I'm pleased to announce that following the server change we now have Paphos Villas live and well, along with plenty of travel guides.
Polis is the most commented on town in Paphos. It is described as having "a sandy beach, banks, interesting shops, and excellent tavernas" and by another owner as "a relatively new tourist destination in Cyprus".
Another comments on the food: "Even simple food like stuffed tomatoes tastes wonderful due to home grown local produce being used." - sounds very tempting!
Friday, 29 February 2008
Server Change
I noticed that the new sub site, Algarve Villas, Corfu Villas and Crete Villas weren't as stable as I would have liked them to be.
When they were first published, these sites had been published to a Linux server, which is supposed to be more reliable and better for running PHP sites. But the rest of ClickRentStay is on Windows servers, so these three sites have now been moved to ASP enabled Windows servers. Hopefully the reliability problems I had experienced are now over.
The only problem with this is that the local travel guides were using the str_ireplace function, which is new to PHP 5. Unfortunately, it's only a verion 4 PHP on the windows servers, so they have been rewritten.
When they were first published, these sites had been published to a Linux server, which is supposed to be more reliable and better for running PHP sites. But the rest of ClickRentStay is on Windows servers, so these three sites have now been moved to ASP enabled Windows servers. Hopefully the reliability problems I had experienced are now over.
The only problem with this is that the local travel guides were using the str_ireplace function, which is new to PHP 5. Unfortunately, it's only a verion 4 PHP on the windows servers, so they have been rewritten.
Property Scores
Every search on the internet, whether it be through a large search engine such as Google or a site searching it's own database such as our advanced search will have some sort of ordering of search results. This might be newest first, random for fairness or a scoring to get best (most likely to be a close match) results to the top of the list.
Google has it's page rank that is part of the results and we at ClickRentStay use our property score.
Our score is designed to bring those apartments that are most likely to result in a booking to the top of the list. This is done by looking at availability, size (a sleeps 10 is less likely to be booked for a party of 2 than a small apartment...) and booking history.
So what can owners do to stay near the top of the list? Simple - keep the availability charts up to date. Our aim is always to get those properties with the most availability in the next 10 months to the top of the search list - they are most likely to be able to take a booking. If you are booked up, then you are moved out of the way (you can't take the bookings anyway!!!). If you don't show availability, then you are also moved out of the way as customers will find it harder to book with you.
Every time you change you availability calendar your score is recalculated. I also run adhoc updates of the score - one of which I've just ran now. But after running that I noticed that over half the properties listed have a score of zero - meaning no availability shown.
If you are listing low down in a popular area, load your availability now for the next 10 months and watch your property move up through the listing!
Google has it's page rank that is part of the results and we at ClickRentStay use our property score.
Our score is designed to bring those apartments that are most likely to result in a booking to the top of the list. This is done by looking at availability, size (a sleeps 10 is less likely to be booked for a party of 2 than a small apartment...) and booking history.
So what can owners do to stay near the top of the list? Simple - keep the availability charts up to date. Our aim is always to get those properties with the most availability in the next 10 months to the top of the search list - they are most likely to be able to take a booking. If you are booked up, then you are moved out of the way (you can't take the bookings anyway!!!). If you don't show availability, then you are also moved out of the way as customers will find it harder to book with you.
Every time you change you availability calendar your score is recalculated. I also run adhoc updates of the score - one of which I've just ran now. But after running that I noticed that over half the properties listed have a score of zero - meaning no availability shown.
If you are listing low down in a popular area, load your availability now for the next 10 months and watch your property move up through the listing!
Thursday, 28 February 2008
Crete
Crete is a fantastic island for a holiday. The people are so warm and friendly that when you come to leave it will be like leaving good friends behind.
Crete is split into four regions, Chania, Rethymnon, Heraklion and Lassithi
Flights go into either Chania Airport on the west of the island or Heraklion towards the east. Each end of the island is different, so well worth visiting both. Although you might need a few holidays to take in all the sites! If you want a relaxing holiday head for the west of the island, but if you want a busier holiday head for the east.
Chania as a city is adorable, old world charm around the harbour area with it's narrow streets, visit the many small family work shops which surround it. For example there are hand made carpet shops where you can see three generations working along side each other. You will be made very welcome even if you do not buy anything. Visit the war museum, Crete has a fascinating World War II history. Dine at one of the wonderful restaurants and cafes dotted along the harbour side.
The capital of Crete is Heraklion. If you ask someone who has been to Heraklion what to see they will very likely say you should see some of the interesting historical sites like for example at Hersonisos just 27 kilometres away.
Ruins from the Roman period can be seen in the surrounding area as well as some port remains which are visible under the sea. Make sure you visit the old village of the same name, as well asd the tourist area which is great for clubbers and families alike.
The beaches in Crete are great, some people however say that the very best are in the area of Lassithi. The best is allegedly Vai Beach with its incredible palm forest of 5000 palm trees. There are however so many excellent beaches to choose from and visit that it is of course a matter of opionion. Visit some of the beaches and then post your views in the blog.
Rethymnon is a vibrant city and some say unique. 16th century buildings, Roman remains, narrow streets all add to the flavour. Well worth visiting is the Venetian harbour, The Loggia dating form the 16th century, and The Rimondi Fountain.
Wherever you choose to stay for your holiday in Crete you will not be disappointed.
To look for accommodation in Crete visit our Crete site
Crete is split into four regions, Chania, Rethymnon, Heraklion and Lassithi
Flights go into either Chania Airport on the west of the island or Heraklion towards the east. Each end of the island is different, so well worth visiting both. Although you might need a few holidays to take in all the sites! If you want a relaxing holiday head for the west of the island, but if you want a busier holiday head for the east.
Chania as a city is adorable, old world charm around the harbour area with it's narrow streets, visit the many small family work shops which surround it. For example there are hand made carpet shops where you can see three generations working along side each other. You will be made very welcome even if you do not buy anything. Visit the war museum, Crete has a fascinating World War II history. Dine at one of the wonderful restaurants and cafes dotted along the harbour side.
The capital of Crete is Heraklion. If you ask someone who has been to Heraklion what to see they will very likely say you should see some of the interesting historical sites like for example at Hersonisos just 27 kilometres away.
Ruins from the Roman period can be seen in the surrounding area as well as some port remains which are visible under the sea. Make sure you visit the old village of the same name, as well asd the tourist area which is great for clubbers and families alike.
The beaches in Crete are great, some people however say that the very best are in the area of Lassithi. The best is allegedly Vai Beach with its incredible palm forest of 5000 palm trees. There are however so many excellent beaches to choose from and visit that it is of course a matter of opionion. Visit some of the beaches and then post your views in the blog.
Rethymnon is a vibrant city and some say unique. 16th century buildings, Roman remains, narrow streets all add to the flavour. Well worth visiting is the Venetian harbour, The Loggia dating form the 16th century, and The Rimondi Fountain.
Wherever you choose to stay for your holiday in Crete you will not be disappointed.
To look for accommodation in Crete visit our Crete site
Travel And Events Guides
Along with our new sub sites, we realised this morning that we have a wealth of local information dotted around our database.
Each advertiser is asked to enter some details about the local area and events that might appeal to visitors, but this information is shown only when a potential customer views a property's details.
So to make this information more readily to hand, within the subsites we now have travel & event guide pages. Have a look at the Crete Travel Guide, Corfu Travel Guide and the Algarve Travel Guide.
The information is still grouped by town - it would be a massive & unreadable page to group it by region! And with every description we use, we are linking back to the owner's property that the description came from. As much as possible duplicate content is being removed, but that's not an easy task... But there are now even more benefits to our advertisers who give us plenty of details as their property listings are now linked to from even more place. This means more chances of customers finding their property and making a booking.
Each advertiser is asked to enter some details about the local area and events that might appeal to visitors, but this information is shown only when a potential customer views a property's details.
So to make this information more readily to hand, within the subsites we now have travel & event guide pages. Have a look at the Crete Travel Guide, Corfu Travel Guide and the Algarve Travel Guide.
The information is still grouped by town - it would be a massive & unreadable page to group it by region! And with every description we use, we are linking back to the owner's property that the description came from. As much as possible duplicate content is being removed, but that's not an easy task... But there are now even more benefits to our advertisers who give us plenty of details as their property listings are now linked to from even more place. This means more chances of customers finding their property and making a booking.
Crete.ClickRentStay
Following on from yesterday's Algarve subsite, today we're pleased to be able to report the launch of the new ClickRentStay sites, serving Crete Villas and Corfu Villas.
Between them, these subsites cover a multitude of towns and show details for a good number of properties. Crete in particular has good coverage of plenty of locations, from 7 properties in Heraklion to Rethymnon, with over 40 properties.
If you are thinking of travelling to either Crete or Corfu, then these are good sites to start looking.
Between them, these subsites cover a multitude of towns and show details for a good number of properties. Crete in particular has good coverage of plenty of locations, from 7 properties in Heraklion to Rethymnon, with over 40 properties.
If you are thinking of travelling to either Crete or Corfu, then these are good sites to start looking.
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
New Sub Site - Algarve.ClickRentStay.com
Here at ClickRentStay we're trying to make it easier for our users to find what they are looking for whilst giving our advertiser more, so we are starting the process of publishing micro sites for popular regions and we're starting off with ClickRentStay Algarve Villas.
Not only does this mean that there are less pages to drill down through to find the town you are looking for within the Algarve, but also it should mean that advertisers and search engines can find more easily all of the villas we have listed within each region.
Hopefully we're giving our site visitors more access to the database, which will ultimately help our advertisers by producing more bookings.
Not only does this mean that there are less pages to drill down through to find the town you are looking for within the Algarve, but also it should mean that advertisers and search engines can find more easily all of the villas we have listed within each region.
Hopefully we're giving our site visitors more access to the database, which will ultimately help our advertisers by producing more bookings.
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