Turning Our French Home Into a Holiday Rental

General Discussion
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As some of you might know, over the last few months I’ve been even busier than usual…

We decided that rather than letting our house in Les Landes sit empty for long periods, it would be better to turn it into a holiday rental. It’s been a much bigger project than I could have possibly ever imagined! I knew we’d have to fix all those little niggles that you put up with when it’s your home but I hadn’t realised quite how much work that would involve.

Then there’s been re-decorating, furnishing, building a website, sorting out photos, finding a local management team, setting up Airbnb and Booking.com, learning about Google Business, and generally discovering just how much there is to think about.

The website has only just gone live, but we’ve already had our first direct booking through the website, which feels like a real milestone.

I know a lot of you have homes in France that are empty for weeks or months each year. If you’ve ever wondered whether holiday letting is worth considering, I’d say it’s definitely worth exploring. It’s not passive income by any stretch, but with the right people helping locally it can make good use of a property that would otherwise be sitting empty.

It’s been a steep learning curve, but an enjoyable one. I’d be interested to hear from anyone else who’s gone down the same route. What do you wish you’d known before you started?

And above all, if you’re looking for a large property for a family get together or holiday, please keep Maison Cactus in mind. And if you could possibly share the link below with your friends, family, colleagues, (enemies? I’m really not fussy!) and via your own social media, I would be HUGELY appreciative. Thank you!

Maison Cactus Boutique holiday villa France

https://www.instagram.com/maisoncactus.fr

+33 (0)759 608739

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Good luck @cat . Hope it all goes smoothly with no serious problems.

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I’m interested in this too!

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Love it and great web site!…will share the links for sure :blush:

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Don’t forget to update the usage of the property on the Bien Immobilier section of your Impôts page.

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Have double of appliances, guests seem to have issues so being able to swap out quickly really impressed our guests. Most of the time there was nothing wrong but you swap them just to impress.

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Years ago when we had our gites, we were doing a changeover and I noticed the dishwasher wasn’t working. Immediately drove to nearest Leclerc or maybe castorama (100 km round trip) to buy another. Went to change it just before the new clients arrived and discovered some fuckwit had turned the water supply off :enraged_face:.

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Yes absolutely need a good plumber who comes out quickly, even on a public holiday.

Not on same scale but we rented our place in Paris when not using it, as well as the gite.

I think you are very relaxed about pets! Perhaps be more specific that a max of two, and there should be no trace of them left behind. Nothing annoys a new set of guests more than their toddler running through dog poo. Same with smokers, cigarette butts in plant beds are a pain.

No mention of safety? The legally required fencing or pool alarm? FIre guard, smoke alarms, CO2 alarms and fire blankets (not all legally required but guests find them reassuring).

But looks fab! And great photoss”.

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Thank you all for your lovely and helpful comments. Please keep them coming!

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I’m sure you are on top of all the formalities but make sure you are registered with the local chamber of tourism for tourist tax, and register your business correctly with the tax office and cpam. Also inform your mayor as they hold a list of local accommodation

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You have to register at the Marie now.

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Hi @cat , for anyone interested in short term rentals, there is the most excellent podcast (almost as good as France Made Simple) called Le Triplex (Spotify etc). It’s all in French so can be a good opportunity to practise listening skills. There is also an enormous whatsapp group that comes with it, really great for sharing insights or getting advice.

Beware of the competition: the number of STRs has increased by 53% since covid. The good news is that the number of tourists has also increased massively.

@cat, if you are looking for a conciergerie service to run it, I know a really good one near Arcachon.

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Has that been the case for years now? I remember doing that in 2018.

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Yes, but Carl (above) only mentioned registering at the ‘chamber of tourism’ (aka tourist office) for tax de séjour. I can’t imagine that Cat wouldn’t be fully aware of all the admin, but more for others looking at the thread.

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That’s right. When I went to see the mairie about the woman who put our address on her Booking.com entry, the young man who manages registration of rental properties said he worked closely with the tourism people. He passed on the correct address to them.

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Cat, I think that you have both done an amazing job. I wish you success. :clap:

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I wish you every success @cat , you must both have worked very hard.

One tiny point and maybe it’ s just us. OH is quite tall and likes to know if the bed is a standard double or a larger one. Some places we’ve rented on Booking.com have shown the dimensions of the beds which is useful to help us decide.

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I’m managing 4 properties in the Lot. Two are my own and two belong to a friend. Setting up involves quite a lot of administrative steps and then keeping it going needs constant vigilance but it can work. If anyone is in the Lot and needs any help from someone who lives locally or if you need help with the organisation or online stuff, I’m here!

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Hi Penny, welcome to the forum. Do tell us a bit more about yourself.

Is your offer just a friendly one or do you do this sort of thing professionally?

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What a fantastic property @cat. And the website looks fantastic as well … just what you need to attract people. Just one thing I’ve noticed on the website is that the link for -booking.com- doesn’t work.

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