If you are planning to buy a rental home, or you're thinking about what to do with one you have just acquired, this is the place for any questions about starting out in the rentals business.
We're just about to complete on our house in Ste Colombe sur l'Hers and are going to be starting up a B&B.
The website's nearly finished and I've listed us on a few websites (any advice on what the bests ones are would be helpful). I've been reading through this site and get the feeling that advertising in Magazines etc isn't the best way to go. What about taking information to the local Tourist Offices etc?
Would really just appreciate any advice that anyone could give! We're so excited about it but just want to make sure we're covering all our angles....
You will find plenty of useful hints and tips on the Lay My Hat forum, keep a notepad to hand and browse around.
One of the best ways you can promote your website is to feature your site's address in your signature when you post comments on a messageboard.
The majority of boards will allow you to put a simple line with a link at the foot of your message, as long as you are providing useful info to people.
It will also give others on Lay My Hat a chance to offer their own tips on your new site.
Thanks for that. I've been trawling these pages for the past couple of hours now making notes Probably should be working! It's so useful!
As it's something we've never done before I was told this was the best place to come for ideas etc and it is! We just want to get advice from people who have done it and know the pitfalls etc. Finding out a lot of information from here it's great!
Hello Gemma
Yes it is worth taking details to your local OT, however you may find that they will not be interested in you unless you have been graded with either GDF or Clevacances. We live in the Tarn et Garonne right on the boarders to the Gers, we found that our local OT in the Tarn et Garonne did not want to know. However the one in the Gers was very helpful and in our first year we got most of our bookings through them. Having said that things have now changed and last year we found that because we were not graded then we were at the bottom of their lists all graded B&B they would try to fill first. Also you will find the French are more choosey when booking a B&B and we have found that they tend to go for a graded establishments , this was one of the reason we have gone for grading as we were told last year by a couple of fellow B&B in the area that tried to put business our way when they were full found the French did not what to know as we had no grade.
Listing sites is a minefield, I list on about 13 free sites but to be honest have never had any business from them, but if I have spare time I still list. I would suggest that you take up any free trial offers that are going most give two or three months free trial, you have nothing to loose at the end of the day We pay for 4 sites two large and a couple of small ones and it is a case of trial and error as most of the sites are geared for gites. Our first year we paid for French connections but only got one booking that did not cover the fee, that’s is part of the trouble as in some cases where a gite might cover the advertising cost with one booking it can sometimes take 3 or 4 just to cover your costs. I like the idea of the commission sites but feel that the way they work you can only really list on one they charge about 10%, but my wife is not to keen on the idea as our main season weeks up until now we have never had a problem in booking this period with our current paid advertising so she feels that if we go with one of these sites we might not gain anything from it, unless we can get some out of season dates. Also I am really not sure which one is the best, I have asked the question on another site but some people do not like to give to much details , afraid of the competition I think which is silly in my view
Chambre d hote is a totally different ball game to Gites and villas. This is our fourth year in the business and apart from a few repeat bookings and couple of forward bookings we find most of our booking come in about 6 to 4 weeks before commencement of the holiday.
Last year we were full for most of june all of july and august but did not receive one booking apart from a repeat until may last year but it still sometimes depresses me to read how everybody is already full. If you like the free sites that I list on please PM me
Wish you a lot of luck and here to you 18 hour days
Probably should be working! It's so useful!
