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Is this a record?


Patmobile
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On 4th July this year, the anniversary of it's completion, one of our cottages will have been let out for 35 weeks in it's first year.  That's assuming we don't get any last minute bookings for June.  (We only have 11 free nights left, anyway)

I completed work on this cottage (I don't like to use the word "gite" - it smacks of ill-equipped, dusty places filled with hand-me-down furniture) on July 4th last year at 1440 hrs.  The first guests arrived at 1600.  Not only has it achieved an exceptional rate of occupancy since then, but it's also been so much in demand we've switched many guests, who wanted to book it but couldn't have it, to our other cottages, thus increasing sales all round.

Anyone got a better story?

No, I'm not going to tell you how we did it!

Patrick

 

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yes it probably is! What department are you? Here in the Deux Sevres which is saturated with gites ect, many people are struggling...fortunately our first year was 23...second year 25 third year 27  fourth year 26 but this year now we have two gites we have managed 42.

and no I am not telling either![;-)]

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Well done to you. Loved the description of "gîte", exactly right,have seen some real horrors all done up with second hand  furniture that looked fit only for the dump (one had a 35year old New World gas cooker in it). You obviously have a formula for attracting visitors and I would keep it to yourself in this gîte saturated country.
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2004  28 weeks

2005  35 weeks

2006  27 weeks booked so far to 9th Sept, I am confident to at least get another 3 weeks in Sept, 1 week October half-term, then 2 weeks Xmas/New Year, so that should be at least 33 weeks.

My secret? We are lucky here in Normandy, being just 2 hours from Calais, that people do pop over out of season so we don't have to just rely on July/August bookings (for example between 4th Feb to 9th Sept we will only have had 4 empty weeks (2 in March and 2 in May). Funnily enough, each year May has been harder to fill than March and April!

 

PS Patmobile - do you have a website? Can you share this with us at least?!

 

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We got 36 weeks + some long weekends in the winter for our cottage sleeping 4 July 05/06. There are no long term lets in that figure. I know a lot of the bookings we got in April (we were fully booked) were due to the pool being heated so that guests could swim. No free weeks left in June 06 either! I wish I could fill our big house as easily.

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Yep, my mum had one as well until about 1970 when it finally gave up the ghost and the knobs began breaking and the oven door handle went - you have to agree they were well made, but to buy one of that age in a second hand shop in the UK and bring it to France to put in a nasty poky little cottage was a real eye-opener but then again the owners weren't legal or insured eitherfor lettings and never declared their earnings.
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Sorry to burst your bubble Patmobile, but our first cottage was completed on 4 June last year and was fully occupied up until the end of April except for one week in September and 3 weeks at Christmas! We had a winter let from mid-September to end April and first guests of this season arrived today. This year, with two cottages is looking pretty good too.

Who said the gite business was not doing well?

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So, it's not a record!  But it's good to hear some really upbeat stories - so many people seem to do nothing but moan in these pages about how slow the holiday business is.

Perhaps the people who are making the business work have just been keeping quiet about it.

Patrick  

 

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From a personal point of view I have no idea whether 28, 32, 35 or over 40 weeks of holiday bookings is a record or not.And to be honest I don't even care!

By the sounds of things based on the comments on other threads about the bookings sofar this year I think these people can think yourselves lucky!!..It would appear that by the departments those who appear to be renting Gites over that many weeks are all in the very North of France and closest to the British ferry crossings.Their secret ! I would'nt have a clue, except that those who make these claims not surprisingly don't publish their websites on their personal details.Thus it is difficult to read the blurb and what they are offering and of course what they are charging per week. Read into that what you may!

I cannot comment on other parts of France but here in our part of the Southwest things are a lot different. I had mentioned on another thread of a British couple who we know who have been marketing their Gite since the new year and yet without a single booking!...This part of the woods we must rely on bookings flying in from the UK mainly and those who are prepared to drive the distance.One point I would say the "Gites" that i know of in this area are not grotty cottages with 30 year old cookers and second hand furniture....be they French, Dutch,British or American they are top notch and would qualify as Grand designs with few exceptions.

As for "Is this a record", seriously who really cares!!....I have found some very interesting information on this forum and most of those who contribute are well informed and have helpful advise...but do people really want to know if someone has booked 5 weeks or 52 weeks for their cottage? I don't think so it's to much like "blowing your own trumpet". Still there's nothing more stranger than folk!

 

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You'll find my website address in my personal details.

Naturally I'm pleased with 35 weeks of lettings, since the best I've done with any of my other 3 cottages is 31, and that was in the second year of letting it.   Now, I don't think it's abnormal to want to know if that's good by other peoples' standards too, so asking if it's a record is one way of finding out.  Yes, it's also blowing my trumpet a bit, but I didn't think it sounded too cocky.  Sorry if you did.

Do people in the south care how many weeks of lettings other people are doing?  Obviously many of them do since there are fairly frequent postings about this very subject, among which most are from proprietors in the more southern parts.  I've seen a lot of comments that the gite market is saturated in some areas.  The north has as many, or more, holiday cottages than many other regions, but with a good product, good marketing, some effort and some luck, it's possible to compete and be successful in any market.

And I'm really only here for the food, wine and golf, so obviously I prefer the north.

Patrick

Edit:  Just for the record, I was not criticising the standards of any British run holiday cottages in any region of France.  I just said I don't use the word "gite" because it conjures up images of the less well-equipped and rather poorly-furnished places I used to take my family to stay in, on holidays now long in the past.  As it happens, they were all French-owned and run - but if the cap fits......

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hi all, just found this forum - pleanty for me to read up on I see.

Bit confused about this thread though, saying 'I booked 35 weeks but I'm not telling you how I did it'

Can't you givve us some clues to get us started???[;-)] isn't that the whole point of a forum[:(]

thank you for helping us

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Well, sorry about the website.  I could have sworn it used to be on there!  Where did it go?

Anyway, I've put it back - I hope.

Let me just repeat I have never criticised anyone for using the term "gite".  I just prefer not to use the word in any of my marketing, because of the connotations it has for me.

Patrick

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I tell you what Pat.... I've just looked at your website and I'd be happy to stay there anyday.  It looks absolutely fantastic.  Here in Normandy today it's been 27 degrees and I certainly wouldn't want it any hotter.  They can keep their 30-40 degree temperatures in the south and I'm sure there are a lot of people who feel the same, so I'm not in the slightest surprised that you have such superb bookings.

Before we moved here permanently we used to rent our house out as a "gite" but like you, we didn't want the image associated with those old properties.  We had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, refused to take kids and although the size of the house meant we could have taken 6-8 residents we only took four, and charged a premium for it!!  We only wanted to rent during the summer months but always filled it from the middle of March to October and could have done longer if we had been prepared to.

Good luck to you, your "gites" look beautiful and you deserve to have them filled for so many weeks.

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I think your 'secret' is out Patmobile, and a lot of people could learn from it.

Your place look beautiful, well prepared and maintained. Anyone with nice gites oops cottages, furnished well and well-equipped, with competitive prices in a nice location should be getting bookings. (And your good photos count for a lot as well).

Would I guess you have a reasonable amount of returning customers? That I think is the 2nd key to success with rental properties..

Rasputin, from the sunny south of France (39 weeks booked out of 42 total available this year so far, despite the distance!)

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