osie

Fair enough.. if it is only to secure the deposit.

Hi Quillan I was not questioning other payment methods.. cheque, cash etc.  I was just saying that I would not accept 3% of my work going to pay for having the use of a credit card, irrespective of my turnover.  If that was the case then I would not consider going down that path... On the other hand I was saying that for 0.5% I would have piece of mind as I prefer to inhibit human error as much as possible.. including the cash being nicked or falling out ones pocket.

those figures sound extortionate... I pay 0.45% + 5ct per transaction... okay there is the hire of the machine at 18€/month but I have read you can get a cheap one on ebay. I would not be happy to pay that sort of percentage for all the hard work it takes to run a hospitality business for very little service. In fact I think the odd euro for a card transaction is worth it as you have peace of mind that you have the money and not a cheque that bounces or that you have added up the cash wrong.. or a counterfeit 100€ note.

I did the same thing and the carrots stated to grow fins and a blow hole...  It didnt change the taste...

I stuff wire mesh in big holes and our neighbours put flour and cement down.. so that the cement solidifies in the stomach and kills them.. havent tried it myself...

Since we ended up with 2 cats I regularly see entrails on the mat outside and sometimes the mice run inside the house to escape the cats.  Nevertheless we are very happy with them... We had some poo and sounds in the roof and I believe it was due to bats rather than mice.... I sealed up any holes with foam and pebbles and it did the trick. When we have had a mouse or two I would look for any holes between the floor and wall and fill them in...  they occasionally make holes and I occasionally fill them in... The rat poison also works... I put a load down and after a few weeks all is good.... although not so good for the rat. The odd mouse I have seen in the house are these tiny round balls of fur... probably just getting away from the cats

In 2015 hotels will have to be handicap compliant so in a few years things might be looking up... Saying that, I quite agree that being compliant will have a negative impact for the hotellier.  I stayed in a hotel in Birmingham and I was put in a handicap room which was okay but did not do them any favours. We are with the hotels charme group.. they are actually quite good as a person came over to check the place out and the couple who run it stayed for the night in our best room incognito.  So, all accommodations should have been tested before they were allowed in.

If they dont take visa I am not sure what worth it has... sounds like a big upset http://www.izettle.com/blog

You probably should mention if you want an English speaking one or not... In my opinion if you want someone to do something for you in France they should live on your doorstep.. Bank Manager, accountant etc etc

The main cost is incurred with the external dial out... rather than having a handset in each room.  However, you are right... it is another nice to have which is utilised .1% of the time. Those in a palace probably dont count the sheets they use to wipe their bottoms but for the rest of the developed world it is yet another expense.

complete waste of money for us.. but nevertheless necessary... As we have only 7 rooms it is a smaller waste of money compared with those with more... I recall that 5* meant you need it in the bog too....

I put 2 signs up on the road and got the backing of the marie before doing so... they allowed me to put it there for free and I made sure it was sufficiently set back. I had another sign requested to be removed as it was more than 5 km from the hotel... actually, I dont think anyone was bothered but they have just done major road works where it was and it must have been in the way. btw: you can get cheap/free signs from vistaprint if you wait for there freebe offers.  Otherwise I have just been quoted 90€/m2 HT for printing on a metal board; extra if you want to add some metal supports. oh and.. I was told you can have a max of 4 signs with a max size allowance... I think 1m*1.5m....

The accrediting agent is atout-france.  I imagine it is a government body.  If you were to create an account you can see all the points necessary for the different stars or I might be about to download it if you are interested... the main things seem to be size of room, accessories (lamps, electrical points), appliances(phone, hair dryer, shoe shiner), public spaces(bar, salon).  Stuff like that. https://www.classement.atout-france.fr/accueil So, I have to admit that although the star rating does not mean much on weather you will like the hotel or not, it is a good indication of the size of your room and what amenities you can expect. btw: the new French system will mean nothing when the European one is finally put into place but one would hope that the European one will run along the same lines. btw: watch in the next few days as stars start dropping off of reservation systems like booking.com and hotel.com.

We have lots of people signing cheques and they always put the village where we are... so, I have to agree that the norm is where you are.

started as of 23rd July all hotels must reapply for their stars... 50% in our region have not bothered. It is also only france wide and apparently Europe will be doing the same in a year or two. ... we have been advised not to increase our star rating for that reason...no one would be willing to pay for it.

I guess it is the same if you have 2 telephone lines or chat with someone who turns up while someone else is on the phone upstairs taking a booking. The more booking facilities you have the more chances there is of a double booking. You need to hinder it happening as much as possible and if it happens figure something out. What you dont want is to reduce your turnover due to unlikely events therefore you need a setup to make it fairly unlikely that it could happen.

I think it is the case that there are tools (i.e. booking.com )out there if you wish to utilize them and if you think they can be tweaked to work for you. The points mentioned are all valid but are the challenges which could be overcome, tolerated, utilised. I would say that the more fingers you have in the pot, the more likely you are to get some honey.. or mulberry jam. Personally, I see nothing wrong with the service they offer; A competent software, available and understanding helpdesk.  They have put in some effort on my behalf and they get a fair bit in return... but then so do I.

Cheers Norman... you are welcome any time...  We regularly get told it is the best food they have had in France and for a brit cook I find it had to justify ;-) [quote user="NormanH"]I have to say that your place looks wonderful osie, in exactly my favourite bit of France [:D] [/quote]

at first glance, free and easy to use sounds quite inviting....

I had a very quick look and a few thoughts came to mind... 1) I have seen that booking.com has a new option 'book without a credit card'... so it may be possible. 2) SEO is something I have been playing at albeit not very professional..  a) as Quillan suggested maybe Pézenas  should be in your title, rather than you B&B name  b) 'bed and breakfast' works well but B&B does not do you any favours if you google it.  c) You dont have a meta keyword  d) Your h1 should be your promotional keywords  d) Although the text on your home page reads well it may need a bit of tinkering to support you promotional keywords n.b. I may be talking rubbish.. so best talk to others in the know. 3) You site had been done professionally so why not have a bit of sql, a web page for dates maintenance, and a calendar to show what is available. You could then have a 'reserve now' button. 4) Do you have your b&B advertised in local business google.. its free and lots of others in Pézenas do. 5) How about in google maps. 6) How about translated in French Osie

With the amount of things that can go wrong round here I prefer not to touch anything until there are signs of trouble ahead... however it would be good to know the options ahead of time to be implemented in case such trouble shows its head.

We just had our pool DASS tested and for the first time it was perfect!! Last year I used just chlor lent tablets and the CYA was already too high by August.  This year I didnt need to add any more CYA so it was just as teapot said... javel 9.6 and HCl to balance it all out; couldn't be easier.... fingers crossed. ohh.. and I use to have a salt chlorinator but binned it when the cell broke... bloody nightmare.

[quote user="Markradland"]I bought the devolo dlan 200 AV wireless N starter kit. Despite the reviews about the product which say it is easy to set up, it was a nightmare. The wireless is very effective but it has taken me hours to get the laptop to accept the code from the product. I have given up with my phone. The on-line handbook is 57 pages of gobblygook (to me). Mark [/quote] I am surprised... With the 200 series  there is a cockpit cd or download from website... Install the cd, plug in the device in a wall, the other in the computer with the installed software.  All worked for me. Plug and play.

devolo 100bps /200mps (ehternet) or wifi... all work well... pixmania and rue de commerce sell them for example

If it didn't work, I wonder what would happen if you mix the lot with a few eggs and pop it in the oven for 30mins... Maybe a work or art.