Hypothetical Question
Hypothetical Question
How do Gite owners deal with 'Friends' wanting a cheap holiday? This is still a hypothetical question as our gites are not up and running, but one I'm sure I'll encounter. The thing is we have enough space in our house to accomodate friends, but where do you draw the line. Some friends I'd never dream of charging, but then again it's a business.
We had our holiday home for years before we bought another house as a business to rent out for holidays. Our experience over the previous years taught us that business is business!! Friends either stay with us ( free of course ) or else they pay the going rate at our other house. I occasionally give them a small ( 10% discount) if it's a shoulder season. You'd soon go under if you let em in very cheaply, we've still got all the bills to pay, wear and tear etc 
www.thepetitmanoir.com
www.thepetitmanoir.com
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Dear All,
If my family or friends are staying in my home of course they stay for free.
If they want to stay in one of my cottages I offer them the same small fidelity discount as I give to my frequent visitors.
It's simple. My friend who has a car hire firm doesn't supply me with a free car. My friend who is a butcher doesn't supply me with free meat. I don't supply them with free holidays, nor do they expect me to.
Well, there is a tiny minority which does expect a free holiday but when they find it's not without cost they don't come. The word "free-loader" springs to mind.
In more general terms, over the last seven seasons I have noticed that the number of new visitors is diminishing and the number of frequent visitors is increasing. What does this mean? Does it identify a subtle change in the market? Does it mean that my properties are a lot better than my marketing? A significant number of my frequent visitors are buying their own properties in the area so my reliable pool of potential visitors is diminishing. Eventually this will become a problem because I could run out of frequent visitors.
At the same time I have found there is a strong demand for short terms lets (for periods between a couple of months up to a year). It’s an entirely different market but it is one which attracts me particularly because I live on site and am in a position to control what is going on.
What do others think?
Alan
If my family or friends are staying in my home of course they stay for free.
If they want to stay in one of my cottages I offer them the same small fidelity discount as I give to my frequent visitors.
It's simple. My friend who has a car hire firm doesn't supply me with a free car. My friend who is a butcher doesn't supply me with free meat. I don't supply them with free holidays, nor do they expect me to.
Well, there is a tiny minority which does expect a free holiday but when they find it's not without cost they don't come. The word "free-loader" springs to mind.
In more general terms, over the last seven seasons I have noticed that the number of new visitors is diminishing and the number of frequent visitors is increasing. What does this mean? Does it identify a subtle change in the market? Does it mean that my properties are a lot better than my marketing? A significant number of my frequent visitors are buying their own properties in the area so my reliable pool of potential visitors is diminishing. Eventually this will become a problem because I could run out of frequent visitors.
At the same time I have found there is a strong demand for short terms lets (for periods between a couple of months up to a year). It’s an entirely different market but it is one which attracts me particularly because I live on site and am in a position to control what is going on.
What do others think?
Alan
Well put Alan. We have friends stay with us in our house. If they want to rent a property they would be given a (small) discount.It's simple. My friend who has a car hire firm doesn't supply me with a free car. My friend who is a butcher doesn't supply me with free meat. I don't supply them with free holidays, nor do they expect me to.
Ju
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Hells Bells
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- Location: French Alps
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We decided that as our place isn't large enough for others to stay with us, that they could RENT our place at a small discount (10%). We will apply the same rules for family, except for our parents, who can stay free out of season as mine in particular will make themsevels useful while they are there doing odd jobs, making curtains etc. So far, none of them have taken us up on our generous offer. Hubby however, is planning to go and mountain bike with his friends.
I agree with other comments and have a very close friend visiting quite soon. When she first approached me, I invited her to stay with us at home, but there's quite a few of them and it soon became clear that she really wanted the independence and space of staying in the other house and happy to pay for it.
I offered it for free if she would take a low season week, but she gratefully declined, asked for one of my prime weeks and said she wouldn't have dreamed of asking me unless she was happy to pay full price and completely understood that we couldn't do it otherwise. Of course we gave her the same discount we give our regulars and refused the damage deposit she tried to add to it, but she couldn't have made it easier for us. Now we're really excited about her arrival.
I offered it for free if she would take a low season week, but she gratefully declined, asked for one of my prime weeks and said she wouldn't have dreamed of asking me unless she was happy to pay full price and completely understood that we couldn't do it otherwise. Of course we gave her the same discount we give our regulars and refused the damage deposit she tried to add to it, but she couldn't have made it easier for us. Now we're really excited about her arrival.
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Joanna,
One of my brothers is like that. He will not stay in our house; he much prefers to stay in one of our cottages and he expects to pay. The other brother is the opposite. He wouldn’t dream of staying in one of our cottages and it wouldn’t occur to him to offer payment anyway. His good side is that he takes us out for meals and restocks the wine cellar. Its swings and roundabouts with the two of them.
We all complain about the less than desirable guests, and quite rightly so. On the other hand I find they form only a tiny minority. Most people are easy to deal with, from the first contact through to the day of their departure. Joan seems to be able to spot the awkward blighters straight away and has her own way of dealing with them which usually means they don’t become visitors.
Alan
One of my brothers is like that. He will not stay in our house; he much prefers to stay in one of our cottages and he expects to pay. The other brother is the opposite. He wouldn’t dream of staying in one of our cottages and it wouldn’t occur to him to offer payment anyway. His good side is that he takes us out for meals and restocks the wine cellar. Its swings and roundabouts with the two of them.
We all complain about the less than desirable guests, and quite rightly so. On the other hand I find they form only a tiny minority. Most people are easy to deal with, from the first contact through to the day of their departure. Joan seems to be able to spot the awkward blighters straight away and has her own way of dealing with them which usually means they don’t become visitors.
Alan