It's been too long since I've done a blog post . . .

It's been too long since I've done a blog post and I've learned that they truly matter!   It's going to be a very different and anxious year as we forge ahead without VRBO or HomeAway platform.  Our Glenn House VR is still listed there but there's really no point at all.  We will get so incredibly lucky to get bookings from there now as they've buried us.  We're still on the subscription plan so one thing that means is it doesn't generate them any money to point people to us -- they've already got all the money they're going to get.  They want to point travelers to listings with Book It Now that run thru their payment system so they can have their added "Service Fee".  There's more to it than that as well.  I stumbled on a marvelous video one of the members of a VR Owners facebook group put up, and it's astonishing just how they work so that if you're not likely to produce income for them, you almost become unfindable.  Most of us on there don't realize that because we know we're searching for our own place so we know to zoom in on the map or fill in a search critera but these are things that will evade most travelers and we never even appear before them.  Then they try to pull the wool over our eyes by trying to tell us that their Counter actually works and we get all these hits!  They think we're so stupid!  I really wish somebody would call them on it but how and what's the point?  February 7 is our first "Book Direct" day!  When I say "our" , I mean the collection of VR owners who are trying desperately to get away from VRBO, HomeAway and yes, even AirBnB (I don't have a beef with them as I never liked their platform so I was never listed there).  Anyway, we're listing on other "Fee Free" sites and websites are going up like mad.  I might blog here but I'm certainly planning on making posts on facebook.  We've got to educate the traveler!