"Clamp down" on "illegal" CdHs?

[Quillan]

[quote user="Wilko"]Hi Just wondered what commissions you guys are paying to Beds 24 and Booking .com. Thanks Wilko[/quote]

Beds24 - Is a 'Back Office' suite of programs that lets you put a calender on your website so that people can make reservations direct. It will also ask for a deposit if you wish via PayPal and produce numerous letters if you wish. The main reason  use it is because whenever someone makes a reservation on any website I have a calender on (Booking.com, Laterooms or my own website) all the others automatically get updated. You see many of the good websites have availability calenders which you are obliged to keep up to date. Well you can imagine how time consuming it is to go round updating them by hand every time you get a reservation. Each website with a calender is called a channel and you way a small amount per channel each month. The more channels you have the more it costs although just to have one calender on your own website is I believe free. More details at www.beds24.com

Booking.com - Depends on what exposure you want as to how much you pay in commission which can vary between 10 and 15%. If you want to be at the top all the time you pay the highest commission rate. You need to do your own research before you decide where you want to come in the listings. We are below hotel but near the top of the B&B's for which we pay 11%. People who want to stay in a B&B will skip past the hotels till they get down the page to the B&B's so there is no point in being in front of the hotels by paying 15%.

 

[Wilko]

Quillan..........thanks for the speedy response.

W

[Patf]

I heard this am. about someone in the Gers with a B&B has been caught out and fined 1000€

[Pickles]

According to Midi Libre:

1) Patrick Vignal (a deputé from Herault) wants to target those who let out rooms in their own home, either paid for in money or else paid for by carrying out jobs, calling it "unfair competition":

2) He is proposing an amendment to the Construction and Habitation Law to cap the duration, capacity (ie no of people at a time) and the total income (presumably per household?):

3) The law would require households to register the activity with the mairie and pay taxe de sejour:

4) 5% of the taxe de sejour would be given to hoteliers.

The hotelier unions have also reported the main booking sites to the competition authority for charging exhorbitant fees and imposing terms restricting the hoteliers' ability to set their own rates.

[Quillan]

I have been out and about today but read the source and your interpretation (pretty acurate by the way).

These people are idiots because most of what the want is already in place.

The reason people stay in CDH's, B&B's, call it what you will is because they offer better value for money. Some CDH's charge the same or more than a local hotel (we have one near us that charges over €400 per night). Now, when you look on somewhere like TripAdvisor which loads of people use and you look at the scoring of local hotels the average is between 7 and 8, look at the CDH's and the average is between 9 and 10. This is because the service is better, the quality is better and there is more of a personal touch. I would therefore suggest that these Hoteliers take a lok at their ratings and use them to improve their hotels and make them more competitive.

Unfortunately I can't find at the moment but there is a limit on how long you can stay in a CDH, it is somewhere in the region of 30 or 40 days but I can't remember after which it is a short term rental and different rules especially when it comes to tax.

The law does require CDH's to register with the mayor and you do have to pay taxe de sejour.

Like many of the comments after the article say why should hoteliers get 5% of the tax. Perhaps we could all buy old rundown hotels, never advertise or rent a room and claim the income!

Nobody forces hotels to join the likes of hotels.com or booking.com. They don't come to you, you have to go to them. They don't fix the prices either, you can change them at any time and the percentage will be based on the value of the booking whatever that is. If you don't want to pay the commission then don't advertise with them, it really is very simple.

What they are really complaining about is tourism has dropped because people don’t have the money and the French way of dealing with things is less people come so to maintain your profit you put the prices up.

I also wonder how many hotel workers in France are paid on the black?

[osie]

Quillan, I would have to disagree with your comparison between hotels and CDH.  In my view they are a very different holiday experience and you choose the one that fits your desires best.  I am quite sure that most of our guests have chosen a hotel because of the level of attention they get; and also expect.  This may explain the tripadvisor comments as the score is dependent on your expectations.

As it happens, I tend to always stay in hotels and we have reaped the rewards they offer.  We had the option earlier in the year to stay at disney in a CDH or a hotel and for all the right reasons we choose the hotel.

We presently have in our hotel, 2 lots of 2 weekers on HB who have very demanding needs, a choice of food every night, attention to detail, bend over backwards service.  Not to mention all the other guests, and keeping the place up to scratch.

This year especially their is an air of austerity and for this reason an enterprise has to work with it and to its advantage... prices need to be strategically controlled.

My view like yours is that reservation sites offer technology and advertising to aid the running of your enterprise and therefore are an asset.

[Quillan]

I think, having looked at your hotel, that perhaps I was over generalising about the quality of hotels but it was based on my experience of the five within close proximity to where we are. One is owned by somebody who has been quite vocal about CDH's 'stealing' their trade yet when you look at their rooms I don't think they have changed since before the war (the second but maybe the first, its difficult to tell [;-)] ). Another has a restaurant and one can expect a wait of 40 minutes after you sit down before any service arrives and that’s with only half a dozen covers so people walk out. Tey complain about CDH’s and resteraunts stealing their trade but perhaps they should read guests comments and take some action to rectify the problem. All five score much lower on TripAdvisor and Booking.com than the CDH's in direct vicinity. They really have to ‘up their game’ if they want to compete but I guess it is easier to complain rather than do any physical work.

Having said that there are also some pretty dire CDH’s around that continue blatantly to ignore the rules. Toilets in the corner of the room with just a curtain round them, one bathroom and toilet for all the guests so I doubt they are registered or have been inspected by the tourist office. I personally know of one that has a pool with not safety equipment (fence or alarm) and they actively advertise the fact they have a bar that any guest can use it regardless of if they are dinning or not, again against the law.

To my mind there is enough regulation but the problem is nobody checks or does anything and that is the real problem. In those cases I do support the hoteliers because it is also bad for CDH owners as well and does not create a level playing field.

As a matter of interest have you been following these complaints by the hoteliers and what are your thoughts?

[osie]

I haven't been following hoteliers complaints.  In my opinion one needs a system that breaths and where there are shortfalls one needs to make adjustments.

There have been alot of b&B pop up here lately and they do have very good ratings.  I guess there is alot less pressure on getting things right and alot less harm if things go wrong.

I would say that you need to keep tabs on your competitors but not to let it detract from the service you provide.  Cussing all the rubbish makes ones place look better but only in ones mind.  Having rubbish around does not make your clients any more satisfied. Client satisfaction comes from deep continuous analysis of your clientèle.  This will allow you to reduce effort where it was never needed and to concentrate it where it is.

This year has been very interesting where I have seen the hotels reduce their prices which the cheaper accommodations where not able to.  When we first got this place the impression was to work if there was work and to have alot of time to ourselves too.  The reality is that we have an accountant and he monitors us.  The worth of the place is dependant on our yearly results.  This takes away the leisurely pace I intended and turned us into a company with targets.

Nevertheless, this different approach is also fun

btw: I was torn by writing ones in every sentence or just using 'you'.  So I ended up with a bit of both but the you is a general you as I have seen that you(personal) run an establishment with very happy clients.  So the above is just a general opinion.

Oz

[Quillan]

There are without doubt some dodgy B&B's around and that should not be ignored. It is good for both the hoteliers and the 'legal' B&B's that these should be dealt with as they are taking money from both of us whilst not playing on a level field.

Funny enough I was warned yesterday that I should expect a 'control' by a now ex owner. They advertise quite openly that they have a bar and that people can sit by the pool and order (alcoholic) drinks. In reality they have no bar license, only one to sell booze with a (three course) meal like the rest of us and their pool is not fenced off nor has an alarm yet it is level with the terrace. The first time I saw it I thought it was an accident waiting to happen but fortunately there has not been one. So the guy has been 'done' for no bar license and no safety security on his pool and has now sold the property (quite quickly at probably a much reduced price because of the speed it sold). In some ways I feel sorry for him but in other ways he has been the sole contributor to his own demise. In my opinion I think he was reported by one of four nearby hotels who of course are loosing trade because of the rain and just general lack of people coming down here this year.

As a side issue our local rafting company chap went down to the coast to put leaflets in the camp sites and reported back that most were only half full this year so I guess we are all suffering a bit and some more than others. We have had a lot of one or two nighters, loads of work for us but it still puts money in the bank.