Lay My Hat

Strange ! We had a Trip Advisor enquiry this morning to book for 2 weeks beginning of August, one of which was already booked on our website. We are still trying to resolve the mismatch between our calendar and TripAdvisor’s.

I don't understand how you could be labelled but not classified? Surely part of the labelling process is always to get a classification. Is it that an epis classification is no longer accepted?

Having done a bit of research (out of interest as it doesn't affect us) I have found quite a few references to a label (GdF, Clévacances...) not being the same as a classification. As from Jan 1 2019 being labelled is not being classified. It appears that classification is only done by the prefectur...

We went to a TdS meeting at the OdT where one woman was saying that she had 1 epis with GdF and 2 stars with the prefecture and I missed the nuance of the conversation where I thought she was told that she should use the star rating. I think now that the OdT was agreeing with her that the epis did n...

As we said previously (quite a few pages back) we are classified by the prefecture in The Aveyron and in 2018 our TdS was 0,50 € per (non-exempt) person per night (501.50 € for 2 gites booked for 24 weeks each). Next year will be the same and for 5 years not a single client has thought it was an imp...

I'm interested that you've never had a problem breaking out the tds as an 'extra' or separate payment. Do you charge your rental in sterling and the tds in Euros? We take sterling payments to a UK bank for the ease of the guest so I'm not sure, yet, how we will deal with the tds as a separate payme...

The flat/fixed rate does not apply to us but I did a bit of research and it seem that there should be an abatement applied by your commune (I think it is mandatory) that reflects how full they think the properties are for the time that they are available. If you are open all year then I think the fi...

oasiscouple... I believe that what I wrote applies to the whole of France, I found another website taxesejour.fr and they were saying the same. The only reason I looked at Charentes and quoted them was that they seemed easier to understand. I think the only things that can vary from commune to commu...

We agree with Oasiscouple, Taxe de Séjour (TDS) is paid by the guest and not a single guest has ever questioned it and understands its purpose is to be ploughed back into tourism. That's about 50 bookings per year for 5 years collecting TDS times about 4 people per booking (about 1000 guests). Our b...

Yes, I see. A large number of enquiries translating into an equally large number of bookings get you high up the list. Even more enquiries turning into bookings gets you further rungs up the ladder. Failure in this means your listing is simply fodder to pad out their unnaturally too broadly located...

And partly to test the water and gauge the likely reaction to more changes they would like to make to their business model - instant booking only, for example. Yes, that was a distinct possibility, but as with ianh100 I didn't like any of the scenarios they proposed. I said no to all instant bookin...

@ianh100 The service charge is their business, our prices are the same on our website as HA and TA, it's just cheaper via our website because there is no service charge. Benefits... It seems that they offer a "badge" for your listing that "gives travellers confidence" and the pos...

I forgot to say that HA seems to charge the client the same for a commission based advert as for a subscription based advert.

We have gites in France... Before HA got hold of OD we had a subscription with OD for the UK market and one with HA/Abritel for the French. OD eventually became useless for us when HA started fiddling (possibly just before) and we went with a commission based advert keeping the Abritel as subscripti...

We reported him to abuse@outlook.com and they have suspended his account, so he'll probably change his name...