Towels or not?

[nimportequoi]

I'm interested in hearing particularly from people who stay in gites as they have been providing some really good feedback on other subjects recently. I'm afraid it is a very boring subject, but is the provision of towels at all important? For me as a gite owner who does all the laundry they a time consuming inconvenience (especially when it comes to getting rid of stains) and I'm thinking of not supplying them anymore, or perhaps charging extra for them. I understand that when flying they are rather bulky to carry in luggage, but the majority of our guests travel by ferry, so that isn't so much of an issue.  

[Eslier]

We don't usually offer towels Susan.  If clients are flying then we give them the option of renting at 10€ per set (hand towel, bath towel and swimming towel) but otherwise we don't offer unless asked. This year I think we've only provided towels twice - once we offered as they were flying and once we were asked. We were only asked on one other occassion and in the end they decided to bring their own (obviously not a problem as they've booked to come back next year).  To be honest, when, like you, we are laundering bed linen for up to 26 people per week (not including cots), the towels on top can be the straw that breaks the laundry maid's back !   We do provide bath mats, tea towels and oven gloves as standard  however.

[Rob Roy]

We never expected to have towels provided when we rented gites, or any type of bed linen come to that. As you say we always had the car so piled everything into that.

[Meg]

 The only time i have stayed in a gite was for 1 weeks house hunting over here. We didn't bring towels, i think i just assumed that there would be some! It never occurred to me. Also we were having a bit of a 'who can have the tiniest luggage competition'. (and as we were house hunting, no posh frocks required!)

For the first day we ended up using him-self's t-shirt to dry ourselves on, then when we went to the very small supermarket, we were shocked by the price of towels and were too darn stingy to pay that much, so ended up with 2 very small hand towels for the rest of the week!

So if you decided not to supply them can you put it in capital letters, underlined and highlighted for dippy sorts like me! [:D]

Louise

[KathyC]

I always think that charging extra for towels looks really mean, particularly if you have an expensive property. Surely you don't have to get the towels washed on turnaround day and as they don't need ironing, is it really such a big deal? The  exception to this seems to be pool/swimming towels which are rarely provided and you just have to accept that.

[Suandpete]

We've done towels for the first time this year - and since maybe three

times.  One face flannel, 1 hand towel, 1 bath towel and 1

pool  towel  per person - 5 euros per week.  Difficult

isn't it.  We can do one group no worries - but if we had a second

group with no gap would be seriously challenged - maybe would be forced

to use our own towels which are white - and so not ideal for rentals.

[KathyC]

[quote user="Suandpete"]We've done towels for the first time this year - and since maybe three times.  One face flannel, 1 hand towel, 1 bath towel and 1 pool  towel  per person - 5 euros per week.  Difficult isn't it.  We can do one group no worries - but if we had a second group with no gap would be seriously challenged - maybe would be forced to use our own towels which are white - and so not ideal for rentals.
[/quote]

Wouldn't it be simpler just to buy more sets of towels? I think that 5 euros is reasonable,but at the same time, rather petty. It would make me think that the owners were the penny pinching type which wouldn't bode well for the holiday. I always try and avoid booking places that start off with a basic price and then you find that linen/towels/electricity/bikes are costed as extra. It seems very offputting to me.

[Smiley]

Following the introduction of our swimming pool we found we had to change our towel policy. We used to supply unlimited supplies. Following complaints from our cleaner, who had to wash them, we had to alter our system.

We found that people were just helping themselves and draining the whole supply - get in the pool, use a towel, get in again, fresh towel. etc. on one occasionn nearly 30 were used for a weeks let !!!

Now we supply 2 bath and 2 hand per bathroom and they can wash their own (we provide a laundry room) or have additional sets at 5 euros per set.

Same with linen. We had a party of 4 who used 3 doubles and 6 singles in a week. Reckon they must have kept swapping beds!

[Suandpete]

When we first started three years ago we decided not to supply towels

and until this year were never asked for them.  We supply

everything else - even fruit and veg from the garden and weather

forecasts - but when we were first asked about towels we decided that

it was an extra service and therefore should be charged as extra.

However that is under consideration and we may well change the policy

for next season.  We have just decided to charge for electricity

used during winter lets as our rates are so low in winter that we were

actually losing money with some groups.

[KathyC]

[quote user="Suandpete"]  We have just decided to charge for electricity used during winter lets as our rates are so low in winter that we were actually losing money with some groups.
[/quote]

Out of season that seems a very sensible policy, particularly if charges are transparent eg. meter readings taken at beginning and end of let.

[Suandpete]

Yes that is exactly what we will do - luckily the gite has its own meter. 

[Deby]

Have agonised over this.  I personally would prefer not to supply them.  Some guests use them, some don't.  However, i think because of our property we have to supply inclusive otherwise it would seem as if we were being cheapskates.  Most people bring their own and supplement with ours. 

It is just a pain washing them all, if they were cheap enough to buy I would thrown them away, surely the water/electricity/time involved (hanging them out etc) makes this an expensive task. (mind you environmental issues kick in too!)

I asked locally, how much someone would charge me for laundering and was informed 10€ per set. I bought a load brand new sets at Matalan in the UK for £5.70 per set!!!  Where is a chinaman when you need one!
Deby

[Cassis]

As we do B&B rather than gites we get through a huge number of towels and washes.  We find that white is best becauseyou can boil, bleach and blast the beggars with whatever is necessary to get them clean, without worrying about fading.  Handy if the guests use fake tan and/or don't know what makeup remover pads are for.

[Lindsey2]

Personally, when I am looking to rent a gite,  provision of all linen is an absolute prerequisite,  without which a property will not  go on my shortlist .  I do, however, completely agree that one basic set should suffice, assuming that there is a washing machine supplied,  and that guests should be prepared to use it to do their own laundry as necessary.

Though there again, speaking for myself, as my holidays are seldom for longer than a week, I no more want to spend any precious time doing washing, than I want to fill my limited luggage space with sheets and towels!

Regards,

Lindsey.

[Macker]

As someone who rented many gites and now is a gite owner myself let me share my experiences with you. While holidaying in France on one occasion when renting with friends we arrived to find no towels provided despite the fact that we were paying over 1000 euros a week for the accommodation. When we enquired from the landlady she said that there would be an 'additional' charge of 40 euros a week for towels, the reason quoted being that 'people bring them down to the pool'. Really!! Isn't that one of the functions of towels? Guess what we did, went to the nearest Leclerc and spent that money on buying our own towels.

On another occaasion we rented a gite in Brittany and arrived to find towels galore, bedding aplenty and they even came around at the end of the first week and changed the lot! Guess which gite I would stay at again and/or recommend to friends.

Incidentally the first gite, although a lovely house, was spartan when we arrived and I mean that even the salt and pepper sellers were cleaned out. The Brittany one had a welcome pack, a half a jar of coffee and some tea bags, toilet paper, kitchen roll and many of the other comforts of life that had gathered over the previous tenants. i.e. we didn't have to steam off to the supermarket as soon as we arrived (which is just as well outside of working hours in France).

Now that we own a gite ourselves I hope that all my experiences have come to bear and so we try to provide a homely experience that includes lots of little extras that really don't cost a lot but make the holiday experience more memorable for the client. I don't mean to sound corny, but your client has worked hard all year, planned their holiday in advance and are REALLY looking forward to that week/fortnight in the sun so it should be about what they want and not about inconvenience to you/stains on the towels/changing the linen/cost of washing machines etc etc etc. You are in a service industry in an extremely competitive market... what more can I say?

[tetley]

I have always assumed that you would have towels and bedlinen provided, and looks like I have been lucky on that score.  I guess if you don't provide them you need to clearly state so.  I wouldn't pay a surcharge for using them.  You could limit to 2 towels (got to be bathtowel size) it wouldn't hurt to let the guests wash them with their own washing.  I hadn't thought about beach towels before, always taken my own, but if I hadn't I would have used the towels from the gite [:$]

[P]

[quote user="Macker"]

I don't mean to sound corny, but your client has worked hard all year, planned their holiday in advance and are REALLY looking forward to that week/fortnight in the sun so it should be about what they want and not about inconvenience to you/stains on the towels/changing the linen/cost of washing machines etc etc etc. You are in a service industry in an extremely competitive market... what more can I say?

[/quote]

Macker what you have written is not corny - it is the words of someone who is very customer focussed. Best of luck with your business - I am sure you will get plenty of repeat bookings.

Paul

[nimportequoi]

[quote user="P"]

[quote user="Macker"]

I don't mean to sound corny, but your client has worked hard all year, planned their holiday in advance and are REALLY looking forward to that week/fortnight in the sun so it should be about what they want and not about inconvenience to you/stains on the towels/changing the linen/cost of washing machines etc etc etc. You are in a service industry in an extremely competitive market... what more can I say?

[/quote]

Macker what you have written is not corny - it is the words of someone who is very customer focussed. Best of luck with your business - I am sure you will get plenty of repeat bookings.

Paul

[/quote]

If the 'you' that you are referring to is me, the original poster, then I will reply. I am in my fifth year of running a successful gite business, with plenty of repeat bookings and very high occupancy rates. My question on this forum was really to find out how important providing towels was to guests. In my guest book I have many favourable comments about the accommodation, the facilites, the garden, the pool, the hosts and the location, but no-one has ever mentioned how useful or not it was to have towels. I'm sure the provision of towels has never been a make or break factor in someone's decision to stay in my gites, we have far more important things to offer than that! I am well aware of the importance of customer service, but I also want to make a profit and this year several of my expensive towels have either been completely ruined, or I have had to spend a lot of time removong stains, which I don't find very cost effective. It has been interesting to hear the views of people who often stay in gites as well as other gite owners, some of whom have very successful businesses without providing towels (or providing them as an extra). For the time being, I will continue to supply them (as it is nearing the end of the season I have less of them to wash!) but I have to say even though I provide them, they are not to be used at the pool where they would get ruined very quickly. I ask guests to bring their own towels for the pool and beach, if they don't or they forget I give them old towels to use.

[KathyC]

Surely the answer is  not to have expensive towels. Although the majority of us who answered your post have felt that providing towels was important, I don't think that anybody has suggested that these should be really classy ones. As somebody posted earlier, towels can be very cheap to buy, removing the problem of theft and the worry about damage. If they get stained then you'll have a stock to offer for use by the pool. Holidays are about relaxing, not worrying about the quality of the towels; as you say, your accommodation has so many more important things to offer.

[Russethouse]

I used to know a guy whose business was towels, beach towels at least, have a different weave which in theory makes it easy to shake sand off.

I think location is important in this equation, if most of your guets come by ferry then I guess its not unreasonable for them to bring towels, but I for one would certainly not want to bring towels if I was flying.

Also I think most bath towels are just too small, I like bath sheets so I often take my own anyway.

[Suandpete]

As a former gite user and now gite owner I understand both sides of

this argument.  This summer we have provided towels a few times at

a minimal extra charge - but I only provide decent good quality towels;

I believe that there is nothing worse than trying to dry yourself on a

poor quality towel which is too small and too thin or too

non-absorbent.  The only difference between our pool towels (we

are a fair distance from the sea so sand is not an issue) and our bath

towels is that the former are patterned and the latter are plain pastel

colours.  I don't particularly like the idea of using stained

towels as pool towels - we pride ourselves on everything in the gite

being good quality and so would not like to be let down by something

such as towels. I guess there is a lot to be said for white towels

which can be bleached. We also have many repeat bookings and I honestly

do not believe that with the majority of people the provison of towels

is the deciding factor when they are choosing a place for a holiday.

[KathyC]

[quote user="Suandpete"]  I don't particularly like the idea of using stained towels as pool towels - we pride ourselves on everything in the gite being good quality and so would not like to be let down by something such as towels.
[/quote]

Somebody posted earlier about letting people have old towels to use by the pool if they'd forgotten to bring any, this was why I expanded on this as a suggestion.

[nimportequoi]

I supply bath sheets and they take up a lot of space in my washing machine! It's difficult, because I don't want to supply small, cheap towels, but I suppose I get cross when (some) people take so little care of the expensive, good quality towels that I provide - it looks like some of them have been used to wipe the floor with they are so dirty! (the floor at the end of their stay, that is, not the pristine floor they had on arrival)

[powerdesal]

On a somewhat different ( but associated ) note, do you gite / B&B owners supply feather or polyester pillows. The reason I ask is that my wife is allergic to feathers and we have had numerous 'lack of breathing' experiences in hotels across the World. I am sure there must be others with a similar allergy - have any of you considered this?

[Suandpete]

Yes we did consider the allergy problem - and for a range of reasons

bought "boilable" polyester pillows.  We also use pillow covers

below the pillow cases but these are brushed so I guess may cause a

problem to some people - even after a number of washes they are still

quite fluffy.