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Im thinking of giving up the gites.


dave21478
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Should be out partying tonight - typical isn't it, one of the best parties of the whole year and we're too cream crackered to go.  As least I've got this thread to keep me sane, puts it all in persepective..., it's now my 'Saturday Night Highlight'.  I agree Dave you should definately write the 'Alternative gite keepers guide to hospitality'!!!

Seen off last weeks guests at 10am, managed to get all 3 gites turned around by 4.30pm and last lot of new guests all in as of 1 hour ago.  All 3 families from last week left the gites pretty clean, I've started giving them ratings out of 10 and all 3 scored a 7 today.  Good changeover day for us.  This is our 3rd season/year running gites and we both said today "another 2 years of this and we're 'out of here"' - do you think you can get 'burnt out' running gites or do you ever get blasé to it all???

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Cos I check the e-mails last thing at night and sometimes 5 minutes in the office is the only time I get alone!!  When I'm really tired I can't always sleep.  2 days without meals now so I can behave like a proper person and go swimming later and go to bed at 11.00.  Bliss.
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dave21478, I would like to know how the dog is holding up so far. Can you teach her to bare her teeth now and then to those annoying humans or is she just too polite and consigned to her fate...?

Sometimes I'd like to just lie on the doorstep too but I have no chance...

My advice...? slap the darn spoilt kid anyway - go out with a smile on your face[:)]

I wonder if the parents of such brats realise just how many people want to lay one on their 'little darling'...[Www]

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Sweet17 - nice of you to care, but no chance of me going without food, EVER!  I love my food.  Sleep sometimes manage without, booze not bothered, but grub, got to eat.  However must admit that I never used to get cravings for junk food when I lived in UK.  Living here cooking 4 course meals most nights and having to eat it I just long for some fish and chips out of the paper or KFC.
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On a slightly more serious note, im a bit worried about the dog to be honest.

She is a female beauceron of unknown age and background. Abandoned and left to starve, I rescued her and have adopted her. She is the most gentle dog I have ever seen, but is very timid. She is the lowest of any pecking order (my sisters puppy steals her food, and she is frightened of my new kitten) She gets on perfectly with adults, but is nervous around children. She likes being stroked, but children dont stroke dogs, they touch them and prod them and talk to them, then have a habit of suddenly moving or shouting, which causes her to flinch. Despite repeatedly telling kids that if she wants to be petted, she will go to them, and not to chase after her and pet her, they come to find her. I occasionally see her pressed up against my door with a miserable look on her face while whichever child sits next to her patting her. She obviously doesnt want or enjoy this, but doesnt have the brains to just run away from the kid.

Part of me thinks Go on, bite him but then...screaming kids, screaming parents, compensation, liability etc etc...its certainly not something I actually want to happen. I just hope that one day some kid doesnt push his luck too far. I know nothing about her background, which means that although I am 100% confident in her around me, and 99% of other adults, I really dont know what her attitude is to children, whether she has a breaking point, and whether she can be trusted completely to be alone with a child who wont listen to my warnings.

Have some photos to cheer up the thread....

The day I found her and made friends with some biscuits....

The day after her operation to remove some lumpy bits, looking un-amused.

A few days ago...

And her nemesis - "Happy"...

image sizes edited by a mod

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just read today that there is a restaurant in Edinburgh where you can be served and insulted by Basil, Manuel and Sybill! Apparently loads of tourists pay good money for the experience- maybe you could try this in France- the Germans will love you (funny walk and all)

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dave, your darling doggie obviously has doberman in her and, personally, I am very wary with Dobies now as I was attacked by one as a child and sustained serious injuries to my arms. Any dog with doberman in it needs to be treated with respect in my opinion.

She looks lovely but she has been hurt in the past and, as you say, she is nervy around kids.

If I were you I would inform those parents at the off to tell their kids to leave the dog alone. You don't, or shouldn't, need to say any more than that. Tell them the dog likes to be left alone. If I was a guest at your place I would fully respect that - actually my littlie's are wary of dogs anyway and would not approach one willingly. Too many kids, adults too, think all pets - dogs and cats -  are there for their amusement.

They are YOUR guests, not your dog's...

 

 

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So does anyone have the guests form hell this week then... Don't all reply at once as it overload the forum.

We have some at the moment who thought that it would be completly fine to invite friends around that were staying near to use all our things like pool,play area etc,etc. when they were then told to get out of the pool they got a bit shirty and have gone out every day now as they don't seem to want to hang around now!

We then get a enquiry for a property for the end of september and I said upfront that if the evenings are a lttle cool we could offer a gas heater at cost price for the tank. It has a wood burning fire anyway. They came back and were put off by the possible lack of heating and cleaning arrangements on handover. We expect the properties to be in a as found condition on leaving thats it. It is never left like this by anyone. I just don't know what people want for the money.... 

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[quote user="Thebiga"]I just don't know what people want for the money....  [/quote]

They want the illusion that their money can afford them to behave as they wish... Problem is, they don't want to pay for it!

Some people seem to confuse a self-catering holiday property with a hotel.

They forget about the "self" bit. They want everything thrown in and whatever they get is never quite enough...

Thank goodness they are a minority.

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[quote user="dave21478"]

Despite repeatedly telling kids that if she wants to be petted, she will go to them, and not to chase after her and pet her, they come to find her.

[/quote]

I'd be more direct and tell both children and parents: Do not go near the dog. She does not like being touched or stroked by children.

If she does bite, you might be facing having her euthanased so if you think she could be an accident waiting to happen with kids, make sure she isn't faced with the opportunity.

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[quote user="Clair"][quote user="Thebiga"]I just don't know what people want for the money....  [/quote]
They want the illusion that their money can afford them to behave as they wish... Problem is, they don't want to pay for it!
Some people seem to confuse a self-catering holiday property with a hotel.
They forget about the "self" bit. They want everything thrown in and whatever they get is never quite enough...

Thank goodness they are a minority.
[/quote]

Clair, we get the opposite here. We have one gite and the hotel - those who rent the apartment rarely cook, preferring to go out and eat. I had one woman, a hotel room guest, demand to use my own kitchen each night to cook her fussy (sullen-faced) teenage sons a meal each night as they 'didn't like the foreign food here'. I said 'no' to that. Two Irish sisters and their two kids once set up one of those small portable electric cookers in their room - when we discovered where the cooking smells were coming from we told them it was against fire regs to cook in the rooms so they left in a huff leaving a collection of food cans, opened and unopened, and dirty cutlery and plates from our dining room under the beds.

I could go on...but it's been a loooong summer.

 

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Hi Thebiga,

We have had exactly the same problem this week although I do accept part of the blame.  Guests asked upon booking if they could invite friends around that were also holidaying near us and I agreed.  they arrived last Saturday and fortunately they happened to mention to moh that the said friends were visiting the next day and just checking again if that was ok - a figure of 27 people were mentioned!   Moh thought they were joking and walked away with a slightly confused smile.  I was not so amused and popped around to clarify, turns out there were going to be a further 3 families coming to visit en-mass so I told the lady 'no way', only one family at a time could visit. The whole family have accused us of 'completely ruining their holiday' and said 'I should have asked the question of "how many etc"' when she booked. Well, in hindsight I should and certainly will in future although I think I'll treat it as a massive lesson learnt and just say no if asked again... it was awful with them shouting across the terrace at us - gawd knows what our other guests thought (we have 2 other gites). Moh did offer them there money back for the remainder of their holiday seeing as how we'd ruined their holiday but they haven't taken us up on that yet.  The atmosphere around them has been awful since and like your guests they don't seem to want to hang around now!  Thank god they leave on Saturday - just hope they don't trash the place in retalliation

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If I were a gite-owner (I don't think I ever will be [:P]) and particularly if I had more than one gite at a location, I'd put something in the Ts&Cs about not inviting friends without permission. Then you can choose to allow 4 people but not 24, for eg.

If I'd booked one of your other gites and the facilities - pool, etc - are shared, I would not be happy to have another family with 27 friends hogging the area.

You can always make it an insurance issue - that non-paying friends of holidaymakers are not covered by your business insurance and - if necessary - gild the lily with a comment like "and it is always the friends who have the awful accidents requiring long waits in Urgences, enormous medical bills, expensive repatriation to the UK..." followed by amused chuckle. [;-)]

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Some friends of ours with a nice small gite (sleeps 4) rented it to a Dutch family.  When they returned from shopping one day they found 2 camping cars parked in their garden.  When they asked what was going on they were informed that these 9 people were friends of their Dutch clients but "Don't worry, we won't bother you, we will just use the showers and the swimming pool".

Some people got more front than Blackpool; don't you think????

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Perhaps it is the gite owners problems not understanding that people think that when renting a gite for a week they are entitled to treat it as their home,invite hundreds of people round ,have wild noisy parties,bring dogs who sh## all over the garden but do not bother to pick it up,allow all their guests to use the pool ,have baths,use the washing machine and have too much to drink resulting in them camping out in the gite.

Be thankful that they at least had the decency to ask,ours didn't,8 friends with assorted dogs just turned up and were using the pool,with no sign of the actual renters, when we returned home.

They got quite shirky when we asked them who they were and what right they had to be in our swimming pool and garden, and even more upset when we told them that the terms and conditions laid down a maximum of 6 people and that if they stayed overnight we would .consider that the renters had breached the terms of the contract and would be asked to leave immediatly  with no compensation.  

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Listen, a gite owner is not running a charity. Why should the guests of the guests use your facilities for nothing! Maybe it would pay for next season to include a clause - very well highlighted - that...

a) guests may have visitors but limited to 'X' number of visitors - you decide the number ( with me it would be zero personally - they can meet up somewhere else )

b) no overnight visitors. Period.

c) guests' visitors may NOT use property facilities, i.e pool, play area etc.

Also state that if these conditions are breached their contract will be terminated on the spot and they will be asked to leave. It is YOUR property! Don't take any abuse - and it if it gets too much call the Gendarmes, remind them that they are in France, not the UK where such behaviour is everywhere these days.

Give some thought too to the situation should one of those unofficial, freebie visitors injure themselves on your property...where would you stand legally? not too well. Cover yourself for the future.

Bloody yobs!

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Heh, this topic is in danger of turning serious here!

On a more lighthearted note, I trial-fitted an ultra-sonic deterrant thing to try and get rid of the resident loire colony in the roof. The guests have complained that the noise from the device is disturbing them.

Didnt realise Batman and his family holidayed in France!

 

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Oh, Cerise, I have also suffered the Dutch camping-cars. We held a meeting for H-Van owners here. Limited to 60, book in advance. Three days before the start date (when we had 'real' guests in the gite), two Dutch vans turned up, accompanied by two more campervans, at 8am (we weren't up). Our house, gite and barns are around a central courtyard with a lawn in the centre. They set up on the lawn, with tables, chairs, children playing games, shouting and shrieking. They hadn't booked for the meeting, and we sent them away to the nearest campsite. Fortunately the gite guests were collectable vehicle fans and were quite fascinated.

Never saw that lot again, but on the start date the deluge began... The general idea was that people come in their H-Vans and camp INSIDE them, not bring supplementary campervans, tents, gazebos and shower tents. The English, German, French and assorted others managed this quite satisfactorily but the Dutch each managed to take up five designated spaces each. Had to ring our neighbour to extend into his field... and still they came.

Never again - a group of Dutch children were found fishing in the kind neighbour's Koi carp pond (fortunately before they'd caught any), they kept trying to come into the house to use our bathroom, and one even had the temerity to have a heart attack...

I have had some wonderful Dutch guests, and they're lovely people, but they are notoriously tight - in 2005 (the most recent figures I have handy) the Dutch made up 15.3& of arrivals in France, 12.9% of the overnight stays, but only 5.4% of receipts - here are the top three by arrivals (the table might not work):

Country                        Arrivals         Overnight  Stays      Receipts  

UK and Ireland             19.7%             18.7%                   15.5%

Germany                        17.4%             17.6%                   11.2%

Netherlands                      15.3%             12.9%                   5.4%

The US, in contrast, are 3.6% of arrivals, 4.9% overnight stays and 13.4% of tourism expenditure!

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That reminds me

On holiday in Spain,on a campsite fully paid up 12 euros per night.

Opposite betwwen main road and the beach was a pine forrest.

We took the dogs out walking every day ,on the beach and in the pine forrest

This particular day ,in the middle of the forest, in a clearing were 3 dutch campervans wild camping.

They are not paying a penny(or centime).

God knows where their waste goes.

Our dogs ran into their unofficial campsite area and the dutch created such a fuss,threatening us with all sorts until we pointed to a large sign which said NO camping> 

 

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