gite complex

[shazza]

Hi everybody,
we have 2 gites 1 for 2 and 1 for 4 total occupancy 6 people on site in the height of the season.we are just renovating the third gite for 6 people.i am worried that guests will prefer the exclusive side of booking and wonder if anybody can give me some idea if having the 3 gites will affect curent bookings.
we need the 3 due to the fact we are a registered buisness and have to pay hefty cotesastions to live here in france.
i would be interested in Alan Knightings comments as he is also in france and i know he has 2 gites.
i know not everybody wants to be exclusive,as they like meeting other people,but i need to think about the marketing for the 3 gites for the future,perhaps offering a deal in the high season saying take the lot to be exclusive and give a deal????
all comments welcome
www.gitesdumarigne.com

[Alan Knighting]

Shazza,

I used to be in the position of offering lettings for 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 guests but it is no longer so. The flexibility it gave to my guests - from the honeymoon couple to the wedding party - was fantastic but it is no more.

My larger gite is now let on a long term basis so I can only offer accommodation for 2 or 4 people.

If I have any advice to give it would be to keep the occupancy of your properties as flexible as possible.

Alan

[shazza]

Thank-you Alan I value your comments.i just don't want to put people off as we are now coming into our third year and seem to have got it just about right,even thought bookings are slow at the moment.i just know more and more people seem to want more for thier money,but i can't offer total privacy,and i suppose those people will go elsewhere..
i presume from the way to talk your circumstances have changed re the long let.
we have also decided with this bigger gite it will be equipped for long rental.with full heating and all the extras for a winter let.
thanks again Alan i am very grateful of your comments and had a look at your website very nice.
hope you have a good year.

[Margaret]

I am not totally sure what you are asking and whether I am giving relevant information, but here goes!
We bought a house with 3 floors, started with 1 apartment and had converted/modernised all 3 floors by the end of the 1st year.
We then bought a house next door and made 2 more apartments, and are now considering converting the loft in that house too, giving us 2 houses with 3 apartments in each.
We have facilities in both houses which are accessible to all guests (their front door key fits both houses).
Perhaps because they are apartments rather than gites, it is obvious there is no exclusivity.
Most of our rentals are separate but we do have bookings for 2 apartments from family groups, especially for Christmas and skiing.
We have 1 apartment sleeping 4 and 4 apartments sleeping 6. If we do the 6th apartment it will sleep only 2, as that is a gap in our range at the moment. And all our prices are for 2 people, with an extra 5 Euros per person per night above 2 people.
We find having a number of apartments give people a range of choice which is very popular and our pricing emphasizes that. And we advertise the apartments as sleeping 2-4 or 2-6.
The big surprise to us is that virtually all the guests come when we organise a schnaps tasting evening or barbecue and tell us they really welcome the social side.
Obviously a lot of people want a place to themselves on holiday but a significant proportion do not.

[la vache!]

Hi Shazza,
If you already have 2 gites, then the property is not exclusive as it stands. So if you are filling them, then having a third gite would probably get filled too. I have 3 gites and except for 1 week, they are fully booked from Easter to mid September at the moment. Some people actually prefer sharing as a) it is a little cheaper and b)there are other children for theirs to play with.

[LPaul]

We have 3 Gites, sleeping 5, 6 and 8 and for the last two years, over the summer months we have only booked them out to large groups. Having the third Gite has only helped with exclusive use bookings.
We tend to find many advantages with this.

• Most large bookings tend to book way in advance
  If you advertise on listing sites the number of properties offering 6/7 bedrooms in your area will be much less so you tend to not to be lost in the masses of 2 and 3 bedroom properties.
  Last summer, for example, for the six weeks of the summer holidays we had 3 two week bookings for between 16 and 20 people. This meant that we had three bookings to administer instead of a potential 18 individual bookings.
  We are finding that many large groups who in the past have holidayed in large properties with many bedrooms now prefer the flexibility of renting several smaller properties on the same site. Own kitchens, private bathrooms etc.
  Having said that for the rest of the year when we book them separately, guests enjoy meeting new people and having other kids for theirs to play with.

Paul
www.labarde.com

[Jimbo]

If you already have 2 gites, then the property is not exclusive

We bought a property with two existing gites and a big barn with permission for conversion into a third. We were concerned that adding the extra gite might affect bookings for the two existing ones, but, thankfully, the reverse happened. As LV says, if you're already getting good bookings for your gites, this shouldn't change. And, as Alan says, be flexible.

I remember asking a guest before we converted the barn, if she thought that having an extra 8-10 people around would be a disadvantage for existing guests. No, she said, if everybody was considerate and got on well, twenty guests would be no problem. If they didn't, two would be too many.

Jim