With no kids in tow and whilst still relatively young I’d go for it as Simon has suggested, I would though buy an existing viable business which you can expand rather than start from scratch.
3 Likes
We have one 3 bed gîte that we normally get 20 - 24 weeks rented as we live in eastern france so have a winter season because of the snow (but maybe not for much longer given the way the climate is changing) and are accessible to french, Belgium, dutch, german and swiss holidaymakers. We could rent more for long weekends etc if we did more marketing, but since we are not reliant on the income we can’t really be bothered. We also have a speciality for this region is that it is a bit of a boutique gîte, 4*, whereas our local competition is basically standard gîte de france 2/3* so out of the main season we get a lot of professional couples. I think you need something to get your head above the water.
However you cannot live off a single gîte. Even if it is luxurious and commands a high rental you will find that the maintenance is equally high as it has to be in top condition. We do also have a 1 bed flat rented out permanently.
And of course it is our home…we have a separate garden that is private for us. But people also seem to appreciate that because it is our home we have a lot of homely touches - veg from our veg garden, flowers, cheese from the farm next door.
We are in our 60’s now, and know that we will have to sell eventually as our house will be too big, let alone the gîte. But we knew that from the start, but reckon another 10 years at least…which will be the longest we’ve lived anywhere.
And we enjoy it, we wouldn’t do it otherwise. We’ve always been busy people so we wanted something more than playing pétanque and drinking wine to keep us occupied. And we enjoyed the renovation (mostly) and have made a couple of friend out of clients who now come back every year. In 5 years we have only had one disagreeable family. With one gîte it’s not arduous, as apart from manic Saturdays we can fit things in as we wish.
However I know nothing about the gîte market in SW france and it could be very different.
We live on site and are happy to help.
The main bugbear is that many of the nice things that happen here in the summer are on a Saturday and we find that we maybe waiting for late arrivals or it is in the afternoon.
SW France seems to cover such a wide area, I think the OP would need to narrow his search to a particular department and then see what the competition is, we’re saturated with gites here in 17.
Friends took their time to choose an area with a lot of “pull”… a wide variety of touristy things… and this has resulted in them being busy all year (no snow, but local winter events overcome that… ).
If anything, they are victims of their own success… always busy working…
Geof Cox . Correct in every way . We had 4 hectares(10 acres ) our 4 bed house , a Breton longere of 30 metres, and three gites ,2 x5 bed and one 4 bed. Average occupation 40 -45 weeks per annum for all three. Swimming pool , games room and cycle shed.
We had to have an alternative income from UK to survive and we are NOT big spenders. We have now sold up ,after 4 years on the market ,and with a massive price drop.
We are both over 70, and now live in the nearby village ,as we have so many French friends. Enjoying less maintenance and keeping the very much smaller garden to a good standard.
Wow - sounds like you earned your happy retirement!
Like you we will stay in France, by the way - perhaps I shouldn’t say this on a forum read by people still in the UK, but apart from all the other good things here, having had a long serious illness over the last few years (OK now) I wouldn’t consider leaving the auspices of the French health system…
1 Like
Further to last message ,I ,too have had my prostate gland removed ,9 years ago . I am now under treatment for bladder cancer. Last report was good … so fingers crossed . I certainly cannot fault the health care system here. I always point out that my treatment here is paid for by UK, under the S 1 system . Almost all of the health professionals here do no.t realise it .
Charles
There’s also another balance to evaluate. You can choose to head to a hot spot touristy area, where clients are likely to be thicker on the ground, but that does mean living in a hot spot touristy area and the competition may be fierce out of the core 8 weeks.
Or you can look for a less heated area but develop a speciality that will draw people to you. Which was our preference, and we’ve not regretted it.
Spend time looking around, work out where you want to live, and then assess the market in that place.
1 Like
I think the nub of the matter is whether or not you need to live off the earnings from your lettings…
If, yes… then you need to be full, with a decent price… to make it work… no use being full at a cheaper rate, you’ll just work your socks off to stand still…
Both strategies can deliver a full house! And actually having a range of rates does help. There are some weeks in the year that are hard to fill in most areas, but we’ve found that having a ‘very low season’ rate does work. The difference was only 10 euros or so, but we got clients. We no longer bother, but that’s because we now take our holidays then!
As long the rate still gives a profit, then a client is better than no client for those less popular periods.
Everyone has their own “ideal business plan”… and hard work is always hard work… 
I’m glad to be out of the trade now…phew…
We’ve been “doing gites” for 15 years now, it used to give us a decent income, but over the last 10 years we have seen steady downturn in our percentage occupancy. There are just too many people “doing gites” now.
1 Like
I’d like to thank everyone for their kind and thoughtful responses.
We have a fairly good handle on SW France but will be heading out on at least a 1 month trip to investigate areas, and then look to stay in the area we identify as being the ‘best’ over the winter months.
Thanks all again!
I find the replies to this post most interesting and frankly I recognise a bit of my experience in almost all of them. My wife and I operate a small independent cottage (about 100 sqm/6 guests max) located on the same property as the main house that we let out year round. No B&B however. Google Le Pech de Valprionde if you are interested in the details. The property has been in the family since the 1970’s and is in relatively good shape. I did, however, install central heating and double glazed windows in the cottage, and renewed the electrical wiring, but these projects were part of “refreshing” the entire property after I retired here and before we started to rent.
We are now into our fourth season and I must admit that we are quite proud of the results. Our clients are very satisfied with the service that we provide, but this being France we have also received our share of off the wall complaints from entitled millennials and others.
A few conclusions from our experience:
- During the first two years, our clients were generally couples and families spending a night or two on their way to their final destination. It was only in the third season that we began to see a shift in the demand. Last year we had a fair number of tenants for whom their stay with us was their holiday. This pattern is continuing this year. Not only do long term stayers bring in a better income stream, but they are not generally more work than tenants who spend a night or two. Pluses all around!
- We could not live off the income, but the additional revenue does contribute to maintenance and pays for our holidays. Our occupancy rate in recent years is between 1/3rd and 1/2 of available nights booked. While our best months are unsurprisingly during the summer, we now have at least one week booked during each month of the rest of the year. We have also had a number of enquiries for long term rentals, but these are problematic, and perhaps instructively, the hopes and dreams that they wished to realise in our region hit the hard wall of reality and the projects fell through.
- Our booking platform keeps encouraging us to reduce our rates that I firmly resist. I not only consider our rates to be already very reasonable compared to the “competition” and our offer, but frankly I am not really interested in attracting clients who are looking for a cut-rate holiday. We may miss out on the odd booking, but in going on to four years of operation the biggest problem we have faced (knock wood) is children’s marmalade hand prints on the wall that Mr. Clean’s Magic Sponge easily takes care of.
- Be generous. Be generous with the time made available to your clients, but be sensitive to their privacy; be generous with the amenities, cleaning products, etc you make available; be generous with the time invested in housekeeping and maintenance. In short, make your guests feel that they are moving into a home and not a hotel room.
- As the cottage is located about 50 m from the main house and in a semi-private garden, there is no problem maintaining the distinction between life and work. I plan on a good two hours to clean the cottage after a departure, plus the time spent doing laundry. Otherwise the investment is largely limited to about 15 minutes each on arrival and departure for chitchat and orientation and a follow up visit in between to ensure all is going well (but don’t necessarily count on a frank answer). With very few exceptions, our guests have arrived as announced or, exceptionally, have been willing to work around our schedule. The rest is a question of organisation. We continue to rent even when we are not present, but this requires a reliable local network to fill in for you: greeting, housekeeping, etc.
- Why do I do this? Primarily, for the human contact. Especially during the winter months, these strangers bring a bit of life to our very small hamlet that is even appreciated by my neighbours. In the course of the years, we have also met a number of very interesting people with whom we are still in contact.
8 Likes
Please resist the booking platform’s pressure to reduce prices. They are really trying to encourage a race to the bottom, which I think will be detrimental in the long term to holiday makers and those who rent to them. The only people who benefit are the booking platforms hoovering up commissions.
And do be careful about long term rentals. Anything over 3 months is not considered a holiday let.
1 Like
No argument here. I agree perfectly with both your statements.
1 Like
We have always made our gite feel like a home from home.
We share the swimming pool with our guests, actually it is only me that swims, but it does give us an opportunity to pass the time of day.
We invite our guests to petit aperos on one evening of their stay, which always goes down well and is appreciated.
As a retired Marketing Professor I once did a a ‘Focus Form’ analysis on running Gites for a Profit for myself. I will say immediately the numbers didn’t crunch unless run as a bit of ‘extra cash’ PLUS it was done in the days when Gites were not taxed as they are now (others will confirm or deny this).
These were my basic findings;
Profitability only really kicked in when running a minimum of three gites between 12-15 weeks each per year (the rentals were based on at the time €4-500 a week). 3-4 weeks of the total at Easter time, trailed off for a few weeks and then picked up in June and ran through to end-September - early October. Naturally these were easier to attain the further South one bought in France, but South Centre (Line across from Bordeaux and South) usually had a longer season weatherwise than further North.
A good size in-ground swimming pool was essential, and relating play areas. This was augmented or not, if the region one was where more natural tourist facilities and interests were to be found etc.
Obviously there was no ‘one size suits all’ and ‘extra’ income rather than ‘total’ income seemed to make sense.
As Jane has said they re a ‘Tying’ business and to be a largely absent owner is not a good idea. However, my research did turn up an interesting fact of how ‘loyal’ visitors tended to be with booking each year being common - some places with more than 50% pre-booked for the following year. I admit to being surprised at this, but couldn’t find a Nationality difference of any note. British and Dutch seemed mostly in this category however.
Useful to remember that it remains a ‘Service’ industry and the small extras in this area repaid there cost many times over - welcome meal, bottle of wine, flowers on the table etc.
One further but more negative point is that people can be a pain in the proverbial, and not all guests are warm cuddly human beings on their holidays! If you are a ‘people person’ obviously it is better, but if not then this is not a business for you *I would add that at the end of my analysis I knew it was not for me on this basis alone!) Another factor was not being a ‘handyman’ meant almost all maintenance would have to be bought in. Not the best of ideas!
There does not seem to be any magic formula as people are all different. I am sure this is part of the challenge for the successful gite owners and also a factor in those who do not find it rewarding.