Julie Coote

LAST EDITED ON 01-Mar-04 AT 08:41 PM (GMT) Absolutely standard though you should have a booking form with terms and conditions which you are happy with and sign. We ask for 25% deposit on booking and balance +150 for security deposit 8 weeks before arrival - and if the booking is made less than 8 weeks to the date of arrival then whole lot is required at once. how else is an owner to know that he should hold it for you and not offer it to anyone else. As the years go by customers are backing out much more often after saying they wish to book - they have more choice available to them now. The risk to you is that if it's a one month booking and you don't like the place then you are a bit stuck as you've already paid. At this time of year you could probably book and pay for just the 2 weeks and take a risk that they will let the place go to someone else for the second two weeks - you'll be bound to find somewhere else with availability for your second two weeks tho' it might be a hassle changing - take some phone numbers with you but most people will not be fully booked for March /April Julie

I can't remember the detail of ours but the public liability part covered us for an enormous amount. Axa came and looked at our properties before insuring them and I am pleased they did as there can be no mistake about what they took on and that we let to cusomers etc. I remember that they refused to insure our small property against theft as we had no shutters on the windows - but I did not mind that and we do not leave valuables in there over the winter. Julie

Why don't you use the babelfish translation site to translate some English ones you formulate for yourself. I expect I will have to do that if we get any French bookings. Have you got bookings from a French family yet? In my experience (5 seasons)this has never happened, but then all our advertising is in English. I can email you a copy of our english booking conditions if you want - I think they sound extraordinarily stringent but they are based on what Chez Nous originally suggested, along with our own variations. Julie