Winter and Chambres d Hôtes

[Miki]

Now we are very close to Christmas and the New Year and we have been closed since November 15th, I wondered who is :

1.  Still open

2.  Doing enough to make it worthwhile to hang around, to heat the house etc etc.

3.  What passing trade does one can hope to get.

4.  How are reservations for this winter period, we have turned

down quite a fair amount for the Festive and New Year period but not

much else.

5.  How one has the energy to continue for 12 months or so, every

year. OK, that might be an "age thing" or how hard one works from say,

March until mid November.

6. How are advanced bookings for next year.

7. What winter works are people doing in the "off season". If it's what

we are having to do this winter, it isn't too much of a well earned

break for us but maybe in February we can have a holiday !!

8. How many are thinking of selling up as it is not as easy as it once appeared !!

[lizzy h]

hi there Miki,

 Ill try and answer some of your questions,

 yes we are open all year,

 We have been okay not great over the past couple of months with about 8 bookings in November and 5 in Oct we have 3 so far this month and a couple for xmas and new year,

 We have to heat the house for us so its no problem where heating is concerned Advance bookings are low but I don't take that into account at all as most of our bookings are a month or less in advance usually <2 weeks, it doesn't bother us been open all year as we are not busy in the winter and still get a break although loads of maintence jobs to do ( Id rather have guests)

 and no were not packing it in!

 hope you have a good season next year

 seasons greetings from the limousin! 

[Miki]

Hi Liz,

Good point, if you have to heat the house then, no probs in being open really, only being present and patient.

Yes, advance bookings in B&B are not really a big thing, it is a

bonus if some nice ones come in but not too important. When it comes to

peak times,  they will generally be taken up anyway.

Yes, at the moment with all the work going on, we would also prefer to

be working in the B&B but alas, our kitchen has been completely

taken out and a new one is being installed by a  good friend

(naughty Miki !!) and myself, with the wives helping as well of

course.  We hope to be finished by Christmas and be able to return

back from our UK Christmas and New Year break to a fully functional and

completed kitchen (fingers crosssed !)

We had a very good season, slightly different the way it all  panned out compared to last year but figures still OK and up.

 Glad to hear you are not packing it in and we also wish you folks in the Limousin, an even better 2006 season.

 Seasons greetings from us here in Brittany as well. [<:o)]

[Agenais]

Our friends BnB is open all year, it is their house, just as many others, so it is heated and lived in on a daily basis.  Some bookings for early in the new year, from previous clients.  They go about their daily lives and respond to enquiries as and when they come in.  Usually, after Chrismas, peoples minds turn to the next thing which is holidays.

They have been getting on with decorating and doing other maintainance, cetainly no thoughts on selling up, it is their home first and foremost. 

[Patmobile]

[:$] I think I'm in love with Agenais' avatar.  Who is that gorgeous woman?

 Patrick

[Agenais]

Why thank you kind Sir

Tis Mrs O - Sharon Osborne.

[Cassis]

Hi Miki

We are new to this B&B thing but opened in June and decided to stay open all year.  We are not in any brochures or anything till next year (gites de france, local tourist offices) but we had half a dozen bookings in November; nothing this month till next week when we have a couple of bookings in the week and 2 more for NY Eve.  Our rooms are upstairs and the heating is independent so that's not really an issue for us.

We are spending this winter draining the lake  ready to deepen it at the end of next summer (there's about 1-2 metres of silt at the bottom which have built up over the years) - unfortunately, the sides of newly dug drainage ditch keep collapsing and stopping the lake from draining!

All the best for 2006

PS - Yes, it is Xmas day but Jude's in the kitchen and I'm at a loose end!

[mascamps.com]

Goodness, I thought I was bad but even I give the computer a couple of days off over Christmas :)

 

Arnold

 

[Miki]

All the best for 2006

And the same to you from  a fellow G de Fr proprietor.

I really hope being with them brings you all the bookings you need but do allow time for the guide books to kick in so to speak and familiarity in advertising also sometimes helps.

[Cassis]

[quote user="Miki"]All the best for 2006
And the same to you from  a fellow G de Fr proprietor.
I really hope being with them brings you all the bookings you need but do allow time for the guide books to kick in so to speak and familiarity in advertising also sometimes helps.
[/quote]

Thanks, Miki - where are you based, exactly?  Your perso details are a bit on the skimpy side! 

As regards bookings this winter, we were planning to head off back to the UK for a family visit this Feb (for the first time in 2 years) but we're waiting to hear confirmation of a possible 2-week, 2 room booking at the end of Jan before we make any definite plans.

Re marketing, we've registered our website with a load of free travel/accommodation directories which even in this off-season has brought in a few enquiries (but no firm bookings yet) for next summer, and a French lady who did a Google search for Alencon and Chambres booked and visited with us for a couple of days last week - I was amazed that we actually came up on a search for 'Alencon&chambres' but obviously something is working!  And we've registered with our main 3 tourist offices hereabouts (Alencon, Mamers and Fresnay/Alpes Mancelles) for the forthcoming season, as well as doing leaflet drops in some of the surrounding villages and an ad in the Comice brochure in September (at least half of our bookings this first year have been from people visiting family and friends for birthdays/weddings/christenings in the area).

As you say, it all takes time to build up the business, but we're doing what we can.

Any other ideas on the marketing side?

All the best

Phil& Jude

[Cerise]

We too stay open over the winter and although we only have a sort of 'tick-over' trade (12 nights in December) find it does pay for the heating which we need anyway.  However, we do close for Xmas and New Year.

This year on 22 December I had a rather timid French lady phone to ask whether she could have a room for 24th - before I had time to say we were closed she went on to explain that she was the niece of the old owner of this house who is still alive in her 90s in our local 'Maison de Retraite'.  She had heard that her aunt's children were unable to visit this year and wanted to spend Christmas day with her.  I occasionally visit auntie taking her photos of the house so couldn't bear to think of her alone at Xmas and said yes to the request for a room.  I  expained that we had my elderly parents who don't speak French here and that she could have a meal but it would be 'en famille' and not Xmas dinner as we have ours on 25th.

She duly arrived and when I showed her to her room burst into tears.  It seems that the last time she was in the house was for Xmas 1944 when she had been evacuated to stay with her aunt who was at that time the housekeeper (she later inherited from the original owners who had no children).  Our visitor came from a very poor family and had had no Christmas presents throughout the war, when she came to our house - aged 8 - she had been thoroughly spoilt by the then ageing mistress of the house and her aunt.  I had quite inadvertently, given her the same room where - to quote - she had spent the best Christmas of her life.

We had a lovely evening with her, she told us a great deal about her family and the history of our house, and my parents very much enjoyed her company despite the language barrier.  On Xmas day we visited her aunt with her.  A lovely incident in the history of our house and one of the interesting things which has happended since we started our ChdH.

Like Phil & Jude a lot of our off season trade comes from people visiting their families in the village.  We find it useful to leave our details with local resturants/hotels/venues which cater for weddings etc., as they often have people looking for rooms.

 

Maggi

 

 

 

 

[Cassis]

What a lovely story, Maggi!  Thanks very much for sharing it with us.

 

[Blanche Neige]

I too enjoyed your story, maybe you should post it on the Post Bag forum under the Incredible Story posting. These stories are just what we need on Winter days.

[Miki]

Phil& Jude,

We are based near Saint Malo in Northern Brittany.

I think you are going on OK with your publicity, take all the freebies

you can of course but certainly don't rely on them (still they are free

!). You are with the market leader for B&B in France (by a

long...way) also why not try looking on google

under bed and

breakfast, B&B, chambres, chambre d'hôtes etc and see which

companies are in the early pages and see how much putting your place on

with them will cost you. We did this in the early days and still even

now,

take a look through to see which companies are among the early pages.

One thing for

sure, what works for one person, does not neccessarily mean it will

work for another and the best way really is to suck it and see for yourself.

Good luck anyway, it is certainly enjoyable, very annoying, brilliant

and a pain in the butt.........just depends on the guests!

[Colette]

Good friends of ours have been running a B&B in 24 for approaching 15 years.  When they first started they were open only from Easter through to Toussaints, and even then late Sept/Oct was pretty quiet. But in the early 2000s - due almost exclusively to demand from house hunters - they decided to open virtually year round.  2000-03 they simply couldn't believe the business they were doing in the winter, especially long weekends.  And I remember they had all 8 rooms occupied one February half term.  But talking to her over Christmas, things have been much quieter this year and they decided to close from last week until late Feb school hols.   So it's not just estate agents who are suffering from the downturn in the housing market. 

[Renaud]

I write from a B&B users point of view. We have often stayed in a B&B run by a delightful couple when we come over to see how the renovation of our house is progressing.

We came over at the end of November, when it was decidedly cold. As we arrived our hosts switched on an electric heater in the bedroom. We slept with two duvets on top of us. We were their first guests for a month or so.

When we left to fly back, after three nights the room had just got to being tolerably warm and the snow on the velux window now just looked pretty.

We are due back in a couple of weeks and have decided to stay in a hotel.

[Miki]

I am afraid that is the downside of staying in a B&B  where

the owners  need the money and stay open in the winter but cannot

afford to heat the place to a correct temperature for their guests

comforts.

At the end of the day, you will not go back, so the owners have lost

clients, rather than gained and that has to be the name of the game

(two clichées in one sentence, not bad eh!) but to be serious, I do

have sympathy with the owners but at the same time, it is pretty

obvious that sadly, it is probably not going to work for them.

Those people on here that stay open, have house with heating which is

part of the house system and they have got it right, we have heating

but are just too cream crackered from being open between March and

November  to want to be open !

[Cassis]

[quote user="Renaud"] We have often stayed in a B&B run by a delightful couple .... we came over at the end of November, when it was decidedly cold. As we arrived our hosts switched on an electric heater in the bedroom. We slept with two duvets on top of us. ... after three nights the room had just got to being tolerably warm and the snow on the velux window now just looked pretty. We are due back in a couple of weeks and have decided to stay in a hotel.[/quote]

I can only sympathise with you and agree with Miki - and I don't blame you for changing to somewhere else.  But please don't tar all B&B's with the same brush (another cliche for the collection) because of one experience - we've stayed in some rubbish hotels but we don't expect them all to be bad! 

[Catalpa]

[quote user="Renaud"]I write from a B&B users point of view. We

have often stayed in a B&B run by a delightful couple when we come

over to see how the renovation of our house is progressing. We came

over at the end of November, when it was decidedly cold. [/quote]

Was the B&B British or French-owned? I ask because we've only

stayed in French-owned B&Bs - the areas we were in had

mostly French-owned CdH's at the time. On several occasions the rooms -

and the rest of the house - was cool / cold with a slight feeling of

damp. I wonder if British B&B owners are a bit more aware of how

appealing warm rooms are to their guests! But maybe not...

[Cassis]

I suspect like all these things, it is down to the individual owner and we shouldn't stereotype by the nationality of the owner.  I only know that we use our experience as former users of B&Bs as much as we can to make our guests' visits as nice as possible - after all, we want them to come back again, not to be scared off.  So in winter the heating goes on in their room first thing on the day of their arrival, the towel rail goes on in the bathroom etc.  And we leave an extra electric heater on the landing in case anyone needs an extra 'boost', though no-one has up to now.  I know I wouldn't fancy staying somewhere that felt cold and damp, so I wouldn't expect anyone else to, either!  If an owner doesn't want to pay for heating, they shouldn't be open in winter, in my opinion.  I think even if a guest arrived unexpectedly then we could probably have a room warmed up within an hour, but that may not be possible for all B&Bs - depends on the heating system!

Phil

[Quillan]

I quote the basic requirment (1 Epis, 1 Clée) from GDF and it's the same for Clévacances.

"Bedrooms and living areas must contain some permanent means of heating ensuring a minimum temperature of 19 deg C during the rental period. In French overseas possessions, stand-alone or ceiling fans are compulsory for each room."

So if you are worried about if your rooms are cold then only use GDF or Clévacances registered B&B's then if they are not heated you can complain which is taken seriously and the owners will be contacted and could have their membership removed. You may also get your money back. If you use unregistered B&B's then you have no official course of complaint.

There are of course many excellent non registered B&B's whose rooms may well be heated to the minimum temp as stated above or even hotter. Using registered B&B's does ensure, in theory, that the rooms are heated correctly.

[Renaud]

Just returned after a two day visit to see progress on our house. It was so cold in the renovation that the artisans got very fast decisions to their questions. We stayed in a hotel that has one of the best restraunts in the arera - the other people staying overnight, I think, had dined in the evening and had planned not to risk the intoxicated drive home.

The B&B we normally stay in is Brit owned, we will certainly return to it when the temperatures improve as the owners are so friendly and we like the loan of the dogs to help with breakfast and to rearrange the positions of our footwear. The owners were installing central heating to the house but there did not seem to be plans to extend this to the attached B&B. I don't think that they really plan for B&Bers in colds weather, they must see tourism as a summer activity. 

[Quillan]

I think not to put heating in the B&B area is not good expecially if they ever want to register with one of the government agencies. They might, although I don't know for sure, have been able to get a grant if they got an inspection and it was agreed that they would get 3 or more 'stars' with the heating.

Not puting heating in would also limit their season quite a bit as we all know the days can be really nice and warm in both the early and the latter parts of the year yet the mornings and evenings can be quite cold. I was also under the impresion that heating was mandatory regardless of the opening times. Still it's up to them although you have answered it in a way buy staying in a hotel, they could have your money if they heating.