liz Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 We stayed in a French owned Chambre d'Hote for the first time recently and were rather taken aback that no towels were supplied. Otherwise it was excellent. They always have them in UK B&Bs AFAIK. No problem as we had a couple of towels with us. I just wondered if this was usual. There were a couple of little soaps!Liz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cassis Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 In 20-odd years of staying in chambres d'hôtes, never stayed in a one where towels were not provided (though sometimes they were threadbare and scratchy). The national organisations like Gites de France and Clévacances require AT LEAST one regular towel per person, then bath mitts and bath towels as the grade increases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted July 12, 2008 Share Posted July 12, 2008 Like many others we supply everything guests need but I have noticed that many Europeans, including the French, do turn up with their own towels and things. Sometimes, judging by what they actually bring in to the house (towels, sheets, pillows etc), you would think they are staying in self catering. Even had one bring a 22" TV once, thought about charging him for the electricity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liz Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 That's interesting since it was a Clévacance accredited property. If it happens again I will ask.Liz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscar Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 We had some Belgians stay recently who emailed to ask if they needed to bring towels and bedlinen. How could you call it a B&B/chambres d'hotes if you didn't provide these things? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 [quote user="liz"]That's interesting since it was a Clévacance accredited property. If it happens again I will ask.Liz[/quote]In which case I would contact Clévacance and tell them or else they will never know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cassis Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 [quote user="oscar"]We had some Belgians stay recently who emailed to ask if they needed to bring towels and bedlinen. How could you call it a B&B/chambres d'hotes if you didn't provide these things?[/quote]No idea. But we've had people ask the same question (mainly French, but not exclusively, if memory serves). We've always assumed that they've never stayed in a chambre d'hôte before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 [quote user="liz"]That's interesting since it was a Clévacance accredited property. If it happens again I will ask.Liz[/quote] In that case you should complain , even for the 1 cle they have to supply at least one towel, not sure how often it has to be changed i know for 3 cle its every 3 days and you have to supply one bath and one hand towel person, for 4 cle you also have to supply face cloth and you use to have to change the towels daily Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cendrillon Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 LizJust a thought but did you ask the owners for towels? Maybe they forgot to put the towels out that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cassis Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 [quote user="Cendrillon"]LizJust a thought but did you ask the owners for towels? Maybe they forgot to put the towels out that day.[/quote]Good point, Cinders! You off to the ball again tonight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cendrillon Posted July 15, 2008 Share Posted July 15, 2008 "Good point, Cinders! You off to the ball again tonight?"No Cassis, a quiet night in for me, far too much excitement during the last 6 weeks![:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liz Posted July 16, 2008 Author Share Posted July 16, 2008 I did wonder if it was just an oversight, it was Monsieur who made all the arrangements [:)] . They did have a very posh electric towel rail! No, I won't be complaining, it was not an inconvenenience to us, they were such nice people and service was faultless in all other respects. Just goes to show it pays to be nice to guests!Liz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Quillan, I would advise you to be very much on your guard with regards to guests bringing their own TV into your establishment. The 'TV license man from Perpignan' visits us regularly to count the TV's in our 12 rooms - right now we only have ONE television in ONE guest room right now which costs us 116 euros per year for the providing the privilege - we cannot afford to place TV's in all the other rooms even though our guests (British) request them. And these TV people are thorough believe me...He wanted to count a TV which sat in my son's room - despite it being totally non-functional and out of order.To cop a visit from one of these people at the same time you have an extra TV in a guest's room - despite it not being yours - could result in you being charged a fee for it...Personally I would not ignore it anymore. Tell them to leave their TV's in the car and do something else at night instead... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 I wouldn't worry to much about me, I have a pretty good idea what the rules are and have an excellent reputation for sticking to them which is why in seven years we have never had any official body visit us, except for our normal inspections of course.We don't allow TV's, mobile phones etc in our house as it often offends the other guests. Why people would expect a TV in their room when on holiday in a B&B I just don't know. This was a one off thing and the TV was never used although that is no excuse. I just found it very odd that they should bring a TV and three games consoles on holiday, nothing so strange as folks. It won't ever happen again I can assure you. We now have a 42" plasma and two games consoles and charge the over 14's 5 Euros a hour to use them (they bring there own games as it's illegal to loan games for cash). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard T Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 [quote user="Quillan"]We don't allow TV's, mobile phones etc in our house as it often offends the other guests. Why people would expect a TV in their room when on holiday in a B&B I just don't know. [/quote]Then let me explain. Sometimes when on holiday people like to spend their leisure time exactly as they want. That might include, for example, watching the news on TV before they go to bed. If they were looking to improve their French then tuning in to French TV is both fun and educational.Sometimes, if they have children, they might like to let the children watch cartoons in the morning whilst the adults have a lie in. And I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons to have a TV which would now doubt meet with your disapproval.[quote]I just found it very odd that they should bring a TV and three games consoles on holiday, nothing so strange as folks. It won't ever happen again I can assure you. We now have a 42" plasma and two games consoles and charge the over 14's 5 Euros a hour to use them (they bring there own games as it's illegal to loan games for cash).[/quote]So it's odd that people might want to bring their own entertainment but not so odd that you want to charge them for it! Nothing so stange as B&B owners.RichardT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cassis Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 [quote user="Richard T"]Nothing so stange as B&B owners.[/quote]Oi! I heard that! [:P] We don't have a problem with mobile phones - you can't get a signal inside the house. [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Richard, I think you will find that large and small hotels will have TV's in their rooms but very few B&B's will have them. As Jura has mentioned the cost of just the licence is enough and we all work on very small profit margins.Sometimes people offer (when asked) things specifically to discourage their use. Nobody has ever asked to play games on our TV because at 5 Euros an hour its too expensive. It's a bit like we offer full English breakfasts.... at 30 Euros a head, we don't get any takers for that either but it does stop people from asking which I always find annoying.Funny enough we don't get a mobile phone signal in our house either. Perhaps the little box in the cellar has something to do with it.We aim at a specialist market and the guests we get do not want games machines, mobile phones or anything else that interferes with their peace and tranquility. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 [quote user="cassis"][quote user="Richard T"]Nothing so stange as B&B owners.[/quote]Oi! I heard that! [:P] We don't have a problem with mobile phones - you can't get a signal inside the house. [:D][/quote]We can't either ![:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 Spot on Quillan. We provide one room with a TV and DVD player as some guests who are in for a week or more often like to chill out on a Sunday and watch a few films and this is nice for them of course to be able to do such - wish I had the time to do same!However the cost of putting TV's in 8 rooms is very expensive along with the extensive cable running - our walls are almost 2 foot thick - and the logistics are quite complicated. Another thing is most of our guests are not French and all we could provide is French TV at the most...we already get some folk asking is there any other choice besides the French channels. Providing Satellite TV is out of the question for us.We provide a stereo in the dining room where I often put on some nice classical music whilst guests are eating - always played at an acceptably discreet level - however we have had some people walk in and turn it off despite the others already sitting there enjoying the music...caused quite an argument between two couples two years ago. Mobile phones also do not work in our place - I often see people wandering up and down out in the car park desperately trying to get a signal on their phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard T Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 [quote user="Jura"]We provide a stereo in the dining room where I often put on some nice classical music whilst guests are eating - always played at an acceptably discreet level - however we have had some people walk in and turn it off ...[/quote]Ah, that could be me - even though I love classical music! [:)]I often ask for music (or muzak as we used to call it) to be turned off in restaurants as I resent other people assuming that I like to listen to (or more acurately hear) their choice of music which they always seem to play at what they consider to be an acceptably discreet level! Acceptable to whom? Not to me!Richard T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendy Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 You don't have to listen to the music then do you? who wants to sit in a dining room with no sound at all...? the two couples in question then sat and ate in stony silence - because of selfishness on the part of the others. Fair enough if you are the only one dining - but your wishes should not over-rule that of the others enjoying. We often have single travellers dining and they enjoy listening to the music without a partner to talk to.Anyone who cannot bear the sound of Faure's Pavane playing softly in the background...you have to consider the wishes of the majority I am afraid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cassis Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 Was the stony silence not due to the argument rather than the absence of music? Richard - I always wear ear plugs if I don't like the owner's choice of music. Or shove some bread in my ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 I remember a line in a film (can't remember the name) where a young couple were in a restaurant and they looked around at the other people in the dining room. The man said "You can tell which couples are married, they don't talk to each other" !!!!!! [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cendrillon Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 "Anyone who cannot bear the sound of Faure's Pavane playing softly inthe background...you have to consider the wishes of the majority I amafraid."Isn't that the music they play for the wake-up call on Brittany Ferries? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard T Posted August 8, 2008 Share Posted August 8, 2008 [quote user="cassis"]Richard - I always wear ear plugs if I don't like the owner's choice of music. Or shove some bread in my ears.[/quote]But they'd probably charge you extra for the bread!Richard T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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