Videos of Rhoscolyn on YouTube

Rosie has been busy hard at work today putting some of our nicely Photoshopped pics into slideshows and making video files, and we've uploaded them onto YouTube. I reckon they look & sound pretty good, and when I get a chance I'll embed the video clips into our website and Facebook Group.

After trying for ages to download a copy of Adobe Premiere it didn't work so we ended up just using Nero.

Our new YouTube profile is on http://www.youtube.com/ystabl !

Windows & Doors for Y Stabl

Well the new windows & doors are going in at last this week, and I'm looking forward to seeing them when I get myself over for a long weekend visit next week. So the entire house will then be fully double-glazed and more cozy & secure as a result. The best bit is the matching locks for front & back doors- so only a single key required. The main reason I'm heading over is just to check out whether any additional re-decoration is required around the new frames, to minimise doing this stuff during our Easter holidays. The new sills will probably need doing at least. Can't wait to get over.

I've got a few days off work for the 'Eid Al Adha holidays so have been Photoshopping all the photos we had on the website to make them a bit nicer, and tidying up the website a little bit. Small changes but the photos (especially those around Rhoscolyn beach and our garden) look a lot brighter.

I also got an experienced web guy at PDO to help me out with the Internet Explorer alignment problem (on older versions of IE like the one at PDO- IE6- the page & splash picture alignments are wonky). It seems that only a workaround in the Style Sheet code was required, and I think it now seems to be fixed for all browser versions.

No other news- will have some more updates after I get back from Rhoscolyn again.

Trip Back to Rhoscolyn

Well by now the new windows & doors should have been in, but they have been delayed as Paul has had some stuff at home to deal with.. So now I am being told they're going in 5th December and that all work will be complete by the 12th. It better be, cos last night I booked flights back home for 17th - 21st Dec to check that everything's OK, and to do any redecoration if required. Wasn't planning to come back this early but Emirates had reasonable flight prices and I would like to get everything sorted out before Christmas.

Already can't wait for it. Other than checking the windows & doors, I can take a few bits & pieces back home from here (like the famous dual iPod dock), get measured up for new bedroom wardrobes, do an Ikea on the way from Manchester airport, and make sure that most things are in place (including the Walkers/ Cyclists Welcome award) for the next grading which we'll coincide with our family Easter trip home.

Looking forward to the cold!

Improved Y Stabl Availability using Google Calendar

My boss at work was telling me the other day about how her whole family uses Google Calendar to avoid clashes with family visits/ holidays etc. So Rosie and I tried it out, and it is pretty cool. Then I realised that a couple of things:

1. That we can set up online 'Y Stabl' calendars to show our availability, and this can be updated by any one of us from anywhere with web access;
2. That we can configure the rights to these calendars to make them private of public or whatever, and
3. That Google has APIs to embed these calendars into a website and customise the appearance. So when the relevant Google Calendar is updated, the website automatically picks up the change when it is loaded.

So I set this up last night to reflect our latest availability and included costs for the 'available' slots, and replaced our existing 'availability' table with this cool interactive widget. Very pleased with the neat result!

Google rocks.

Anglesey Tourism Awards 2009

We've finished off our entry for the 2009 Anglesey Tourism Awards (Best Self-Catering Accommodation) which is organised by the Anglesey Tourism Association (ATA). I thought we should try to put in a decent entry if we have any chance of getting a mention as there are much nicer houses than ours, and one of the key things the judges look for seems to be how much effort has been put into the entry.. The questionnaire covers topics like: improvements & expenditure, environmental & sustainability, marketing & attracting business, occupancy, customer care, training etc. So our entry is 45 pages long and contains loads of scans/ screen dumps of various thing that should help the judges look favourably on us.

The prize is basically publicity which we could well do with to help us increase off-peak occupancy/ rents, which will pay for more upgrades to the house..

The link to our entry PDF is here (big file warning).
Deadline for entries is 31st October.
Fingers crossed!

Feedburner, Adsense, Dedon $$$

I spoke to Paul yesterday and he says that the new double-glazed windows & doors are still on track for mid-November. Also making the stable door full-length and reinforcing the stone arch should happen this week..

I think our site is looking quite nice now, although there's still a few changes I'd like to get on there if I can improve my HTML/ CSS/ scripting skills. I decided to remove the Google Adsense adverts from our site as it looks a bit crap having other people's ads on there, and the revenue in (about $2 a month) is too low to even notice any benefit or offset the cost of advertising on Adwords. So they are gone (for now). Maybe one day many years from now when I am getting 100,000 hits a day (yeah right) I'll pop them back in..

I also added a Feedburner symbol on the website for feeding to this blog, in case anyone is interested..

Went to that shop in Bareeq Al Shatti that sells the Dedon stuff today to have a look at the furniture & prices- the Obelisk was over 2,000 rials (about £3,000) so unlikely we'll be getting that anytime soon.. I had a good idea that would be pricy as it's their signature piece, but I though the plainer range of chairs etc would be cheaper- they are about the same price. The 'Leaf' lounger is about 1,000 rials.

Google Checkout- what are you on about?

Well I decided to switch from PayPal to Google for checkout services, but after getting out first business and payment through Google Checkout, Google told me that using their service for 'travel services' is against their policy:

Hello Tony,
During a recent review, we found that the services on your website appear to violate Google Checkout content policies:
-------------------------------
Unacceptable product category: Travel Packages & Offers
-------------------------------
To avoid having your account suspended, you must display the Google-hosted 'not
available' button for products that are unacceptable under our content policies.
To display these buttons, please use the following code snippet (replacing 'XXX'
with your merchant ID):
........
You may wish to check your website against our Integration Checklist at
https://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bin/answer.py?answer=72125, as
following these guidelines will ensure a positive buyer experience on
your website and will ensure that you are compliant with all of Google
Checkout's program and content policies.

I sent a futile response back but no good so I'm back to PayPal again; good job I didn't delete the PayPal page..

Other news: Our Tripadvisor entry is now showing but for some reason it doesn't come up when you search for Rhoscolyn or Holyhead (only Anglesey), and also it is in some weird category that doesn't show up like hotels.. Still no joy with Google Earth.

Silver Bay Access

Well my great staycation is over and I'm back at work. Update on other things I got round to on my final days off:

In August we had a complaint/ moan from some of our guests who were denied access to Silver Bay. It's not clear whether they weren't allowed access to the Club or through the road to Silver Bay beach, and their emails are bouncing so I can't check exactly what they weren't happy about. But I asked the Silver Bay administration to clarify their position on Silver Bay non-residents getting in, and this is their response:

Dear Mr Griffiths,

I am pleased to reply to your email in order to clarify the situation.

We have never denied access to the Silver Bay Clubs to anyone living or staying locally. All we ask is that if they are not members they make themselves known to the bar staff who will ensure that they are signed
in as guests to comply with the licensing laws. In fact we welcome holiday visitors and are pleased to provide them with a friendly, reasonably priced alternative to the White Eagle. Perhaps a note in your cottage to this effect would make things clear to your clients.

The position regarding access through the site to Silver Bay Beach is different, and I think one of your customers may be referring to this in particular. Silver Bay is a private site with no public right of way through it. We are constantly asked by members of the public for access to the beach and our policy is to treat all those approaches with a polite but firm denial. If we did not do so the site would be flooded with people wanting to drive or walk through, and that would not be fair to our residents who are the ones paying for the facilities here. Access to
Silver Bay beach can be gained via the coastal path from Rhoscolyn, or down the public footpath through the woods at the end of Fly Lane. Borthwen Beach at Rhoscolyn is, of course, a public one with access freely available to anyone.

I hope this clears up any misunderstanding and enables you to
make things clear to your guests, but if there is anything further you would like to discuss by all means give me a call.

Kind regards
Stephen Knight
Manager

I didn't know about the no public right of way to Silver Beach so am glad I asked, and have clarified the situation on our website for future guests..

Now that I have realised the Anglesey Coastal Path goes straight past the house, I have also realised that there are at least 7 different (directions, lengths etc) walks - using the Coastal Path and with a pub stop (or detour) - that are possible by starting & finishing at our house. I sent Anglesey Walking Holidays a note last night to see if they would be interested in some kind of collaboration/ partnership. I just got an email back saying they are interested although they usually use B&Bs, and will get in touch again in November when they do the rounds. Cool.

I got a note back from Tripadvisor this morning saying our site has been accepted for submission and details will be uploaded soon - this is good as well.

I'm also wondering whether I should use Google Checkout instead of the PayPal checkout.. The Google rates are lower (2% vs. >3%) and we would get a cool checkout badge showing up on our Google advert if we used Google Checkout..

Online Payment; Newsletter1

Ah well yet another late night (1am) in front of the PC followed by kids-jumping-on-bed -at-dawn situation but it was hopefully worth it.. I got our online PayPal/ credit card payment buttons fixed up on the website under a new page, and can now offer online payment for every available week in 2009. Was a bit fiddly and doesn't look too neat, but it's a first effort and functional- hopefully it will work out. It will mean that I won't need to use eBay Shop (where I get charged for the adverts and for having the shop regardless of any sales) to sell fixed-price lets.

Also today Rosie (Resident DTP Queen) got our first issue of our Y Stabl Newsletter sorted and we mailed it to our previous & future guests and the local TICs (Holyhead & Llanfair PG). I also stuck it on our website and put link on the front page. So far in the way of responses I've got 2 x 'out of office', 1 x 'undeliverable' and a note back from Holyhead TIC saying - literally- "thanks for the newsletter". It would be good to get higher occupancy around May - June period next year as these week seem to be quiet although the weather can be good then.

Later..

THE GREAT STAYCATION

We've been talking about staycation a lot today. Not going far from the house, mooching around the shopping malls and the living room, it's great to do it after a pretty busy year.. Anyway I'm wondering how staycation-chic and economic armageddon will affect tourism in UK over the next few years: Will it help, or make it worse?

Rosie is working on a newsletter that we'll post out to our previous/future guests and local TICs tonight or tomorrow. Seems like a good way to keep people up to date and drum up some repeat business.

I got a couple of books today from Borders at City Centre: A (fairly hardcore mathematical) one on Google PageRank & other search engine algoriths, and one on fancy modern website stuff (Ajax). Not sure how I'll get on with them.

Projects in hand

I have a few days off work for the Eid Al Fitr holidays, and by default (like we didn't organise going anywhere or doing anything), we're having a staycation.. In between going for pizza/ coffee/ a dip in the pool, in the last couple of days I have been working on:

• Putting a second post in this blog;
• eBay listing for week after next;
  
• Putting together our entry for 'Self-Catering' category of Anglesey Tourism Awards 2009
  
• Tidying up the website a bit- adding our summer photos, tidying up the links. Trying to work out how to get a higher PageRank score in Google (without cheating);
  
• Fixing up some of our nice summer photos on Pamoramio so they appear on Google Earth at the right locations;
  
• Creating a new Facebook Group 'Friends of Y Stabl' for a bit of fun;
• Complaining to Google/ posting on Google Group the fact that we are still not appearing on Google Earth despite having been in Google Maps for ages.

I am also thinking about more stuff for the future, but I'll leave talking about them until I get round to actually doing something about them.

One the things we want to get for next Easter are new sofas for the living room. One of the new shops at Bareeq Al Shatti here has an opening sale on their nice Dedon stuff, but it was closed today- maybe go in on Sat for a look. Even with sale it will be ridiculously expensive though. But we were thinking of crating up a load of loose items and shipping them back home anyway.. Hmm.

Catchup

OK I am trying to catch up on some web/ marketing stuff, and thought I'd kick off this spanking new blog with a basic rundown of key events and things we've done from start to now. Here goes (in reverse-chronological):

• 30th Sept 2008: Tonight, on (hopefully) the last day of Ramadhan, I've bought a new dual-iPod dock ('special price') to take to the house next time I go.
  
• August 2008: The entire exterior of the house is now repainted (same colour) and looks much brighter/ fresher! Also roof woodwork re-oiled. I get the hang of Google advertising (Adwords etc) and hopefully this will pay off in terms of some extra business in the low periods during 2009..
  
• July 2008: We get to come and see the house in full summer (relative) splendour. A longer stay this time, and we get more stuff done and have some fun as well. The arch window at the end was replaced with a nice single-pane double-glazed unit; we put in a new Velux window in the east side of the living room roof to get the morning sun; the gable wall defective render is completely hacked off then allowed to dry out & re-rendered. We wanted to get our own TV aerial but with uncertainty over when Nebo/ Arfon mast will go digital or the analogue signal will cease (we can't get Llanddona reception where we are), we decided to get a FreeSat dish & receiver which gives great reception and is better against the wind that a big high-gain aerial. Replace the old TV with a new skinny LCV TV on the wall to free up some space. Re-arrange some furniture and potter around a lot for a couple of weeks.
  
• April 2008: Grading time again: Our grade is bumped up from 2-star back to 3-star again in recognition of the improvements we've made to the house. Just in time for Easter visitors.
  
• February/ March 2008: The entire interior of the house is repainted (magnolia) and looks much brighter/ fresher. I think this was when we also got the rainwater downpipes re-routed to outside of the garden wall so that the rain didn't fill our patio..
  
• January 2008: We visit again after stopover in Jordan and Christmas (first in UK for 5 years!) in Aberdeen: Replace the electric cooker, replace most of the beds & mattresses, fit proper Velux blinds to the Velux windows, arrange for new blackout blinds throughout to replace the old curtains, and some minor mods. We also got some A0-size canvases printed up in Muscat with photos, and got them stretched over a frame in Oriel Cemaes, they did a great job. But this is getting expensive.. By this point, the 3-star grading we were awarded in April has also been downgraded to 2-star following 'harmonisation' of the Visit Wales grading system with the rest of UK.. Got some cool stone plant pots from Stermat.
  
• Summer 2007: Our first season of letting was a busy one, fortunately for us we 'inherited' some of the O'Briens' previous guests, and our website gets a few hits. Rosie has baby in midst of cyclone Gonu. The White Eagle re-opens after being closed for ages..
  
• April 2007: Visit Wales came over for a grading visit and we set up our website- ready to let! Mam is looking after the house and guests. We also got the dodgy plywood 'fake chimney' removed & restored the roofline; got a lot of the roof joinery replaced; replaced the failed velux window; and installed insulation above the ceiling.
• March 2007: We come and stay at Y Stabl for the first time; Rosie is 6 months pregnant with 'future-Eira'.. Apart from the downstairs bedroom, the house is in reasonable condition and OK to let out. We fix up the downstairs bedroom (redecorate & restore the wooden floors), tidy up a bit, arrange for some roof/ joinery repairs to be done, and just work out where things are..
  
• January 2007: Completed the sale on the property; very chuffed with ourselves- but what to do with it now (seeing as we live about 8 hours flight away)? For starters we immediately crack on with internal damp repairs (chemical injection damp course and membrane barrier) on the gable wall and sides. The new plaster needs a few weeks to dry out.
  

So the next updates will be more gradual..