for the independent minded
HomeAway teams up with Chevy Chase
Monday, 8th February 2010
It isn't often you find yourself wanting to praise the competition but we have to congratulate HomeAway.com (aka Holiday Rentals
in the UK) on their foray into TV advertising last night.
The company made a splash by bringing back the Griswolds (think Chevy Chase in "National Lampoon's Vacation") for a Super Bowl TV advertisement. This is about as big as it gets in the US and will gain them a huge new audience. (It's not unlike booking an ad for half time if England were in the World Cup final).
HomeAway has become a very big deal in the vacation rentals world in recent years and they now want to bring rentals into the mainstream conciousness, as an alternative to hotel accommodation. This really is to be welcomed by all of us and they deserve a pat on the back.
The advert itself is pretty good and it certainly helps raise awareness of vacation rentals as an accommodation choice. There was perhaps a little too much "hotel bashing" but it does raise the profile of our industry. Well done.
Before we get too cuddly we should point out some of wider misgivings about the rise of HomeAway.
With hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital they have been on a buying splurge in the past few years, hoovering up the largest rentals websites in the US and Europe like Star Trek's Borg. They now have over 180,000 properties.
Unfortunately prices for owners seem to be rising too. When we started our service for Spain back in 2002, our prices were broadly similar at around £100 per year. Since then the cost to advertise on the two largest UK websites has risen to well over £200 per year with plenty of "optional" extras. Our rates have remained static.
We've always recommended owners advertise in as many places as possible but these costs are severely limiting many people's options. If you are forced to advertise on less websites and an advert has a bad year (it happens), you could be left with a huge hole in your booking calendar.
So full marks to HomeAway for raising the awareness of holiday rentals - we all benefit. But we hope it won't be spoilt by ever rising prices to owners for the same old service.
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