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Alaister Sawday


Aly

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We were assessed & rejected by Sawdays 7 years ago in favour of a French owned B&B & a Brit owned B&B which served evening meals.  I see the French lady who was accepted, regularly & despite paying a lot (approx 1000euros) to be included she has had a handful of enquiries & even less bookings in the last 6 years, so think we are glad we didn't go the Sawday route....needless to say the Brit owned |B&B stopped doing evening meals a year later (the business is now for sale )& my French friend has opted out for the next 2 years.  We are now on Trip Advisor which is becoming increasingly popular, is free once you get a review, & is bringing us business....  I now use it extensively myself when booking our holidays.  I understand from other friends that Facebook is starting to prove popular also - everyone now wants reviews.
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We know someone whose chambre d'hotes has been in the Sawday guide for years. It's very expensive to advertise with them, but she finds it's worth every euro. She's also with Fleurs de Soleil, and of course with the local tourist board. It's a fairly upmarket place, extremely comfortable, and at the top end of what we would pay, although French friends assure me that's a good price for what she supplies. We've stayed with them a few times and often can't get in when we'd like to stay there again. She and her husband have bought another house a couple of houses away and are turning that into a gite; she is also planning to have the gite in the Sawday guide.

Another place we used to stay at before we bought was also with Sawday; this was again a chambre d'hotes, and they reckoned they would have found it hard to carry on without visitors who found them through Sawday guides.

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A lot probably depends on your market & the area.  Always used Sawdays in the past for our own travels, but think that maybe the region we are in is not one that is popular with the high end British market - we like to feel we are upper middle range.  My colleague in the village is also in Bienvenue au Chateau, Guide Michelin etc & her prices are more than 20euros/night higher than ours, but she is not as busy as we are.  OK our revenue may be the same at the end of the year, but whereas we have nearly 100% occupancy with longer stay guests for the peak months July-Sept she always has availability & mainly 1 nighters.  During the off season she is with Wonderbox & Smartbox which bring in a lot of 1 night weekenders, but it is very hard work especially as she has to provide a romantic evening meal as part of the package for which she then gives the company 30% of her takings.  (She is also thinking of dropping them this year as her advertising budget is horrific.)  For us this is not an option as the cost of heating, food & laundry in our price range would be more than the room rate..... so we have very few guests during the winter months & can prepare ourselves for the 6 months when we are rushed off our feet.   

 

Maybe we have been at it too long after 8 years, but we hope we have reached a reasonable level of repeat bookings from a & wide range of international advertising to keep us going a bit longer.  Since leaving GdF - who we were also paying an extortionate tarif - we have had far more enquiries from a mixed range of clients looking for something with 'wow factor' that is slightly more expensive than their budget but that offers value for money & where they feel at home enough to return.   Some of the Sawday recommendations can be a bit over the top with overpowering hosts who never make you feel relaxed enough to unwind - have stayed in a few ourselves over the years......... when accepting non-French owners they do tend to favour those who are a bit 'quirky'...... we were too business-like & maybe boring for them to accept, but so long as our guests appreciate our welcome & laid-back 'welcome to our home' approach, we are content.  Have to confess though that if I was looking for something in a tourist region I did not know, I would first look at Sawday, then see what reviews were on Trip Advisor before I booked - some very well known places in the Sawday book have been left appalling comments on TA...

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Betoulle I agree with you.

"Some of the Sawday recommendations can be a bit over the top with

overpowering hosts who never make you feel relaxed enough to unwind -

have stayed in a few ourselves over the years......... when accepting

non-French owners they do tend to favour those who are a bit

'quirky'...... "I think that is true in the U.K. We stayed in a delightful one in West Wales, lovely owners, very comfortable, rambling old  house, massive bedroom and views to die for. Another one in Yorkshire where we stayed a few weeks later was a converted barn, think here "Country Living". It was run by  "posh" owners, the bed was not made or even tidied on the second day and it was expensive for a miniscule room. A friend stayed at another U.K. one where the owner had strings of washing (undies!) festooned on the landing.

"we were too business-like & maybe boring for them to

accept, but so long as our guests appreciate our welcome & laid-back

'welcome to our home' approach, we are content.  Have to confess though

that if I was looking for something in a tourist region I did not know,

I would first look at Sawday, then see what reviews were on Trip

Advisor before I booked - some very well known places in the Sawday book

have been left appalling comments on TA..."

I stayed at another in northern France which was delightful, nice evening meal and breakfast plus very pleasant french owners but the bedroom was cramped and shower room like a cupboard.

So IMHO Sawdays are not always the best.

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We have been approached as well. i found the people somewhat snooty or maybe it was just an atttitude problem. The cost is de trop and, if I remember rightly, by the time we had paid them we wouldn't appear in their guide for some 14 months.............so we said no thanks. Tripadvisor is the way to go, and it's free.

W
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Thanks Wilko.

So a client writes a review and gives the name and address of the gite. Then it is posted? Then do you subscribe and then write a description? Sorry, I'm still not absolutely clear how you get your description and photos on.
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I stay with you and have a great time. I go to T/A and where it says Write a Review, open that. I've just checked this and it doesn't work like the B&Bs reviews. At the bottom of the review page it say' s not found tell us more.I'd take it from there and see if you can get your gites posted on there via an independent guest

Whether this will work or not I don't know, you might have to pay...........greedy T/A.

Good luck Wilko
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Until I looked at this thread I had never heard of these guides.  Now that I have and I know that those included have to pay, I would not be interested in its opinions or use it to choose a holiday.  I don't know if I'm a typical potential customer or not though.
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Our hotel is in their guide and has been for quite a few years... Nearly all of our brit clientèle have come through them.  Having said that, we dont get many brits anyway.

Their Aveyron contact are a nice couple who live in the area.. its worth it to us as it brings in a sprinkling of business... the price is about 700 for 2 years (350/year).

having said that the price/client ratio is by far the best with tripadvisor as it is free and attacts lots of foreign potential.

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Well here goes

They apparently Do not want any british owned properties on their sight....OR LETS SAY take on any new ones....This was their announcement to us in 2009 but they made an appoointmment to inspect never the less because an ex inspector and Editor of the UK consumer association Good Food Guide saiid that we were perfect for the guide.

2 days before the inspection was due the inspector cancelled.

why.....BECAUSE this guide is ruled by the art of making money not by providing the best info.

I was blocked BY another B and B owner who is bigger.

I have friends who have a small vineyard and

chateau who have had the same problem.

We also know a newly appointed inspector who is sent out to everything and anything

and I know that they are accepting new Bristish owners

Well people should be aware

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We've used Sawday guides in Scotland, England and France over several years. None we've stayed with have had large businesses, and most have been with them for quite a few years. Everything claimed at properties we've stayed at was true, and some we've returned to several times. We've always been aware that inclusion in the guide is paid for, but as we've never been less than very satisfied, that's not a problem. Places we've stayed at from other guides or found on trawling the internet have been mixed; from a great place at Easter one year in the Tarn (British) to a rather grim place near Troyes, where there were notices everywhere, notably about not putting anything on the white bedcovers or stepping on to their white rugs! (French)

I also know a bit about Trip Advisor, and am aware that there's been a lot of disquiet about reviews put on there by friends and relations of owners; this follows threats of lawsuits by hotel owners, who found that negative reviews were harming their businesses, and wanted them removed. We were contacted very recently by a place in New Zealand that we stayed at about 5 years ago, asking if we would write a favourable review of them for Trip Advisor. We had a great stay with them and found them and their place delightful, but couldn't see how good a 5 year old review would be.

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Sorry I seem to be mixing this thread with Trip Advisor. I was hoping I was wrong but I think that Trip Advisor do not accept any newcomers now, at least with gites. I think that the only way to do it is to pay for Flipkey first. I took up a free trial with Flipkey for 3 months. When that came to an end I cancelled. The boss herself rang me up from the US and asked if I would like another 3 months trial. I took it and then thought I would pay up and join. But the first year's payment only covered me for a further six months. I was rather annoyed that the free trial wasn't a free trial at all and promptly cancelled. Since then I have been hounded to subscribe.

Does anybody know that it is the case that you can't get on Trip Advisor free anymore, at least with a gite?
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