a lot has happened since last winter

[jon]

We have set up ...a chambre d hote.....almopst like a hotel...anyone out there just about to do the same.Anyone in  33 done the same recently?I thionk lots of people during the winter months were complaining of hardship....how was this summer for you?????

[jon]

my typing is still bad!

[Wendy]

jon, we are in 66 and this summer saw a drop in guests from the UK and a sharp rise in northern Europeans coming to stay - with more group bookings than ever before. September is when we usually see more Brit's coming over but, again, barely any this month. Funnily enough October is looking to be a busy time though.

[jon]

You sound as if you are pleased with how things are going.......we have just began....but it is going well....and enjoying  it.

[Wendy]

Glad you are enjoying it - hang on to the sense of humour though as time goes on, don't know what I'd do without mine...[:-))][blink]

[Patf]

I was just thinking yesterday that we hadn't seen any messages from you lately, Jon. Glad to hear you survived the winter and summer.

Can't offer our experiences of C.de H. as we don't have one.

Keep posting.

[jon]

Well yes...the gloomier of you offered  survival ...at best.The house has been transformed with the assistance of an architect and a good team of artisans....the interior looks great and matches the granduer of this fine Girondine property...now embracing relaxation to the full sense of the word.We have everything organised including a restaurant liscence.......We opened in August and have had really nice clients from many countries...we are still receiving guests.We have a website......lots of visits from old frinds and  plenty of social activities shared with new friends.

[Wendy]

jon, those 'guests' don't include the 'old friends' do they by any chance...? only asking[:)]

One thing is sure - a nice place in France brings 'friends' - old and otherwise - out of the woodwork. We had some 'old friends' show alot of interest in staying at our place when we opened here - when Arnold mentioned to them that he would extend them a 5% discount off the tariff they suddenly found other things to do for the summer...[Www]

My man's a business man through and through[;-)]

Anyway, great to see all is going well - where can we find you on the web though?

 

[jon]

www.closdessaveurs.co.uk

[Suze01]

I had a look at your website.  Your place looks fabulous.

[quote user="jon"]my typing is still bad![/quote]

Glad to see though that someone else has written the text on the site!!

[jon]

Jura....my friends come out of season.As soon as we had placed everything correctly...our neighbour in the Chateau just along the road came with the clients[she had previously made a friendly inspection].....our area is very touristic attracting clients who feel a little less gloomy about the finacial woes of the world.Every time my neighbour is full and she gets enquiries she directs the clients to us...and she is very well established.There is also a hotel in the village and they send us clients too.Now is time for promoting ourselves.....but we still have guests arriving.By the way we have expereienced unpleasantries with Alaistair Sawdays guide...they do not wish to include owners of hotels and B and B if they are British.However they have behaved a little badly with us...which  is rather sad as an inclusion would have been helpfull.....even at the cost of just under 800 pounds...or euros...forgotten.

[cassis]

I'm sure you'll do fine without Alastair Sawday - 99.9% of owners do!  Their tarifs are a rip-off anyway.  The "non-Brit" rule is a new one - they were happy to consider us 3 years ago but we baulked at the price.

Good luck with your venture, glad it's going so well.  [B]

[jon]

The fact is that Sawdays made an appointment to inspect and then the "inspector" CANCELLED the vist the next day.I  was told that they had run out of time!.....maybe I will run out of respect for them!

[cassis]

Can't say I blame you.  Your place looks fantastic, by the way.  [:)]

[jon]

so so peacefull

[Wendy]

That 'no-Brit' rule surely is a new one - there was that Brit couple who bought that chateau and appeared in a TV series who were listed in it; they even showed Sawday spending the night at the place in one of the episodes.

Just thought I'd mention seeing as Sawday's name was raised; we too had an 'experience' with a known travel writer for several UK newspapers who came here last year in June on the pretext that she was writing an article about hotel/B&B accommodation in our region. She emailed me, and others I now know, and requested a nights accommodation for herself and her boyfriend (a photographer) plus evening meal and breakfast in return for a mention in her article. We don't really need the advertising but we thought it would be fun to see ourselves in the newspaper so we said yes.  They arrived and I noticed the absence of any photography equipment at the off. They ate two 3 course meals plus wine and then full breakfast. Licked their plates clean each time. I was a bit sus by this stage as she was not writing any notes down or asking any questions.

She said next morning they were off to 'review' another place at Elne and a few others after that...

No 'article' has appeared to date (nearly 18 months) and when I emailed her, just out of interest a few months back to find out when it might appear, she claimed she had forgotten about the 'article' and that it could be another year before she would be asked to submit it[8-)]...by which time we wont be here! I felt like sending her a bill after all that[:@]

So be wary of certain 'travel reviewers'...certainly nice work if you can get it though[;-)] I would love to name and shame but it ain't allowed...

jon, I could sure do with a respite at your lovely place though[:)]

[mint]

Jura, if I were you, I'd seek out every B&B in France, Brit owned or no, and name and shame this hussy!

[Wendy]

Well, that certainly would be a job and a half however I did write an article on the blog about it. Very satisfying it was too - didn't name her though, don't know what she thought about our region but I know she was 'mad about madrid' in her 'hedonist's guide to madrid'...[Www]

Wonderful thing Google is...[;-)]

[water rat]

[quote user="cassis"]I'm sure you'll do fine without Alastair Sawday - 99.9% of owners do!  Their tarifs are a rip-off anyway.  The "non-Brit" rule is a new one - they were happy to consider us 3 years ago but we baulked at the price.

Good luck with your venture, glad it's going so well.  [B]
[/quote]

If this is true,surely it's discriminatory and consequently against the law.

W Rat

[cassis]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they do - I meant that I'd never heard of this until Jon mentioned it, and it wasn't the case 3 years ago.  Sounds very dodgy to me, too.  Could be a misunderstanding.

[Maricopa]

[quote user="jon"]...they do not wish to include owners of hotels and B and B if they are British..[/quote]

I think the original post by jon, quoted above, doesn't say they don't include brits, merely they do not wish to include them, ie, we have quite enough brits now thank you very much, and would prefer to take on other nationalities of owners.

Their loss I would have thought[:D]

[water rat]

Even if they "prefer to take on other nationalities" it is still discriminatory. You can't specify the nationality of owners, for heavens sake!!

W Rat

[jon]

I am trying to get the truth from Alistair Sawday directly he promised to get back to me...but has not1The main thing is that the appointment for inspection was made and then cancelled two days later.I expect from anyone to wait and see what is on offer...what we can do and to respect that our background is based on a long period working in the catering industry retaining merits in the best guides.Pre-judgement is unfair and unprofessional.We have no desire or need to copy the style of  others....after all you can cook...or not cook...whatever the case may be.You have a comfortable and stylish home or you do not.However the financial situation of the world will make life more complex.Can we here in France gather together our thoughts and offer the rest of the world an irresitable package.....present our offering to a newspaper?Anyone interested to talk about this.

[jon]

computor error! on the first line or so......oops computors are a bad  subject for me!

[Quillan]

We were recommended to Alistair Sawday by a guest (who incidentally has nothing to do with actually writing the guide anymore, its some woman who's name escapes me) about the same time as Cassis I think. The fee then was £600 plus the inspector expected to stay here at a very reduced price and get an evening meal (for free if memory serves), needless to say we never bothered. There are much better places to advertise at a lot less cost and give mush better results.

Personally I think he is in it just for the money, I mean lets split the difference and say £700 a pop, 200 entries per book thats £140k per year plus book sales at £15 a go and thats just French B&B's! He (well his publishing company) has another couple of French books as well plus others for different countries, my last count on Amazon was 18, thats £2.52M just in entries (every year I assume), and that without selling a single book? If he sold 10,000 copies between all his books every year that that gives him another £150k a year, Now that is a nice little earner, just the £150k a year would do me.

What a nice wheeze for Jura's guests, wouldn't have been so bad if it were not that the person has not, apparently, written a single article in 2008. Nice way to get a free holiday, with meals, bet the people in Elne are equally as happy. There really are so many articles written about France these days and what with all the magazines as well its information overload. To be honest I think you are soon forgotten by those that read them. My personal attitude would be you pay for the stay and the meal and then write the article. If my bookings increase dramatically after the article is printed I will give you a full refund plus a weeks free holiday. No such thing as a free meal as they say.

Having said that Jon why don't you contact Living France (the magazine, not the forum), you never know they might do an article on you and you partner, "Top London Chefs set up Boutique Hotel and Cooking School". Well something like that, you can see I wouldn't make a journalist. Contact details are on the main website worth a punt as they say.