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Holiday Villa Rental in Trapani |
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get2sicily News and Updates |
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| Date |
News
Item |
D/M/Y |
Header Story. |
10/08/2011 |
Phase
II of the Rebrand |
17/05/2011 |
A
New Look for PureSicily website Launch Well, we have been preparing a massively overhauled puresicily website using new software and CSS. It aims to be more user friendly and logical in its layout. Certain functions and sections have gone or been enhanced and others such as pop-up photos and google maps have been added. If its a success, then we will apply the same treatment to your trusty get2sicily website. We've had our first feedback from the 2011 season, and our guests have given us a very positive and complimentary resume of their holiday in Villa Anna. Bookings are lighter than last year, probably because of the recession in Europe, but we are offering discounted holiday rentals in Trapani and wont be compromising anything about our service in 2011. |
05/05/2011 |
Good
Riddance to the AoV-lbatross Necklace So, lots has been happening. Series 6 of Doctor Who has begun and it is as rubbish as series 5 - if only Tennant and RTD had never left eh? And of course, the 2011 rental season has kicked off with a bang. Our first guests arrived in April and we decided to add our large family Villa Anna to HolidayCube on a 12 month trial. This coincides with our decision to not renew our advert with Always on Vacation, the US-based company who took over the Ryanair Villas link when they tried unsuccessfully (thank God) to take over Perfect Getaways. Since AoV took over the link, the number of people viewing our Ryanair linked advert has fallen by over 84% compared to when Perfect Getaways operated the link. That same traffic now appears to be finding get2sicily directly via Google and so there seems little point in handing over money to AoV for something we are now doing much more successfully ourselves. Do I need to mention the fact that their website is poorly orientated for European visitors, or the low enquiry levels? No, you can read the bad feedback about AoV from ex-advertisers like myself just by googling 'Always on Vacation'. Simples. |
03/03/2011 |
Our
Rebranding as PureSicily begins... After many months of behind the scenes work we have finally begun our name-change process. Over the coming 24 months, we begin to promote our puresicily brand alongside the existing get2sicily name. 'Why are they changing their name? you ask... well it's specifically to address the weak performance of the name in languages other than English. When we picked the get2sicily name our clientelle were mostly British holidaymakers and the name was a phonetic pun with the '2' standing in for 'to'. Almost five years later and with our guests coming from all over Europe a simpler name was called for. Something that denotes what western Sicily is still about - a pure and untouched holiday experience - thus 'puresicily'. The branding colours and identity will stay the same, but the logo will change. Consequently, a new website with two urls, puresicily.co.uk and puresicily.com will run parallel this one until we are satisfied that Google has the new one in it's rankings. |
23/02/2011 |
RSS
Events Feed Added We have added an RSS feed to the More Information page of our website that draws fresh content from the TurismoTrapani website about upcoming cultural events, festivals and exhibitions in the Trapani region of Sicily. This adds another dimension to our site and allows our guests to look ahead to what may be taking place during their stay in our properties. |
26/01/2011 |
2011
Here we come! With several pending enquiries and three bookings already, 2011 is shaping up to be another busy year. We are currently performing the usual winter maintenance work to our properties and in the case of Villa Anna and Villetta May making some important improvements. January also marks the start of our year-long rebranding exercise as the puresicily moniker enters the stage. Our ID has been verified with GB Group via Perfect Getaways and all is good in the world. |
04/12/2010 |
2010
Season Draws to a Close With a snowy winter looming in the UK, we have had a couple of last minute bookings for Sicily where the December daytime temperatures this year are still hovering around the 19-24°C! Oh for a bit of warmth like that in England! It's been a great year, and we're pleased to announce that we discounted every rental in 2010 - something we promise to do again in 2011. Anyway, we have a few more internal and external improvements to some of the properties scheduled over the next two months, which could increase capacity to a possible 11 or 12 people should the need arise. Website wise, we have added Google maps to our Villa Anna Page and are looking at a number of options to enhance the site in other ways too. The Ownership Verification ID project with GB Group & Perfect Getaways will go live soon, giving our guests an independent way of verifying our ID/Villa Ownership, before they transact any money. |
17/10/2010 |
Updated
Photos of Villa Anna Go Live |
10/10/2010 |
It's
10:10 Day across the world... ...and we have have achieved even more this year than we hoped. We managed to switch over all our garden lighting at Villas Anna and May to daylight-sensor bulbs so that guests can't accidentally leave the lights burning all day; we built 9m of of our dry stone wall (which will be 80m when complete) that will help create a nature habitat and wind break for our extended vegetable patch; we bought three more bicycles, we estimate we drove 17% less than in 2009; we installed an industrial sized rainwater cistern on our agricultural land; and many of our guests took our advice and frequented the local restaurants and shops. |
09/07/2010 |
Our
Always on Vacation and FerienHaus Listings Go Live Our listing has gone live on the AoV lisiting site that recently tried to merge with Perfect Getaways and Ryanair Lettings. The Ryanair link will also now be avaliable in several European Languages. In line with this, we have begun to list our properties on non-English rental listing sites to gain better exposure in other European markets. Our first such advert is with FerienHausMarkt in Germany. |
23/06/2010 |
A
Few Tweaks and it's all Good Well, we've had several constructive reviews of our revised website and made a few tweaks here and there in response. The layout is now standardised across the site and the Google Translate function is working well. We have re added all our translated PDF documents to the information and villa pages for our international guests. We have begun off-line work on soon to be announced sister site - due for launch in late July. In real life, we have received and uploaded more positive feedback from our most recent guests who all enjoyed fantastic holidays in Villa Anna. Over the coming few days the Villa pages will be tweaked slightly, along with the feedback pages to add new comments and photographs. |
18/06/2010 |
Et
Voila! Our Revised Site is now Live. Well, one week ahead of schedule the modified site is now live. Gone is the acid lemon, replaced by a softer lemon sorbet - with the complete removal of the redundant vertical left-hand navigation bar. We wanted to focus on providing more content and the freed up space means we can now fit more on our pages. The Google Translate toolbar is now available on every page (except this one) and we are getting to grips with adding some shockwave Flash files to parts of the site. Overall, these changes will significantly reduce the number of hours we spend editing and coding the pages and mean we have more time to focus on our core business - which is looking after you! |
17/06/2010 |
Where
have all the Ryanair Links Gone? Perfect Getaways who operate and run RyanairLettings (with whome we advertise) have merged with Always On Vacation and the tabbed link from the Ryanair homepage has disappeared temporarily until contracts are renegotiated between them all. Ryanair Lettings is still up and running, but not currenly live-linked from the airline's website. The link is due to go live again on 1st July. Till then, we're passing the time by watching series 1 of Being Human - rather good actually! |
06/06/2010 |
Ch-ch-ch-changes We are currently trialing Google's automated translation toolbar, with a view to removing all of our own translated pages... (dun dun!). If it is successful, then we will only have to administer and update 27 pages, not 189. We also have some big changes to the appearance of the site planned in the next few days. |
| 21/05/2010 |
Our
Online Portfolio Begins to Grow... Well, we've mooted the idea for a long time and now that we have everything in place, we have begin to add a carfully selected handful of our extended family's properties to our website. We have negotiated periods of availability and, crucially, standards of customer service with the landlords (our cousins and uncles & aunts!) to ensure the experience is as similar to staying in Villas Anna and May as possible - without standardising the individual character flair each of them have when it comes to renting out their accommodation. I have revised the Villa Anna and Villetta May pages and added 3 new pages with the new accommodation on - to go live this weekend. At present these pages are only available in English. Subject to demand, we are hoping to bring two additional apartments to the market in 2011. |
18/05/2010 |
2010
Guest Feedback - Whoo-hoo! With the 2010 season well underway, our first three families and groups have begun sending us their comments and feedback on Villa Anna and their holidays (see Feedback page). And we are very proud to say it's all good.. so far! Although it's great to get positive feedback, we are not getting complacent and are working harder than ever to make more improvements to the Villa and our service. In between guest groups we are carrying out minor improvements and modifications to the house that will make things run more smoothly than ever. Some of our guests have rebooked with us for later in the year and they will notice the changes, but the rest of you will have to make do with updated photographs on our website! We're adding a few more bikes to our collection, introducing more plants to the roof terrace and so on. We're also aware of the ongoing Ash cloud issues and will do our best to keep you informed of important updates to flights during your stay. |
| 10/05/2010 |
We
are now listed on Alpha Holiday Lettings We have added our Villa Anna on AlphaHolidayLettings.com, which is a new holiday accommodation rental website. We are trying them out for a year to see if they help us spread our internet presence further. Click here to see our page at AlphaHL. |
22/04/2010 |
EU
Skies Open Again Well, our guests have departed after their extended stay and European flights are returning to normal - for the time being. We will work with all of our guests to ensure we keep you up-to-date of changes to flights during your stay with us and have made provisional arrangements for back-up accommodation for the smaller groups should the cloud return later in the summer. Please stay abreast of the latest developments by checking your national news broadcasters and your airline's websites. |
18/04/2010 |
And
grinds to a pan European style hiatus as Icelandic Volcano Ash Grounds
Flights Across Europe Well, I tempted fate eh? The night before our second group of guests were due to leave and the ash cloud closes down most of western Europe's airspace. Consequently, while our incoming group were able to fly in to Trapani, the departing group were not able to fly out. We did what we could to help the outgoing guests to find accommodation in the local area closer to the airport and updated them of the situation via phone and in person. However, we are now preparing for a scenario where our current guests have to stay on with us for an extra day or two as flights to northern Italy are on hold. |
08/04/2010 |
The
2010 Season: It Begins! Our first guests in the 2010 season have passed a fantastic Easter break in Villa Anna and have returned very happy. The weather was great and what we've heard so far has been very positive. Their full feedback will be sent to us shortly and we will then place it online for you to read. Yay, the season has started well! |
16/03/2010 |
New
Articles. New Map. New Villa* Busy as ever with bits and bobs, we have now uploaded 10 additional newspaper/magazine articles to the extra info section. After many hours of work and all three Back to the Future films, I am putting the finishing touches to our all-new high-resolution map of Trapani. Once completed, it will be uploaded to the guest-only folders for the exclusive use of booking guests. We are gearing up for our first rental of what is panning out to be a busier year than 2009! *The exterior of Villa Anna has nearly been fully repainted and we've made changes to the layout of the rooftop accommodation and shower following feedback from 2009 guests. We are nearly ready to go! |
05/03/2010 |
Updated
Local Partner Links After a bit of PR work in early January, we have updated our local links section of the website with some new websites and businesses offering activities and services beneficial to our guests in the Marausa and Trapani areas. Although the Marina is temporarily offline, the rest now have either a website or email link to help you research and plan the days of your holiday much more in advance than before. All of our link partners are local businesses run by local people who are passionate about what they do. More links will be uploaded as the season picks up. |
04/03/2010 |
We
are now listed on the BonVon Rental Site We have added our Villa Anna on BonVon.co.uk, which is a dynamic but ethical rental website, run by a British family. A nifty function is that you can create a short memorable URL for your advertisment page instead of a long alphanumeric one. We went for 'www.bonvon.co.uk/anna'. Click here to see that page at BonVon. |
03/03/2010 |
Guest
Documents Now Online! After a long build up (drum roll please) we have launched our secure online portal for guests to download our famous exclusive 'Post Booking Literature' documents and massive archive of Tourist Board PDF brochures and maps we have accrued over the years. We have also added new scanned clippings from the press about Trapani and the West in our More Information section. All 2010 guests will have access at any time and we will no longer have to send out multiple bulky documents in several emails. Ahhhh. |
01/03/2010 |
RyanairLettings
Listings and the Competition |
20/02/2010 |
Overhaul
for Villa Anna Page Content and Presentation We are pleased to announce new photos have been added to the Villa Anna page and the whole set are now presented as a Flash gallery and slideshow. The text and layout plans have been updated to reflect the revised layout inside, particularly with regard to the first floor and we have added a totally new Villa Anna Summary Document that prospective guests can download for free. Villa May will get the same treatment later in the year once rennovation works are complete. |
19/02/2010 |
Villa
Anna Exterior Maintenance 80% Completed The garden walls and exterior of the house are undergoing their 10 year maintenance and will shortly be finished. We've taken the opportunity to introduce 6 additional garden lights and 2 to the roof terrace, meaning you can use the garden and roof into the wee small hours of the summer. The kitchen has now been winterproofed and we have replaced all windows in the ground floor with lovely new wooden units with shutters. We have added more boardgames, DVDs and guidebooks to our library and made some modifications to the main shower to overcome the drainage issue after heavy use. Upstairs we have added additional internal lighting and an extra window to the rooftop bedroom suite and will be re-arranging the furniture soon to make better use of the accommodation. We've also started tweaking Villa May with a view to making it ready for rental later in the year. More news on that soon. |
17/02/2010 |
Villa
Anna User Manual Sketches Updated With the maintenance works well underway, we realised that some of the sketches and pictures our post booking Villa Anna Manual needed updating. This has meant lots of pencil sketching and perspective drawing... and this time the 'boxset background noise' has been supplied by the Lovely Billie Piper and Dashing Christopher Ecclestone in Series 1 of Doctor Who. The sketches are done and now I have to work them and the new pictures of the modified kitchen and bathroom into a revised document. So it looks like Series 2 of Billie & the Blue Box boxset is calling me... |
| 16/02/2010 |
We
sign up to Getaway Earth Villa Rental Site We have joined Getaway Earth, which bills itself as 'the future of holiday rentals'. They provide a meeting place for holiday home owners and holiday home renters with a twist. Not only can you read about Villa Anna and see photos on their site, but you can also read reviews of local attractions and facilities added by previous visitors. Click here to see our Villa Anna Getaway Earth page. |
15/02/2010 |
RyanairLettings.com
Goes Live (and so does our new advert page) After a short delay (down to Michael O'Leary and Ryanair), Perfect Getaways launched their new RL site on 11th February 2010. After just 4 days, we are pleased to announce our first two bookings via the new portal! See our new advert on RL here. |
10/01/2010 |
New
Publicity on Ryanair Lettings & Perfect Getaways With the demise of the RyanairVillas website, we are pleased to announce that we have signed up to its soon to be launched successor 'RyanairLettings'. The site will be run and managed by UK based 'Perfect Getaways' who will be showcasing our villa on their growing number of sites throughout 2010. The future is bright. The future is Trapani. See our new advert on PG here. |
| 28/12/2009 |
Goodbye
Unnecessary Entry Page! We've been wondering why we had the old Entry page to the site for several months now, and today, after feedback from some helpful people in the business, we have decided to do away with our old friend the 'click here to enter the site' front page. The index page now points directly at the Welcome page and the language selection options have been transposed onto the yellow header beneath the existing language flags. All internal links have also been changed. Content on the front page has changed also and will be migrated onto the translated sites over the next few days. |
09/12/2009 |
Trapani
Region Pages Overhauled Hot on the heels of improvements to our PDFs we have fully overhauled the cultural and historic heritage pages of the site with revised text and new images. While not as thorough as our post-booking literature, additional destinations have been added - as has a quick-reference symbol guide. Translated versions are in progress, marking a step towards the translation of our off-line PDFs too. |
02/12/2009 |
New
Post Booking Documents Drafted Yay! We've nearly finished overhauling and rewriting our post-booking literature for 2010 (sample1, sample2). Instead of two documents we've expanded the range to include a detailed map guide to the region's beaches; a much more comprehensive tourist itinerary of cultural and historic heritage with pictures and maps; a full colour guide to finding your way to and around the villas and local area; and a essential information pack with a helpful language guide. These documents complement our existing information but will only be available to guests who book and pay a deposit. It is hoped that some translated versions will become available in the early part of 2010, depending on need. |
28/11/2009 |
18
New Flight Routes to Trapani for 2010 Ryanair announce 18 more European routes to Trapani - taking the total to 32! Alitalia also modify schedules into Palermo from Rome. We're taking a booking every week for next year, so don't delay! |
17/11/2009 |
Veranda
& Kitchen Extension Plans Taking Shape After much discussion and deliberation, we've decided on plans to extend Villa Anna in the new year. Click here to see sketches of the proposed changes. If approved by the Council, works will be finished by the end of March ready for the 2010 season. |
| 16/11/2009 |
New
Mobile Web Site Launched |
12/11/2009 |
Our
Last Guests of the 2009 Season Arrive Our final guests of the year arrive from Malta. The season is over and it's been an incredibly busy year! We've begun taking bookings for next year already and are introducing improved levels of inclusive service for the 2010 season. |
| 05/11/2009 |
6
Fully Translated European Sites Launched After manual translation of the French and Italian pages, we used Google to help us translate the remaining sites into basic Swedish, Dutch, German and Maltese. We have also translated our 'How to Book' and prices documents in to these 7 languages. Throughout 2010, the number of translated documents will increase. |
| 07/10/2009 |
More
Positive Feedback from Guests Our 81st and 82nd guests this year send us positive feedback and let us know that we are getting it right! |
| 03/10/2009 |
Site
Translations Begins... Framework of pages and navigation for translated sites complete and tested. This time it's a selection of Roger Moore 007 movies that play in the background while the clicking, typing and masterwork is done... And drags on.... (09/10/2009) 108 of the 130 foreign language pages now translated, link-checked and 'alt-tagged'. Only 30 pages left... There's only so much of Roger Moore's eyebrows one person can take! |
| 24/09/2009 |
New
Website Goes Live We've done it! Fully rebuilt our website with improved navigation, legibility and content. Unlike the 2006 redesign, this site has been built from scratch. We've thought about what visitors want to read, tested it on a number of people and modified it after feedback. And we've also added a long needed search function! Farewell old site, you served us well... |
| 15/09/2009 |
We
Pledge to (Continue to) Reduce Our Carbon Footprint We signed up to the 10:10 campaign to reduce our carbon footprint by 10% in 2010. We have been planting trees on our land since 1975 and continue to do so, alongside reducing our CO2 footprint in everything we do. We decide to build this policy into our website redesign for all to see on our new Sustainability page. |
| 13/09/2009 |
Building
of New Website Starts After many weeks of scribbling on bits of paper and testing different styles of navigation we have finalised our Website Redesign. A fresh new look for 2010 and beyond is agreed with easier navigation, clearer text and a search function on every page. With the basic framework decided upon, we built the new page structure from scratch in one long, very tedious weekend while watching all four Die Hard movies and all three Back to the Future films... |
| 20/07/2009 |
Some
TLC For Our Website After two months of analysing our web traffic statistics we decide that an overhaul is long overdue (the last one was in 2006). Despite the site being available in 8 languages, we notice that two are never used (Portugese & Spanish) but we are getting a lot of visits from Malta. Overall traffic has increased tenfold as a result of advertising with Ryanair and we consider optimising the existing site, but decide that a fresh start is what is needed. While the existing site is gradually re-orientated away from a static source of information about the villas, towards one that is regularly updated and explains what a holiday in Western Sicily has to offer, we read many HTML web-building manuals. |
23/05/2009 |
Advertising
on RyanairVillas We decide to advertise with RyanairVillas and Euro Villas. Within hours, site traffic shoots through the roof and we are besieged with enquiries and bookings like never before! We revamp our contacts page and introduce a form to make it easier for guests to contact us from within our site. We set up auto replies and email on our mobiles to help us respond to enquiries within two hours. We translate the website into 7 other European languages |
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Copyright get2sicily 1991-2011
We are not responsible for the content or services provided by external websites.
We are not responsible for the content or services provided by external websites.