Sudden surge in bookings

[MartynE]

It''s a good job that one size doesn''t fit all, isn''t it?

We sometimes lose potential bookings on the grounds that we can''t claim to have a "spectacular view" - but then on the other hand, we get more bookings from people that have had the fantastic views last year but want to be closer to the town this year... it''s just horses for courses.
Give and take.
Each to their own.
Vive la difference.
etc etc

[Kalkan regular]

That''s what we love about our apartment at the Emir. Just high enough up to get a good view but within a few minutes walk to the old town. We had holidays in Kalkan before we bought and by our second buying trip we had a clearly defined ''easily accessible to Kalkan'' line and would only look at properties within this area.
Bookings for this year have definately come in earlier than last year.

[Lancs]

Yes we also have had a surge in bookings for this year
 taxis maybe excpensive but you also have the noise factor when booking
  nearer to the town

[Blue Lizard]

We stayed near town last year and are going back to the same place again this year it was so nice..you can''t hear a thing.....just crickets!!

[kalkan4eva]

We prefer to have a nice view so don''t mind being a bit further out of town...and we don''t mind walking into the centre of Kalkan (....and back  ) so the taxi costs don''t affect us and it''s not a factor when we book, normally. This year, however, we are staying closer to the village because our daughters are coming with us and we wanted to them to be able to walk in and out on their own without too much hassle. Fortunately we have found a lovely penthouse apartment with spectacular views and a genuine 5 min walk to Moonlight Bar. Perfect - although I will have to invent new and longer walks into the centre and back  just to burn the excessive calories I''m bound to consume 

[MartynE]

Getting away from the view/walk/taxi/noise debate, and back to the original point of this thread

I just had a look at our hit rate on the Ownersdirect advert. It makes interesting reading:

January 2008 - 185 hits

January 2009 so far - 489 hits.

Hits to enquiries ratio is about the same at 15:1; enquiries to bookings about 3:1

I think that speaks for itself. Holidaylettings are up by a similar amount - but what does this mean?

I think the following factors:

1. More people are looking at Turkey rather than Eurozone because of the high euro
2. More looking at Kalkan generally because of recent press coverage
3. People are going self-catering rather than hotels, to keep costs down
4. Those that are looking at SC are more interested in smaller apartments than villas, again to keep costs down.

Any other suggestions? (apart from the fact that we have nice neighbours, Mark)

[misty]

EnjoyKalkan Safety

Post removed

[kalkan4eva]

The British press are really focusing on holidays outside the Eurozone like Egypt, Morocco, Croatia and Turkey at the minute. You will probably find, Martyn, that those other countries are experiencing a similar surge in bookings.
As you say, Kalkan has featured quite heavily in the press - The Daily Mail, for example, which will make it more attractive to those who haven''t ever visited Turkey - well it''s good enough for David Cameron etc etc!!!

So you choose Kalkan and you read about all the restaurants and you think it makes more sense not to be tied to a hotel and there is a lot of self catering accomodation on the market - it''s not neccesarily cheaper to go self catering , so a lot of people won''t be driven by price. I think it might be a bit of a generalisation to say those looking for SC are more interested in smaller apartments - you cater for the size of your party - whatever that is.

I think it may be as simple as more couples coming to Kalkan - it''s not marketed as a child-focused resort and with all the other factors coming into play, this could explain why you are experiencing a surge in hits for your apartments. It would be interesting to know the age range of your guests as I would hazzard a guess they might be younger generation who will go for the best price they can get and would be less bothered about views. Could be wrong though...might only be me and my BH who want the spectacular view  The apartment we have booked for this year is practically fully booked too, and that has three bedrooms - so it really is horses for courses.

I realise it would be helpful if you had some real evidence of why your bookings are up - as you would want to replicate it for 2010 and beyond - leave a questionaire for your guests 

[Brooksie]

Thanks for that Martyn.
We don''t let our place out at the moment, but we have had a lot of enquires from friends and family about using  our place this year. Times are tough as we all know, but the more people that move away from the Spanish Costas and visit Turkey, the more they will realise that Turkey is a wonderful country and it will, I''m sure generate repeat bookings in the future once they see how beautiful it is.

[MartynE]

I realise it would be helpful if you had some real evidence of why your bookings are up - as you would want to replicate it for 2010 and beyond - leave a questionaire for your guests 

We do!!

Actually, your assessment is pretty well spot on. Our clientele seems to be split fairly evenly between youngish couples (a notable preponderance of teachers & young professionals) and older empty-nesters who have  finally got out of taking the kids with them (like us)!  Having said that, there are always exceptions - we have had a few family groups who find it useful to split their party between two or three apartments in the same block - parents & younger kids in one apt, grandparents in another and moody teenagers on their own in another, for example.

Take your point about the view though. If it''s important to you, nothing else will do... just hope no-one builds in front of it by the summer!!!

[misty]

You offer a suggestion and your post in removed

EnjoyKalkan Safety

Its all in the wording Misty 

[misty]

Maybe we should have a system where we send our posts in to be vetted by who ever has power of censorship over such matters. They could then decide if they are happy with the content and then they can post it on the forum.......just a thought 

[caradog]

Don''t know what Misty said but I thought advertising was supposed to be limited to the accommodation section! Some of this is a bit blatant.

[Wendy]

I''ve forgotton since my last smackies - what''s wrong with blatant advertising again? Genuine query for a doddery old fart!

[Jamera]

Hi there

I think one obvious action that lead to the surge in bookings - we''ve seen it too - is that Easy Jet released their Dalaman flights at the beginning of January - many people wait to get cheap flights first before their book the villa