Regarding HomeAway (who took over OwnersDirect) TripAdvisor (who took over HolidayLettings) - we used to be very happy advertising our holiday villa with them. We paid an annual fee of a few hundred pounds and all was good, we accepted many bookings and dealt direct with our guests, many of whom then became "repeaters" and chose to book direct with us in subsequent years.
Since the takeovers, in my opinion (but do take a look at TrustPilot for a wider view), the situation has become dire for guests & owners alike. Instead of charging us, the owners, a fee that we were happy with they now typically add on £250 for a fortnight booking for our villa *for which which the guest bears the cost*.
The worst thing though is that they prevent any direct phone communication between owner and guest until the guest has actually booked & paid money over their money to HomeAway / TripAdvisor. We are naturally very uncomfortable with this since we like to chat to prospective guests, help them make a final decision and answer any queries they have.
If you so much as try to share a phone number or email address using their mandatory portal they allow the message to be sent but replace the text you want with "XXXX" - so meaningless to the poor guest ! We are eventually allowed to communicate direct with guests only when HomeAWay / TA have the money off the guest. In the case of TA it's truly frustrating as they forbid direct communication between owner and guest until the balance is paid eight weeks before the trip. That means, for many months, we and the guests are in the terribly frustrating position of not being able to "chat" and offer the personal service we have gained our reputation on. Some guests are savvy and manage to find us on places like LnkedIn or Instagram, so there are ways around HA & TA's greed!
That all said we're still on HA & TA as it costs us nothing to be listed. We much preferred the old tried and trusted system whereby we paid an annual listing fee and dealt direct with guests who paid the true rental cost, not a hugely inflated one. We still take the odd booking here & there from HA /TA which invariably translate to repeat direct bookings the following year.
Cheers
James