Love Cottages

Niche marketplaces are on the rise.

Managers are working together to bring more cooperative control. Do you want to work together? Its a common question these days and always seems such a great idea, but is not so simple! In reality it requires aggregation of complex data from multiple systems, agreement between all parties on the look to book route, the investment, the marketing challenges and more.

The beginning of something big?

We created lovecottages.co.uk for the UK market and is the first of its kind in size and reputation. With over 13,000 properties from 50 managers and many booking management systems involved the group has aligned their interests to dilute the OTA challenges and bring direct interaction back to the guests, reducing fees and allowing a more personal relationship with enquirers.

How does it work?

Love Cottages is a collective of UK management businesses who have all invested in a legal entity to develop a platform that aligns with their preferred route to a booking and lists as a cooperative. As you may imagine the market has many different managers, who work in different regions and often have business models developed over many years. This magnifies the complexity with many different demands on data access and blending into one seamless experience.

Any site can have thousands of properties listed but this is only the beginning of the story. PR, content, social media etc. need working on to develop a brand and this needs factoring into any collective of businesses who may wish to undertake this exercise.

Any UK managers who wish to engage with the business and see what options are available, which booking systems we integrate with and the costs involved, need contact lovecottages.co.uk via their contact form.

The concept will become more popular at a local level across the globe as data formatting and distribution becomes easier and perhaps we see more standardization of information. There are advantages for both guests and managers with a collective model.

Guests:

• No service fees
• Open communication
• Preferred payment options
• Clear information on booking brand

Managers:

• Reduced dependency on OTA’s and other channels
• Increased margins
• Ownership of a preferred brand and profit sharing (re-investment is the preferred route, however)
• Brand exposure

Can owners have a collective?

This is a question we hear frequently. The answer is yes, but is more complex. Rather than having 50 managers all connected via API’s to the system, owners are more likely to need to see manual intervention and upload. We can assist with this using our property builder. This is a long way down the entity establishment however as a collective needs sufficient funds to market and develop a local brand and a team of owners and committee who are 100% engaged in the process and are fully committed to the cause.

There are many listing sites now arising based on a subscription model and/or commission. Rentivo is running technology for a select few where we consider the outcome to be successful and this requires a well-developed plan and niche market. Please check our partner’s page.