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having a moan


Montybird
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This is our first year of gite rental and we thought we'd prepared ourselves for the trials and tribulations of running gite(s) but some things just really niggle at you. 

We provide all linen and towels, dishwasher, washing machine etc etc.  Our prices I believe are quite resonable for our area (£450 for main weeks) for a 3 bedroom gite.  I left a fan in the utility room and the first guests seen it and asked if they could borrow it to use in the gite.  We of course said yes but then realised they'd got it on 24 hours a day for the rest of their 2 week stay.  So, we thought we'd buy a few of these fans and hire them out at 4€ a week each.  The cost is more to cover the extra electricity used more than anything else.  Anyway, we put this into practice with our second lot of guests and when they asked for a fan the father of the family pulled a face and asked "how much are they to buy"?  They did hire a fan that night but then this morning promptly told us they'd been out yesterday and bought 2 fans and we could have ours back!  Also, it's really been bugging me that they've had the washing machine on constantly (sometimes 2 or 3 times a day) and I'm sure there's only 2-3 items of clothing being washed at a time.  I have put a notice up in the utility now asking guests to try to use the machine after 10pm (off-peak electricity) when possible and to try to do 'full loads' but this has gone unheaded as the machine is on again right now.... Arghhhh!!!  What more can we do, or are we being too petty?

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welcome to the wonderful world of holiday rentals..........it gets better - they lull you into a false sense of security by doing loads of washing - you think, hope & pray that all will be clean & tidy when they leave, then you find that despite the daily washing of their 'smalls' they have left badly stained sheets on the childrens beds, so you end up throwing out the bedlinen after 3 unsuccessful Vanish washes & they have used the towels to mop up God knows what..............Fortunately, the families from hell are few & far between - the 90% of guests who are friendly, thoughtful, considerate & leave a clean & tidy gite on departure far outweigh the 1 nightmare family of each season.  We are into our 3rd season & have many families rebooking every year, so we must be doing something right, & at the end of each season we are totally exhausted & stressed but overall the praise makes up for it all - till next year........  We have found though over the last 2 years that it is better to make a small charge for the linen & towels - we always have a problem with the last minute, special offer bookings where we throw in the linen as part of a 'package'...........sounds crazy, but guests are more careful with something that they have paid for as an 'extra' - also applies to bikes & tennis racquets etc.........As to the washing machines it bugs us all - see previous postings - personally I worry about the ones who do no washing at all - I have my fingers crossed for changeover day tomorrow............
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Hi,

Regarding the off-peak rate, I used to have "tarif heures creuses" too until a few weeks ago.

I used a spreadsheet to add up all the electricity bills for the gîte paid in 2005 and compared them to normal rate (all units at the same price and meter rental lower) and found out I could have saved about 40% by sticking to normal rate. So I asked EDF to change the meter to normal rate (FOC).

I don't have to worry any more, as my guests NEVER used to bother about off-peak rate either and it used to seriously annoy me.

If you're still concerned about electricity abuse (as opposed to use), one place I stayed in (GdF) allowed a weekly number of units beyond which they would charge a specified rate per unit (same or a little more than EDF rate). I believe this is quite common for France and French rental properties.

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Generally our English guests do just not appreciate the costs of energy.  Other Europeans are energy-concious, Americans can be quite wasteful too. By far the worst offenders are the English for leaving lights on, so our place is sometimes  illuminated like a christmas tree! Not too  mention leaving outside lights on overnight.  I don't honestly think it is purposeful at all, just a pure non-appreciation of energy costs.  If I said something I know it would come across as petty and being uptight, so we just have to treat it as part of holiday rental.  We have made use of energy-saving devices such as energy-saving bulbs, light-timer switches in the communal hallways etc.I would love to purchase a clockwork fan, so people would have to get up and switch it on! Tee Hee! Water is a big cost too, but imagine if we limited everyone to one 2 minute shower a day, I think we would get no return business or any future recommendations.

As regards to your fan hire, why not just explain in the guide or personally, it is to cover the costs of energy and use the tack/ploy of 'our previous guests just leave the fan on at all times leaving you with a large bill' - this usually makes people think about usuage as well as not minding to pay the one-off fee.

Deby

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In general, heures creuses options are worthwhile if you have a programmable washing machine/dishwasher or put them on a timer, and also have electric water heating and/or storage radiators to take advantage of the cheap hours (usually midnight to 8.00am and an hour at lunchtime).

EDF have a page (in French) to help you choose the best option.

Choose Your Tarif

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[quote user="Deby"]

We have made use of energy-saving devices such as energy-saving bulbs, light-timer switches in the communal hallways etc.

[/quote]

Deby, where did you get your timer switches?  I've been looking everywhere for them without success.[:(]

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Re heures creuses

Most of our electricity cost in the gite is generated by water heating
(hot water used for showers, baths, dish washer, washing machine)

I have calculated that, despite having an electric hot water tank, the cost of water heating at normal rate was going to be less (as opposed to off-peak regulated by a switch on the electric panel + dual unit cost + monthly rental of off-peak facility) )

The starting point (for me) is to get my electricity as cheaply as possible:

  • knowing that with the "heures creuses" facility, I pay more for daytime units,
  • knowing that despite having a delayed start facility on the washing machine, despite my kind requests and explanations, guests do run the dishwasher or washing machine at THEIR convenience, usually just before going out for the day,

  • knowing that the gite is mainly used in summer and people are outside most of the time, so fewer lingering baths,
  • knowing that hot water used for baths and showers in the summer is tempered by a lot of cold water so less water heating required,
I added up all the units used in 2005 ( they are shown on the EDF bills) plus the cost of normal meter rental and calculated that it would have been far cheaper to have normal rate though the year. In other words, I paid for a facility which was only used at the most for about 4 or 5 months out of 12.

This might not work for everyone, but we're giving it a try this year... EDF allows a change of rate FOC once a year.

We are keeping the "heures creuses" for our own property, as we are in control of the usage, unlike in the gite where people on holiday usually tend to suit themselves (and why not!)
.

For the rare winter booking, we offer electric heaters as extras and charge a weekly rate based on 24h use. I know they're unlikely to bring or buy one, unlike fans...

We also have low voltage bulbs everywhere except in the bathroom and kitchen. We have 1 fan left by guests last year and we know it's too noisy to be left on all night!

In 2004, a nature photographer asked us if he could leave a 150W in the garden all night on an extension lead to attract moths so he could photograph them... We made sure he agreed to pay extra and we later saw some of the pictures on the Beeb wildlife photographer of the year competition!
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[quote user="Montybird"]

This is our first year of gite rental and we thought we'd prepared ourselves for the trials and tribulations of running gite(s) but some things just really niggle at you. 

[/quote]

Without wishing to accuse you of being disingenuous, are you sure that 4€/day is really to cover the cost of electricity?

According to my calculations, a typical fan running 24hrs/day will cost about 11 centimes/day - that represents a margin of over 97%!

What's more, you could pay for the thing with 3 days rental - including the leccy..

I wish my margins were that good!

 

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This is what we have in our rental agreement:

Your rental charge includes an allowance for electricity - we have worked out this allowance based upon our own usage. We feel that it is a generous allowance and should be more than sufficient for up to 8 people.

£25.00 per week (Jun - Aug)

£30.00 per week (Apr, May, Sep, Oct)

£35.00 per week  (Nov - Mar)

The meter will be read prior to your arrival and again on your departure. Any electricity used over and above the allowance will be deducted from your deposit. However, do please be aware that if you leave lots of lights on unnecessarily, or the electric heaters on at full power all night and day,  you may exceed your allowance.

This way, if people are wasteful with electricity etc, then they will be paying the extra, not me. (It's never happened so far though).

I am also considering applying to be included on www.responsibletravel.com, which in a nutshell is "a new way of travelling for those who've had enough of mass tourism. It's about respecting and benefiting local people and the environment". As a result, I shall be making a point in all my literature about people not being wasteful with energy. 

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Benjamin wrote the following post at 15/07/2006 16:05:  So, accepting Nick's 11 eurocents/day the margin now drops to only 81% and the fan is paid for in three weeks and not three days.

Based on the current basic unit cost of €0,1057/kWh TTC, a 2kW electrical item (fan or heater) used at max power for 24h would cost €5.0736 a day

Based on "heures creuses" as I used to have from 2-7am + 2-5pm (10 hours off-peak at €0,0644/kWh TTC, then full rate €0,1057/kWh TTC for 14 hours), the same item would cost €1.288 off-peak + €2.9596 full rate, so €4.2476 a day, with the small added cost of rental difference between the two tariffs.

Is this right?

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As you say your rates are very reasonable - cheap in fact for what you appear to offer, so why don't you just increase them by about 25% mid July - August then you won't feel so bad about people using the appliances. It is swings and roundabouts - for every family who uses a washing machine daily, another one won't use it at all. I have a similar dilemma in winter, when my rates are cheap and people use a lot of heating, but over a year it balances out asoverheads are generally minimal in the summer. I have the tempo tarif in two of my gites, so from 1st April - 31st October electricity costs are minimal.

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I'm back and calmed down now...  the guests have gone out for the afternoon, it's lovely to have the place to ourselves again for a couple of hours.  I don't think I'm really cut out for this business... either that or I'll have to toughen up.  I guess I feel a bit mean about the fan, we're also on Tempo tarif so we're probably on the cheapest rate anyhow but at the end of the day we're trying to run a business here not a charity.  We are putting the rates up next year by just under 25% so that should cover these extra's and also the Taxe de Sejour that I'd completely forgotten about until our Marie reminded me the other week!!!  Wonder what'll come next?
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Cassis we brought timer switches off e-bay and they are very good

Can you put electric  coin meteres into gites? give the tenants a certain amount of credit and then let them put in there own money,

My parents use to do that here for rental places. 

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Again...

 Be carefull you Gite owners don't end up like the woman in Bill Brysons book 'Notes from a small island' (I think!)

 She was a B+B Landlady and he called her Mrs Smegma (Is that how you spell it?)

Upon his arrival, after taking  half hour of rules, regs, do's, dont's and flak he finally closes the door on her and has a wazz in the sink!

 Ty

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"Be carefull you Gite owners don't end up like the woman in Bill Brysons book 'Notes from a small island' (I think!)"

Or Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard from 'Under Milk Wood'.

Now, in her iceberg-white, holily laundered crinoline nightgown under

virtuous polar sheets, in her spruced and scoured dust-defying bedroom in

trig and trim Bay View, a house for paying guests, at the top of the town,

Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard, widow, twice, of Mr Ogmore (linoleum, retired, and

Mr Pritchard, failed bookmaker, who, maddened by besoming, swabbing and

scrubbing, the voice of the vacuum-cleaner and the fume of polish,

ironically swallowed disinfectant, fidgets in her rinsed sleep, wakes in a

dream, and nudges in the ribs dead Mr Ogmore, dead Mr Pritchard, ghostly

on either side.

MRS OGMORE-PRITCHARD

    Mr Ogmore!

    Mr Pritchard!

    It is time to inhale your balsam.

MR OGMORE

    Oh, Mrs Ogmore!

MR PRITCHARD

    Oh, Mrs Pritchard!

MRS OGMORE-PRITCHARD

    Soon it will be time to get up. Tell me your tasks, in order.

MR OGMORE

    I must put my pyjamas in the drawer marked pyjamas.

MR PRITCHARD

    I must take my cold bath which is good for me.

MR OGMORE

    I must wear my flannel band to ward off sciatica.

MR PRITCHARD

    I must dress behind the curtain and put on my apron.

MR OGMORE

    I must blow my nose

MRS OGMORE-PRITCHARD

    in the garden, if you please

MR OGMORE

    in a piece of tissue-paper which I afterwards burn.

MR PRITCHARD

    I must take my salts which are nature's friend.

MR OGMORE

    I must boil the drinking water because of germs.

MR PRITCHARD

    I must make my herb tea which is free from tannin

MR OGMORE

    and have a charcoal biscuit which is good for me.

MR PRITCHARD

    I may smoke one pipe of asthma mixture

MRS OGMORE-PRITCHARD

    in the woodshed, if you please

MR PRITCHARD

    and dust the parlour and spray the canary.

MR OGMORE

    I must put on rubber gloves and search the peke for fleas.

MR PRITCHARD

    I must dust the blinds and then I must raise them.

MRS OGMORE-PRITCHARD

    And before you let the sun in, mind it wipes its shoes.

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[quote user="Dick Smith"]

Or Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard from 'Under Milk Wood'.

[/quote]

God, I'd completely forgotten that book.  And now I've spilt wine all over my keyboard.  I'm interested in where I can get light switches that operate on a timer, by the way, not plug-in timers.

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And here is what Bill Bryson has to say about timer switches....and the French

The hotel was one of those sterile, modern places that always put me in mind of a BUPA advertisement, but at least it didn't have those curious timer switches that used to be a feature of hotel hallways in France. These were a revelation to me when I first arrived from America. All the light switches in the hallways were timed to switch off after ten or fifteen seconds, presumably as an economy measure. This wasn't so bad if your room was next to the elevator, but if it was very far down the hall, and hotel hallways in Paris tend to wander around like an old man with Alzheimer's, you would generally proceed the last furlong in total darkness, feeling your way along the walls with flattened palms, and invariably colliding scrotally with the corner of a nineteenth-century oak table put there, evidently, for that purpose. Occasionally your fingers would alight on something soft and hairy, which you would recognise after a moment as another person, and if he spoke English you could exchange tips.

You soon learned to have your key out and to sprint like billy-o for your room. But the trouble was that when eventually you re-emerged it was to total blackness once more and to a complete and - mark this - intentional absence of light switches, and there was nothing you could do but stumble about like Boris Karloff in The Mummy, and hope that you weren't about to blunder into a stairwell. From this I learned one very important lesson: the French do not like us.

That's OK, because of course nobody likes them much either. It so happens that I had just seen a survey in a British paper in which executives had been asked to list their most despised things in the whole universe and the top three ones were, in this order: garden gnomes, fuzzy dice hanging in car windows and the French. i just loved that. Of all the things to despise - pestilence, poverty, tyrannical governments, Michael Fish - they chose garden gnomes, fuzzy dice and the French. I think that's splendid.

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