lenny

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to respond to our posting re Marketing a Gite. Wishing all our fellow gite owners a good season in 2009. Lenny.

Hi Callie, Clair, Ian, Nimportequoi and Teapot, Thanks so much for all the excellent advice and suggestions. With your comments in mind we are going to do a lot more research on the pros and cons of a good number of the various website advertisers on offer. We currently advertise with French Connections (they had a good offer on when we joined), but we have had no interest via this site. We do realise that the lack of interest so far (since Sep.08) may, to a large extent, be due to the credit crunch. If this is the case we suspect that the British holidaymaker may delay booking anything in the euro-zone until the pound strengthens. Happy New Year to All Forum Readers, Lenny P.S. Our part of the Charente is under several inches of snow at the moment. Not exactly what I envisaged when I was watching lovely sunny episodes of 'A Place in the Sun' on British TV a couple of years ago. Having said that we live in an unbelievably beautiful part of France, so not complaining.

We have recently completed the renovation of a typical Charentaise barn which we now hope to rent out as a gite. We would really appreciate any advice or suggestions on the marketing of our gite via an internet site. Can anyone recommend any of the major web based companies, for example, Brittany Ferries, Gites de France or French Connections etc., ? Also, any good, but not too expensive, magazine or newspaper advertising which may be appropriate. We do not have a pool and the layout and style of the accommodation makes it unsuitable for children under 12 years. Our aim is to attract the slightly more mature holiday-maker (any nationality), who is looking for a peaceful and relaxing break in a rural countryside setting. We have our own website. We would be grateful for any comments/advice.