In Reply to: Never check our Portfolio ??? posted by Balivillas staff on Wednesday, 16. February 2005 at 00:48 Bali Time:
The benefit of sponsoring the forum comes from posts such lovetheplace2's. Sure, most people who visit the forum have chosen Bali coz it's a cheap destination and they don't want to fork out $50 for a Lonely Planet guide. Most people are travelling alone or in small groups and many just want to party in Kuta. But every now and then someone comes along who is interested in staying at a villa, and this gives you a chance to direct them to your site. And if you don't see their post, chances are a forumite will direct them for you.
Which makes it odd that when a potential guest does come along, you crack a huge wobbly.
And I don't understand the logic of your claim that villas offer more of a chance to avoid "being isolated in a hotel". It seems to me that the villas are designed for people who just want to hang out at the villa -- you make sure everything is provided that they could possibly need, and remind them of it at every opportunity. Whereas, to many people, hotels are just places that happen to have a bed that they visit once a day when they are tired from doing stuff all day, away from the hotel.
And if the idea is to avoid being confined to the villa, why would anyone need half a dozen house staff? It's just more people to say hello and goodbye to. Surely the cook's only purpose is to have the guests spend more time at the villa, rather than eat at restaurants.
One thing that might help your villas become more attractive would be if you included a per-person breakdown of the rates. Someone casually browsing your site is likely to see US$800 per night and dismiss it immediately as too expensive. But if that villa accommodates 12 adults, and you put "from $66 per person" in brackets, then it's easier for the potential customer to compare the luxury/benefits of the villa to a hotel in the same price range -- and they might forget that you can also fit more than one person in a hotel room.