catherined

He was in England actually- most of our tenants come through English websites. No, I find the best way to deal with that kind of prson is to really annoy them by totally ignoring them. It deflates their exagerated sense of self-importance.

I agree, there's no excuse for the abusive client who thinks they're doing you a favour by contacting you. We learnt that the hard way last year. We gave someone an early booking discount- nice to know there's some money coming in- but when he didn't pay the deposit or answer any of my e-mails, I cancelled the booking and gave the weeks to someone else (at a higher price). Then of course he got on his high horse and gave me grief over the phone, threatened to sue- (he said he was a lawyer- so he should have known that no contract, no deposit, no money no case)and took a few weeks to go away. He claimed it was our fault he was now too late to get an early booking discount from anyone else!

[quote user="hastobe"] I would be far happier to arrive at a gite and see a bookcase full of books!   [/quote] Our book collection in France is growing- books travel over with us, and on the way back- their place in the suitcase is filled with local goodies! And of course I leave the odd copy of my own books lying about in the desperate hope that they will be 'discovered' by some huge international publisher who'll give me loads of money so I can afford to spend much more time in France!!    

The feedback is a great idea- it's one of the things that really sold rental systems to me. (I've used it to book my own holidays) After each guest stays at the house they are sent an e-mail to submit a review. It can only be filled in by someone who has booked and paid for their rental through the system, so there's no way that the owner can 'boost' their feedback by writing their own reviews! As to the telly, most guests have commented (mainly positively) on the lack of TV in our guestbook and they all say it forced them to make more of an effort to get out and about and plan their holiday. (but maybe having booked knowing there wasn't one they were more likely to do that anyway!) Personally I love the month we stay there ourselves without tv, the kids turn into completely different people!! And the moment you offer the option of a tv, people will take it- they'd be too afraid not to....just in case....and they might not be getting full value without it... I have considered putting in an unconnected tv, just for dvd's and videos, but I've resisted so far. I know it can be handy if you've got young kids and a hangover and you want an extra hour or two in bed....

Anyone know if there's an easy way to register for this- (eg online)- or do yo have to go in person to your local hotel des impots? We're in the Bergerac/ 24 region. Thanks [:)] c

[quote user="TheWalkingDude"]Frankly we don't want to attract 'the wrong sort' with low prices anyway…... Union Jack shorts, tattooed beer bellies and shaven heads are not for us (and that is to say nothing of the men)..... [/quote]   One easy way to weed out that crowd- don't provide a telly! It's worked really well for us. It's definitely lost us some rentals, (example: 'we woudl really like to rent your house but is is there any way you can manage to get in english television for us because we have two children aged 9 and ten and there will be nothing for them to do all week if we don't have a television') but we've been happy with the guests we've got. And yes, I have reduced prices in the last few weeks and got two lovely young couples, who wouldn't have been able to afford the house otherwise, and may return in later years when they have kids, or who may tell their friends that the area is worth visiting. We leave free postcards, calendar magnets etc in the house for guests to take, so their very presence is a marketing opportunity. And again, I go back to my point about empty houses- they do nothing for the local economy.    

Yes, I started this thread, because things were so quiet. But now I'm fully booked thanks to some heavy, and some moderate discounting. I'm with rental systems: http://www.rentalsystems.com/default.asp?sag=20480B&sc=textlink who take 10% but you can price up for that, and its well worth it because they take credit/ debit  cards for you and automate the whole thing. It meant I was able to take a booking on thursday last for arrival that Saturday, and again this morning for arrival this sat. I did have to discount, but I made a small profit, managed to pay my staff locally who wouldn't have got anything if the house was empty, and I'm sending touristes into the village to spend money which wouldn't have been spent there otherwise. To a degree, I think its all very well having a second home/ investment property, but you do have a certain responsibility to a region if you buy up a house and leave it empty most of the year. We bought because we absolutely love the area, so we want to be able to put something back into the local economy. For people who may not think like that, remember- the more popular/ prosperous an area becomes, the more your 'investment' is worth in the long term!

Yeah.... I've just had two of those 'What's the best price you can offer on...?' enquiries. Grr.

I'll introduce myself before I jump in here. We bough a property in teh Dordogne 3 years ago, and to afford it we let it out in Summer. We installed a salt pool and an automatic ph etc to make it easy to handle for tenants and for whoever is looking after the pool for us. After a few problems last year I was doing some research on the web and found the following http://www.cleanerpools.net/slimebag.html   (Mods this is not advertising- I have tried to buy one of these on line but you have to jump through so many hoops to get it sent to Europe that I gave up!) It seems to be a solution to sending disposing of backwash water (although we have a cartridge filter and I was looking at it more as a way of improving the quality of the water and increasing the life of my filter.) I'd value your opinion and if you think it's a good idea I might try harder to get hold of one. (or maybe some enterprising pool supplier in Europe will look for a dealership in them!)  

I spoke too soon! I've just got a provisional booking for May! LAte booking discount must be working!

We've a gite in the Dordogne near Bergerac. The peak months have sold no problem, but the 'shoulder'- may june,sep aren't budging at all. Is anyone else finding this?