Cottages4u

pride · 27-08-07

We link to Cottages4U via Tradedoubler and have received the standard £15 per sale for the last 12 months. This has now dropped to £7 without any communication from them. I would have expected the courtesy of an advice informing us of such a fundamental change.

Anybody got any ideas of alternative cottage letting affiliate schemes, UK and European?

trevHCS · 28-08-07

The only one I'm aware of that's semi-directly comparable is Stilwells although I don't think they do Europe much.

Must admit I'd never classify the design as exactly top notch design both on the admin and landing pages, but they do CSV files at least. Also when they say 1300 cottages, they have quite a few where there might be say 5 cottages in a row which are all listed independently, although it is possible to filter them.

I think Hoseasons were supposed to be doing something in the self-catering line as well as their parks across Europe, but not really heard much more about that. Also Laterooms were also supposed to be launching a self-catering section.

Trev

splashy · 28-08-07

Get hold of Colin at Eurorelais.co.uk for Europe - not much in UK

Interhome cover much of Europe as well

pride · 29-08-07

Thanks for the feedback.

I think that Interhome has now closed its' scheme, Splashy. Also, Hoseasons have closed theirs, I believe.

We're starting to link with Stilwells although, as you say, it's not the most user friendly site!

Thanks for the suggestion re Relais. We'll certainly follow that up.

We're also looking for affiliate schemes covering caravan parks but they seem to be non-existent now that Hoseasons has gone. A gap in the market for somebody to step into, methinks!

trevHCS · 29-08-07

Hoseasons still exist on Tradedoubler, although they seem to specialise more in the parks stuff and not so much directly campsites. Programme ID is 23465.

Interhome.co.uk (assuming that's who you mean) are listed with Affiliate Future under Travel -> Accommodation. That's assuming you can get it to list the programme directory without timing out.

Proper campsites would be nice - surprised the Camping & Caravan Club don't do something for the UK at least, or if they do it's not easy to find.

Stilwells seem to be about the best out there for indpendent self-catering in the UK, but they really could do with giving things a facelift from an affiliate and usability point of view.

Trev

splashy · 30-08-07

Hoseasons still have their direct scheme - contact them direct.

Interhome are international so you have to deal with each office - so we deal direct with France and the UK and about to deal with the Italian and Spanish part of the organisation. The data (XML) comes from one source though , you just get different ID numbers for each office.

trevHCS · 30-08-07

Is it really worth the money going through all the hassle of multiple affiliate schemes effectively? Also, do you need to speak Italian, French, German etc.?

Trev

splashy · 30-08-07

Depends on what you need - you can just deal with the UK office - but its priced in UK £ not Euros . Depends on your target market area. Luckily we have a nice young lady who speaks French and a bit of German and Spanish !

For the link id we do a simple bit of coding to replace it where needed.