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Guests who won't go out !!


Miki
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we do get the odd French lovers who stay in their room for up to three days only surfacing to go for a quick meal somewhere, nice good guests as you never see them!

We've got some of those too Lizzie - and they tend to come out of season as well.  And they're polite enough to let us know in advance that they won't be wanting breakfast, towels or anything else for that matter.  They probably enjoy the fact that the hoover and radio are on too!!!    As you say, good guests - money for doing nothing!

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Just for the record, I think it's totally out of order to tar all the police with the same brush.  Trouble is, it's an easy profession to pick on, because so often they have to enforce laws, like parking and speeding that people don't like.  Of course there are a few bent ones, but the majority do an excellent job in very difficult circumstances, as we've recently seen in London.  My dad, incidentally, was a policeman in London during the 50's and early 60's.  He knew of policemen who did things like plant dope on young lads and they were as much hated by their colleagues as the general public.  My mum was also totally ignored at work because unfortunately they were living in a pretty rough part of London, where most people were criminals (there we go, another sweeping generalisation ) and none of her colleauges would talk to her because she was a rozzer's wife!

Personally, when I see some young people, I could have a pop at the atrocious teaching abilities of that profession.  But then there are as many bright and intelligent kids around who disprove the theory that all teachers are rubbish!

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Whatever is going on ? this is getting all too silly.

"My sole reason for joining in the thread was the slurs that were being thrown at the police"

Slurs...plural, I think you will find by the time you posted, it was just my remark you were talking about.

"....So there will be no more comments from me the best thing is a dignified silence"

Shame you didn't think about that earlier, sorry but making molehills etc come to mind here.

No one tarred them ALL with the same brush and now some people are going off on one.

I have a good friend here, who left the police force due to his distaste of certain policing actions in the 1980's, who has complete and utter disdain for the uniform. Now he would get exteremely angry about a lot of police officers he knew, me well I just made a throwaway line, which was all it was meant to be but you always get someone searching out posts to enable them to get in with a muted point, that was not actually even meant to be that serious. It would, quite correctly, have been long forgotten but oh no, the defender of the indefensible comes to the aid,.... of what, a throwaway line ? Most people are quite aware that not all are bent and not all dozy ? (although I personally knew plenty of the latter)so it seemed rather strange to me, that anyone, uniform or not, would take it too seriously.

I personally see the remark about scousers as no different at all, whether or not one comes from Liverpool, it does not to my mind give someone the right to say it as a generalisation of ALL scousers.

As far as not staying here, well, I can only repeat a story told about the inimitable Lester Piggott.

When told that a little known trainer had blamed him for his riding and the horse not winning, the longfellow simply replied, with tongue firmly in cheek

"Well I guess I had better pack the game in then"

For goodness sake, move on or start your own thread......

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My youngest daughters first words - she was in her high chair - were "Come on Piggott".

Of course, we were at my Mothers!

Policemen are like politicians.  Anyone who thinks either of them are honest is in cloud cuckoo land. 

Or France.

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[quote]Just for the record, I think it's totally out of order to tar all the police with the same brush. Trouble is, it's an easy profession to pick on, because so often they have to enforce laws, like park...[/quote]

Coco, I was the nineties version of your mum - but I'm not commenting anymore because I've already said what I thought and this is getting way out of proportion.

However, since when did teachers become responsible for the way kids turned out?  Are parents not responsible for their children's behaviour?

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[quote]For their behaviour yes, but for their education, well that well and truly lies with teachers, but in a B&B thread, let's not even go there, as Miki said, just a throw away line.....[/quote]

Oh, so throwaway lines are ok for some then?  Actually, morally (in my opinion) and by law (in the UK) parents are responsible for their children's education.  If a parent is not happy with the education provided by a school then it is up to them to remove them from that school and provide them with a suitable education, whether at another school or otherwise.  Courtesy of Education Otherwise, see link:

http://www.education-otherwise.org/Legal/SummLawEng&Wls.htm

The responsibility of parents is clearly established in section 7 of the Education Act 1996 (previously section 36 of the Education Act 1944):

The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable

 (a) to his age, ability and aptitude, and
(b) to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.
 

Definition of Suitable Education

An interpretation of some terminology used in the Education Act 1944 (replaced by the 1996 Act) was provided by an appeal case which was brought at Worcester Crown Court in 1981 (Harrison & Harrison v Stevenson). In this case, the judge defined a ‘suitable education’ as one which was such as

1. to prepare the children for life in modern civilised society, and
2. to enable them to achieve their full potential.

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mmm read your posts at 11.08 and 22.49 - like I said, OK for some to make throwaway comments or post off subject, but clearly not for others.

Seems like some people can't cope with a few home truths now and again.

However, I accept that you recognise that about yourself.

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lol - OK Gay, time I should be in bed anyway!  By the way my earlier post to you got lost in space - I said hubby had just come back from a quick trip over there and had bought a lake, so any mucky weekends we get to have from now on will probably be spent in a lakeside cabin!  Just hope I can distract him from the fish!  Think of me while you're in your luxury hotel, hogging your room all day!
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perhaps this posting should be titled guests who wont stay in!

we have just bade farewell to a lovely parisian couple who stayed with us for two nights

we didnt even notice their presence

 

they arrived saturday at 530 pm & went out for the evening at 7pm to return around 11 pm

They breakfasted late on sunday ( 930 UNTIL 1045) & left at 11 am to return at midnight!

 

they loved the room, the house & the location.

They are our second french guests & have been a delight

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Pepsi and Shirley

Thats what happened to you, so I guess after a pop career the next obvious thing to do is run a b and b. I think your mate Buster Bloodvessel (you remember lip up fatty, etc etc) is also running a b and b but in Blackpool or is it Morecambe, somewhere grim and somewhere up north.

regards and good luck

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Finally had an English family to stay who didn't sound as though they were coming through the ceiling every time they moved about in their room; didn't shout, scream and have tantrums; didn't break anything and didn't wear my nerves down to nothing.  They even vacated their room by 11am as requested.  HOWEVER, they did stay wandering around the garden and playing table tennis til 12.30 which meant that a) I couldn't go out ad b) the proximity to my washing line and the gravel dust that is kicked up from the table tennis means that I couldn't hang any washing out!!!  I think perhaps I'm just too nice for this game
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This is a fascinating topic which has obviously touched a nerve with many!

From our experience, despite whether you agree with Miki or not, it's the Brits that ALWAYS seem to cause the problems. The French families/ couples / groups get up, eat breakfast quickly and get out - winter and summer season. In general, they don't return before 6pm every day. This leaves us plenty of time to work and to 'have a life'.

The Brits, however, are nearly always the last down to btreakfast (very often in pj's). They spend ages over breakfast and then disappear back upstairs. They 'faff' around, going in and out of the house taking various items to the car, bringing other items back in......finally leaving anytime after 11.30. Which means, in winter, they have already missed half a days worth of skiing and theyre only just in time for lunch!

THEN ......who's ALWAYS first home.......the Brits!! Its either too wet, too cold, too hot......gives us french guests any day!

Abi

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just had the worst yet... here for a few days and didn't leave the room. OK, I can live with that as it saves us having to tidy up the room for a few days.

However, last day came and 11am (our checkout time) came and went. Well, we're relatively laid back about that most of the time so no big deal. Gave them a call at noon. Ignored. Another couple up to 2pm. Ignored. Another one at 3pm: "We need to make up the room for the next guests." Reply: "Do you mean that you want us to leave?". "Ermm. Yes". They finally left around 3.30. And for a change these were Danish and not Brits.

How long do people think that they can keep the room for? Well they did book to Sunday so I guess their reasoning was that midnight Sunday was fine.

Other extreme we've had is some Parisiens who booked "Saturday" and announced that they were arriving for the room at 5am! Presumably on that reasoning they'd have to leave the room at midnight on Saturday? Actually we had a bit of a run of Parisiens doing that: they reason that by booking Saturday they can have the whole weekend in the south of France (we're starting to curse that bridge at Millau!). Once or twice in May we had them turn up at 5am/6am wanting to checkin and having great difficulty understanding how come there were people in "their" room when they'd booked "Saturday". My French is a bit flakey at that time in the morning so perhaps my explanation wasn't 100% clear; of course, my English is a bit flakey at that time too!

 

Arnold

 

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  • 1 month later...

As a newby, both here and to letting B&B in france, heres my two penneth.

The term "Guest" should be refrased into "Paying customer" - Thats what they are, you have advertised and encouraged their custom, if they are paying, please appreciate that major fact.

I would expect that if I rent a room, the room is mine for the duration of my payment, wether I chose to go out or not.

It appears that most B&B owners here, want the monies but not the anaomlies of folk, this should of been thoroughly thought through before the £/€ signs appeared in their eyes.

Anyone who has ever worked in the public service industry would realise, that the world is made up of many differing people and to expect everyone else to share your "Ideal" guest criteria is really very naieve.

People will take you to the limit, they are not like pets, do not expect them to be housetrained and loyal.

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I think you're confusing hotel accomodation with B&B. If I paid hotel rates I would expect to stay in as long as I wanted - but with B&B in France especially the small places where there's only 1 or 2 rooms I would expect to go out for the day - what you are paying for is bed and breakfast - not the use of the facilities all day - that would be extra. if you want to hand around all day - you need to book a hotel or gite - not a B&B. I can quite understand the frustration of the many owners here who need to ahve their own lives - and are can't get on with things because their guests do not understand..... 
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[quote]I think you're confusing hotel accomodation with B&B. If I paid hotel rates I would expect to stay in as long as I wanted - but with B&B in France especially the small places where there's onl...[/quote]

By default, B&B is for the room also, not just the bed and the breakfast, otherwise the "Guest" would be asked to remove their belongings in between these times. You pay extra (normally) in Hotels only for the availability and facilities of food being available morning, noon and evening (whether you eat in or not).

The terminology for a "Hotel", simply means accommodation that also serves food on the premises, it doesnt state anywhere that you can use the room all day either.

So, in reality,

A B&B guest is only really welcome/allowed on the premises between the hours of ? Please let me know the official time so that I can let them know and also inform them that the front door will be locked internally between such times.

I wonder how many "Paying" clients a B&B/Hotel would attract if the above was stated clearly on the accommodation details.

A major factor deciding a businesses success has to be flexibility and understanding.

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Quite righ EjC,

I think the word newby to letting B&B in France is the clue here. Too many Brits come here and then make their Chambre D’Hôte in to an English Type B&B and seek out just those who speak the same language. You can quote terminologies about what things stand for, all day long but surely anyone who has stayed at a French CdH and a French Hotel will know what is normally expected and what is not

I think that you have not read this thread properly. We do of course advertise for people but under our rules, which as already stated cannot be in an Hotel style and sadly if people do not like them (and the huge majority do, luckily !) then they simply have to seek an alternative, what’s wrong with that kind of system ? If you didn’t run a business to suit you, who is running it ? And isn’t that why Brits are flocking to France, for the stress free laid, back style. Never found it myself but have read about this occurrence.

You need to go the shops, go out to lunch perhaps, at a time to suit the guests and ones self, no one else is in the house, surely it makes complete sense that one cannot just go out and leave complete strangers in ones house ? You have to get things cleaned, floors, clear breakfast plates etc and then clean the dining room and the rooms of course and, as I or others mention, a hundred other things (all already posted on this thread).

More importantly than anything else, one really does need a life and if you don’t get one, you are going to pack it all in, it is that simple. I have lost count the number of CdH’s we have known, both French and British, that have just had enough, shut up or sold it on.

The other important thing to remember is, if you go out and the guests go out later and do not lock the door (and believe me, Brits with their holiday heads on can do the most incredibly stupid things !) you get robbed, kinda sours things a bit eh ? So we guard against all that and have our little rules, ones that we learned from the French as well……Well it is their country and by following them we sort of felt we were acting OK !!

Being idealistic and letting guests have the run of the place might seem OK to you but it does not have a place in a busy CdH I can tell you ! The only ones with that kind of outlook are the ones just starting out , they are the naive ones, not those already working in a CdH !

Acting like an hotel is OK but it is easy to forget, hotels have staff (or at least, the majority of the good ones do !) and can allow for all these things, that CdH's cannot either legally do or just not have the time to be able to do.

In answer to your latest post, we do indeed give our guests their own front door keys, they are on the same keyring as their bedroom door key. We will often tell them we will not be home between certain hours and almost without fail, they will rarely, if ever, come back betwen those hours and all we have said is that we will be out between certain hours. Any guest with common sense will not return within those times and anyway, what kind of area would one living in, that guests would not want to go out all day to see all the places of interest ?

We went away for a very short spell last week, we took an hotel, why, because we are very much au fait with the difference between CdH and Hotels and so chose an hotel, never took breakfasts and went out at 10.00 am (remember Hotels do not put breakfasts in the nightly price, unlike CdH’s that must) came back late at night had a couple of digestifs and coffees before retiring, the former strictly not allowed in a CdH (unless you plan on giving drinks away as well and waiting up at all hours to greet folks home each night with a nightcap!).

No you do what you think will give you a good business (remember what you are and are not allowed to do though) and leave us others, who see it quite differently to try our best at earning an annual crust !

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Well, judging by most posts, why are you still doing it if it isnt "All That"?

Many people come to France, without retail/public experience and start their B&B/accommodation without thought to what they can expect and contrary to your implication, I am not one of those by any stretch.

With over 20 years experience in the UK of running a successful public related business, you know that "Your life" is secondary to the business and you will have to make sacrifices. If you are not prepared for it or to do it, dont bother because you will not like it.

Earning an honest crust, is one thing, being prepared to run, take responsibility and make a successful business with the general public as many are finding out, is a totally different ball-game.

France is awash with B&B's and every other type of rental and accommodation, you have to go the extra mile if you are serious about succeeding long term.

You see, being a newby, obviously DOESNT make one naieve ;-)

A misconception is  - 

"what kind of area would one living in, that guests would not want to go out all day to see all the places of interest ?"

As read in this thread, yes READ, some people come away to Bonk, to read, to write, to make up, to save a marriage etc etc etc. Not everyone goes away or rents accommodation to view the scenery..........

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Ofcourse people have many reasons for going away......... AND that is why there are many forms of accomodation available to cater for everyone and their reasons for going away.

We are talking about Band B's here for goodness sake, not 5 star hotels. A for all a BandB can be of varying quality,  it is still a BandB. 

And how far are you ready to go, would you be in favour of them waking you in the middle of the night and asking you to provide some food and drink  to reenergise them after making love all the day and half the night.

If people want hotel service or somewhere private like an appartment, then let them rent them instead. Heck there are even Hotel Appts where you can cook for yourself and still have hotel service.

 

Feels to me like this is all tordue.

 

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"....Well, judging by most posts, why are you still doing it if it isnt "All That"?"

One must earn a crust in the best way one can, simple really !

"....Many people come to France, without retail/public experience and start their B&B/accommodation without thought to what they can expect and contrary to your implication, I am not one of those by any stretch"

I am, so guilty as charged, maybe I should pack it in then, it is rocket science and I never took physics, so...... ?

"...With over 20 years experience in the UK of running a successful public related business, you know that "Your life" is secondary to the business and you will have to make sacrifices. If you are not prepared for it or to do it, dont bother because you will not like it"

Are we talking CdH here, or have I missed something ? We do need to make a living and with 5 beds max ( 6 brings problems along with it!), we are quite aware about what it takes to make a decent living, or is the old adage of "you can't be fuller than full" not any good any more ?

I think you are getting a little carried away and I can tell you now, as in the UK it is all about location, if you don't have that, all the theory in the world goes out of the window, well if you want to make a living, purely out of the CdH anyway.

"...Earning an honest crust, is one thing, being prepared to run, take responsibility and make a successful business with the general public as many are finding out, is a totally different ball-game."

True to a point but maybe best equated to hotels in France, rather than the more ordinary CdH business.

"...France is awash with B&B's and every other type of rental and accommodation, you have to go the extra mile if you are serious about succeeding long term"

Far too simple to just say it like that, you need to feel it by the seat of your pants, I have heard all that above a thousand times and seen those persons that think they know how it should be done, slowly sink in to despair. I could explain and have done many times but, we are CdH's and personality, cleanliness, good food good, nice ambiance and above all good marketing, other than that, one needs to work hard but above all that even, one needs a life, without that I am afraid you will not survive and funnily enough at the Hotel we stayed in the other night, the chap had built up his hotel to be worth well over 3 million pounds(not bad from small beginnings eh)he said exactly the same, but he said good staff (not really applicable for CdH)good food etc etc but as to take as much time away from it as possible.......he was French, naturally.

"....You see, being a newby, obviously DOESNT make one naieve" ;-)

"...A misconception is -

what kind of area would one living in, that guests would not want to go out all day to see all the places of interest ?"

Can you explain that further please, I cannot understand what you mean by "misconception".

I have never come across a good business in a bad area .............

If you think by going the "extra mile" (nice cliché) in an area with not alot going for it, then keep your return ticket handy.

TU has got it bang on, there are in France a multitude of varying gite accommodation, and yes, the hotels with studios have had our trade on occasion, some good, some bad but all kinds of accommodation serve a purpose, just try not to confuse one kind with another. When I lived in West London, there were some beautiful B&B's around, one near Hampton Court won many awards but in the way they all acted, none would have been legal CdH's here.

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[quote]"....Well, judging by most posts, why are you still doing it if it isnt "All That"?"One must earn a crust in the best way one can, simple really !"....Many people come to France, without retail/public...[/quote]

You run any business the way it feels right to the individual, this thread was started regarding people who would not go out during the day and their own "Need" to do the rooms daily(their choice). I see no problem with that at all if someone wants to remain in their room.


"...A misconception is -
what kind of area would one living in, that guests would not want to go out all day to see all the places of interest ?"

Can you explain that further please, I cannot understand what you mean by "misconception".

You are assuming all people coming to stay with you want to view/sight see the local area, this is a generalisation, misconceived. We have had one client that stayed in their room and read books all week, their perogative, they are doing no harm.


"...Earning an honest crust, is one thing, being prepared to run, take responsibility and make a successful business with the general public as many are finding out, is a totally different ball-game.
True to a point but maybe best equated to hotels in France, rather than the more ordinary CdH business."

The above is your choice for any business and is not Hotel specific in any instace!


For the purposes of my comments and thoughts, I regard a Chambre d'Hote as a private house with a max of 3 letting bedrooms. I view anything larger as a hotel by implication that the m2 space taken over for letting accommodation ,99% of the time is more than a 50% of the total m2 of the property.

Appologies if that rankles, just my personal conception.


At the end of the day, having "a life" outside of your business is in your hands. It is you in total control of your bookings, set aside certain times monthly, weekly even yearly when no bookings are taken. If the property is large and therefore financially needs to be full all of the time, then it may not of been the best of choices originally.


Hampton Court eh.........Now I feel like a local on here too, thats my original neck of the woods

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