Why?

[Loopy Lou]

Just had an enquiry for a Monday to Monday booking in August. Why do they do that when my changeover day is clearly stated as Saturday in high season? I offered them the Saturday to Saturday but I don't expect to hear back. Sigh.

[Mouse]

hi Lou....when I've had enquiries like these it tends to be people who've already booked their flights. Non-weekend flights are cheaper!

Mouse
x

[Hells Bells]

Lou, my hubby has to work on Saturday morning, so his 2 weeks hols don't start until Sunday really. Maybe they are in the same situation? More likely they may be trying to take advantage of cheaper crossings or flights.

[Alan Knighting]

Lou, my hubby has to work on Saturday morning, so his 2 weeks hols don't start until Sunday really. Maybe they are in the same situation? More likely they may be trying to take advantage of cheaper crossings or flights.

I have no objections to people arriving on a Sunday, that's up to them, but they must leave on a Saturday.

Fluffy

[debk]

Why do they do that when my changeover day is clearly stated as Saturday in high season?

Because some owners are willing to shift dates slightly... so ya never really know, until ya ask.

Congrats on the inquiries!
debk

[Ben McNevis]

Loopy,

I've said this a few times before and usually get shouted down, but here goes again:

Holiday accommodation in France is almost all Saturday-Saturday. Transport to and within France is 7 days a week, and the most expensive and/or congested is Saturday transport.

Some people are actually looking for a Sat-Sat break, and for them it's easy - there's loads of accommodation to choose from.

Others, who can't or won't go Sat to Sat, have very little accommodation to choose from. So, the demand is there, the supply is not.

My personal perspective on this is that we choose to holiday in France quite often, and usually we avoid Saturday travel. We struggle to find accommodation. What this means in practice is that I'm prepared to pay over the odds for non-Saturday travel. So, you can charge more by being different.

You can offer a different changeover day and charge a little more and possibly get more bookings too (because you'll have very few competitors). Alternatively, you can go crazy and offer flexible changeover: That means you will get some unuseable gaps in your calendar, but you make up for it in two ways:
You get more longer bookings (say 10 days instead of a week) and you charge considerably more. Also, the gaps in your calendar become very useful if you need to do any maintenance work on the property mid-season.

Go on, tell me I'm wrong!

[Giddy Goat]

That all makes very good sense, especially to owners who are on site. I have to commit to a regular day for changeovers in the busier months however, because I am dependent on our caretakers - they can be more flexible out of season when not quite so busy.

Having said that, we have a Thursday changeover and get booked up very quickly. It hasn't handicapped us, and from your comments Ben, it even seems as though it might be a selling point - I try to market it that way anyhow!

[debk]

Also, the gaps in your calendar become very useful if you need to do any maintenance work on the property mid-season.

Amen. Or just want a bit of a break.

Back-to-backs are a pain and we've begun to sometimes book an "extra" day to avoid them. Managing things ourselves makes this easier; with a cleaner, I can see that a regular schedule might be very important.

Once again, it appears that there's no "right" way.
debk

[Hells Bells]

Obviously our winter season is our busiest, and we have offered Sunday changeover, as it suits us and our cleaner better. Her hubby is a ski instructor, and has Saturday as a day off, meaning they can spend time together. Outside of the school holidays, and even in the Summer, I can be as flexible as I like. Last year I was left with a 5 day gap, which gave us time to go and hang the curtains we'd left at home at Christmas, and get some skiing in. This winter, I stuck to Sun-Sun for peak Feb weeks, then have been entirely flexible from 25th Feb onwards. I have had every day booked up, no gaps, until this weekend.

[Nightowl]

I agree; although I don't do the changeovers myself, I do worry that when they are back to back in the summer, that our caretakers get less time to deal with any problems; we aren't the only property they look after. Dont get me wrong our caretaker is excellent but from his point of view, summer must be a nightmare.

So last year I did flexible changeovers. I did get booked up, but I did have gaps in the summer - 2 or 3 days here and there in some cases and it did cost me money. I probably had 7 days all told over the summer which were not booked due to this and obviously that cost me a week of peak bookings. So being totally flexible is not the best option, although out of peak season I do offer total flexibility because I think it does help gain bookings and I don't expect to have back to back bookings all year anyway.

But I do wonder if I was to say on our ads that we do, say, Thursday to Thursday bookings in the summer, whether people might go for it on the basis that they'd get cheaper holidays and it would make life easier for our caretaker.

This year I just waited to see what my first summer booking was and then booked other dates around that; and inevitably it was a Sat-Sat booking. But the second booking has said that she is going to fly in on Friday and stay at her sister's nearby for one night and then leave on the Friday as well, because the flights are cheaper.

I still have one 2 week Sat-Sat slot, mid August. Today I had an enquiry asking if I knew anywhere they would be likely to be able to book for one night so they could leave on the Sunday in order to get the cheaper flights. so the demand is there. I think the answer is still to fix the changeover day, but choose a day when flights are cheap. Fridays are not so cheap, and in Spain Sundays are not great because very few shops are open in the afternoon so new arrivals can't get their food shopping done, and Mondays aren't always that cheap. So that leaves maybe Tues-Thurs as potentially viable changeover days.

I'd love to know what our potential guests think - as owners we all have our own agendas but when we go ourselves, we don't fly at the weekend in peak season because it's so expensive. So if we think like that, maybe a lot of people do.

[Big Sis..]

Hi All,

I think everybody has relevant points to make.....all the arguments have their own merit...

I do Sat-Sat in the summer cos it works....
I think most peoples hols start on a Sat...I think people are used to going on a Sat....[also getting back on a Sat...and having a day to get sorted before going back to work....]

Im the same as Alan people can come on Sun..and leave Fri if they like as long as they pay for the full week.

I know flts are generally dearer on a Sat but Ive noticed that Fri and Sun arent much cheaper[to Spain anyway]
Also surely flts are dearer cos the demand is there..the demand is there cos more people want to fly on a Sat.....

Im flexible off peak like Knightowl but May-Oct ..
Its Sat-Sat.....

[e-richard]

I see the phrase "lose money with gap days..." dotted around this thread, but having had two years with flexible changeover days, I believe (but cannot prove) that over the year as a whole, I have sold more days in total by being flexible. In a number of cases I've converted enquiries to bookings more easily - by being flexible.

Remember its total annual revenue that really counts. Not number of bookings.

[Hells Bells]

I agree, I would lost some of these bookings if I hadn't been flexible.Skiers like a long weekend or a midweek cheap flight. As my 'per night' price is proportionately more than my weekly rate, I haven't lost out at all. Also, I have managed to alter the arrival dates of flexible visitors by an odd day here and there to fit in withe other bookings.

[Giddy Goat]

I believe (but cannot prove) that over the year as a whole, I have sold more days in total by being flexible. In a number of cases I've converted enquiries to bookings more easily - by being flexible.

I can believe that too - it's just a pity we are dependent on our caretakers, who have other regular commitments to work around as well of course. However it is even more probable in Spain and Portugal that flexible changeover days increase annual revenue than in France for example, because you have a longer season there and so, more chance to make up for the odd 'lost day/s'.

The worst part about being fixed to a back-to-back turnaround during the summer months, as somone has already said, is the difficulty of accessing the property to effect necessary repairs.

[KathyG]

As our house is in Brittany, most guests arrive by ferry and the cheapest day to travel is a Tuesday so that's the day that I set for the changeover day. This is our first full year so it was a bit worrying as most changeovers are Saturday - as it happened, Tuesday was also the most convenient day for the people we chose as caretakers so that made the decision for us too!

So far it's worked ok and most people have been quite happy to start their holiday on a Tuesday and outside of peak I agreed to start on whichever day was requested, this was mostly a Saturday! Our first bookings to come in were off peak so I then thought that maybe next year I'd try doing it only on a Saturday but as the rest of the peak bookings came in we've had no problem filling up with a Tuesday start so I think yes, the demand is there for non-Saturday changeovers.

Kathy