Join Hideaway Portugal

Versão em português

If you have a charming property and would like to join Hideaway Portugal, please contact us or register here. Please note that all properties must fit our criteria (see below) and be approved by us before becoming part of Hideaway Portugal.

In 2013, the subscription is €180 for 12 months. We also offer a starting 3 month-trial for €60. We do not receive commissions, as bookings are direct between traveller and owner.

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1. Our Marketing 

• Hideaway Portugal receives over 7,500 visits and 49,000 page views per month.
• Properties average 82 page views (some exceed 300) and 5 enquiries per month.
• According to owners, booking conversion rates are higher than via large international websites.
• Most bookings exceed 5 nights.
• Most visitors to Hideaway Portugal are from the UK, Ireland, Portugal, Netherlands, Scandinavia, USA, Belgium, France, Germany and Brazil.
  
• We have a folllowing of over 12,000 fans on our facebook page and we are active in online marketing. This includes key word and search engine optimisation, being active in social media and forums, blogs and relevant websites. We focus on specialist travel and lifestyle media (relating to charming places, authentic destinations, wellness, nature, culture, outdoor sporting pursuits). We partner with relevant special-interest groups and individuals (photography, culture, walking holidays, rural tourism, history) and organisations (prestigious universities, business schools). Our focus is on the north European and North American markets. We work year-round to market ourselves, with additional advertising in periods when bookings are being made for the Spring and Summer.
• We attract the right sort of visitors for you- those who enjoy the great outdoors, sporting pursuits, history, local culture and getting off the beaten track. Our users are well-travelled and like visiting southern Europe for its good weather, beautiful scenery, regional cuisine and local traditions. They visit places such as the south of France, Italy, the Alps. They avoid areas of mass-tourism and package holidays. Well-educated professionals, they have high disposable incomes, lead busy lives and are in search of somewhere to unwind for a week, surrounded by beautiful scenery. They specifically come to us for our specialized focus on charming and unspoilt places in Portugal. 
• We choose each property carefully and limit our selection. This maintains high standards, a specialist focus and makes it easier for users to find the right places.

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2. Our Focus

Based in Portugal, we select charming holiday homes, B&Bs and boutique hotels in beautiful and authentic areas of the country.

Our focus is on the great outdoors, places off the beaten track, away from the madding crowds. Areas great for outdoor sporting and leisure pursuits, on land and sea. We also love historic quarters, in towns like Lisbon and Porto. Our collection of hideaway properties includes old farm estates, vineyard stays, country cottages, yurts, tipis, manor houses, secluded villas, designer homes and historic apartments. 

Hideaway Portugal is aimed at people who enjoy holidays in other scenic and charming places, such as the south of France, Tuscany and the Alps. 

Things that we really like are:

• Farm estates, country homes, vineyards, manor houses, secluded villas, designer homes, historic buildings, glamping.
• Properties with character, comfort, space and privacy.
• Ideal as a hideaway, to escape, unwind, disconnect.
• Beautiful, tranquil, natural landscapes, undiscovered and unspoilt.
• Proximity to nature-based activities and outdoor sporting pursuits- on water and land.
• Authentic areas, the real Portugal, rural traditions, historic sights.
• Friendly owners, who take pride in their property and are experts on the local area.
• Good value, honesty, helpfulness.
• Places with repeat business and excellent reviews.

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3. We're selective and look for a certain type of property 

Recommended by us, travellers enquire and book direct with trusted owners for savings and valuable local insights.

As local experts for Portugal, we're based here, visit the regions and properties and get to talk to and meet owners and managers. All of this helps us recommend with good judgement. Our golden rule is that we only list places that we love ourselves and which we are proud to recommend to others, including our close friends and family. We want to help travellers avoid the risks of using big international websites and reservation systems which tend to show a large list of everything available, without picking out the best areas and properties.

First, we select beautiful, authentic and interesting locations, then we find charming properties within these areas. This double filter- first location, then property- hopefully means that we choose well for users of our website.

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4. Your property page

When we list a new property on our site, we take our time (about 3 hours) to create a high-quality and comprehensive property page in native English for you. Before publishing, it is approved by you and we make any necessary changes. This process saves you time and maintains the editorial style and content that our users find useful. These pages can be updated later by owners, via an owner login, for things like availability, prices and any new information.

These  are the features of property pages:

• A clean, clear, intuitive design. To see an example published property page, click here.
  
• Sections about the property, local area, activities and more.
• A photographic section at the beginning to give a clear first impression.
• A secure owner account to update property details, see enquiries, page views, add new properties, record reservations.
• Price table, availability chart, Google map locator, distance chart, contact form for direct enquiries.
• Guest book comments, an optional owner profile.
• Multiple ways to be picked up in advanced search.
• Tagging of key words to be picked up in search engines such as Google.

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5. A website which is attractive, local and easy to use

• Our website reflects the most beautiful parts of Portugal through photographs and descriptive sections, including write-ups on each of the 13 regions. Along with charming properties, we showcase the great outdoors, sporting pursuits, local traditions and hideaway places, things which we're passionate about and which make Portugal a special place to live in and visit.
• We're not a big volume-driven generic company, based abroad, listing every property that applies.
• We're based here, know the areas we cover and choose special places for visitors. We're someone you can trust. We work in close partnership with our clients and are pro-active in marketing and representing their properties. You'll enjoy working with us. To read more about our background and connection to Portugal click here.
• Avoided are advertising banners, confusing layouts and garish colours. Our approach is more natural and personal, less mass market.
• We make it easy to find properties for users, limiting them in number, dividing them into natural regions and including useful search features. We're not like the websites that list thousands of properties, which overwhelm users with long listings. With us, users can also easily register new traveller accounts to save favourite properties, view enquiries and more.   
   

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We hope you're interested.

Please contact us or register here.