I have an information book in my apartments with maps and leaflets, recommendations on restaurants etc.... as well as an A-Z list of facilities in the apartment. What does everyone else do?
Linda
Information Book
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Linda Freese
- Posts: 175
- Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2004 9:00 am
- Location: Costa del Sol
We have two things: an information book about the apartment which I made up in MS Publisher and had Kinko's laminate and bind into a nice-looking book; and we also have various maps and brochures and books available.
Another thing we did was take a free map of the area from the tourism office, frame it, and hang it on the wall in our kitchen. It is very popular! People love to check it before they leave for the day -- and of course we have folded-up unframed maps available for people to bring with them.
Another thing we did was take a free map of the area from the tourism office, frame it, and hang it on the wall in our kitchen. It is very popular! People love to check it before they leave for the day -- and of course we have folded-up unframed maps available for people to bring with them.
Brooke
We too have a general information booklet with info regarding the property - pool rules, barbeque hints, info about local shops, banks, buses etc. We have maps, guide books and other literature kindly left behind by previous guests.
Guests also leave good tips in the guestbook, along with general comments. I also leave a questionaire for guests to fill in on departure. It is good to know our good points and also the few "should have items" which we may not have thought of otherwise.
Guests also leave good tips in the guestbook, along with general comments. I also leave a questionaire for guests to fill in on departure. It is good to know our good points and also the few "should have items" which we may not have thought of otherwise.
Malta – always in the sunshine!
We've a file with information about what services are available locally (doctor, restaurants, etc.), a copy of our regional guide from the website (www.mascamps.com/region/en.htm) and a set of brochures from the local area (anything within about an hours drive counts as "local" to us).
Arnold
Arnold
I have a booklet recommending what to see and do in the area, and further afield, including restaurants, bars, shops, vineyards, etc.
There is a library of the best guidebooks for the area, and among the videos/DVDs are ones that are shot or based in the region/country. Also novels and non-fiction that relate to the location in some way.
My guestbook is a 'Suggestions Book' - I encourage guests to write about the things they particularly enjoyed doing, and now among the usual stuff it contains restaurant reviews, recipes, and things to avoid.
There is a library of the best guidebooks for the area, and among the videos/DVDs are ones that are shot or based in the region/country. Also novels and non-fiction that relate to the location in some way.
My guestbook is a 'Suggestions Book' - I encourage guests to write about the things they particularly enjoyed doing, and now among the usual stuff it contains restaurant reviews, recipes, and things to avoid.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Lay My Hat
We have an information book and a guest comment suggestion book.
The information book contains info on the villa, how to use the utilities ie diswasher, cooker washing machine etc. The area, places of interest, culture, food, route maps, photos, basic Turkish and sun care (see below). It is over 100 pages in all but was well worth the hard work. I did work a year as a holiday rep so knew all the questions the guests would ask and most importantly what would bother them the most. So I pre-empted everything by supplying everything they would need to know plus the kitchen sink. Working as a rep really prepared me as the complaints we used to receive were hard to believe.
We also have a guest comment and suggestion book which is much appreciated by future guests.
Re sun care you won't beleive this but it is a true story. As a rep a woman came to see me in the hotel. She was sunburned and wanted to know why and was actually blaming the holiday company (as she had listened to our welcome speach warning about sun protection). I said did you use sun cream and she said yes. I said are you sure you spent no time in the sun without protection. She said yes apart from the 1st half an hour sunbathing when I put baby oil on as my friend told me I would get a better tan. I actually had to explain to her why that caused her sun burn. She had never been abroad before but it still beggers belief.
Some of the stories I could tell you....at least it prepared me for renting our villa.
The information book contains info on the villa, how to use the utilities ie diswasher, cooker washing machine etc. The area, places of interest, culture, food, route maps, photos, basic Turkish and sun care (see below). It is over 100 pages in all but was well worth the hard work. I did work a year as a holiday rep so knew all the questions the guests would ask and most importantly what would bother them the most. So I pre-empted everything by supplying everything they would need to know plus the kitchen sink. Working as a rep really prepared me as the complaints we used to receive were hard to believe.
We also have a guest comment and suggestion book which is much appreciated by future guests.
Re sun care you won't beleive this but it is a true story. As a rep a woman came to see me in the hotel. She was sunburned and wanted to know why and was actually blaming the holiday company (as she had listened to our welcome speach warning about sun protection). I said did you use sun cream and she said yes. I said are you sure you spent no time in the sun without protection. She said yes apart from the 1st half an hour sunbathing when I put baby oil on as my friend told me I would get a better tan. I actually had to explain to her why that caused her sun burn. She had never been abroad before but it still beggers belief.
Some of the stories I could tell you....at least it prepared me for renting our villa.
Always Learning
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mindadowling
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2004 4:19 pm
- Location: Tuscany, Italy
- Contact:
We have created a book that discusses how the various items in the house work (dishwasher, oven, hob, washing machine, etc.), places to shop, list of market venues and days, local sights, local restaurants, cultural sights, favourite restaurants in Tuscany, a list of what's on in Tuscany, and the opening hours of all the major museums and galleries. This book also includes all emergency service numbers (police, fire department, ambulance, etc.)
We have stocked the library with Italian cookbooks especially on Tuscan cooking and wine, Tuscan interior design books and travel and guide books about the region. We also have a large selection of both fiction and non fiction books all related to life and history of Tuscany. I love collecting art books so the house has a wonderful collection of big coffee table books on the great Tuscan artists.
Our DVD library includes movies filmed in Tuscany as well as a large selection of vintage Fellini films. We have also included such classics as Cinema Paradiso, il Postino, and The Godfather part I, II & III.
We also have a large selection of Italian opera and the most heavenly gregorian chants from Sant Antimo in Montalcino.
We really want our guests to experience the wonders of Tuscany so we provide lots of information for them.
We have a lovely leather bound guestbook for guests to write their comments and suggestions in.
So far nothing has gone walkies and our second guest bought us a lovely book from an exhibition in Siena to add to our collection as a thank you. That gesture really made me feel that providing those little extras for your guests really pays off.
We have stocked the library with Italian cookbooks especially on Tuscan cooking and wine, Tuscan interior design books and travel and guide books about the region. We also have a large selection of both fiction and non fiction books all related to life and history of Tuscany. I love collecting art books so the house has a wonderful collection of big coffee table books on the great Tuscan artists.
Our DVD library includes movies filmed in Tuscany as well as a large selection of vintage Fellini films. We have also included such classics as Cinema Paradiso, il Postino, and The Godfather part I, II & III.
We also have a large selection of Italian opera and the most heavenly gregorian chants from Sant Antimo in Montalcino.
We really want our guests to experience the wonders of Tuscany so we provide lots of information for them.
We have a lovely leather bound guestbook for guests to write their comments and suggestions in.
So far nothing has gone walkies and our second guest bought us a lovely book from an exhibition in Siena to add to our collection as a thank you. That gesture really made me feel that providing those little extras for your guests really pays off.
Haven't been here for a while, really enjoying the new threads, and tempted now to click back to the towel thread and say we have ours printed with a local map of the area with an arrow pointed to our house....just kidding 
All I really want to add here is that I made a second folder over the winter with Jan thru Dec dividers, into which I have inserted date specific local events, locations and phone numbers for further inquiries, mostly pulled off the web and printed up - festivals, exhibitions, sports events, music and so on. As well as a list of "pick your own" farms, I now have their lists of what fruit and veg is available each month, with maps to get there and opening times.
This second folder also includes discount cards for restaurants and vineyard tasting tours inserted into the current month, to be replaced for the next visitor if used.
I'm hoping this will also attract repeat visits during a season that otherwise our guests may not have considered, as they randomly check a month to see what's going on. We'll see if this theory works!
In my regular folder, I have greatly expanded mapquest maps showing the route from our house to stores and restaurants, also now including sample menus, tide tables, fishing charts, more about kayak tours, history of parks, lighthouses, bicycle & boat rentals and tours, ferry schedules, horseriding, fish to catch, birds to spot. These in addition to our library on Long Island, our history and other guidebooks, fold out maps of antique shops, vineyards, walking trails, bicycle routes, factory outlet for designer clothes and linens and so on. It's getting to the point where I think it may all be getting too much for someone to wade through to find what they really need. Is there such a thing as too much information?
Thanks for the suggestion to frame a map of the area and hang on the wall, I will definitely follow through on that idea. We have a huge nautical chart framed on our own kitchen wall and love it, so I can't imagine why I didn't think of doing this for the beach house!
Regards,
Joanna
All I really want to add here is that I made a second folder over the winter with Jan thru Dec dividers, into which I have inserted date specific local events, locations and phone numbers for further inquiries, mostly pulled off the web and printed up - festivals, exhibitions, sports events, music and so on. As well as a list of "pick your own" farms, I now have their lists of what fruit and veg is available each month, with maps to get there and opening times.
This second folder also includes discount cards for restaurants and vineyard tasting tours inserted into the current month, to be replaced for the next visitor if used.
I'm hoping this will also attract repeat visits during a season that otherwise our guests may not have considered, as they randomly check a month to see what's going on. We'll see if this theory works!
In my regular folder, I have greatly expanded mapquest maps showing the route from our house to stores and restaurants, also now including sample menus, tide tables, fishing charts, more about kayak tours, history of parks, lighthouses, bicycle & boat rentals and tours, ferry schedules, horseriding, fish to catch, birds to spot. These in addition to our library on Long Island, our history and other guidebooks, fold out maps of antique shops, vineyards, walking trails, bicycle routes, factory outlet for designer clothes and linens and so on. It's getting to the point where I think it may all be getting too much for someone to wade through to find what they really need. Is there such a thing as too much information?
Thanks for the suggestion to frame a map of the area and hang on the wall, I will definitely follow through on that idea. We have a huge nautical chart framed on our own kitchen wall and love it, so I can't imagine why I didn't think of doing this for the beach house!
Regards,
Joanna
Our area guide is getting quite long too and I was wondering if it's getting to be "too much" as well. At the moment, the order is "everything within 15 minutes of us", "everything within an hour of us", "everything within 2 hours of us" and "everything within three hours of us" which seems, to me, to cover the distances people would travel from a "quick spin" to "day trip".
That's worked well and we've had good comments back from it but we've now added so much to it that I was thinking of adding something like a themed index to it with headings like "castles", "activities" (ie golf, walking, etc.), etc.
I like the idea of the month by month events calendar and we've been collecting that information but haven't yet put it into order in a folder.
Arnold
That's worked well and we've had good comments back from it but we've now added so much to it that I was thinking of adding something like a themed index to it with headings like "castles", "activities" (ie golf, walking, etc.), etc.
I like the idea of the month by month events calendar and we've been collecting that information but haven't yet put it into order in a folder.
Arnold
The map is a fantastic idea. One big problem though ... nobody in Banon has one (its in provence). There is a tourist information office (quite small) but they dont even have one 
Cant believe it. I even thought of ringing the military but thought that was getting desperate. That's Village life for you!
Cant believe it. I even thought of ringing the military but thought that was getting desperate. That's Village life for you!
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Clexane,
Have a look at:-
http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/ ... mePage.htm
It might give you the beginnings of an idea for your local routes and maps.
Alan
Have a look at:-
http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichelin/ ... mePage.htm
It might give you the beginnings of an idea for your local routes and maps.
Alan
Joanna said, "Is there such a thing as too much information".
And I was beginning to think the same. I don't like to throw out anything from our 'info folder' which guests have left - it might not be my taste, but obviously they thought it was worth letting others know about. I try to keep the info 'themed' - nature walks/parks, theme parks and water parks, 'cultural', etc. I also include info on how domestic appliances work - but I keep this at the back of the folder as I think this is far less interesting than days out. However, I might change this as I've had a number of calls from guests asking "how does the satellite work?" - the last page of the 'info folder' explains how to re-set the satellite if you can't get a signal! My guests have obviously been saturated with possibilities for 'days-out', restaurants, etc, and couldn't make it to the practical things!
Sue
And I was beginning to think the same. I don't like to throw out anything from our 'info folder' which guests have left - it might not be my taste, but obviously they thought it was worth letting others know about. I try to keep the info 'themed' - nature walks/parks, theme parks and water parks, 'cultural', etc. I also include info on how domestic appliances work - but I keep this at the back of the folder as I think this is far less interesting than days out. However, I might change this as I've had a number of calls from guests asking "how does the satellite work?" - the last page of the 'info folder' explains how to re-set the satellite if you can't get a signal! My guests have obviously been saturated with possibilities for 'days-out', restaurants, etc, and couldn't make it to the practical things!
Sue