Why this site?
Crete has jumped on the Internet bandwagon and a lot on
pages and sites have been created especially to present
hotels, apartments and other accommodations.
A web site is a great idea and may be the only way to
prevent the take-over of tourism on Crete by a few large
foreign tour operators, the consequences of which can be
seen on the North coast of the island.
Presenting your accommodation on the Internet bypasses the "big ones": you
can make your existence known cheaply, market it directly and the money spent
on holidaying in Crete goes where it belongs: to Crete.
What is not so good about it?
The problem is that a lot of the web sites and web pages presenting hotels
and accommodation are not at all user-friendly: most sites for example do
not show a price list. But the price is after all one the first things people
want to know when enquiring about a room! The sites also often lack an email
address, forcing the potential customer to make one or more international
phone calls or send a fax.
All marketing surveys will agree on one fact: most Internet users want ease-of-use
and if they don't find it they will just move on. Those who pick up the phone
to ask prices or make a booking are exceptions.
As things stand now, searching for accommodation in Crete
can be a frustrating experience because you have to wade
through lots and lots of search results in order to find
what you may be looking for. This tends to push the "potentially" independent
travellers into the more welcoming arms of the large operators
where your accommodation is only a few clicks away.
What can be done about it?
Very simply: make searching for accommodation in Crete easier and present web
sites which have the information that the public is looking for.
www.hotels-crete.com is putting the web sites offering accommodation in
Crete under one roof, provided these sites offer a minimum of information and
usability.
What is considered the minimum is:
- a current price list
- the ability to communicate online by email
- an English language version
This site is registered in all the main directories such
as Yahoo ,
the Open
Directory and of course Google and has become a
useful source of accommodation links for Crete, helping
new web sites presenting their accommodation to get
known quickly and for free.
I also hope that pointing to someone that their
site cannot be listed (because they do not fulfill the
requirements for listing) will encourage them to think
about listing their prices. If the price of a hotel or
apartment has to be a closely guarded secret, it immediately
brings a question to mind: "Why
are they hiding this? Something is wrong" and the potential
customer will go and look somewhere else.
A simple comparison would be walking into a shop where no prices are displayed
anywhere. Would you buy from such a shop? Or would you think one of the following: "If
I have to ask I can't afford it" "Is it a hotel or a bazaar?" "Is it so expensive
that they have to hide the price?" "I am afraid of being ripped off"
None of this is terribly encouraging for business, even if the reasons for
not displaying the price are sometimes valid.
Privacy policy |
