Phone numbers for international renters

[Yulia]

Hello,
I am new to your site and I only joined today.
I want to ask you this.
How do you handle your phone inquiries? Do you ever have people who calls you overseas?
My interest is very simple.
I have a listing site in USA that allows show phone numbers (I obeyed every rule that you posted and don't disclose or advertise my site ).
My own brother was booking a flat in Paris and he emailed all the time. When I asked him why he didn't call (because apparently owner spoke English pretty good), he said that it is hard to call international plus time difference.
It made me think that not many people will call from USA because of the above.
Do you ever have calls from overseas? What you do if they speak in non-known language?
Thank you!
Yulia

[vrooje]

Welcome to the forum!

I don't get very many calls at all -- almost everything is via e-mail.

This season I did get two calls in French, very early in the morning, but (luckily) they were both for booked weeks, so all I had to do was mumble that the house is full until November, and good luck finding another house, and that was it. Finding my french at 6 a.m. was interesting, though.

[cc]

Same here. Only time we get called is either for last minute availabilty where they don't believe our calendar or to confirm/discuss complicated requirements. Email is the preferred method of communication for nearly all our guests.

[la vache!]

I put on my website/rental listing sites that English and French are spoken, and the only calls I have had are in those languages, but I have had calls from many different nationalities using either language. E mail is very often used to make first contact (except for some UK and French guests in particular who often prefer to phone), but there is generally no problem with the time difference then (unless UK people phone after 9.30pm their time, I'm usually in bed and they have to leave a message). With US guests, I have always found them very kind and we have arranged a time in advance to speak on the phone, which is convenient for us both.

[Hells Bells]

Most of my bookings and enquiries are done through email too, although I have had a couple of phone calls (one in French at the hairdressers which was interesting), and an email requesting me to call them back.

[Fraise]

The majority of my bookings are done via e-mail. I have had a few bookings over the phone but all from UK. International bookings have been via e-mail.

www.thepetitmanoir.com