negative press

[tansy]

I was quite depressed when I read this in this weeks Weekly Telegraph....I know I was saying that there is a huge influx pf new gites etc...but didn't realise we're in a free fall!!


Who says that gites never prosper?
(Filed: 02/07/2005)

The holiday-rental market may be in freefall, but clever owners can still do well, says Miranda Ingram

You can no longer come to France, slap some whitewash on the cowshed, call it a gite and watch the money roll in. You can't even install a swimming pool and satellite television and expect to be full for more than a couple of weeks in August.
Big let-off: even idyllic holiday cottages are struggling for business in an overcrowded market

Any gite owner will tell you that the holiday-rental market is dire. It's not so much that the demand isn't there - there are still plenty of British and Dutch self-caterers heading to France - there's just too much supply. In the Dordogne, for example, gite-management companies are not taking any more family-sized gites with pools on to their books because they have too many already. It's the same story in the Charente and Normandy: still very popular, but with too many properties on offer.

Even the niche markets are suffering. For the past six years, John and Alison Street have filled their two-bedroomed Norman cottage with bird-watchers eager to hear their barn-owls. This year, says Alison, they have just one booking.

The French Tourism Ministry, however, following Spain's example, is to throw its efforts into marketing upmarket, cultural weekends and city breaks, which are generally hotel based and attract higher returns than rural, self-catering holidays. It also wants to woo new visitors from the Far East - including Japan and China, with whom a tourism agreement was signed at the end of last year.

Of course gites can cash in on weekend breaks, but it means rethinking the family-holiday market and overhauling your advertising. "We're talking about smaller places - ideal for couples - rather than the traditional gite with four bedrooms and a pool," says Daniel Laumonier, a tourism spokesman in Charente-Maritime. "Plus you must be accessible - near an airport with cheap flights, ideally. And you need year-round attractions in the area."

But amid the gloom, a new niche-market is taking off: offering your gite not to British holidaymakers, but to British house-hunters looking for a base to explore the area or somewhere to stay in while their new home is done up.

"I have a sweet, pretty apartment in a charming old house which dates back to the 1500s," says Ingrid Atkinson on the Charente-Dordogne border. "But I don't have a pool or a big garden so my place is no good for lounging about in. I knew I wouldn't be able to compete in the summer-holiday market." Instead, Atkinson markets her accommodation, in the local estate agents, notaires' offices and English-language press, as "Suit house seekers. Resident English owner."

"The resident English owner is an attraction for house-seekers," she explains, "because they can ask about the area or how to go about things. I've lived here for six years and this is my third house so I can offer plenty of good advice."

While posh gites with pools are standing empty, Atkinson is doing fine. "People also stay after they've bought their house and while they're waiting for work to finish. It suits me down to the ground - I can offer a lower rate for longer occupancy and I don't have all the fuss of weekly changeovers."

Another great plus with house-buyers is that once they have picked their area, they may make a lot of viewing trips, and they like to have a regular base, says Tricia Makinson.

She has been able to fill her idyllic Normandy gite with returning families looking for a place to buy. The owners of what she describes as three "much smarter gites" down the road have only four bookings between them for this summer.

"A bonus for house hunters is that they are staying next door to us - a family with three school-age children - so they also get a glimpse of what it's like to live in France" says Makinson. "They can ask my kids how they get on at school, or ask me about the local villages or where to find a doctor."

The irony, of course, is that once they have found their dream home, many of these house-hunters will convert newly acquired out-buildings into yet more gites.

It's a bit like the financial pyramid schemes that were so popular in Eastern Europe just after the collapse of communism: gites for house hunters will work as long as there is a constant supply of incomers wanting to buy into the French dream.

[Fraise]

Let's hope it's not a self-fulfilling prophecy!!

[reddevil]

I always say there are three wise men.

The first wise man will tell you that shares/property are a great deal and you can't lose.

The second wise man will tell you that they are going to collapse soon.

And the third wise man will tell you that things will stay pretty much the same for a while (a soft landing).

You have just read about the hunch of only one of the wise men. In fact, none of them are wise at all - they are ALL guessing because they really don't know what is going to happen or they would be RICH men and not even bother to tell us about what will happen in the future.

Now, if you listen to the RedDevil he will tell you that he knows that property prices and shares will be higher than they are today in 25 years time and although some of us might not be around then, our children (or the taxman) will be eternally grateful.

Now, who do you believe????????????????????

[vrooje]

In some ways, I wouldn't mind if the article scared a few people into thinking twice before leaping into the gite business. But on the other hand, I wouldn't want people to read that and think that when they go on vacation they ought to be able to get a 4-bedroom house with a pool for 100 pounds per week with a week's notice.

I think reddevil is absolutely right. On a large scale, our population is increasing while the surface area of the planet is constant, so property values will increase over time and probably well outpace inflation in the grand scheme of things.

I'm no expert, though!

[Alan Knighting]

It may be an overcrowded market but, overcrowded with what? Whitewashed cowsheds?

In the long run, when the cowboys and their cowsheds have gone, with a bit of luck the real properties and their caring owners will have survived.

[paolo]

In the long run, when the cowboys and their cowsheds have gone, with a bit of luck the real properties and their caring owners will have survived.

My hope too - survival of the fittest.

[debk]

I didn't find the article all doom and gloom... it is just reflecting some trends in French -- and I would say European -- tourism. We here will do well as we adapt to our ever-changing market. We're saavy business people, are we not?

The EU put out an interesting report on top tourism trends for the next 5-10 years which I used pretty heavily last year when I updated our business plan. (So many choice comments about EU and reports come to mind, but I'll just stay on topic.) Some top trends: high-end accommodations, shorter stays, personalized service, theme travel, older travelers... and, you know, I've met so many people here who are genuinely interested in providing a great service at a good price that I'm not too worried about the lot of us. Exceed your guest's expectations and they'll not only come back; they'll send their friends. Forward ho, everyone!