FAQ for guests

From the moment they step through the door your bookings become guests, and their experiences determine whether they ever come back.
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ourinns
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FAQ for guests

Post by ourinns »

Thanks to prompting by Brooke in http://www.experienceburgundy.com in a topic, I have reorganised some information that was already on my website and added a bit more to produce my own little FAQ for the guests at www.personallychosen.com/pyrenees/faq .

Brooke's American so it was interesting to read the FAQ on his site which addresses quite a few concerns that Americans might have that I suspect the majority of us ignore eg "do you have to speak French?".

Any thoughts on stuff to add for our english speaking but non-brit audience?



Arnold
Last edited by ourinns on Wed Nov 09, 2005 10:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Brooke's a lady! :D
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Post by ourinns »

Now there's a question that I didn't address on the FAQ!


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Post by vrooje »

Awww shucks. :oops:

I love that you have a section aimed at house-hunters! What a great idea.

Also, I may nick the "When should I visit the area?" question. That's great for some indirect advertising of winter rentals!

I know this post isn't that much help regarding the non-UK questions, but I think we already talked about that, so you've answered those questions!
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Post by ourinns »

I think there's a lot more mileage to be had in the "when should I come" section. That's one of the few bits that have survived virtually unchanged since I first ran up the website almost two years back now.

For sure on the house hunters. We have tried to attract them directly with almost no success but do pick up a lot of them by chance. They're very profitable as they need to come back so many times during the course of their purchase or even after if they're getting the place renovated.


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paolo
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Post by paolo »

Good comprehensive FAQ - here are a few ideas for non-Brits:

A question I have had a few times from Americans, particularly around the 'cheese-eating surrender monkeys' period, was 'Do the French really hate us?' and will they give us a hard time for being American? If that is a lingering concern for Americans it may be worth addressing it to reassure them this is not the case (at least not in my neck of the woods).

Another frequent question is what adaptor is needed to plug a laptop into the phone line - the answer to that seems to be none - you just take the cable out of the phone and stick it in your laptop.

An addition to the driving instructions - don't go into the Telepeage lane on the autoroute.

Also in the driving instructions, I think there is a mistake on the priority at roundabouts: if they don't have a sign "vous n'avez pas le priorité" then it's the people going onto the roundabout that have the priority. This should read 'the people already on the roundabout', shouldn't it?

Car hire - you need to specify that you want air conditioning on the more basic models - Americans may assume all cars have a.c.
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Post by ourinns »

Whether you'll need a phone adaptor or not depends on your phone. Not all phone to wall leads on phones are the same as the computer to wall leads. Almost all are, but not quite all. Used to do that kind of thing in a past life and it was always when it was miles to swap the lead that you came across the ones that didn't work.

What is the point of the Telepeage things anyway? Am I right in saying that you pay them money to give you a little box and they bill you at the end of the month for your trips? If that's the case, what's the point when the credit card lanes aren't any slower?

Too many double negatives on the roundabout! If they have the sign, the people on the roundabout have the priority. If they don't have the sign, the people coming onto the roundabout have the priority. Which is, I think, what the FAQ says but I'm sure a bit more clarity on my part wouldn't go amiss there.

Incidently, are there still roundabouts without said sign in France? There used to be loads but I've not seen any in our travels in the last couple of years.

Indeed re A/C.

Are there any other differences (aside from automatic/stick-shift) in American and European cars worth mentioning? Long time back I'm sure that the parking brake in the US/Canada was always a foot brake rather than the handbrake over here.



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Post by Alan Knighting »

Arnold,

The wiring inside a telephone adaptor is slightly different from that in a modem adaptor. I have rarely found one which is capable of doing both jobs.

Telepeage is an electronic drive-through system - you don't even have to open a window. For the frequent commercial user it is quicker and works out cheaper than cash or credit card payment.

I may be wrong but I don't think the priorité à droite rule applies to roundabouts. My belief is that vehicles on the roundabout have priority, and not those entering it, whether there is a give way sign or not.

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Post by alexia s. »

"the credit card lanes aren't any slower" - see Alan's answer. If you subscribe to télépéage you have a little card which you put on the windscreen - or loan to your pal if you want her/him to drive with it. Here, in the south, it is a LOT faster.
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Post by ourinns »

I may be wrong but I don't think the priorité à droite rule applies to roundabouts. My belief is that vehicles on the roundabout have priority, and not those entering it, whether there is a give way sign or not.

Nope, no sign=those coming onto the roundabout have the priority. Wendy reminded me that we had come across one of those several months ago and they are very dangerous as so many have the sign that you just assume that all roundabouts are like that. Although, "dangerous" is a matter of degree in regards to roundabouts near us - they seem to bring out the very worst in French driving habits.



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Post by paolo »

Telepeage lanes can save you 20 minutes on a bad day, but my point was to warn visitors not to go in those lanes because it is embarrassing to have to reverse out of them when the barrier doesn't go up, especially if there are cars behind you. A feeling I am familiar with... :oops:
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Post by ourinns »

Not to mention those folk with American Express cards, Visa Electron and Maestro.

Incidently, what happens if you only have those cards and run out of money enroute?



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Post by alexia s. »

I don't know, but it would be so horrible that you would have nightmares for months afterwards.
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Post by Alan Knighting »

mascamps wrote:Not to mention those folk with American Express cards, Visa Electron and Maestro.

Incidently, what happens if you only have those cards and run out of money enroute?

Arnold
Heaven forbid! You might have to use the Routes Nationale.

Without money or an appropriate credit card there's not a lot of sense in venturing onto the Autoroute in the first place. All acceptable credit cards are clearly displayed at the Autoroute entrances.

Alexia quite rightly says ... it would be so horrible that you would have nightmares for months afterwards.

Certainly a nightmare but well deserved. It's all to do with acting in a responsible manner and paying the penalty if you don't.

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Post by ourinns »

I don't think that they do post the cards accepted at the entrances round here; just coming up to the tollbooths.

However, what is definitely possible to do is to start in Spain on the motorway with your Amex card where it is taken, and find yourself over the border in France where it isn't and there's definitely no sign before the tollbooth about that.


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