Air Conditioning

Agencies and other headaches, keys and cleaners, running costs and contracts...in short, all the things we spend so much of our time doing behind the scenes.<br>
Paul Carmel
Posts: 3836
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:25 pm
Location: Palma Mallorca & Greece
Contact:

Air Conditioning

Post by Paul Carmel »

Hi all,

We're currently debating whether or not to install air-conditioning. Do you think that nowadays it's become more important and maybe even expected, and that it can make or break the decision to book?

Obviously it's a lot of money, so any other advice on what to do or what not to do would be appreciated!

Cheers
PC
Cheers
PC
User avatar
Ciapolin
Posts: 436
Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2005 9:46 am
Location: Cossano Belbo, Piemonte
Contact:

Post by Ciapolin »

It's interesting here in Italy that although many offices and cars have aircon, people don't tend to use it unless it's really hot for a couple of reasons:

1) electricity is very expensive here!

2) I have come to realise that Italians are obsessed with their health! Although I initially scoffed, having lived here a while I now tend to agree that going in and out of airconditioned spaces brings on chest complaints, chills etc.

3) the other problem with going in and out of aircon spaces, is that you notice and suffer from the heat even more.

The alternative here is to open all windows and bring down the shutters.
Carole-Anne
Cascina Ciapolin
www.piedmont-holidays.com
User avatar
enid
Posts: 5599
Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2004 4:47 pm
Location: Labretonie France
Contact:

Post by enid »

We have rejected the idea of putting in air conditionoing as our gites are built in an old barn with very thick walls and it is really cool in there even in the hottest temperatures. In fact guests go inside to freshen up. We have put fans in the bedrooms and at the moment folks seem happy with that.
User avatar
Alan Knighting
Posts: 4120
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France

Post by Alan Knighting »

Enid,

That is exactly the same for our gites.

We have air conditioning in our own bedroom but we only use it to cool down the bedroom before going to bed. It is not left on overnight as we wake up in the morning feeling awful if it is left on. Overnight it removes something like 10 litres of water - that can't be good for you, can it?

Alan
Clexane
Posts: 330
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2005 3:42 pm
Location: Provence France
Contact:

Post by Clexane »

We thought about it as well. But ... any decent airconditioning for a house will need to be at least 8kw either central or at least 4 x 2kw which is mega bucks in France particularily if they leave it on all day with the windows likely to be open as most renters may.

In Australia our system was 16 kw for a typical 4 bedroom home and it only just made the grade (It was a carrier system). So if you do proceed you may want to consider just the bedrooms as an option which is where most people would feel it counts most.

With this hot weather though the pool has proven a real hit.

Let us know how you go. My short investigation showed that the aircon market in Europe is nowhere near as developed in other countries and options where limited.
So you wanted a holiday home in france ...

www.villaemmanuelle.com
alexia s.
Posts: 870
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 6:38 pm
Location: Provence
Contact:

Post by alexia s. »

Air conditioning isn't good for our health or the planet's future. Don't do it!
Best,
Alexia.
User avatar
vrooje
Posts: 3202
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 2:48 am
Location: Burgundy, France

Post by vrooje »

Like enid, we just use fans in the bedrooms. Since our house is right on the river it's naturally cooler than the rest of the town.

The only way I can think of to justify installing AC would be to raise our prices considerably, and we're not willing to do that.

(psst -- welcome back, Paul!)
Brooke
User avatar
paolo
Posts: 3885
Joined: Thu Jun 17, 2004 1:18 pm
Location: Provence, France
Contact:

Post by paolo »

Paul,

Welcome back! Are you home or in some exotic harbour with an internet cafe?

I wouldn't have air conditioning because it is not the norm in Provence. I would do what is expected in a given location. I'm with Alexia on the part A/C plays in energy consumption, but if I were in Florida I would not stand much chance of getting bookings without it.
Last edited by paolo on Sat Jul 09, 2005 7:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
alexia s.
Posts: 870
Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 6:38 pm
Location: Provence
Contact:

Post by alexia s. »

"the part A/C plays in energy consumption"....... but it's even worse than this: greenhouse gases escape from A/C. When, finally, politicians are now prepared to look climate change in the face & talk about doing something to safeguard our future, it is crazy to contribute to the problem.
Best,
Alexia.
Paul Carmel
Posts: 3836
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 12:25 pm
Location: Palma Mallorca & Greece
Contact:

Post by Paul Carmel »

Hi all,

Thanks for the input! On the Eco-friendly note I understand, and the units we are looking at "claim to be just that". Let's face it, if you offer a holiday rental you're inviting people to use their car or a plane or whatever other form of gas guzzling transport they use to reach you by - please don't tell me you only accept cyclists............

Re the extra cost of electricity we would have to put up the rental rates in line, but given we haven't increased our prices for three years, we don't feel too bad about doing this.

On the health front we would be looking at indvidual units in each bedroom and one in the living room, I am not sure if this would help? For those who are interested in detail, we're looking at 2kw in each bedroom, 3.5kw in the living room, the units are monosplit and made by Ariston (any comments on this welcome).

The units themselves are reversible ie heating (not being selfish but it can get a tad cold here in Jan / Feb ). This said it would give us the opportunity to lengthen our season.

Really though what we are weighing up is whether it will result in more bookings. A friend of ours who works for one of the tour operators here says that for the first time this year (perhaps due to previous heatwaves?) UK customers are specifically asking for it and are making the decision whether or not to book based on airconditioning as one of their main criteria. We aren't in the minority by not having it here, but it does seem that more and more people are adding it.

Brooke thank you but not back, just visiting, and yes Paolo, internet cafe in Elba. Hope all of you are having good seasons!
Cheers
PC
Post Reply