Here here …
As anthros go, most definitely. I only have European languages. Mind you, I am unlikely to find a Mongolian speaking gite owner ;-)
:) and I'm French !
Got a nasty comment from a civil servant just before at Pôle Emploi, as I was gently insisting that proof should be recorded on his computer. I went " Pardon ? " looking at him in the eyes but he couldn't find his (French) balls to repeat what he 'd just said. I suppose he didn't have any, after all. :D
I am a fairly reasonable linguist. That is to say I speak four comfortably, another four less well and snippets of several others. I totally disagree about the Scandinavians and Dutch losing their language completely. As for subservience and monarchies, if you had read the comments of Charles' income from Cornwall in the Guardian this week then you would not agree. I have lived for shortish periods in the Netherlands and Norway, both monarchies, and found no subservience.
As for the way two of you are condemning the entire French race, well I think that is an arrogant and narrow-minded view that I do not encounter. Sure, the country is different to the standards you clearly wish to impose on the entire world, however an Empire with an English heart is a mere notion that belongs in the past and never extended to the entire world as many wish it had.
What any of it has to do with whether foreigner owned gites are better than French ones is always going to be subjective anyway. However, what those insulting remarks about an entire nation have to do with the question escapes me.
I agree with everything Jane! It all boils down to the fact that the French (and I am generalising here) don't like to serve. The chap from Austria mentioned that countries without a monarchy have a problem with subservience. I think there is something in that... (that plus the typical French arrogance - or are they arrogant because they hate to serve?!) And don't even get me going on their sheer horror of letting English words enter their precious language! As the rest of the world can see, the Scandinavians and Dutch etc etc are all completely losing their language because they speak English pretty much systematically as a second language - right? Of course not!!! Playground behaviour banning the entry of English words into the French vernacular. I'll get off my soapbox now!
ooh er, get you. Have we met? I speak as I find. Perhaps there is a France in which the public service is courteous and with a smile, where shops are open when people actually want to go to them, where restaurants and similar establishments are not cold and forbidding, where staff in supermarkets are willing to break off their conversations on their mobile phones to serve a customer (but woe betide if you forget to "bonjour" them) - yes, point me at that France and I'll go there on holiday. And since you ask, I am here not particularly by choice but because this is where I found work. I live in an apartment in the city of Strasbourg. Which is beautiful but the weather is uniformly crap. How many of you have actually worked in a French workplace? And can you abide, if you have, the constant whooping and hollering and shrieking and kissing that seems to be a substitute for work? Just asking.
"Chilly disdain"? Might be worth having a second look at yourself rather than them, Jane.
very true, and let's not tell them! ;-) ;-)
I personally think there are several reasons: the language (not everybody speaks French and the French usually don't speak English or other languages which makes it difficult to book a gite), the beds (French gites often offer small beds width 1m40 or 1m60 lenght 1m90, which is very small if you're tall (I speak especially for the Dutch people who are used to beds width 1m80 and length 2m at least)), French gites in our region tend to be quite old and old-fashioned (dirty couch, old beds, (heard a nasty story the other day from a French woman having rented a french gite which hadn't been cleaned in years!), and I think foreigners do something extra (like info about the region, extra services, a kind word) as they tend to be more service oriented. And I agree with Jane, the breakfast is a very good reason too!
I have lived in France for nearly 11 years, seven of which were spent in the immobilier business and all of which have necessitated booking rooms for clients, friends and family. Sorry to have to say, but it's the pride factor that is different. 'An Englishman's home is his castle' and that applies to welcoming his guests too. The dreadful décor (paint effects in ice cream colours) and old, flowery mismatched bedding that I have seen and experienced (including one duvet full of sand) in French-owned properties makes me shiver with notions of them buying it in Emmaus (house clearance specialists - think about it). Having said that, here are a lot of UK B&Bs that live by the frilly and flowery philosophy too... :)
Having stayed in a rental in South Africa, owned by a wonderful couple from Sheffield. A villa in Greece owned by Italians and a converted chapel in Yorkshire owned by an Irish couple I fail to understand why the nationality of the owner (as in born and bred) is an issue. However, it has been my experience that gites owned by French nationals , tend to have basic kitchens and bathrooms, cheap but functional furniture, and do not always provide linen. They also seldom provide a local guide for visitors.
One of the pleasures of renting a gite/villa is the freedom it affords. Unlike an hotel you are not meeting the manager/receptionist/room attendent around every corner. After handing over the keys the owners "vanish" but are usually there if you want/need them so, does it matter where they come from?
Agreed Norman
Wendy Kathleen, there will always be room for quality, which presumably you are selling, and many will pay a premium for that. The problem seems to lie in those who do not provide that level and damage the gite idea for many.
I don't say the Gite business will go under, but that financially it WILL get harder - as with all businesses under this current government.
Amazing how soon some people forget, but it was the Gites idea and tax advantages that revived many dying small communities in France, and almost all done by the English and Dutch. Most of the French we know acknowledge this, except a certain current resident of a palace in Paris, and he should know better.
Generally agree, but the people I wrote of above, who are French, have English and Dutch too on their website. Talking to them when they revised it and I checked the English (they both speak more than enough) they were saying that they had most of their bookings through the site but that they were a large proprotion of the hits with relatively few enquiries only.
We are English,live in France and have run gites for the past 10 years. Each year the bookings grow and grow.
We have had guests who have stayed in both English and French owned gites. The general feedback is that the English are more friendly and more helpful. The gites are cleaner and have all the facilities that guests expect. It is also helpful that all booking details can be relayed in English and payments can be made in sterling. We have friends who have gites and most are having a bumper year.
I am sure there are many successful French run gites that appeal to holiday makers of all nationalities .
France is a big country and I believe there is room for all of us to operate successfully side by side.
So I disagree that "Days are numbered" and hope to run a successful business for many years to come!
Simple - the French gite owners haven't a clue about the power of the internet and don't/don't know how to advertise abroad in English/Dutch/German language. Conversely the "foreign" gite owners are far more internet savvy and advertise throughout Europe. Therefore foreigners book into other foreigners gites in France; it's all down to the use of the internet
Having run gites and a Chambre d'hote for the past 12 years there is no doubt it is more challenging every year. Learning to adapt to peoples requirements is key. Expectations of holiday accommodation are much higher than they used to be. I think in the past people did come to immerse themselves in another culture, however, these days with the constant "hooked up" factor involved in peoples lives this doesn't really happen. One of the first questions asked when people arrive is about WiFi access, not where is the pool, or how gorgeously quiet it is..................etc. Providing everything needed to enable people to just walk in and unpack is a top priority. French owners often do not provide bedding towels etc. As many people fly/drive these days that is not an option for them. We have a wide range of guests. Some choose us because we are English speaking but largely it is because of the "extras" we offer. We work hard at moving these with the times. The only thing we do not provide is English speaking Satelite TV, but in the days of the internet this is much less of an issue for people.
People do not go the a country to "wallow in it" anymore. Their own culture travels with them via smartphone, tablet or computer.........
Should not be going there, but in my OH's immoblier part of her working life an awful lot of the property she has in her portfolio are gites. Very few people are looking at them, even clearly high standard ones. I am not told, but taking it from our French neighbours in the next hamlet with two gites, unless they are full every minute from at least mid-May to end of September it is not worth bothering. Following on from Norman's point, the taxes are hitting them very hard already and they are questioning whether it is worth staying in business. It was their retirement project and took up all their savings to repair and decorate the places after the previous owner's neglect, especially the pool, so the husband says that even selling would be at a loss so probably going out of business and having a larger place of their own is the eventual solution. They did roughly 90% of season filled last year and still say this.
Couldn’t have put it better myself, Norman.
I think the main difference is in the use of English. The main users of gites I believe from friends experiences are English, Dutch and in some regions Germans. All of whom also speak English as a second-language, so logically they would feel more comfortable with English-speaking hosts. The French, like the English, notably in country areas are not usually multi-lingual, so that is a factor. I haven't noticed the English visitors wanting to live an English life in gites, but finding it nice to retreat into their own language at the end of a day, and what's wrong with that?
In my French family no-one I know stays in gites as they prefer Chambres d'Hotes as more flexible. However none of these have young families which DOES also make a difference. French families also seem to prefer camping sites where they can live 'en masse' for some reason for a week or two.
Re profit, we also looked at this option, but putting on my Mktg Prof's hat I did a costing exercise and found it was not possible to show a decent profit (as in 'business') with less than three Gites and a swimming pool was essential to get the higher rate. Season runs for about 15 weeks max. plus Easter week. O/heads, maintenance etc eat into this, and I also did the costing before gites were taxable, which I believe is now the case(?).
With the new Socialist Government (sorry Brian but that's what they call themselves) looking to any and every place to add taxes, it won't be long before gites I fear with come under the hammer - especially if they are absentee owners.
For the people I know running gites they are all long-term i.e. + ten years. Secondly they are all practical people, as in Bricolage, thirdly they like people (despite the odd nasties), and finally the money they make is simply 'additional to', as opposed to 'instead of' an income.
On balance it wasn't a route we wanted.