What is https://www.gotocanarias.com?

This portal is a webpage that allows owners to administrate their vacation property. This portal is only for bungalows that are part of the complex 'GotoCanarias'. At the same time, the goal is to create a gateway for returning visitors, and to establish a community of owners who jointly overcome the problems of touristic rentals. Also, it is important to stand out against the competition - a central website for a complex with the possibility to make bookings directly with the owners does not exist yet.

Is this website a channel manager?

No. A Channel Manager also offers (for a fee) to publish the vacation property on other sites. Maspalomas-lago.eu is a preliminary stage of a Channel Manager - it synchronizes the booking data with other websites and can serve as a primary property management for a vacation property. The disadvantage is that all information must be entered at the desired portals with an account by the owner himself. The advantage is that this website is much cheaper (60€/year) than a Channel Manager. While with a Channel Manager the portals where the property is published are often predefined, with this system a homeowner can make his own selection and also customize the information on the different portals. In addition, there are some features (automated notification of the cleaning staff, graphical overviews and booking option) that we have developed based on our practical experience.

Can I win customers with https://www.gotocanarias.com?

The portal is divided into two sections: The backend, where information about the bungalow can be entered, booking data can be retrieved and other services for owners can be accessed. The second area is public and can be used by customers to place a booking. An example of the public area of a bungalow can be found here. The displayed information can be edited and changed at any time in the backend.

This website cannot compete with the big websites like AIRBNB or BOOKING at the moment. The customers for their vacation homes will still be generated through these websites. However, maspalomas-lago.eu can take care of the bookings in an automated way (see the question What features does https://www.gotocanarias.com offer?). However, over time and with several participating owners, this website can rise in the ranking of Google search results and also generate its own customers.

What features does https://www.gotocanarias.com offer?

The most important functions at a glance:

• Automated synchronization of bookings with other websites (airbnb, fewo-direkt, etc.)
• Own webpage per bungalow with booking option
• Customers can also book with their cell phone thanks to mobile view
• trilingual website (es, en, de); further languages planned
• Automatic sending of reminder SMS to cleaning staff
• Resumen de los ingresos mensuales y de la ocupación de la propiedad
• Secure storage of all booking data
• Practical form to request guest information for the Policia Nacional
• The developer of this webpage is also homeowner and can quickly adapt the system to new requirements
• Exchange with other owners

Is https://www.gotocanarias.com safe?

The website is subject to continuous technical development and offers, among other things, SSL encryption and data protection-compliant handling of personal data and passwords.

Who runs this website?

My name is Manuel Schmitt, I am also the owner of a bungalow in GotoCanarias since 2019. I live in Germany and work - among other things - as a web developer. I have been using my system for two of my vacation properties for a while now. With this webportal I wanted to offer a way to simplify renting a vacation property to the community of GotoCanarias and at the same time further develop my system.

Does it cost me anything to use this site?

Running this site generates server costs, programming and maintenance is time consuming and sending the reminder SMS costs money. Nevertheless, I do not want to earn from this site, but only minimize the costs. Therefore I have set a contribution towards expenses per bungalow of 5 EUR per month (60 EUR per year). The contribution is only due when the bungalow is published, the registration and login itself is free, so that owners can have a closer look at the system before they make a decision.

How is the payment transaction with the customers handled?

This portal does not handle payment transactions on behalf of the owner - as other portals do - but leaves this step to the owners themselves. This procedure has tax reasons, since a website in Spain is required to forward the payment data to the tax office as well. If a booking is made through https://www.gotocanarias.com, the owner will be notified by email and can then contact the customer and provide them with the terms and conditions. Payment terms, advance payments, deposits and refunds are negotiated directly between the customer and the owner and is not part of the service provided by https://www.gotocanarias.com .

I own a bungalow. How can I join?

Since the owner area is not open to the public, registration is only possible by invitation. This will be sent by email. If you own a bungalow in GotoCanarias and are interested in the portal, send an email to admin@maspalomas-lago.eu.