End of Season Thoughts

Come for a relaxed chat about anything at all and meet your fellow rental owners.
aasta
Posts: 800
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:17 pm
Location: Pe da Serra, Portugal

Post by aasta »

:D :D :D
aasta
aasta
Posts: 800
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:17 pm
Location: Pe da Serra, Portugal

Post by aasta »

:D :D :D
aasta
SW31
Posts: 86
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:02 pm
Location: Haute Garonne, France

Looking back after first season

Post by SW31 »

Well, it's the end of our first season for us. Due to delays by our builders we couldn't start promoting our gite until May this year. We were mostly booked throughout July and August but had family over in September so that ruled out booking for the last summer month. Bookings were through HA group and were mostly French families.
Our guests have all been lovely and we think some will rebook, especially the family that also sent us a thank you card. We've been pleased with the feedback of five stars reviews with just one four star review. Overall, they appreciated all the extras we had included and some seemed pleasantly surprised.
Looking back I've enjoyed running the Gite. Hard work and feeling 'on call', as we live next to the Gite, took a little time to get used to. I suspect that we won't get much in the way of uk bookings due to the exchange rate. However I've enjoyed conversing with our French clients and all have left the gite immaculate.
I'm looking forward to 2017 - no bookings as yet but the French book later so will wait and see!
I have been following LMH for a couple of years and have adopted many of the points raised on this forum. I would like to thank all of you as it made this project a lot easier than 'going alone'. :) :)
Tournesol
Posts: 74
Joined: Thu May 18, 2017 11:46 am
Location: Charente
Contact:

Post by Tournesol »

End of season for us is when the guest rooms need heating as we have no central heating. If we were to heat the rooms we would have to charge more in the off season than at peak!
It's the time when we start putting on several layers of clothing including fingerless gloves before we resort to lighting the woodburner.
Somehow I don't think our guests would be happy to live as frugally as we do!
I did think that this would be the time to get the garden under control again but it keeps on raining and it's too soggy to do anything!
What you've never had you never miss!
aasta
Posts: 800
Joined: Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:17 pm
Location: Pe da Serra, Portugal

Post by aasta »

Hello Everyone!!! Hurrah!! Our last guests leave next Tuesday and then we close for a much needed month off!!! We have had guests since 2 March and are ever soooo ready to be out of the "show business" for a few weeks....January and February are also very slow for us...so we do get about a 3 month break every year.......
We have been so busy this season that i have rarely found time for anything including reading the latest on LMH...!!!
aasta
Woz
Posts: 18
Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2016 3:58 pm
Location: Moreton in Marsh, Cotswolds
Contact:

Post by Woz »

Well we're also at the end of our first season and we have had a great year. Delayed building works got us late on the market in March and we were busy pretty much from the start.

We have had (mostly) great guests who have treated the cottage with respect and care. Lots of really great reviews and comments make it all worthwhile and help when the occasional 'difficult' guest saps the energy. Like the couple who turned up 6 hours early for check in, demanding to be let into the property, or the family who seemed to have had a food fight, with Soy sauce sprayed liberally across freshly painted kitchen walls, or the family who blocked the drains by flushing fresh wipes down the loo.

We've now got a short couple of weeks when we can get our annual maintenance tasks done (chimney swept, retouch the paintwork, PAT check the electrical appliances, etc..) then we're right back into lettings over the Christmas and New Year period.

Like many, it has been a steep learning curve for us, but the support from LMH members has really helped. Thanks to you all for your support and encouragement.

We've enjoyed (nearly) every minute of it... :D
SW31
Posts: 86
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:02 pm
Location: Haute Garonne, France

Post by SW31 »

Well this years guests were a little more trying than last year.
Met some lovely people, some of which we keep in touch with. We’re slightly more cynical now after seeing some of the careless damage done ( and hidden ).
Also I’m fed up with French guests who want to add the world and his wife “ for just a couple of days” as they know the Gite is under occupied ( and sometimes at maximum occupancy as well). I now state €100 per night per person for guests not registered at time of booking. Seems hard but the Gite is attached to our house so I want to know who’s on our premises instead of the revolving open door that we’ve seen this year.
Post Reply