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Comment by Alan Benson on April 8, 2011 at 5:44

Discover the best offer in luxury 5 star hotels in France and enjoy holiday in luxury hotels France for a truly romantic trip and luxury spas and meeting venues.

Comment by B2B TRAVEL ON on April 2, 2011 at 12:28

Salut tout le monde !!!

Comment by Nancy Simons on April 2, 2011 at 2:55

Hi everyone!

  My name is Nancy Simons. I live in SW France and I am the area's lettings expert for Tots to Travel a holiday lettings site which specialises in providing child friendly accommodation.

 

I just thought some of this group's members may be interested to hear that Wendy Shand the founder of Tots to Travel has written a fantastic book -

'Empty Weeks: How to Get More Bookings and Make Money from Your Hol..., available FREE to all holiday home owners.

Here are some comments Wendy made in a recent telegraph interview:

You might think everyone in the world will love your property, simply because you do. "But," says Shand, "You should see your home as a product and treat it as a business proposition."

Families may not be the niche you wish to focus on although within that, you can specialise further, catering to multiple families who holiday together, ''green'' families or parents with teenagers.

Your property may lend itself more readily to birdwatchers, yoga fanatics or in the case of one of the properties on Tots to Travel – Casa Alberi in Italy's Le Marche region – foodies, with a designer kitchen and pasta making, truffle hunting and cookery demonstrations laid on.

"Ideally your niche would be something you have an interest in, too. You need to work out what magazines these people read, which online forums they visit and where you find them on Twitter," says Shand.

Making your home more ''boutique'' could also drive up the number of bookings. And now may also be a good time to upgrade the decor and contents, while the perk of being able to claim tax relief on your holiday property – which was due to be cut under Labour – still exists.

That can mean fluffy bathrobes and Molton Brown products, says Shand, or, in the case of the owner of Le Cadran Solaire in the Charente region, an indoor pool with spa-style showers, music and hairdryers. The owner's packed bookings calendar for this year, with summer weeks costing £1,445, reflects the demand for upmarket accommodation.

"It is no longer acceptable to offload old floral sofas and mismatched plates on your holiday property," says Shand. She says she still comes across owners "from the Dark Ages" who ask guests to bring their own sheets and towels.

Instead, use your budget on good-quality essentials that will survive wear and tear and provide the luxury people want, such as new bathrooms, white linen and king-size beds. Forget posh crockery that will be broken and luxurious kitchens if the rest of the house doesn't match up, or if there is too much Ikea. "That screams 'done on a budget'," says Shand.

"People aren't as price sensitive as you might think about holiday homes. They will book a property because they have fallen in love with it," she adds. "They want a holiday home to be as good as, or even better than, their own home."

France remains "an absolute winner". Shand is seeing high demand for houses in small, sociable clusters with shared facilities such as a swimming pool and playground.

Living nearby makes it easier to provide the personal touches that set you apart from the competition.

 

Please feel free to claim your free book, but if you have any questions in the mean time feel free to contact me either through Tweet Travellers or on nancy@totstotravel.co.uk

 

Nancy :)

Free%20book%20poster%20pdf.pdf

Comment by Natasha Wright on November 4, 2010 at 4:33

Hi everyone,

Welcome to the France group.

I moved from the UK to the beautiful Brittany countryside in Northern West France just over a year ago.

I love it here - so much so that since moving here I havent been anywhere else as been too busy exploring this amazing country!

What is your fav place in France?