Gites de France and link page

[franglaise]

Hello,

We've opened our B&B in July and everything is going fine. For financial reasons (in order to get a grant as we overshot grandly our budget!) we've had to join GdF. The inspection went well, we got our 3 epis (and are in line to get a 4th one and/or a Charmance listing eventually). My problem is the following (I am actually spitting mad). In order to comply with their rules and regulations we have to have the GdF logo on every page of our personal website with a link to the departmental (in our case 66) GdF website, so far so good, no problem. We also need to include the logo and link to the GdF on our link page... yep, we can do that too. But the GdF refuse to appear on the same page as other websites advertising B&Bs which are not referenced by them... websites such as chambres-hotes.org or ourinns or iha.com and therefore they are asking us to remove all our links from our website in order I guess not to contaminate them (honestly!). I cut/pasted their mail to us:

Je viens de vérifier votre site ; il parait conforme à notre Charte de lien Internet sous réserve de :

- noter à la rubrique "lien" le nom de notre site départemental des Gîtes de France

- Par contre les sites paraissant dans la rubrique "lien" font référence à des structures qui ne sont pas labellisées Gîtes de France, et qui peuvent donc induire en erreur les personnes qui consulteront votre site ; ceci n'est pas conforme à notre charte de lien (cf article 2 - engagement du propriétaire - 6ème paragraphe) : il faudrait donc supprimer ces liens

 

As I wrote above, I'm livid with rage. How dare they dictate to us what can or cannot appear on our personal website (as long as it is not illegal or discriminatory). I don't remember giving them the right to rule my life. Some of those websites actually do bring guests and we have to have a reciprocal link with them if we want to appear on their website, so the GdF are actually trying to stop us earning a living. Can this be really legal? I remember that they were fined a couple of years ago for unfair competition or something like that.

 

Have any of you come across that rule, and what did you do about it? It so goes against the grain to submit meekly to their petty rules.

 

Scrogneugneu (or grumblemumblegrumble in English).

 

Thanks for any advice you may have.

[BJSLIV]

There is little you can do about it.

You agreed to their conditions when you accepted their money.

You have a choice; Remove the links or return their money.

You will have to do an urgent  cost benefit analysis as to whether the cash in hand is worth more than the lost cash flow from "other" agencies.

 

[cassis]

[quote user="franglaise"]

My problem is the following (I am actually spitting mad). In order to comply with their rules and regulations we have to have the GdF logo on every page of our personal website with a link to the departmental (in our case 66) GdF website,

[/quote]

We put the GdF logo on our index page, but that's it.  We don't link to them at all.  Never been a problem.  GdF've been hauled over the coals in the past for restrictive practices, like forbidding people joining other organisations - they were forced by the monopolies commission to back down over that last year.  This sounds like a regional office talking balls.  I've looked at dozens of GdF owners' personal sites and none of them do what your lot are suggesting.

Have a look at some owners' sites yourself and you'll see that this 'requirement' is cobblers.

[cassis]

PS I don't understand what you mean by getting a Charmance listing - that's simply GdF's logo for chambres d'hôtes rather than gîtes ruraux.

[quote user="franglaise"]

Je viens de vérifier votre site ; il parait conforme à notre Charte de lien Internet sous réserve de :

- noter à la rubrique "lien" le nom de notre site départemental des Gîtes de France

-

Par contre les sites paraissant dans la rubrique "lien" font référence

à des structures qui ne sont pas labellisées Gîtes de France, et qui

peuvent donc induire en erreur les personnes qui consulteront votre

site ; ceci n'est pas conforme à notre charte de lien (cf article 2 -

engagement du propriétaire - 6ème paragraphe) : il faudrait donc

supprimer ces liens

[/quote]

Are you sure you're interpreting what they ask for correctly?  Can you refer us directly to your office's 'charte'?  Can it be rolled into a tube and inserted into the appropriate orifice of the gauleiter concerned?

I can understand if they don't want to be on the same page as a load of what they consider inappropriate links, but I don't for one second believe they have any right to demand that you link to them and they certainly can't dictate your other links.  That's got to be crap.

[franglaise]

Thanks for your answers.

Yes I believe what I wrote is exactly what they mean. I have got their 'charte' and it actually state this. I do not mind linking to them, it's fair enough, but I object having to remove my other links in order to do so. I'm going to phone them on Monday and have a word with them about it. We've also thought of a solution (I'll disclose what it is at a later stage if it works) and I will also check with relevant authorities on the legality of what they're doing.

[cassis]

Our GdF charte has no Internet linking requirement.  It's ridiculous. 

[cassis]

You might be interested in this concerning previous decisions against GdF:

http://www.conseil-concurrence.fr/user/standard.php?id_rub=185&id_article=539

[cassis]

Here is the standard "charte" for the national réseau des gîtes de France

"Charte" des Gîtes de France

If your local office has these ridiculous local rules about website links, definitely complain against them as they fly in the face of fair competition and they deserve a good kicking from the competition office.

[Quillan]

Cassis beat me to it, this is totally illegal. I can remember this issue and have just dug out a copy of the letter we recieved from one of the companies (which is part of Thomas Cook) that raised this issue originally and helped get this result.

I see that you received this information by email. If I were in your shoes I would copy the French version of Cassis's link in to a reply and mention the fact that they had 4 months grace back in March 2006 to sort this out and that by continuing these practices the total fine they would currently be liable for should you inform The Conseil de la Concrrence would be roughly 141,000 Euros, that might get their attention [;-)] .

I think this is a local thing thought up by some halfwit jobsworth who does not realise it's illegal. Tell them you want a favorable reply within 7 days or else you will send copies of yours and theirs emails to GDF in Paris.

[cassis]

I have had a couple of glasses and thanks to the liberating qualities of alcohol (always in moderation) I can think of one set of circumstances under which this very peculiar requirement might be demanded.  That would be if you have entered into an entirely separate contract, nothing to do with your GdF membership, for promotion of links with your local réseau.  A bizarre but possible scenario - but nothing to do with requirements for GdF membership.

[oscar]

Could it be anything to do with the fact that they've given you a grant? ie they don't want to getting business from other sources when they see it that they have paid for your facilities.

[cassis]

No.  Gites de France don't give grants. 

[BJSLIV]

The OP wrote

For financial reasons (in order to get a grant as we overshot grandly our budget!) we've had to join GdF

Anyway, the normal rule seems to be that if you take their money you have to remain a member for 10 years, otherwise you have to repay the grant.

[oscar]

[quote user="BJSLIV"]

Anyway, the normal rule seems to be that if you take their money you have to remain a member for 10 years, otherwise you have to repay the grant.

[/quote]

That's what I understood when we looked into it, which is why we chose not to take the grant or go with GdF.

[cassis]

The grant comes from the Departmental Tourist Committee or equivalent body within the Conseil Genérale, not from GdF.  Membership of GdF or Clévacances is just a condition

for receiving the grants.  If you close or sell up, you do have to repay part of the grant to the Tourist Committee, proportional to the shortfall in the time your business was open.  In our case the grant was equivalent to 30 years' GdF subs so we did take it up.

[franglaise]

It gets quite bizarre, quite funny and in some ways very French. I phoned the GdF yesterday, spoke to one of the people working there (the one who helped me set up the grant request) and I told him that I really didn't think it was fair to be obliged to remove our links simply because GdF objected to them. To my utter surprise he agreed with me, said that if those websites were bringing me customers, then not to delete them. He added that they had to enter that clause because a few years back they had a complaint from someone who from links to links booked a room (or a gite) which he thought was GdF registered when it was not (or something like that). So the way round it? Exactly what we had considered... a mirror website with which the GdF can be linked while keeping our original website going. It's so French... you make a rule, it's not working so you don't remove the rule, you just ignore it or find ways round it. In some ways I'm quite lucky because the GdF in our department are actually not too officious. Our inspection was very relaxed and friendly and not at all like some of the horror stories I've read.

By the way, on the subject of the grant, we need to stay open as chambres d'hotes and members of the GdF for - only - 5 years.