Gites de France Stitch Up

[Coco]

No wonder people who belong to Gites de France think it brings in more trade than being independent.

We went into our local large town tourist office today (St Lo) to let them know we are here (especially after Gay's posting that Normandy Vets are struggling to find accommodation for next year) and the very nice lady there said she couldn't add us to the official list because we're not part of Gites de France. She said she felt it was a stupid thing to do. She took our cards and said she would pass them on to people enquiring but that "officially" she was not supposed to as it was the policy of the tourist office to promote Gites de France properties only.

I thought about possibly approaching them again, but in a way it makes my resolve to remain independent even stronger - in that they are getting too big for their boots and are now using bully boy tactics to keep us out.

One interesting and laughable thing this lady did say to me was that if I register with the smaller local offices then they CAN pass my details on as they are affiliated to the Saint Lo office and don't have the same GdF only policy. Now how daft is that?

Coco

[Miki]

Please dont read this unless you want to, it is long and maybe of no interest, unless you are intending to run a B&B or indeed do not want to join an organisation specialising in Chambre DHtes or perhaps you do want to join.

It is a response to someone who really will not understand why G de Fr act like she says they do

<<< No wonder people who belong to Gites de France think it brings in more trade than being independent >>>

Firstly as it so obviously aimed at getting a response from me I will do so.

We personally dont think it brings in more bookings than being an independant , we know we get a lot more than any independant. We pay good money to get good bookings, its all relative really. We need to do well, it is our living, from your posts it looks as though it is simply a hobby that pays well. You have income that comes from elsewhere I believe. Nothing wrong with that as far as I am concerned.

With advertising its the old clich really yer pays yer money etc and we need to pay out to get it in.

Just remember one important thing in all this Coco. There are lots of farmers etc who need the income as part of their overall salary.

This whole thing started as a way of giving an income to those people such as farmers and agriculturists who often needed hand outs on a regular basis from the government and it is to those that this whole thing really hangs on. If they ever pull out for whatever reason(I cannot think of one though but..) None of us will get the tax relief we get now, it is the government that stops the hotels getting their way and putting us all onto a far higher tax scheme in comparison to them.

It is looked at every year and G de Fr hold their corner in support of all their members. You are getting the benefit of all that, as all B&Bs are under the same banner and luckily for you, even though not being a member, the rules at the tax office apply to you because of the efforts of the G de Fr organisation.

Make no mistake about it, you have no one else to thank for you being able to open your doors to the public, without legally having to apply at the Chambre de Commerce for a siren/siret number and thereby incurring have any large cotisations the hotels and certain other accommodations have to pay.
<<< We went into our local large town tourist office today (St Lo) to let them know we are here (especially after Gay's posting that Normandy Vets are struggling to find accommodation for next year) and the very nice lady there said she couldn't add us to the official list because we're not part of Gites de France. She said she felt it was a stupid thing to do. She took our cards and said she would pass them on to people enquiring but that "officially" she was not supposed to as it was the policy of the tourist office to promote Gites de France properties only>>>
I have to tell you how G de Fr originated for you to see why tourist offices and the like often insist that a B&B has been graded before the person can put Advertisng or Slips with the local Maison de Tourisme.

Not that long ago (sorry without looking it up thats the best I can do) the government found a way to assist the families of Farmers and Agricole.
Many youngsters were leaving the farms and heading for the towns, no longer was the farm handed down automatically to the next of kin, the work is often long and hard and the rewards pretty grim in many cases, so many offspring thought sod that and went off to Ini or wherever to improve their lot. That is only a brief resum of why but hopefully you will all get my drift ?

That left rooms and often out buildings that could be put to better use and the brains at the top shall we say of the time thought that instead of giving handouts willy nilly, it would be better if the persons could be helped to gain extra money by putting these areas to better use. Thus after much toing and froing, Gites de France were formed. They were the government body that looked after this new idea.

Now, many of the folk took out big loans at low interest but were tied in for up to 10 years with G de Fr, if you paid for all the work yourself you were not tied in and thus started B&B and Gtes.

Until then B&B really was practically unknown and the choice people had were those famous old family run French hotels, you know the ones we all love (d), dark, spooky, strange often one shower room per floor and same went for a toilet. You could of course just as easily chosen one of the new impersonal hotels of the time, such as FI, Nuit Hotel etc etc or the mid range hotels all of which are seen as competition of course.

These new B&B rooms were regulated by way of awarding Epis (Stars) which were gained by inspectors from G de Fr taking a long and studious look at your property and bedrooms. This was to ensure that clients could be sure of a room that

[Harvey]

Coco
Not all Tourist Information are the same....My house is with the TI in Carentan, no mention of Gites de France when I went to see them. They were happy to have another house to add to theie list. Last week they sent me a form asking for availabilty for next June.

[Coco]

I was going to respond to several of these postings but quite honestly I think I am fast losing the will to live, trying to plough through certain postings to see if there is in fact anything even vaguely relating to my original posting.

With such pedantic and quite honestly boring and unhelpful postings, it is not surprising that the B&B forum hadnt been used since 10th October until I started this thread. No one dare use it any more, for fear of falling foul of the oracles views on B&B, whilst the rest of us that are playing at it really dont have a clue

However, before I do give up the will to live totally, I have a couple of Mikis points to pick up on as he is always so eager to pick up on others:

<<>>

Did I EVER suggest that I wanted my B&B added to the list without being inspected? Our local tourist office insisted on inspecting the property and taking photos of the rooms so that potential clients could judge for themselves, before adding us to their list. This is only what I would expect. I was hoping that Saint Lo, who will be short of rooms next summer, would do the same. Saying I have to be part of GDF to be on their list IS restrictive. What about all the other associations that grade their properties? This is unfair practice against the people who have paid to be part of those organizations. (Air France vs Ryanair springs to mind here)

<<>>

I take offence at your repeated implication that anyone that opens a B&B and doesnt join an association will settle for dirty and disgusting conditions to offer their clients. This is not the first time you have made such comments, and quite honestly, they are pointless and irrelevant to this posting. No one is saying the tourist office should open up to all and sundry and lower their standards, just that everyone with the right standards should be given an equal opportunity to have their property promoted by the local tourist office and give the tourists a wider selection.

There are few GDF properties in this area where English is spoken. Next year there are going to be hundreds of US veterans visiting the area, who are often even less likely to speak French than the Brits, so they should be afforded the opportunity to pick accommodation where English is spoken and not told that there is none in the area just because the tourist office will only select GDF properties.

You are quick to pick up other people who do not deal in facts and yet I quote from a previous thread

<<>>

and more recently....

<<>>

So if you do not know where I am in Normandy, how can you state that there are many other more touristy areas Huge areas of Normandy have some of the highest tourist figures in France Mont St Michel itself being the second most visited tourist site in France.

And finally

<<>

to what? The last sentence appears unfinished

According to GDFs website they state:

"Bed and breakfast accommodation is set in privately-owned French homes (farms, manor houses, castles) and run by families who will welcome you like friends of the family and be pleased to help you get to know their region. You can choose to stay for one or more nights in a quiet, relaxing setting, with no more than FIVE bedrooms (15 persons max.)."

I still dont understand how the suite can be classified as one room when it is clearly two double rooms sharing a bathroom and is charged at twice that of your double rooms. Does that mean that people can have five lots of two interlinking rooms charged at one rate and thereby by-pass the FIVE rooms limit?

But of course, I am sure you will have an answer for this and I will have got my facts wrong again.

Coco