Best of luck Cat. Looks like you have been through all the admin and now hopefully customers. As others have implied some will be good, some will give you a few headaches but work out well and you will have one or two that will drive you up the wall. All part of life’s rich tapestry…
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We ran a gîte and flat rental and came to the opposite conclusion - that people are generally nice. In fact it was the people that made it worthwhile rather than the money. There are easier ways to earn similar amounts surely.
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I agree. And I swamped them with kindness and generosity which meant over time I had a steady stream of repeat business. For me, it was the best way to run my gite. I knew what they were like, they knew what to expect.
I think it is easier to run a small gite. Usually I was dealing with a couple, or a family of four. It meant I had one focal point, usually the woman, if there were any issues. Multiple families in large gites I suspect are harder to manage (hence maybe @tim17 's point). Also, paying very large sums of money may mean they feel they can behave as they like (ie badly!).
The only ones I had trouble with were 2 couples in their 60s, who behaved as teenagers, broke things and didn’t fess up.
Some thoughts:
I was lavish with my welcome packs and what I provided. I would get in touch before they arrived, usually a couple of weeks, saying I like to give a welcome pack, and want to make sure I’m providing them with what they want - eg, soft drinks, beer or wine (if so, which). They always got two bottle of wine. On an ancient gite owner site, I used to read owners’ comments saying they gave up offering a welcome pack because it wasn’t appreciated. My guests used to lavish praise on the welcome pack and what we provided - not unusual to have a whole page filled with one set of guests comments.
We lived in our gite for a time. Our guests loved that it had been our house and I think took special care of the place as a result.
Being on site without doubt made things easier. Because we lived at the other end of our large garden, they knew they could find us if they had questions, eg where to eat out for a special birthday. I also had a 50 page information pack, restaurants, places to visit, history of our house, info about appliances, driving in France, etc, etc.
I was always there to meet them and take them through the quirks of the house (eg fosse septique, piping hot water, etc) And I checked in with them after their first night to make sure all was well and did they need anything.
Like @JaneJones, ours was not a money-making exercise. I wanted to cover the costs of having the second property and things like having sudden car repairs became easier because the money was there. I also wasn’t prepared to kill myself in hot weather, so left a week between each booking. Not least, it meant when it took me two days to clear the the fosse (wet wipes of course!) I wasn’t panicking about the next guests arriving.
Having repeat guests, each year I tried to have something new/different for them in the cottage - new DVDs, different cushions, more pictures on the wall, different sets of bed linen. Changes in the garden.
I met some lovely people and was reminded just how lucky we are to live here (one couple, she got out of the car and burst into tears with gratitude that the place they had come to was so beautiful).
If possible, love what you are doing - I love a project, making the place as near perfect as possible, being lavished with praise for what I achieved. It can be hard work. But also very rewarding.
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Very interesting. Did you do everything yourself? And did you rent it through Airbnb ,Gites de France or equivalent?
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Our experience was similar to @SuePJ , but not quite as laid back about the money! Especially with the £:€ rate and a major renovation to pay for we wanted a reasonable cash flow. Which we got on a 6/7 person gîte with 24-30 weeks rented year.
But we did it all ourselves, no AirbnB, Gîtes de France but a website and couple of small cheap portals that seemed to attract French people. And I would curse slightly as dealing with the beds - linen and washing/ironing etc I was below minimum wage I imagine. If you are having to subcontract everything out then that alters pricing and profits. We were deliberately the lowest priced 4* in the area to try to sweep up the bookings.
So Cat’s price might mean a more uphill battle, but looks v good. Her management team on the ground will be critical!
And our welcome pack was modest - varieties of Comté with explanations and where to buy them. We quite often got more given to us than we gave! A German couple who returned every year were so appalled by the vegetarian offerings in the local town that they always appeared with a huge hamper. We had a lot of tears last year (we sold at beginning of 26).
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I did everything myself, but it was/is only a two-up, two- down cottage with two bathrooms.
I had my own website but also had a pay-per booking arrangement with vrbo. I did not want an annual contract as some years they only gave me about a couple of bookings - they filled gaps between repeat bookings and brought me new guests who afterwards came to me direct as repeat business.
Some smarter guests appreciate that they pay more if they go via any of the major marketing sites and so they look for clues within websites that enable them to pass having to pay the likes of vrbo and come direct. One has to be very careful not to upset the bookers, for example by overtly encouraging people who have found you via their site to come direct. Obviously when they come to stay it’s possible to talk to them about how much more they are paying via the marketeers and how little these companies do if there are any problems.
Vrbo were hugely useful through COVID, as they do an automatic translation of English pages and put them onto their European sites. That meant when none of my UK guests could come out I got business from Dutch, French and German families.
I targeted the Brits because they like being able to pay in sterling into a UK a/c - ie I take the rate hit. Also, I think the Brits still find the whole gite thing rather special (daunting?). For Europeans, although they may like/love our cottage, there’s always going to be another one somewhere else (better?) they want to try. Whereas when Brits find somewhere good where the owner speaks English they feel safe and like to come back to the certainty of it all.
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OK. Similar feeling here after 2 months of our new gîte. As we live 30 minutes away we have a key box which so far has been totally fine. We haven’t had any Brits yet, only French and Polish. We leave a bottle and some nonettes (honey cakes),
I just love the whole thing, cleaning , washing and ironing included. I am looking to start a new one, but this time something with an immersive experience. Looking for the right property to buy…
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Lovely gite and great website - Did you have it done? I’ve looked at prices and I’m not ready yet, our region gives us access to a near-free platform for direct bookings , but so far no-one’s been in touch through it, we’ve only had Airbnb bookings except one from Booking
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Post deleted as link to advert
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I’d happily spend my holidays there. I don’t understand why some people leave 4 stars but say everything was perfect…
Did it myself under the guidance of Alan Egan who developed a very useful template for vacation rental businesses and ran a series of training videos. Basic layout on wordpress and then I played around with design and all my own content and (mostly) my photos. It was fun and relatively easy to do at a time when I quickly needed my own site. With hindsight, I regret using someone else’s template though because it means I never went back to basic principles, which means making any significant alterations is virtually impossible for me. Not that I need it now.
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@Chrisgrim @SuePJ @JaneJones …. seriously lovely and well done.
Would have loved to stay in all these wonderful places because they look so so ..just lovely!
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Hi I’ve removed your link as we don’t allow commercial posts unless you are a paying advertiser.
Sue’s link is ok because she’s provided it for info and is not going to be in the gite business for much longer. Just to give you a bit of background so you don’t feel you’re being picked on as a new member!
Cat x
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On that basis I’ll remove mine too as it is giving free advertising to the new owners!
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Oh no problem at all, sorry about that. I wasn’t trying to advertise, just reciprocating. Have a nice evening!
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I am currently investigating what the changes of the rules are. As am planning to rent out a gite. Could you please inform me as to a good article(s). website… where these changes are explained? Thanks
I like the official sites rather than articles in newsletters that can be wrong
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Thanks Jane! Will study the info.
That’s the trick with gite welcome packs - when I stay in a gite I sometimes feel a bit embarrassed that I have not used the contents - especially the wine - simply because it’s often not to my taste. I mostly drink Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire valley so a robust bottle of Chateauneuf-du-Pape doesn’t really appeal, even if it’s perfectly nice in itself. Especially when the temperature is in the high 30s! 
But basics like coffee and milk are always appreciated.
And showing people how the appliances work is really helpful! I have more than once been confronted with a touch-interface electric hob that i could not figure out how to turn on, until I found the model number and was able to download the manual from the internet! 
But maybe I am just domestically challenged.
And I very much appreciate the efforts most gite owners make to sort any small problems when they occur. I remember one place I stayed at in Charente a few years ago flooded the first night due to a big thunderstorm - the owners (who lived next door) were mortified and rushed round to mop up as soon as they knew. And an extra bottle of wine and a pack of Charentais galettes also arrived!
I kept saying “don’t worry, no harm done” (none of my stuff was damaged and the flood was only an inch or two deep) but they were so solicitious about it.
And we spent several evenings drinking and chatting together as well (they were an English couple) - I would happily have stayed there again but they decided to reincorporate the gite into their house.
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Thanks Cat, but I’ll delete it anyway, in case causes confusion about what is / is not permitted.
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