Customers Board - Holiday Rentals/B&B

[Teamedup]

Should we have one for us mere punters. As some of those with the gite things seem to do an awful lot of whinging about us, the clientele.

I'm not really serious, but as I have been appalled and disgusted by too many  of the comments on the B&B and Gite Owners board recently, maybe they need somewhere private to blow off steam where we, the customers cannot see.  Because there is nothing so sure, so many of them are putting me off even wanting to rent anywhere for holidays.

[Eslier]

As a gite owner I welcome your suggestion. Customer service expectations have changed a lot in recent years and if we the owners want to prosper, we need to listen to what our clients want. Sometimes it is hard to listen to what one doesn't want to hear but it is important to take in as many opinions as possible to get a balanced view.

I agree that there do seem to be some owners around with very strange ideas operating not so customer friendly policies. At the same time, I can understand the need to let off steam from time to time - but as you rightly say this should apply to both sides of the equation.

We have tried hard to provide the facilities our guests want, make booking as easy as possible and have as few "rules" as possible. This has been successful for us but we mustn't take our eyes off the ball and we know we need to continue to improve our service to ensure we are still doing just as well in five years time.

So yes, why not have a "holidaymakers" section.

[Russethouse]

I can see the sense and desirability of knowing who is in your gite, if there is a washing machine provided I want to be able to use when I feel like it, not feel rationed - but what I would really like is the option to pay extra and not have to do the end of visit cleaning......I used to detest this when we were Eurocamping and I doubt if I have changed enough to make me ever like it - I think its a real downer and would happily pay extra if I didn't have to do it.

[Teamedup]

We have always had this option in gites to pay for the cleaning to be done. We've never taken it though. Although I suspect my friend would have given up on cleaning in the last one we stayed in when she went to do it.

There was a bouanderie and she went to get the mop and bucket. She came back saying that there was a bucket but nothing to wash the floors with. I went and looked and said that there was. And really she did not understand at all. The owner had left a hard broom and a cloth and a bucket. And I showed her how one cleaned floors in France. She hoovered and I followed washing the floors. Her comment was that she had never seen anything like it.

I can imagine that most brits would have no idea as to what to do if they were left with a serpilliere.

[Owens88]

End of holiday cleaning is indeed an interesting thing. I have seen 'mainlanders' spend half a day doing a deep clean. We, as holidaymakers, don't want to waste a large chunk of our holiday doing that.

In fact we, as holidaymakers, are suspicious of the cleanliness of somewhere which seems to rely on 'leave it as you find it'.

 

As owners we suspect that most won't do it well enough anyway. It is nigh on impossible to leave a place perfectly clean when 4-6 of you are still using it. (I've tried it with only one, me, and that is a pain but possible). So we adopted the policy of paying a cleaner for each changeover, but asking that people leave the place reasonable for the 'deep clean' to be possible.

John

[Teamedup]

We sort jobs out. And as soon as the cleaning starts, all the luggage should already be out of the door and being packed by who ever got that job and the cleaning done by the other or others.  We always empty the fridge the evening before and rub that down and eat out on our last night.

No I'm not going to deep clean. I'm not going to scrub all the paintwork down etc or clean the windows, but we can leave the floors clean, the place dusted properly  and the kitchen and bathroom clean.

Mind you, I don't know how we would manage to be out by 10am. I like it when we have until midi. We are usually done and away by then anyway.

[Tourangelle]

I have to confess I have never actually rented a gite in France! But I am surprised to read about cleaning oneself, having never come across this in the UK where I have rented plenty of places. I have always left the places in a reasonable state, crockery clean and away, tidy, rubbish in bins, anything we might have moved returned to its original place and so on. But I would never have thought on the last day of my holiday to start pushing a hoover around. Usually in the UK they ask you to be out for a certain time so they can get on with the cleaning. Is this a common thing with French rentals, and how do you know when it is expected and when it isn't?

[Teamedup]

When it says that there is a charge if you want it cleaning. If I don't notice much else, yorkshire lass I am I always notice when someone is asking me for money. And if we had to leave very early I'd cough up, but we never have so far.

[0The Plan ManAll the best,<br><br>StewartddMMyyyy0Falseen-USAll the best,<br><br>StewartTrue]

[quote]We sort jobs out. And as soon as the cleaning starts, all the luggage should already be out of the door and being packed by who ever got that job and the cleaning done by the other or others. We alwa...[/quote]

Will you come and stay at my place please?!!

As a gite owner it is always interesting to watch groups come and go, and to see how they get on with all manner of 'life in a gite'. It seems to me that it is very much the groups that interact well, who really enjoy the place and the area, are the ones who leave it in the best possible condition.