAL RATES: Sarah has noticed that there are lots
of listings still showing rental rates for periods past, some
were still showing rates for 2006, 2007, 2008... and 2009!!
Please can owners take this opportunity to review their rates
to ensure that they are current.
HELP: The HELP files are complete. If
there is any part of the owners area that you do not understand
please check the help pages from within the owners area first
before contacting Sarah. Any questions please email
Sarah.
WEBSITE LINKS: Please read our Link Rules. Details of these
can be found on our Join Us
page and below. We are reviewing the existing links and removing any that
do not comply without notice or warning. If when you are viewing your
listing you notice that your
website link has been removed it will have been for this reason. We know
when a link to a website has been added and all links will be checked regularly.
We have not finished checking all website links yet so even if your personal
website is showing now it does not mean that it has been approved. We
would recommend that owners check their personal websites against these rules
and if you wish to be able to link to the website from your listing please ensure
that it complies. This applies to HIDDEN links too. Even though they
appear to be hidden they are not and as such we will not allow a link to a
personal site with hidden links on it. Full details of why are shown in
the update below.
SPECIAL OFFERS: The way in which the special
offers pages work has changed and since the launch the
existing special offers pages have been removed and replaced
with the new automated ones. NOTE: Special offers
are displayed within your property listing as well as in the
dedicated pages. This means that there is now no limit
on how far in advance you can place an offer as all offers
will be displayed in your property listing. NOTE:
The dedicated special offers pages will still only show the
next 3 - 4 months in advance. In order to facilitate
this new feature we do have to have start and end dates for
each offer. Under the new automated system an offer
is no longer displayed on the Special Offers pages after the
start date has passed but they will continue to show in your
main property listing until you delete them. You can
still amend or delete an expired offer through the owner's
area.
OTHER FEATURES: There are a few more features
to your listings. Login and you will see what they are.
30 January 2003
- reviewed 3 November 2005
UPDATE
We have reviewed
our link rules and have decided that we will no longer allow
a link to your personal villa website if that said website contains
any links whatsoever back to another villa website, including
HIDDEN links. We are currently reviewing every property
listing at our site during the transfer to our new database
and all the websites links are being checked. If we notice that
your personal website has any such link back to a villa website
then we will remove your link immediately and will advise you
that we have done so. To restore the link to your website
you will have to ensure that the disallowed links at your personal
site have been removed. We will check all websites before allowing
the site to be added to your listing at our site.
The large majority of the villa owners who have personal
websites and also list their vacation rental at our website DO NOT have such villa links on their
own sites and it is for these owners that we have felt it only fair to stop
visitors to our website leaving our site and being redirected to other villa
websites. This is a fair method and one that is adopted at other villa websites
so we are not unique in introducing this rule.
If you have any questions regarding this please email
sarah AT villas2000.com
More
information regarding links to websites can be found below.
360° Virtual Tours and Digital Photography of your Vacation Rental
Villas2000 are now
able to offer an additional service of providing villa owners
with a 360° Virtual Tour of their vacation rental homes.
The tour can be included in their listing at this site as well
as on a new special sister website where the home owner will
be able to link back to it from their own personal site should
they wish to do so. More details on this service can be
found at Florida
Villa Owner Services
Advice about
website links
A polite word of advice for our villa owners with personal websites:
Please be aware that if your personal website contains any links (including
HIDDEN links) back to
commercial websites that advertise vacation rentals then you are and will be
driving visitors (and a potential booking) away from your own website to their
site and the only benefit is to the commercial site, who will gain another
visitor. Often these links are on your site's home page and may well be
clicked by the visitor upon entering your site and thus will be redirected away
from your site without them even viewing your home. In our opinion your
personal website should be providing your visitors with more information and
photos of your home - not recommending visitors to look at others!
Our advice to villa owners is that you carefully check the links at your
website to see if any are directing visitors to commercial vacation websites.
If they are then we recommend that you remove those links so that you can keep
your visitor (and potential future guest) at your own website, looking at YOUR
home and not someone else's! Even some of the Owner Verification schemes
redirect visitors to their commercial sites, not back to your own. We can
understand an owners willingness to join such verification schemes and would
recommend that you consider joining a verification scheme that does not have a
commercial gain and works on your behalf.
Villas2000 (formerly) Florida Rentals by Villa Owners do
notask you to link back to our website - nor do we
make it a condition of your listing that you do so.
We are here to help the villa owner showcase their vacation
home on the internet and to hopefully generate many enquiries
and leads. It is our belief that commercial websites
that earn money from YOU should use a percentage of that money
to promote their website and not require you to also link
to their websites to help increase their site visitors for
FREE which is what the links do.
If you have any questions regarding this please email sarah AT villas2000.com
Do you own a vacation rental
and need your own website? Florida Villa Owner Services can
design for you a personal website showcasing your Florida homes.
Have you thought of having a 360° Virtual Tour of your villa?
FVOS can do these too! Click here
for more information.
