Gites de France - yes or no

[Suandpete]

We have one gite with a pool which we have been advertising for a couple of years with Chez Nous; we seem to be able to fill June, July, August and most of September without any problems but are considering various options for the remainder of the year.  One of the options is an advert with French Property News - but more importantly we are considering applying for registration with Gites de France.

Can anyone tell us how much it costs and whether or not you have to guarantee them a specific number of weeks.  Has anyone found that they are useful for out of season bookings?  We are in North Deux-Sèvres so the area isn't particularly touristy - although we are within an hour of the Loire Valley Châteaux etc. 

Any info/comments on registering a gite with them would be much appreciated.

[Patmobile]

It looks as if no-one is going to jump in to answer this - so I will have a stab.

Two of our cottages are in GdF. Without looking it up I can't remember the cost, and it's too late at night to go rooting around in the files, but I think the annual subscription is one week's high season rent for the first gite, and half-a-week's rent for the second. There was also a joining fee.

I don't think GdF will do much for your low season bookings. We get nothing form GdF except a few enquiries from French families, who never book because we're way too expensive for them. Why? Because our gites are built and equipped to suit British visitors, with every possible facility and convenience to make life as comfortable, or more comfortable, than at home. French families seem to be prepared to treat a gite holiday as akin to camping. Lots of people to a room, no heating, limited hot water, hand-me-down furniture and very low cost per person.

Of course, I am guilty of appalling generalisation and stereotyping, but the fact is few french families book our gites, the profitable business is elsewhere, and we would rather fill the cottages with British, Australians, Americans, Canadians, and others who want something a bit special.

So I would advise you to look at alternative ways of marketing your gite out of season, special interest groups, learning courses, etc., rather than spend out on GdF membership and hope they will fill your empty weeks.

The reason we have two gites registered is that we applied for, and got, a decent grant to convert our tumbledown stables, (which we would have done anyway) and membership was a condition. The grant money enabled us to open a 4th gite, otherwise we probably wouldn't have joined.

Your local GdF branch may be a very useful source of information, however, and you could find out a lot of useful stuff just by talking to them. Why not ask them how many off-season weeks they think they could fill? I don't think they would be confident of filling many.

This is only an opinion, of course, and there may be many others. Perhaps now someone else will respond and tell me I've got it all wrong.

Best of luck

Patrick

[Miki]

I think the truth is that none on here or hardly anyone is with Gîtes de France with cottages. There are a few members on here with chambres d'hôtes and all I can say is that we do extremely well with them from March until mid November but that doesn't in any way relate to gîtes, well not around here.

[Russethouse]

Are you hoping that an ad in French Property News would pull in enquiries from house hunters ? Otherwise it seems an odd choice......(but what do I know ?)

Just out of interest has anyone tried Daltons Weekly or The Lady ? I have found places that way, but they are rarely mentioned.

[Teamedup]

Sorry Russethouse, but everytime I see Daltons, I think of Lucky Luke.

 Was he ever on in the UK?

[Mikey]

I think the benifit of being with GDF depends on the area you are in too.

there is a 3 gite complex in Tinteniac with GDF and they are full just about all year. They get all the French holidays filled and the rest of the time its either people relocating to the area or seasonal workers or foreign workers on contract to Thompson or other factories in Rennes.

[Coco]

Just out of interest has anyone tried Daltons Weekly or The Lady ? I have found places that way, but they are rarely mentioned.

We tried The Lady last year.  Partly because my mum has used it in the past to find places and partly because I thought that being the 60th anniversary of D-Day it might be somewhere that a few "more mature" holidaymakers may look.  We got one enquiry (admittedly it was someone wanting to bring his "vet" dad out for the D-Day commemorations) but it never turned into a booking.  The ad cost me £50 and with The Lady being a weekly publication, it starts to get expensive to try and have a regular presence, which I think you need to get a reasonable amount of bookings.  One-offs don't generally seem to generate much business.

[Suandpete]

The reason that I mentioned French Property News was that all the people we have had "off-season" so far have been property hunters.  We also considered The Lady but thought that it was too expensive. 

It hadn't occurred to me that French people might expect a lower standard of accommodation from a gite - although in my experience of staying in French owned Gites de France that is certainly what you get!

Quite possibly the way ahead for us is just much more exposure on internet only sites which might appeal to the North American market.  We will keep our Chez Nous advert as that has been superb for the main 4 months of the year - we are just looking to fill more off season weeks.

[Coco]

I think Patrick is absolutely right about GDF for gite lettings and the lower facility:price expectations of the French market.  We deliberately looked at GDF when we were looking for a gite last year because we just wanted somewhere to lay our heads (as long as it was clean) for as low a price as possible.

The gite we stayed in was in Fleurie (mid Beaujolais, so perfect location for our tour of the region).  It was much as we had experienced gites some 20 years ago, clean but extremely basic, but then, it was 170€ for the week and there was ample room for another couple of adults, although we would have had to share a bathroom; something that these days we would not really consider, but ten years ago was absolutely the norm!!!  So, if we had gone with another couple it would have cost us 85€ per couple for a week! (the cost of my family suite in our B&B for a night!!)

So possibly not the best medium to use to pick up out of season lettings, unless you're prepared to virtually give the gite away!

[Maddie]

Why not try that great magazine Living France?   We have a yearly ad and have had lots of bookings and enquiries for out of season!

[Eslier]

The reality is, the letting season doesn't really get under way until Easter and usually finishes at the October UK half term week. Within this period, most bookings will be between May and September which, lets face it, is when higher rents can be charged and you stand a better chance of making some significant income.

Some people, when they talk about all year round bookings, are referring to long term winter lets. If you decide to go down this route you have to be sure it isn't going to cost you almost as much as you make. Long term tenants will put a much bigger strain upon furnishings, fixtures and fittings. I am aware of cases where winter "guests" have left properties in a horrible state on departure and the owners have had to spend a lot of money carrying out repairs, replacing equipment, redecorating and cleaning on an indusutrial scale ! When you offset this against the low rents that can be achieved in the winter (often not more than about 75€-100€ per week) you have to ask yourself if it really is worth it. Good quality fixtures and fittings enable you to charge more in the summer.

If you are already letting through Cheznous then you are probably getting the best number of weeks possible. You might get a few extra winter short breaks by taking additional advertising but be careful the cost of the advertising doesn't outweigh the advantage. Your best bet might be to simply put your prices up by £100-£200 per week for the six week peak summer period. You'll be amazed to find Cheznous clients will still pay it at this time of year if you have something good to offer, especially with a pool !