Babeth

Thanks again, Chiefluvvie, you have indeed clarified the situation for me regarding the possibility of using a mobile with mobicarte (which is what we will pursue I think) but I'm just reporting what our local tourist office person told me for 3* rating in our area.  I did take a quick peak last night at Clevacances and GDF criteria and noted that they have much more flexible/logical wording of the requirement for a telephone (either fixed or mobile) and that in exceptional cases (GDF) a phone may not be provided but this will be advised to the client on booking. Thanks for all your input... we'll see how it goes.

Not confused... had understood exactly what you've explained, just not happy to have to do this (as is the case with a number of other property owners of all nationalities in the same area!) and wanting to find the most cost-effective way round it.  The telephone issue is a new one - ie, when we were inspected the last time round, it was NOT a requirement to have either landline or mobile available for clients but now it is (for 3* properties).  You're right that a mobile telephone might be acceptable but when I went and talked to the local tourist office person responsible for this, I was told that the phone option was definitely not optional but that if the inspector decided our property fulfilled enough of the 3* criteria then a mobile (as you've described) might be allowed. Unfortunately our local agent is not currently willing to be involved in providing the phone or billing after the stay - hence why we need to do some negotiating (or find another agent, which we don't really want to do).  However, your option of mobile phone and rechargeable card is probably the easiest to implement - so thank you for that recommendation! I'll be interested to see how this reclassification process is rolled out nationally and also how Gites de France and CleVacances approach the matter, as it's been made clear to us that tourist offices/mairies/prefectures etc will be adopting the same criteria even though they might be using different private companies to carry out the inspections and classifications.  The reason why we're having to get this sorted now is that if we wait until nearer the July 2012 deadline we will probably not be able to arrange an inspection in time (and in particular to coincide with our own site visits). However, I'd be interested to know for sure if you find that GDF and CleVacances have different requirements/criteria for the new classification as that's definitely not what is being "sold" to property owners (and agencies) in our locality.    

We're registered with the local tourist office and are promoted via their brochures and website (very effective for bookings) as well as a local agency which handles all the practical administrative side of bookings (deposits, keys etc) and which also "sells" us via their own rental website. If we wish to retain our 3* classification currently awarded by the Mairie (and a pre-requisite if we want to continue as a 3* on the tourist office site), we have to get our property inspected.  The process requires a self-evaluation (auto-diagnostic) which includes some  new requirements, including the requirement of a landline.  The inspection costs 100 euros. Actual wording: mise a disposition d'un telephone a l'interieur du logement avec, au besoin, un systeme de facturation correspondant a la periode de location. Precisions: telephone portable a carte mis a disposition dans le logement tolere. (sorry no accents... haven't worked out how to do that on this post!). So we could possibly follow your example with mobiles and mobicartes - just need to find a way round the security deposit aspect, as our agent not keen to do this for us because they are against the new classification process. We challenged this requirement with the tourist office but were told that it was an "incontournable" but that if we were awarded enough points through all the other criteria, then a mobile might be tolerated rather than us having to go down the landline route.  It would appear that a lot of property owners have also challenged the phone requirement with the TO but because it's a national initiative, there cannot be local differences.  Our tourist authorities are using the UDOTSI de Haute Savoie as the accredited inspection organisation (UDOTSI = Union Departementale d'Offices de Tourisme et de Syndicats d'Initiative).  For info, if you want to be 2* rated then you have to be 300 m away from a public phone box to get the rating and if you want to be 4* rated, then you have to offer WiFi.  There are other requirements, most of which we already have so not a problem, as well as a requirement to point out how guests can reduce their impact on the environment and a commitment to installing energy or water-saving devices where appropriate. I presume that if you are marketed through Gites de France and Cle Vacances, you may have different criteria requirements, but this is for the official star rating as promoted by local and national tourism authorities. It's just a pain really, as I would imagine that the majority of guests have their own (indeed several) mobiles and do not require something more permanent on-site, and it's an expense that will not necessarily bring us - or indeed our guests - any great benefit.  We're also concerned about the potential for abuse, although either a security deposit or the installation of a landline with FREE or similar provider offering free phone calls should reduce that.  Guess we have to start negotiating with our local agent OR look at other marketing such as Cle Vacances.

Thanks for info about Free... will look into that.  We're UK-resident property owners, so it's sometimes a bit harder to get things sorted at "arms length".  Unfortunately our agent who handles the bookings (eg, security deposits, keys etc) is not prepared to get involved in the billing of telephone calls etc as they're against the new classification process (or rather the new requirements)! 

Please does anyone have suggestions of how to comply with new requirement for 3* properties to have a landline available (in the property) for guests (with ability to bill any calls) - mobile might be acceptable. We have a property currently classified 3* which we want to retain but we are reluctant to have to go to the expense of installing and keeping a landline service going for minimum obvious return. Up to now I've costed a broadband/phone package that would cost 700 euros + per annum. Any recommendations would be gratefully received!!