Neil....absolutely sure our website making almost no difference to our bookings... every booking we have ever had comes through Owners Direct...not one through our website....we do use it for extra photos and more info...and wont get rid of it, but it doesnt get a lot of hits...but in terms of improving bookings...we doubt it has much affect....our very competitive pricing...our sky and broadband...the fact the flat is a luxury flat anyway and is decorated and furnished for us...not the holiday market...so lovely paintings/cupboards/soft furnishings....and the fact other flats in the complex and others nearby dont offer what we do for the money...simple comparision... when it was with the other agency they managed 3 weeks booking in a year...we cut their price from 1300 euros a week in high season to 750 euros...and got 30 plus weeks booked in first season on our own....
Tanya...as long as you have a good idea of what you want to buy in terms of property...if it needs doing up...the fact that unless you can do it yourself it will cost more here than in the UK; the cost of living is higher here; taxes are higher here; our top up insurance for health has come out at £200 a month..my husband has an ongoing condition and I have an iffy hip....otherwise we are healthy...if you dont mind being broke...then fine...but also be aware...if you buy your property and you decide it isnt working for you...it could take years to sell up....I am only suggesting being cautious...we had people say this to us before we moved here..and to be honest...I wasnt listening...so desperate to realise our dream we didnt want anyone poking holes in it for us...and anyway, we thought 20 years of holidaying here and owning a holiday apartment for several years was sufficient information...it wasnt......I dont want to put you off...I want you to be sure...its not an easy path back and can leave you financially in ruins if you get it wrong...get some really good advice via a French/UK financial adviser....good luck whatever you decide...
Hi, new to this site and would like to ask the following questions
My husband and I are hoping to move to france in the next 12 months. I will have a limited nhs pension and with potential other income from gite/b&B ( i know Amanda Lamb has a lot to answer for) I do not think we will even reach the tax threshold at the start.
However it is the social charges (cotisations) that are worrying me.The Tax ( income) system we have a basic understanding of but the cotisations with 12% here and then 40% here. How to register as an EU or a MIcro is where I start to want to cry.
Basicallly if I have to pay over 50% of my income in cotisiations then we will have problems unless the gites create fantastic amounts which I doubt. We are not looking at vast turnover etc probably with a good wind and luck including my pension 14-15K euros per year.
According to some forums I will have to pay 50% on everything including my nhs pension..some say no i will have to pay cotisations of 50% on gite income, some say dont register - thats illigeal surely
I am fully aware of the need for a top up medical cover. and that I would be covered by virtue of payments here for 2 years, but that would still leave me with 10 years before the now increased state pension.
We are also aware that we will be basically broke but believe that this is something we should do now while in good health and youngish! rather than wait untill it is to late. we will be mortgage and debt free and have some funds for the first 2 years.
SAorry for any spelling errors but I am sitting in my garden in east sussex on a lovely warm day and the sun is on the screen
Regards Tanya
Any advice, encouragment or pointers in the right direction woul be appreciated
Neil, you have it right! There is not another gite like ours for miles with the views and the finish and the facilities. We have excellent contacts in UK ,Paris, Australia, Germany and the USA.
I have already made contact with people who will offer individual wine tours, visits to religious sites, lessons in patisserie or french cooking (at their Michelin recommended restaurant).
Because we are between the Burgundy vineyeards and the Beaujolais, we will offer deals out of season, e.g.the vendange and the portes ouvertes with their wonderful confreries. People don't just come to Burgundy for the sun!!
I appreciate that not everyone has the international contacts that we do to enable us to refine and target our marketing and I am not knocking their approach, but to be so rude about someone when they have no idea of their circumstances and then say they are being "honest" is to totally confirm their non-understanding of our market.
USP-Unique Selling Proposition is what every product needs plus a strong branding. Our's is that we have a large barn that will accommodate up to 12 people (plus) and we get families sharing. Also a house that takes up to 10, again ideal for families sharing (child friendly) or that French habit of odd people popping in for a few days though we do require a prior arrangement for this facility. A pool of course, large area of peaceful land and within 1.5 hours reach of the Atlantic coast at Biarritz, Toulouse, Bordeaux and the Pyrenees mountains but we are not in a tourist area. Mainly French and Spanish with very few English clientele although our web site is mainly directed at the UK (revision in progress) with bookings coming from www.a-gites.com. We also use Owners Direct after trying several other sites. Have no real idea why it works but it does. Have to query, Carole, that you don't need your web site-have you looked at the data? Teresa, I think that their is a growing market for eco-gites (horrible term) and if you are converting now or have to replace equipment it's the way to go and you can charge a premium for it. the French don't care about privacy but the English do as they don't like to share the property especially if there is a Frnche family in the other gite! En suite definately and all inclusive of heating, electricity, barbecue gas, towels and bed linen.
I think Teresa has a good point...the B&B and gite market is saturated in France... you have to work very hard to get anyone to stay with you...what makes your place stand out...how cheap is it...etc. We bought a flat in St Cyprien initially and lived in it when we first moved out...it is luxurious...2 bed, 2bath, open plan...balcony off master bedroom and balcony off sitting room and a roof terrace giving views of the sea 10 minutes walk away..gated with a pool..sky and broadband.(not advertising...honest!) first year we put it with a company who would do the lot...they managed to rent it out for 3 weeks...they charged 1300euros a week in high season...we got 500 euros...we took it away from them...use Owners Direct for the advertising...we have a website...but find we dont really need it...we had the place booked from May to September inclusive last year...plus odd weeks at Easter and October...but we pitched the rental at the same or lower than other apartments that offered less than us to be competitive...
We obviously know different people.
that's a bathroom (with a bath AND a shower i might add...)
@jane williamson... i'm sorry - i don't mean to be negative - but on this site i hope all will agree that we are about being honest with our advice, help and kindly meant words...
i don't think (most) people give a hoot how you cool or heat your house & pool as long as they don't have to pay more for it. I don't think they care about the cachet of 'privacy' either... I'm sure they'd like to come and stay for free, or for a discount as friends of yours - If you rent it out for full price what is the personal approach? You have, what, 12 weeks to sell in the year? Are you going to turn down clients because you don't have personal contacts with them?
I started my (2 room, 2 nathroom) LUXURY B&B last year - and i'm chuffed that anyone comes at all! I have a website, paypal, i'm signed up to booking.com and homelidays and probably 100+ free sites... i work REALLY hard at the marketing. I've made packages for all the Marie's within a 15 miles radius, with info and postcards... I blog about it and i've tried to get it to the top ranking on google for 'B&B' and 'chambres d'hote' searches in my area.
Last year was ok - we didn't start til june. This year is looking like it will be better. It's a business - but i still clear days for my lovely friends to stay for free!
We are in the process of finishing off our Little House, unfortunately held up by Jim's bad back, and we are going for targeted marketing through our family, friends, business contacts and their contacts.
The finish is to the highest standards and we have geothermal heating and cooling and it also heats the swimming pool. We only have the one gite, which sleeps four, each bedroom with its large en-suite shower.
We will e-mail all our contacts, friends and family with the details of the gite and a virtual tour. I think there is a "cachet" to a more personal approach and being offered something not available to the general public.
Barbara, have you tried Danny Kibbey's site (he's a fellow SFN member) at http://www.holidayletexchange.com/ Good luck :-)
where are you looking Barbara? and are you looking for a house or flat?
Morning
Looking for a great luxury gite rental site.
Any ideas greatly wemcome.
Hi Jennifer, those websites are "booking engines" not "booking systems". Personally, I don't use booking engines because they do take a lot of commssion and I have the feeling of not being in control. I use a booking system called Webreserv (www.webreserv.eu) (no "e") and I find it excellent. Flat fee of €19.99 per month regardless of how many bookings I have, then I have all the guests details so I can follow up myself with added value, and we form a great relationship before they even arrive. This works very well for me. Hope this helps you :-)
That's good to hear Teresa, on all counts :-)
we have lots of bookings for April and some for the rest of the summer - we opened last July for our b&b and we've not had anyone from the UK... i'm feeling quite positive about the coming year though...
we use paypal for LOADS of things... i think it's brilliant - of course there are fee's and of course the set up is a few clicks... but it's great - we have an account linked to our sterling AND our Euro account... we had a couple last year who wanted to pay by credit card - which we don't accept - we just sat them down at breakfast, gave them our laptop, sent them a PP invoice (PLUS the extra fee) and they paid. Quicker than them driving into town...
Good afternoon.
It's good to see some positive vibes! I'm just reiterating what Yvonne says about Paypal...it's really quite simple and, from memory, the costs work out at about 3% (with a slight premium for cross-boarder transactions). One extra benefit I can see for owners is that it's really easy to issue refunds, so could streamline the deposit issue?
Paypal email invoicing is also a good option if you don't want to incorporate a Paypal button onto your own website - simply mail one invoice & in theory the guests click & pay!
Hope that helps :)
We also have a trickling of bookings for our gites, fingers crossed things will pick up as we get closer to the holiday season.
Woo Hoo! Jan x Jennifer - the fees are quite high it's true, but so are the fees from any payment gateway which is what Paypal is. If you go to your bank and ask for a merchant account, it'll be weeks before they set that up for you, especially if they're a local French bank, and then synching with your online booking system - ugh. What I've learned is that you always have to pay, no matter what. So I always try to take the easiest option, and for me it was Paypal.
I have a Premier account and I have my language set to English which again is easier for me, even though I do speak French. You'll need to get your account "verified" which means that they deposit a couple of very small amounts in your chosen bank account and then you have to enter those amounts as a code into your Paypal Account. It's quite straightforward but as I said, a bit of a faff. This means your bank account is now linked to your Paypal account and you can transfer money with just a couple of clicks.
Hope this helps :-)
Yvonne - tracking away!
Jan