Towel charges

[Clair]

I am considering a review of our all-inclusive prices for 2010. The bedding will still be included in the weekly tariff but I would provide the towels as an option.

The towel pack which is currently included consists of two mitts, a hand towel, a bath towel and a pool towel, with no change offered during the stay (there is a washing machine in the property).

Any opinions on how much to charge?

Or is this a wrong move?

[Benjamin]

Wrong move. It smacks a bit of Ryanair. You can't holiday without the towels and the extra space in your luggage will be welcomed by your guests.

[nectarine]

Clair, it would put me off as I would assume that towels were included, pretty much like you would expect in a B&B or hotel. If I saw a separate charge for the towels then I would wonder what else was excluded from the gite and which I might have to pay for upon arrival. With gite rental obviously location and price are the main attractions but also the more 'welcoming' the gite, e.g. welcome pack on arrival, etc., then the more attractive it will stand out amongst the competition.

[Clair]

Thanks for the comment, Benjamin.

That had been my point of view when I started a few years ago, but things have changed a bit since.

• The all-inclusive tariff was addressed mainly to the British market, but this has now totally dried up for me. My customers are mainly French and Belgians.

• Almost all the customers over the last three years have expressed their surprise to find bedding and towels included. In other words, they were expecting to have to bring their own.
• Even knowing that towels are included in the rental, almost all the customers also bring and use their own towels.
• I have looked on numerous French property websites and the
  average charge is around €10 per week for a mitt, a hand towel, a bath towel. When available, pool towels are charged separately.

[Steve]

Clair... I agree with your points of view, this being based on past experiences.

We actually only sell to the British market and have only ever offered linen & end of let cleans as an option. Take up on linen is around 75% of clients and cleans around 50%. Over the last two years we have had a pool but still don't offer towels as an option or as standard. Bookings are good, this year being the same number of weeks as last, which was a "record".

In our first three years with Gites we offered a welcome pack which was never verbally appreciated nor was it ever written about in our visitors book. So we stopped it and booking numbers never went down.. We decided that the quality of the Gites, our grounds, position etc were far more important than a bottle of Pineau etc and I believe our clients agree.

We get around 25% repeat bookings and as importantly around the value of a further one weeks rent from the linen & clean options. It is a business after all!

So, as regards the charges, they are 10€ a bed for linen( pillow cases, duvet cover, top & bottom sheet & 40€ for a standard clean.

Steve

Charente Maritime

[Owens88]

Towels and bed-linen are our ONLY add-ons, and that is because the mainlanders often prefer to bring their own.

 

 

[Clair]

Nectarine, the details I send contain a "what's included" list, so there are no nasty surprises on arrival.

The property is not a hotel although I have come to realise that a lot of British visitors expect a holiday rental to be like a hotel!

As I have not had any British enquiries for the last couple of years, where is the logic in continuing a policy which, a) does not benefit me the owner and b) is ignored by the majority of the paying visitors?

As an aside,

Like Steve, I always leave a basket of goodies, as well as a lot of basic items in what I call "the start-up pack".

Like Steve, I hardly ever get any thanks for them! They just scoff the lot and never ever think they should perhaps replace or replenish what they have used, be it sugar or cooking oil... They even knock on the door to ask for more toilet rolls! [:D]

It's not the € point of view, it's all accounted for one way or another anyway, but the lack of thanks is grating. But that's not the topic here!

[Clair]

Owens, may I ask how much you charge for sheets and towels? (by PM if you prefer)

For a family of 5 persons each using a set of two mitts (gants de toilette), a small towel, a bath towel and a pool towel, I have to do two

"wash-and-dry" loads (as well as the washing and ironing

of the bedding, which will still be included in the rental price.)

I am thinking €8 for a set, which would mean the same family would either bring their own (which most of them already do) or opt to pay an extra €40 over the rental price.

Too much?... Not enough?

[dave21478]

I charge extra for towels, but my clients are almost exclusively French and take-up on both towels and bedding is very, very low. I charge 10€ per person per week for the towels, which gets them a large bath towel, and two smaller ones. I dont do wash mitts as I personally find the thought of using other peoples ones a little off-putting, and I have never been asked for one yet.

The 10€ charge more than covers the costs financially, but the time and hassle involved in washing them annoys me. Fortunately, so far this season only 1 lot of guests has asked for towels. I think that for next season I will not advertise the service at all. Take-up is tiny, and to be honest, I very much doubt indeed that anyone would be swayed one way or another on whether to rent here by towel availability. Obviously, it woud be a different matter if clients were flying in, due to luggage restrictions.

Its a similar story with bedding. I charge 10€ per bed per week, which gets them pillow cases (choice of squares or the long "traversin" things) fitted sheet, and either a flat sheet to use with the provided blankets, or a duvet cover if they prefer a duvet. Again, take-up is very, very low indeed. I am happy to give the odd sheet or pillow case here or there as people often forget something, or bring items of the wrong size. I rarely charge for this though, as the extra work is minimal.

All beds get disposable mattress protectors as a matter of course.

[NormanH]

As an English man living in France, but who often visits other parts of the country, I can say categorically that I would never take a gîte that  didn't provide linen or towels.

It is a symptom of a 'penny-pinching' attitude that will show up in other things.

[Scooby]

I agree NormanH - for me a holiday is an escape from the laundry - I really wouldn't want the hassle of having to pack towels and sheets etc.  But maybe that's because we are English?

[NormanH]

And being handicapped I have to travel light..

[NormanH]

On the other hand I would not object to  an extra charge, provided that that was very clear.

[Clair]

[quote user="NormanH"]On the other hand I would not object to  an extra charge, provided that that was very clear.[/quote]

The option will be clearly stated.

Some call it penny-pinching, I call it a sensible business decision.

As most of the visitors already bring their own towels, they will not miss out and I expect to save on washing and drying.

[Cendrillon]

So long as it is clearly stated that's fine, anyone renting the gîte then knows what to expect from the outset.

Personally after a long journey I like to arrive and find the beds made and ready for use. I also appreciate bedding that matches or blends with the colour scheme of the room.

If people have to provide their own sheets it could be a problem to know whether their sheets will fit the beds, covers fit the duvets and pillow cases fit the pillows. Didn't someone on here recently say that her guests (from hell!) did not pay for sheets and did not bring any to use, she then had to wash all the bedding.[6]

Yes, all the niceties and frills might be expected by some but we are talking about self catering gîtes here and not  luxury hotels or B&Bs. There are luxury gîtes and they are priced accordingly.

[Polly]

I would say that what you offer depends on your market. French & Belgian clients expect linen & towels only as a priced option (and do not expect beds to be made up), whereas the Brits these days expect all-in especially as so many fly-drive (at least to SW France)

That's from my experience of managing second homes for a portfolio of clients of different nationalities since the early 1990s

For my holiday this Autumn, I have rented off a French owner who doesn't offer linen or towels, but takes my dogs with a smile. Last holiday I went for a British all-in deal - and ditto the dogs (but that's another thread and Clair doesn't agree with me there!)

[Quillan]

Does it not depend on the owner and what they feel comfortable in offering? People have the right to vote with their feet i.e. if they don't like this or they don't like that then they book elsewhere. Judging by how this season has shaped up even after the doom and gloom of the recession it seems just about everywhere is full till the end of September and in some cases beyond, well round here anyway, so people don't have a lot of choice.

To be honest you still get the bookings whatever you do. We don't take children, I hate the noisy little whatsits. I also don't take dogs, I have had too much trouble in the past. You don't know what people are bringing until they turn up, you only have their word for their dogs behavior. Neither of these have any detrimental effect on our business whatsoever if anything it helps as we have many people (particularly teachers, I wonder why [:D] ) who book with us because we offer a child free environment.

 

[mint]

[quote user="Quillan"]

To be honest you still get the bookings whatever you do. We don't take children, I hate the noisy little whatsits. I also don't take dogs, I have had too much trouble in the past. You don't know what people are bringing until they turn up, you only have their word for their dogs behavior. Neither of these have any detrimental effect on our business whatsoever if anything it helps as we have many people (particularly teachers, I wonder why [:D] ) who book with us because we offer a child free environment.

 

[/quote]

Oh, Quillan, I just love that last remark and it's made me chuckle!

[Judith]

[quote user="Cendrillon"]

but we are talking about self catering gîtes here and not  luxury hotels or B&Bs. There are luxury gîtes and they are priced accordingly.

[/quote]

Coming late to this, purely as a user, even in a self catering gite I would expect the beds made up and towels to be supplied.  Self catering  means to me doing your own cooking not your own washing - though I would expect to keep it clean and tidy, and happy to make beds daily.

I would use self catering so that I was freer than in an hotel for times and choice of eating, but would still expect the accommodation to have the necessities (eg sheets and towels).  Would always want to know that they were provided, and happy that they are not an extra, but charged in as part of the whole price.

I would not usually hire a gite which did not supply them, though we would expect to bring our own beach / pool towels, as I would not expect them to be supplied in a self catering place, only in an hotel.

[water rat]

Same here Quillan, we get lots of teachers and although we don't ban children we do discourage them. We  are surrounded by lots of water and it's always a worry. The parents are on holiday and seem to abandon all responsibility sometimes. We can't take dogs because we have too many free range poules, but have sometimes allowed the odd powder puff ,which our own dogs barely notice is here,but I always put away the best bed linen on these occasions. Invaribly ,the evidence is there that the dog has been on the bed.

[Quillan]

[quote user="water rat"]Same here Quillan, we get lots of teachers and although we don't ban children we do discourage them. We  are surrounded by lots of water and it's always a worry. The parents are on holiday and seem to abandon all responsibility sometimes. We can't take dogs because we have too many free range poules, but have sometimes allowed the odd powder puff ,which our own dogs barely notice is here,but I always put away the best bed linen on these occasions. Invaribly ,the evidence is there that the dog has been on the bed.[/quote]

EXACTLY the same here, water, chickens the lot. I could not have said it better.

[Clair]

[quote user="Judith"][Self catering  means to me doing your own cooking not your own washing [/quote]

Interesting point.

For me self-catering means a furnished (as in furniture) house.

As owners tried to distinguish themselves ( i.e. their property) from others, the "special touches" like supply of bedding and towel, bed-making, welcome basket, start-up packs, have gradually become the norm and the client is expecting them as part of the deal.

I understand the idea of "getting something for nothing".

It makes the clients feel pampered and welcome, but speaking as an owner, the extras I supply are costing me - be it €10 for the unlimited entrance to the lake (which would cost my visitors €5 a day), €2 for the bottle of local wine (€4.90 if they bought it), the jam, the loo rolls, the bin bags... - and all these are somehow included in the price, even if the client thinks he is getting them as a "special touch".

As an aside, I don't understand the logic of expecting bathroom towels in a gite but not pool towels. In my mind, if the property has a pool, a pool towel should be part and parcel of the 'towel pack", whether towels are included in the rental or an optional extra.

[Quillan]

The sad truth is you always get people abusing things be it a Gite or CDH and as I said in another thread all you can do is 'limit' the ability for them to do so. Dogs for example, I don't mind cleaning up after my own dog but I will be b@ggered if I will do it for somebody else's even though they tell you quite categorically they will clean up after them. If the owner has a dog then who do you think gets the blame when another guest steps in the sh#t.

The amount of times we have discovered guests 'sneaking out' with bathroom towels and use them as rugs for picnics or just beach towels is amazing even though we tell them we have beach towels to loan them FOC. When you have a Gite and are not there during there stay it must be a nightmare.

I understand where some of the posters arguing that towels should be provided are coming from but they in turn have to listen to the owners point of view. Unfortunately there are those that abuse the place and its not just one or two, its probably about 30% of the guests doing something that they would not dream of doing in their own home. They do things that quite frankly members would not believe unless they had a CDH or Gite themselves.

As for welcome packs etc well all very nice but as Clair says it comes at a price and although the guest is paying indirectly it does push the price of the room or gite up which can make you non competitive.

[Owens88]

[quote user="Clair"]Owens, may I ask how much you charge for sheets and towels? (by PM if you prefer)

For a family of 5 persons each using a set of two mitts (gants de toilette), a small towel, a bath towel and a pool towel, I have to do two "wash-and-dry" loads (as well as the washing and ironing of the bedding, which will still be included in the rental price.)
I am thinking €8 for a set, which would mean the same family would either bring their own (which most of them already do) or opt to pay an extra €40 over the rental price.
Too much?... Not enough?

[/quote]

 

We charge £7.50 or 11€ (yes I know that exchange rate needs to be reviewed !) per person. This includes towels and bed linen. If people book for a few weeks we give spares with no extra charge.  We offer a cot for free but no bedding for it (mums bring their own).

The pricing reflected the costs our original changeover person was charging us (rounded down for simplicity). We haven't increased it in many years. Probably making a loss on it somewhere now !

Hope that helps.

 

John

[Judith]

[quote user="Clair"][quote user="Judith"][Self catering  means to me doing your own cooking not your own washing [/quote]

Interesting point.

For me self-catering means a furnished (as in furniture) house.

As owners tried to distinguish themselves ( i.e. their property) from others, the "special touches" like supply of bedding and towel, bed-making, welcome basket, start-up packs, have gradually become the norm and the client is expecting them as part of the deal.

As an aside, I don't understand the logic of expecting bathroom towels in a gite but not pool towels. In my mind, if the property has a pool, a pool towel should be part and parcel of the 'towel pack", whether towels are included in the rental or an optional extra.

[/quote]

To me towels and bed linen are not "special touches" as I cannot do without them.    Welcome basket, start up packs etc, are not necessary, IF you know in advance.  And if provided, as with a rubbish bag, it is merely to "help" when first arrived, especially if late at night.  I would always expect to have supply the onward needs. 

As per the pool towels, it is unlikely we would ever hire a gite with a pool, but as I said, we would bring our own [pool towels] even if when in hotels they are supplied, as I find they are the best protection in the suitcase, using it as the outer wrapping, just in case the worst happens!.

But then, I suspect I am atypical in both my needs and requirements!