Pour les Vacances

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French Cricket
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Pour les Vacances

Post by French Cricket »

I'm wondering about giving Pour Les Vacances a go as I'd quite like to go back to having some French guests - but I'm not sure whether it would be worth it for what I have left in 2017 (1 August week plus 4 out of season weeks - all of which will almost certainly book anyway).

What do other Frenchies think?
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Moliere
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Post by Moliere »

Hi FC

I think if you want to dip your toe back in that water, why not? It'll give you some fresh visibility in the market and perhaps some promises for 2018 (if you can't fit them in next year).

Depends how much it costs, but it could be a useful bit of marketing.

How are you doing down there, now we are all cousins in Occitanie?

Mols
Jumping is just dressage with speed-bumps.
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oasiscouple
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Post by oasiscouple »

I placed an advert with them some time ago but after a year didn't have a single enquiry so I didn't feel it worth it to pay for renewing and strangely they haven't once contacted me to ask why. The lack of enquiries could of course be that my place is not the usual type of holiday rental being only for naturists. In any case I manage to fill my season through other websites.
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Post by Emmy »

As you might remember, it's our first year... We advertised with them for 6 months only, from around May-Oct. In that time we just had one booking, which was for both sites for just 3 nights in September, for a wedding. (Apart from that, only one enquiry which didn't lead to a booking.) I'm not sure if I'll sign up again in the spring - I might - but again, would only do it for 6 months.
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Post by French Cricket »

Hmmmm. I'm not feeling inspired then! And the site is very naff looking, which may not help.

Mols, all good here, and I'm enjoying having one foot in each side of Occitanie! Though I'm not really feeling the love for the name - are you? Down here (I'm in the PO at the moment) all the villages are adding Pays Catalan signs below their name :lol:
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Moliere
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Post by Moliere »

Hi FC

Yeah, we are ok, filling our days with leisure (funny, there still doesn't seem to be any time to spare!)

Personally I like "Occitanie" - I voted for it in fact - and I am a bit dubious about claims of Catalan identity outside its natural area (in which btw I include the southeastern part of PO), and I certainly would be unhappy with "Pays Catalan" up here. So I think it's quite a good generic identity for the region, and very distinctive. It's a lot better than "Hauts de France" or "Grand Est", which are complete abominations obviously dreamt up by some very boring committees.

Anyway, do have a Happy Christmas and a prosperous 2018.

Mols
Jumping is just dressage with speed-bumps.
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Post by Hells Bells »

As all enquiries from PLV come directly to me via my website, and not from the enquiry form on PLV, it's hard to judge how much business they bring you, but I've had a steady stream of enquiries, a couple of bookings every year, and some out of season weekends. Google Analytics also shows quite healthy traffic.
dorie
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Post by dorie »

We have been with them nearly a year, no bookings
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Post by French Cricket »

Okay, mind made up!

Do any of you guys have any good (and not expensive) recommendations for a French listing site? Must be online-booking and online payment free!
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GRL
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Post by GRL »

French Cricket wrote:Okay, mind made up!

Do any of you guys have any good (and not expensive) recommendations for a French listing site? Must be online-booking and online payment free!
When you find one please do let me know!
la vache!
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Post by la vache! »

I've been with PLV for 15 years, get lots of hits on my website from them but never really sure they've generated many bookings. I stick with them because they are cheap. Leboncoin works well for me, but this year I've been getting more and more of French bookings from AirBnB, 3 out of 4 of my Christmas/New Year bookings are from them. Doesn't help you FC, I don't have online booking activated with them but payment goes to AirBnB and then to my Paypal account after guests arrive.
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oasiscouple
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Post by oasiscouple »

For our naturist apartment in Port Leucate, we were with Amivac and did get a few enquiries but no bookings, again perhaps because it is a bit out of the ordinary. Advert cost 95€ one year, 150€ two years. Can't remember if they do on line bookings and payment. I didn't renew because of the lack of bookings.

Another one I am still with as it is cheaper (49€ one year) and again we have had a few enquiries but no bookings so far is Vacances-location.net. Not sure about on line facilities.

For our house in Gironde, we have stopped booking the whole house for next year. We were with Chez Nous which filled our season by itself. Now we just make one bedroom available as B&B as it is in a separate wing of the house and is en suite so we are trying Airbnb and allow minimum one night bookings. We have had two bookings in the past month, one French and one Irish. If you want to target French potential guests you can go to Airbnb's French site and prepare the advert in French. They of course allow on line bookings and payment.
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Post by French Cricket »

One more question (sorry!) - is anyone with France Voyage? We used to do quite well with them when we first opened as a chambre d'hôtes but I dropped them a couple of years ago as we got so many late/over-occupancy enquiries (even when we were full) that I was spending a ridiculous amount of time answering them for nothing!

We joined Chez Nous last year as a replacement for OD - have had 5 bookings so far, which is fine. I'm just getting a bit bored with having Anglophones all the time :lol:
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Post by Emmy »

I signed up with France Voyage in July - it was only something like €36 for the year. Although the statistics they provide look impressive, we've had not a single enquiry from them. Maybe it's us, since I said pretty much the same in response to your question about PLV! Sorry I can't say anything more positive or encouraging...
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Post by Hells Bells »

I am with them. Over the past three years they have given me 5 bookings and 4500€ worth of income which is not a bad rate of return for a cost of 34€ per year.
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