purelyfrance

Laundry is not a very sexy subject, but for all B n B/Gite owners it is an unescapable fact of daily or weekly life.

And while it is not my favourite function, we sure have it easy compared to my parents generation. As a small boy I recall my Mother lighting a fire under the huge copper-well it seemed huge to me-to heat the water and then taking a long pole to stir the sheets around in the boiling water.

Then all 10 sheets-there were 4 kids, so 4 different beds - had to be fed through a hand wringer. What a chore!!

When we had our small B n B in St Remy-de-Provence, Anne use to wash and iron all the bedroom and bathroom linen. I tried to help her-honest-but she is very fussy about that sort of thing-compulsive, obsessive you might say!

However once we graduted to our larger property located here in Burgundy we wised up.  www.maisonchaudenay.com

We still wash/dry all the bathroom linen ourselves, but all the bed linen is sent out to a blanchisserie. Other property owners will be interested in these prices-we couldn’t do it cheaper ourselves.

Double/queen sheets tops and bottoms cost us 0.909 centimes each. Single sheets run at 0.843 centimes. Pillow slips are 0.421 centimes each.(all HT)  The laundry is collected and returned to our front door so all in all we consider it a pretty good service.

In terms of purchasing, most bathroom linen we buy at the French retail chain, Eurodif. Their quality is very good and prices very reasonable. They usually have good quantities of stock too, so replacements for sets of linen can be bought.

For bed linen, while we have bought some in France we tend to buy in Switzerland where again the quality and price are in good balance. Normally from Globus, a Swiss department store chain.

E.B. White had life sorted: “We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.” 

Cheers, Bruce.

What great summer weather we are having.

According to my summer litmus test - the number of days I wear shorts - it is the best since ‘la canicule’ of 2003.

It has been so warm, sunny and dry the vineyard owners here in Burgundy expect an earlier than usual harvest - and a good quality one too.

The heat has also caused our chestnut tree leaves to dry up and fall weeks earlier than in previous years - see this image taken today - very sad!

 I guess ‘dry’ is probably also an apt word to describe the businesss side of the 09 Season.

From talking with other accommodation providers, tourist operators and wine sellers many people are experiencing a ‘less than robust’ season - for obvious reasons.

The common observation is the heavily reduced numbers of British and Amercian holiday travellers.

If you have sales growth, or are even ‘down’ between 0 and 20% on last season you are doing pretty well; between minus 20% to 30% you are generally in good company; if you are more than 30% down I suggest you may want to review your marketing!

If your business consists more of French and Europeans, you will probably have fared better compared to those of us who rely heavily on the English speaking market.

We fall into the middle group. Last year we averaged 26 letting weeks for each of our three apartments, this year we will finish just under 20 weeks.

There have been two elements that have helped us to avoid a ‘disatrous’ year.

Firstly the number of ‘late’ bookings that we have received, significantly more than last year. Holiday decisions have been made closer to time of travel once people have felt more secure about their jobs/income.

Secondly has been the number of Australian guests we have welcomed onto our property. In a ‘normal’ year we would expect Aussies to make up around 20-25% of our guests. This year they will be close to 50%.

It is almost like Australians have been immune to the global economic crisis. They do refer to it as the ‘Lucky’ country!

So while 09 will be memorable for the wrong reasons, the positive thing about the tourism/hospitality business is that it is cyclical.

Roll on a better year in 2010!!

Keeping our Guests happy…….

Happy guests, or at least satisfied guests are of course paramount for any successful hospitality business.  I thought it might be of interest to share some of the things we do which seem to receive a near universal ‘thumbs up’ from our self-catering guests.  Bear in mind the mix of our guests over any season are approximately 50% British, 20% Australia/New Zealand, 15% USA/Canada, 10% Other European, and 5% Rest of world.

1. The Bread run.  We do not have a boulangerie within walking distance, so we do a ‘bread run’ for our guests each morning. We place a bread sac in each apartment along with a small order form for a range of pastries and bread. The guests make out an order, leave the sac on our front door knob during the evening and we leave it on their door knob complete with their order around 0800 each morning.  It makes for a very relaxed start to the day for the guests.

 2. Internet/Wireless.  We are fortunate to be able to access ADSL (broadband) lines in our small village so we provide a computer in our guest common room which stays online all the time.  We also have a wifi (wireless) hotspot in our private office which guests can access sitting in our courtyard.  There are very few guests who do not use this facility. Those who have been travelling around make a bee line for it almost immediately.

3. We speak english.  Not so much for the experienced British perhaps, but for most others you hear a sigh of relief when you first greet them.

4. Supplies.  We provide a standard ’starter’ pack of tea, coffee, sugar, milk and orange juice. But we also try to anticipate the ‘little’ items which travellers wouldn’t normally carry with them and can be an irritant for them to buy. So the kitchen is stocked with rubbish sacs, sponges, brillo pads, detergent, Tea towels, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Washing powder for the washing machines, and pegs!  In the bathroom there is proper soap, (big cakes for the shower, small cakes for the hand basin) earbuds, tissues and make-up removal pads.

5. Washing machines.  There is one in each apartment and they are used extensively - particularly with this years weather!!  Again, those who have travelled from afar and/or have been travelling around are delighted. We always make the point the machines are not gender specific!

6. Welcome Notes. While these contain much practical information about the accommodation, various housekeeping matters, directions and the like, the most valued informaton are personal recommendations.  These cover restaurants, gems for wine tastings, shopping, things to see and do, attractons for children, and suggested routes for cycling/walking/jogging. They are all contained in a black folder and most guests take it out in the car with them. One lot all the way back to the UK!

7. Bicycles.  Burgundy is ready made for cycling, particularly around our area as it is relatively flat terrain. But I think ‘cycling in France’ is seen as another must-do for many visitors.  Our bicycles, which we offer without charge, are constantly in use and very often by guests who admit it is over 20 or 30 years since they have been on a bicycle. The lure of vineyards, villages and routes along the canal are just too strong to resist.

8. Wine in la Cave. For our B n B guests, we would offer them the opportunity to lay a bottle of wine in our Cave. It would be left for either a future visit or for family or friends. At the very least it made for good social talk back home! We would write up a little wine board, then take a digital photo for the record and for sending on to whoever the guests pleased.

9. Being flexible.  An over used maxim of marketing is to ‘meet the needs’ of your customer.  It is nonetheless a good business principle to live by.  And very often it is just little things.  Want to wash your car? No problem, there’s the hose, and I will fetch you a bucket and rag.  Careful about drinking and driving?  We’ll drop you off at the restuarant and you can get a taxi home.  Would you like a night out without the children? We will be happy to baby sit for you.  Need to see a Doctor? We will call our own GP, he can usually see you today or tomorrow.  Being alert to your guests requirements will greatly enhance their stay which in turn will often result in future referrals.

There are no doubt many other services that are equally well received by guests, but those are some of the ‘majors’ that have worked for us.

A Bientot, Bruce.

 Marketing - not the be all, but some is far better than none

Websites. Where would we be without the wide world web?  Probably not offering holiday accommodation. And certainly not operating at 100% fully booked!

Isn’t it just the most incredible facility. I can still remember when our first B n B website went live in December 2000.  You don’t really expect anything to happen too quickly, but the very next day, there were booking requests arriving in your inbox. Encroyable. As the days went by requests trickled in from all over the world. From the USA, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Croatia, Korea, Mexico, on and on it has gone ever since.

So one of the first steps for promoting your holiday accommodation is to create a website. Our advice is to have your site developed professionally.  Yes it costs money, but it is a one-off cost and once it is established it can be updated easily. A quality designed website conveys much about you to prospective guests.  It projects high standards, efficiency and a sense that you are heavily committed to your accommodation product and not just ‘playing’ at it.

The best single most important advice I can give is to ensure your site ‘is uncluttered, simple and user friendly’.  Do the clients notice the difference?  You bet. There are a lot of choices out there for them.  We regularly receive admiring comments from our guests about our site http://www.maisonchaudenay.com/ and how it influences their decision making.

Does your website need to be in more than one language?  We don’t believe so. One of the reasons guests book with us is that they know we speak english and can help them with any language difficulties. (normally there are many!)  If your accommodation and/or location specifically appeals to say the German market you may consider a german language version. But our experience is that all our guests speak fluent english, whether they be Swiss, Dutch, German, Italian, Belgian or Scandinavian.

Internet accommodation directories.  These are a neccessary evil and we suggest you list your property with one or two of them.  I do have a bit of a beef with many of them, mainly because in my view their charges are exorbitant.

They charge you an annual fee even though they hardly undertake any work for you once your property is listed.  They keep on ‘boasting’ about how many more properties have been listed with them which effectively provides more competition for you. The cost of I.T. in general has diminished over the years. They keep on adding ‘features’, some admittedly are helpful for prospective guests but many of them are designed to allow you to ‘manage’ your listing thereby removing work for themselves. I would not object to many of these initiatives if they reduced their prices. I believe there is strong justification for them to do so.

Now that I have that off my chest that feels better!!  Here are some specific observations from our experience!!

www.ownersdirect.co.uk  Very strong booking enquiries, very good value for money, our favourite for ‘user friendly’, the best availability chart

www.frenchconnections.co.uk  Originally had a friendly, informal style, but revamped site very ‘corporate’ and quite busy. It does pull a reasonable level of bookings. Availability matrix not easy to read. High end of cost.

www.stopoverconnections.com  One of the few who work on a commission basis, so only a cost if you receive a firm booking. Reasonable level of enquiries, seems to get good search engine positions.

www.holiday-rentals.com Used them in 2000/1 for our Provence B n B, were not overly strong in France at that time, very few enquiries, let our listing lapse.

www.sawdays.co.uk  Alistair Sawday has strong brand recognition in the UK, also publish excellent book directories. Is recognised as one of the market leaders. Usually require two year contract but cost is worthwhile. Exercise control over the quality of properties.

www.karenbrown.com  One of the ‘bibles’ for the USA market, has been around a long time and pulls very strongly. Keep good influence over property standards. Very good value for money.

www.pour-les-vacances.com An ‘oddball’ one, but excellent value for money. It is French based but has an english version. Ranks very highly in engine searches and often shows as the strongest number of ‘visits’ in our tracking statistics.

www.ibbp.com  USA based, also used them in 2000/1, very reasonably priced but not overly strong in Europe accommodation.

www.cheznous.co.uk  Haven’t used them but have nearby friends with a Gite who receive a very good level of bookings from them.

Magazine editorial  If you can get editorial coverage of your property in a magazine (nearly any magazine will do) it is hugely advantageous. If you can swing a feature article with pictures it is like gold.  Editorial text carries so much more weight than advertising and of course magazines have a long life.  We still get enquiries from a House and Garden article that appeared over three years ago. 

Editorial text is not easy to achieve, you have to work at it. The best way is if you know of a journalist, or know a ‘friend of  a friend’. (our H & G article)  Another method is to despatch a proposal off to various selected magazines. The proposals need to be presented professionally and the first question an Editor asks is ‘will this story be of interest to my readers’.  So select your magazine titles carefully.  We succeeded with this method with a New Zealand glossy magazine, it dragged in enquiries galore.

European expat market  If you haven’t tapped into this market segment then you should.  Pockets of ‘expats’ exist all over Europe. Some we have actively solicited, others we have merely stumbled over.  We had an American doctor based in Germany stay with us, he referred three other families to us.  We have canvassed the New Zealand and Australian Embassies around Europe resulting in visits from Ambassadors and Consular staff from Paris, Geneva, London and Brussels. Often they have family visiting from ‘home’ who they want to occupy for a week or so!

We have had expats from Basel, two big pharmaceutical centres there; from W.H.O. in Geneva where there are over 2000 expats; the International school in Paris and also in Frankfurt, both you can find on a Google search; and our website has picked up expats in places like Prague (plus referrals) and Dubai.

The expat market is a really productive, strongly word-of- mouth source of business.

Some people feel it is beneficial to place advertisements in the english language ‘French’ magazines. It probably works for them but it is something we have never felt a need to do.  There are many other promotional avenues of course but many of them are peripheral and need careful evaluation before you spend your hard earnt euro.

Till next time. A Bientot, Bruce.

Setting rates - part 2.

A management concept that has been around for elephant years (I know the expression is usually donkey years but I don’t have a photo of a baby donkey) is K.I.S.S. an acronym for keep it simple, stupid.  A simple display of your prices on your website is a powerful selling tool. 

We are constantly amazed to see a multitude of pricing rates for some properties. They may show 6 different seasons, prices for each room can be different and then extra charges for all sorts of unimportant things can also be listed.  Simplicity means easy to display, easy to read and easy to understand. The reality is a ‘surfer’ will click on somewhere else if it is difficult to follow your pricing structure.

This matrix below was copied from an actual website, it could benefit from some ‘user friendly’ simplification.  My apologies in advance to the owner, but it is a bit of a minefield.

The second part of keeping your pricing simple and user friendly relates to your terms and conditions.  Again it is very easy to try and display every conceivable detail when all you end up with is a lot of uninteresting and often negative (to the customer) comment. Again, if those are brief and written with clarity the more chance you will have of ‘reeling in’ that customer.

 Beneath our pricing matrix we list 6, short, simple statements covering our conditions. 

• Prices are based on Two persons
• For a Third or Fourth person add 110 € each per week
• An additional charge applies if heating is required
• Prices are quoted in Euros
• Prices are valid through 2007
• We are closed December and January

We do not state on our website details concerning deposits, full payment, refunds, arrival times etc, those are detailed to guests when they make a booking.  We so rarely receive a query on these matters, occasionally perhaps from an American:)

We project our ‘guest friendly’ attitude in other ways too.  We would never dream of demanding a ‘bond’, that is something more akin to long term/permanent rentals. We also think it is not customer oriented to ask for total payment prior to the guests arrival. We note some property owners request full payment two months before, that is a bit rich in our book.  We find a deposit (we transact 20%) is sufficient to ensure bookings remain committed.

On the subject of payment, at first we avoided credit cards like the proverbial plague, thinking their commisson rates would be in the 3-5% range.  But then, having been stung strongly by bank charges we decided to investigate. We were both surprised and delighted to learn how low the charges are for accommodation, our bank in Provence applied 0.8% and here in Burgundy it is 1%.  We use Banque Rhone-Alpes in Beaune. And having the V.A.D. facility (vente a distance) means you can transact the deposit without having the credit card in front of you.  We know some owners prefer to deal in cash, but credit cards make it easy for you, easy for your guest.

We also think it is a ‘turn off’ to list ‘extra’ costs, such as a cleaning fee, or breakage costs. Cleaning is of course a legitimate cost but if incorporated into your prices it removes the ’stigma’ of guests feeling like they are being hit up for extras. In our view an additional 20 € on your rates is unlikely to have any adverse effect on your bookings.

So, apply the K.I.S.S. principle and you may soon find you are kissing more guests as you welcome them to your property. On both cheeks here in Burgundy, 3 times in Provence, I understand it can be 4 times in Paris; any other regional variations??!!

A Bientot,

Bruce.

Rubber Slippers in Italy

The most pleasurable thing about holiday accommodation are the ‘guests’.  Many come and go and your memory of them fades over time.(particularly with a memory like mine)   Others arrive as strangers and leave as friends.  After an idle hour or so over a glass (or two) of wine you find you share common values and views of the world.  In those two hours you are unable to ‘fix’ all the problems in the world but it is fun discussing them. A few guests even return the following year. And then there is a small number who you seem to be so in ’sync’ with, that you find yourselves maintaining an ongoing contact from afar.

One such couple who fall in to this latter category for us are Dario and Rowena Castelli. They live in Dario’s home country of Italy, (you wouldn’t guess would you) just north east of Milan near the southern tip of Lake Como. (I could kill them for that) You know the standard image of Italian men right; dark, tall, suave, macho, ice cool looks, boss of the family, etc etc.  Well Dario by comparison is a teddy bear; laid back, gentle, smile on his face, easy paced, considerate and an all round good guy.

As for Rowena, well,  she talks like an Italian, and throws her hands around like an Italian but she hardly looks Italian at all. The fact that she is Hawaiian may have something to do with all that. What is she doing in Italy married to Dario?  That’s Rowena’s story to tell. But Rowena could be the poster girl for Hawaiian tourism. As well as being cute looking, she has that smiley, enthusiastic, eternally optimistic attitude that seems to be imbedded within many ‘island’ people. As Dario will attest, Rowena is fun to be around.

Rowena has been clever enough to create her own stimulating blog.  http://www.rubbahslippahsinitaly.blogspot.com/  If you are keen on Italian food/cooking you share a passion with Rowena and on her Blog you will find all sorts of enticing recipes and dishes.  They are accompanied with great photo illustrations too. And in between recipes there are many interesting stories of life in Italy, sprinkled of course with much Hawaiian humour. If you need to give your day a lift or to lighten it for 5 minutes, you may find a visit to Rowena’s Blog will do just that.

A Bientot,

Bruce.