welcome packs

[elena]

Welcome packs - I'm mixed over this one.

We did them last year and offered the usual wine, fruit juice, fresh bread, butter, jam, milk, sugar,fresh coffee etc and eggs from our hens ( until they went on the go slow and we ran out! )

We didn't tell people before hand as it was meant to be a welcome gesture not part of the contract but then we found that most people who drove here turned up with their own favourite brand of coffee, juice, jam etc and quite often stuff was left at the end of their stay.
Of the people who arrived late by plane we offered to do a small shopping for them so they wouldn't arrive with nothing to eat but no-one said yes.

Afterwards when we asked if they had enjoyed their stay, without exception everyone enthused over the pool, the lovely accommodation, the thought that had gone into our gamesroom - NOT ONE PERSON said they appreciated the welcome pack. ( Sorry, one French guest said they didn't expect to find fresh bread, and what a nice touch. They were also surprised to find the cleaning products there though!)

Now I'm wondering if we didn't leave all this if would really make a huge difference to their perception of their holiday.

I'm seriously considering changing the essentials for something smaller and more local - ie wine, walnuts from our orchard, eggs if the hens are up to it and some goose/duck related product from the local farm to give guests a flavour of the region and let them choose their own everyday stuff.

I don't know if the UK guests have come to expect to find all the essentials on a self catering holiday - certainly our experience is that the French don't. This is why I thought it would be a great bonus for them but it didn't appear so. Maybe they're fussier over their brand of coffee!

Any thoughts on this?
Elena
www.lescrouquets.net

[Rocket Rab]

I don't know if the UK guests have come to expect to find all the essentials on a self catering holiday - certainly our experience is that the French don't.

Absolutely true, Elena. The French are far easier to impress and go into raptures of "mercis" and whispers about the delights of "l'accueil anglais" if you leave anything at all. They always bring their own dishwasher tabs with them, for example, as they just wouldn't expect to find these provisions in a typical French rental property.

It is nice, though, to provide a bit more for UK guests, who may be unfamiliar with what to buy at the shops and obviously have limited luggage space.

Note to self: must make an effort to provide fresh milk, but this is such a pain, because it means a special trip to the supermarket on changeover day, queues at the checkout, etc etc. On second thoughts, UHT will just have to do...

[pepsipuss]

Hi RR
If you can get fresh milk in plastic bottles it freezes fine. In cardboard the bottoms tend to go a bit wobbly on de-frosting.

[la vache!]

I always e mail guests the previous week to see if they want me to get provisions in, if not, I just leave beer, orangina and wine (as well as all the normal cleaning stuff and larder condiments). I never get thanked either, so I'm glad I don't leave more than that. I don't leave the drinks for the French as they don't expect them and they would probably be insulted by the type of wine I leave anyway, which isn't grand cru by any strech of the imagination....

[Ju]

I find the fresh milk at the supermarket has a very long lead date, so I never buy it on the Changeover day, I usually buy it on the Thursday or the Friday.

I have a separate "business" fridge in the kitchen where I store everything waiting for the changeover. I also use this for the meals we do, and if we do shopping for the guests thats where it goes.

[Rocket Rab]

Hi RR
If you can get fresh milk in plastic bottles it freezes fine.

Great idea, PP Thanks. Really hadn't thought of that...and should just defrost nicely on the 2.5 hr drive up to the island, which I do every Saturday, yawn

[pepsipuss]

If you need to keep some milk for emergencies, try Flora Semi - tastes almost as good as the real thing but is long-life. Think I may have posted about this somewhere else so sorry if I am repeating myself..

[pepsipuss]

Forgot to mention that if leaving defrosted milk which is theoretically past its use-by date you may need to point out why - or inevitably some professional complainer will pick up on it!

[la vache!]

Even the fresh milk in France is quite long life - the stuff I bought today is dated 16th May.

[pepsipuss]

Here too, LV, in theory, but I often find that if I open it even three or four days before the sell-by date, it can go off within a few hours (unless it has been frozen meantime). I try to use it a week before and never buy stuff with less than a week left on it, unless I have to.

[elena]

La Vache wrote:
"I always e mail guests the previous week to see if they want me to get provisions in, if not, I just leave beer, orangina and wine (as well as all the normal cleaning stuff and larder condiments). "

That sounds more logical - do many people take you up on that? Do you charge just the price you paid or a bit extra?
Also, what do you include in the way of "larder condiments?"

I always think it's a shame that people have to buy oil, vinegar etc for just a week or two but then I also thought there would be some resistance to using "unsealed" stuff and can't imagine that providing new bottles of stuff for every guest would be cost effective.

Elena
www.lescrouquets.net

[la vache!]

That sounds more logical - do many people take you up on that? Do you charge just the price you paid or a bit extra?
Also, what do you include in the way of "larder condiments?"

Elena
www.lescrouquets.net

Salt, pepper, oil (sunflower and olive) and vinegar. If people don't want to use them then they can buy their own. The look better if you top them up, even if the top of the bottle isn't sealed.
9 times out of 10, people don't want anything, even if they do it is usually, just bread, butter and milk. I always make the point of telling them in the email that there are shops and supermarkets open on Sunday. If the do want more of a full shop, then I give them the receipt and they pay me for it when they arrive.
Most people actually ENJOY going to the supermarket, it is far more exciting shopping in a French supermarket when you are from the UK. Likewise I prefer shopping in Sainsbury's to SuperU.

[pepsipuss]

For self-catering what we leave in addition to the official welcome pack tends to vary according to number of people and length of stay.

There is always a good selection of herbs and spices, salt & pepper etc. Like you, LV, am not sure how people feel about opened bottles of oil and vinegar, so if it is a full or nearly full house (10 people max) and they are staying at least a week they get a full litre bottle of oil and a 75ml one of vinegar. For fewer people we put in smaller bottles. We can always use up what is left.

To digress a bit - last year we had a lovely group of young Italians. When I was showing in the Spanish couple who followed on (2 people on their own with two supposedly well behaved dogs but that's another story), I showed them the huge collection of (mainly unopened) pasta packets that had been left and said, 'do help yourself to some of this if you like', thinking I could look forward to some of it myself when they went. When I cleaned after them, every last packet was gone!!!

[goosie]

Now I'm wondering if we didn't leave all this if would really make a huge difference to their perception of their holiday.

that's why I started this thread - I didn't expect one when we rented recently and so to have a little something was a nice suprise - even if it is just tea/coffee and fresh (NON UHT!!!!! milk!).

But if we are being honest, however `generous` the welcome packs they are coming off our bottom-line profit and for those of us who don't live on site, providing something meaningful yet in-date is difficult and I was wondering how much people really expect it and appreciate it. For example, we left a lovely Thorton's Easter Egg for our Easter booking and although we got great feedback the egg wasn't mentioned.

[elena]

Goosie wrote:

"But if we are being honest, however `generous` the welcome packs they are coming off our bottom-line profit and for those of us who don't live on site, providing something meaningful yet in-date is difficult and I was wondering how much people really expect it and appreciate it. For example, we left a lovely Thorton's Easter Egg for our Easter booking and although we got great feedback the egg wasn't mentioned."

A good point! The shoulder months are proving very difficult for us so every penny off the bottom line counts! My OH is of the opinion that a spotless gite, a warm welcome, a willingness to help out in whatever ways necessary and the spontaneous gestures of giving our guests baskets of freshly picked plums, tomatoes, peppers etc from our veggie patch throughout the course of the week go a lot further than the "commercial "welcome packs, given whether they want them or not. I'm seriously thinking he's right after having spent most of last year trying to prove him wrong
We do live on site though so obviously not everyone can do this.
I'll still leave the salt, pepper etc but I do think I'll downsize this year.
Elena
www.lescrouquets.net