Villa owners, are you getting many bookings for 2015 season

[Cosetta]

It's the same for us in both Kalkan and in Marbella, Spain.  For Kalkan we've had about 8-9 enquiries but only 1 firm booking. One other potential booking cancelled without saying why.  IMHO, bad publicity about Turkey plus high airfares costs account for something but even our apartment on the Costa del Sol has so far almost no requests and only the same 2 families who come every year have reserved.  Strange ...

[Chris_S]

Speaking as a consumer, not a villa owner, I can make the following observations:

Agreed, the flight costs this year are not helping - the financial crisis is taking longer to percolate through to the airlines than it does to Tesco!  Even though there's been a reduction in cash to spend, larger companies have been maintaining their profits, and eventually there comes a point where there's not enough to go round.  The appalling flight times, by and large, don't help either.  Normally we have, in recent years flown Monarch from Luton (anything, anything, except EasyJet and Thomas Cook) - but this year there are no flights from Luton (easiest access) on a Sunday and what there is elsewhere is expensive.  So this year, we're on BA from Gatwick! No add-ons for luggage, drinks and food included, and you all know the rest of the advantages. Go figure as the Americans would say.

Anyway, the crux of the matter.

Without analysing KTLN's surveys, our impression is that the majority of people wandering around Kalkan in September and on trips etc, are couples.  NOT families requiring 3-5 bedroom villas.

I would love to rent one of the villas, but two of us would rattle around in it even if it was economically viable.  Assuming that we had a large family that wanted to holiday together and could fill the villa, the cost per head with flights would put us off.  As it is with just two of us, our only options are (small) apartments or hotels.

So, bearing in mind that most of the visitors -seem- to be couples, the statistical chance of filling all the villas decreases with each new build of villas.  Much better if the new build is one or two bedroom apartments to open up the options.

As it is, we'll still be in Kalkan this September, but we'll be in a hotel.  Which one?  Do your research - there aren't that many options for two...

[onelove]

Depart 15th Aug return 22nd Aug....

Looking for reasons.......Gatwick to Dalaman depart 18:55 ( so miss first night of a 7 night holiday ) get to Kalkan @ approx 04:00am.......Price pp......£372.00

Gatwick to Dalaman depart 07:10am, get to Kalkan @ approx 15:30pm...Price pp...£482.

Stanstead to Dalaman....get to Kalkan late so again miss first night....Price pp....£405.


Don't think you need to look anywhere else for dip in bookings....

[Chris_S]

Another example:

LGW-DLM:  dep Sat 0810 arr 1410

DLM-LGW: dep Sat 1500 arr 1725

Cost for two adults with 23kg each in September?

£1,079.92

And that's with a budget airline!

Monarch don't even fly out and back from Luton (their base) on the same day on Saturdays and Sundays, either!

Methinks Consumer Research departments may have been cut in these airlines, and the Operations Departments are run by people who holiday in the UK!

[onelove]

Just realised that the prices I posted DID NOT include luggage.....FFS

[MartynE]

Just a general message to everyone who has posted on this thread - please pm me if you are interested in getting some help with marketing your villa/apartment.

[brian j p]

Still very quiet, had approx. 20 enquiries in last 4 months    with 1 converted to a booking. I am sure when  you see and hear Turkey and Syria mentioned on the news together every other day  it puts some potential guests off booking

As an  aside to this  I thought I would check everything was working  as it should   with HL  system by sending myself  a booking request via holiday lettings,  to see if everything was working properly and to get an idea of what potential  guests see ( should have done this before) . I was shocked at the amount of emails they send out.   I was getting a booking reminder every 2  hours , If I was a potential  guest  I would be very  fed up with the amount of emails HL send out , bordering on  harassment  if you ask me .  That said I  would not know what to do about it 

[DRBD]

It appears that at this time there are one or two hotels not opening this year due to lack of bookings which is not good news. 

[Kalkan regular]

We withdrew from HL as we didn't like the way they did business after it was taken over by Trip Advisor.

[pw]

I imagine the price of flights into Dalaman will be putting off as many people as the Syria issue. Extortionate IMO.

pw

[Babs]

A few things people have said in the last few days have made me think.......I've been asked if I think it is safe to travel to Turkey......have pointed out the distance from Kalkan to the Syrian border and a friend who has property in Spain was complaining about how few people wanted to use it because the flight prices are so bad this year. Seems that both these factors will definitely impact on visitor numbers.

[Kuzu]

Although we only have a 1bed apartment & only rent out July & August now, we are very slow this year.  We are normally fully booked up by now but this year only have 2 bookings!  Our first impression, earlier this year, was that the problems in Syria maybe the cause as many people have asked us "how far are you from Syria?" Just our observations.

[BeyazGül Apt.]

Reached our projected Target,3 weeks in May available,all of August available and 2 weeks in October available.
I remember being in Kalkan 3 years ago and talking to a guy who had booked his flights last minute for a family of 5 at £500 each = £2500 for the family,he had booked a villa early on that year thinking he would get flights cheaper nearer their departure.

I believe one bedroom apartments are still good value even in August.

Owners Direct property ref. TK4637

 
 

[BeyazGül Apt.]

Reached our projected Target,3 weeks in May available,all of August available and 2 weeks in October available.
I remember being in Kalkan 3 years ago and talking to a guy who had booked his flights last minute for a family of 5 at £500 each = £2500 for the family,he had booked a villa early on that year thinking he would get flights cheaper nearer their departure.

I believe one bedroom apartments are still good value even in August.

Owners Direct property ref. TK4637
https://www.definetours.com/villas_details.php?villas=med-apt.-n-1

[hobbo]

our villa is pretty much fully booked for 2015, we have had a cancellation with a reason 'we only have 10 days holls each year and were nervous about Turkey in the first place but were reassured by friends we would love Kalkan, however with the recent troubles and reports on trip advisor that the harbour was destroyed by fire and the view from the harbour restaurants had been ruined by a new pier we have decided to change our plans' .... I tried to put their minds at rest but obviously they had made their minds up... Oh and if you were wondering, the new pier is the harbour wall that I saw in 1988 (and had been their for a few years then).. it existed before the harbour restaurants existed, and whilst the fire is a real tragedy some of the rumours on TA really did get out of hand..   

[msr]

Good old TA, never fail to spread angst, this is why I loathe everything about them.We are virtually fully booked this year and some guests have enquired about the fire damage but are interested to know if any of the businesses have relocated so that they can support them. In some ways if you are new to Kalkan admittedly the area won't exactly look picturesque, but they won't really know what they are missing. It is the regulars that understand the full devastation. We loved sitting outside Kleo in the evenings and will be upset that this year it won't be possible.

However our real distress is about all those lovely people who worked so hard to make our holidays memorable,and over the years we have become friends with. TA should not be able to make sweeping inaccurate observations which ultimately will make people think twice about visiting.After all one of Kalkans main attractions is its people and this year they deserve our support more than ever.

[Kalkan regular]

I saw and replied to the trip advisor comment re a 'pier spoiling the view' and if I remember rightly it was made by someone who only day visits occasionally. I also replied to a question about a 'lot of Kalkan burning down'. I wish people would watch the language they use as people not in the know take it as fact.

[Blue Lizard]

I believe Kalkan is struggling for bookings because of several reasons....a)The recession is NOT over for the majority of UK people..many have zero hours contracts and no pay rises for a few years so money is tight..those that have kids would be better off in all inclusives in Olu or Marmaris etc..the planes that will be arriving at Dalaman will be still full but with not many going to Kalkan(talk to someone at the airport and say you are going to Kalkan and most will say wheres that?) b) prices are cheaper in Calis and other places with meal prices etc set menus,all you can eat buffets and Chinese all you can eat deals( I know ex pats who go on a jaunt occasionally for a Chinese too(not everyones ideal but if there was no call for it it wouldn't be on sale) c) KTLN survey reveals that the majority of people visiting are couples probably why appartments fill quicker than villas? who knows...Flight prices are no different this year in fact with BA joining the line there is more scope and petrol prices are also down although not drastically passed on to airline passengers....d)More villas and appartments to choose from with fewer people thrown into the mix...And as for Syria ? maybe some who are not familiar with the area and size of Turkey might be concerned but the border lands have had problems for years ...Kurds(PKK ),Iraq etc...as for trip advisor? too many spiteful comments and false reports for me ..I don't bother I look forward to sitting on the "Pier" if that is the  light house jetty's trip advisor name with an ice cream in my face from Fenner as I haven't found the candy floss or winkle stand yet