My son has got a few days off at the last minute so we need to rent a gite for him and his partner, my mum, us, adn the boy (10). We want most of the driving to be ours so that they don’t have far to come as they only have 3 days so we are thinking the Ardennes. I’m struggling to find anything as it is for 4 or 5 nights from next Saturday (12/07). If anyone has any ideas please help! 3 bedroom minimum.
Change of ideas, just been looking and they can do Lorraine in 3 hours which knocks at least an hour off our drive. So same question if anyone has any ideas. They are in the south of Holland (Reuver) so anything about 3 - 3.5 hours south for them.
Hi Tory, bear in mind it’s high season. Most gites will expect to let for a full week (in my case my minimum is 2 weeks during July/August)
I suggest you put in dates for a full week and then if they have capacity see if you can negotiate for a part week - this late they might be prepared to do so.
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What sites are you looking on? Have you tried tourist Office of where you want to be? Also
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If in doubt try Airbnb?
If you want to pay over the odds and help fill the pocket’s of American investors,
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Trying to avoid if possible!!!
To be honest it isn’t so much finding something,
Thanks Jane! Yes that is a good idea, I’ve been on some of those sites but not all.
To be honest it isn’t so much finding something as finding WHERE to go! I’ve got a few coming up around Verdun which could be interesting? I just don’t know the area at all so don’t know what is good / what to avoid.
If accommodation is avialable at short notice there is little you can do but count the cost.
Back in January I booked an Airbnb in Bournemouth for my entire family, 6 ensuite bedrooms in one purpose coverted house.
Arrived Friday, left Sunday for £720 and accommodation was excellent. Equivalent of £60 per night per room and all my family under 1 roof.
I thought it was good value and certainly not over the odds.
As for American investors, if it wasn’t them it would be someone else.
@toryroo There is an area east of Saint Mihiel, called the Lac de Madine, which used to be fairly popular with Dutch and Belgian tourists, and there were gites in the area (my Mum stayed in one in Buxières-sous-les-Côtes when I got married to my 1st wife), but that was a very long time ago.
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You’ve tried the various booking platforms? I’ve found last minute stuff there the last few years.
Expedia includes VRBO so it’s a decent one stop “shop”. Booking.com does gites etc as well as hotels too
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I have stayed at least 20 airbnbs over the last 8 years throught out Europe in good spots in major cities. All of them very nice and most under $30 a room a night. Not sure how fat peoples pockets are getting from that. Thou these were booked well in advance
OK we’ve found something! It is on booking so we can still change our mind if we find something tomorrow morning It’s in Azannes-et-Soumazannes, only about 20 kms from Verdun, looks like we can visit Luxembourg as well. Any other tips of things to do would be fab! We don’t know the area at all!
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We had a week up there about 20 years ago. There was a lake that was good for swimming, Verdun itself is somewhat interesting, Strasbourg is well worth a visit and there were some pleasant walks in woods and fields. The geography is flat and generally dull, but that may not matter if the focus is a family get together for a few days.
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Certainly not the owners. That is my issue with Air that they take far more than the people doing the work.
Using any organisation means that they are creaming off your efforts.
Its a platform that gets bookings which the owner wants.
Reminds me of customers who would ask if they could buy the materials if I provided the labour to make the job cheaper.
Certainly don’t disagree with your overall point,
OTOH with fittings and appliances, I want to choose. A couple of years ago I used a local artisan to make a small double glazed window and hardwood frame for our second bathroom. Everything was beautifully executed, but he’d chosen a large, horrible cheesy handle for the catch. It’s been replaced but I also had to replace the shaped timber on which it was mounted. He’s a good carpenter, but…
You take your eye off the ball for a second, make assumptions, and things can turn out unexpectedly wrong…
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Have you looked at somewhere La Roche in Ardenne? If you are hoping to visit Luxembourg you would be well placed and places like Monschau in Germany, the Meuse valley and Spa would also be close by.
I spent a lot of my life living not far from Reuver, it is a lovely area.
Big difference between €50/annual subscription and 15% commission on every booking.
Please enlarge on your headline comparison, sound like apples and pears to me.
Clearly Airbnb has a global market so facturing in the 15% to you asking price is the answer as a trade off for more potential custom.
While I realise that AirBnB is not everyone’s tasse de thé, speaking as a customer I have been very happy with it - the system works well and I’ve stayed in some very nice gites run by extremely friendly and helpful people.
Could I have found somewhere cheaper via other means - yes I’m sure - but quite a lot more research would have been needed probably. From the customer angle, for convenience and choice AirBnB is hard to beat I think.
Contrast that with booking-dot-com who I once booked a London hotel with, and who despite confirming the booking with me, failed to pass my booking on to the hotel so that I was stuck at 9.30pm at night having to find somewhere else to sleep. The hotel I was supposed to be staying at tried to help, but I ended up in a sh*thole which was less than ideal.