My house is in the SW and never a problem so far.
There are gazillions of them even in tiny places.
1 Like
Indeed. We stopped in a tiny village which had literally nothing except a public loo and a charging point.
1 Like
EV owners tend to be pretty savvy. They are well able research their routes and see that charging is no problem.
Good lord you were blessed! One of my bug bears of France is lack of these!
It’s a pity you don’t do apps. Toilet Finder is invaluable. Maybe that’s the one that will tip you over the edge 
1 Like
Used it in NZ, so handy!
2 Likes
But surely it’s more about perception rather than actuality, plus it has suddenly become more complicated and also possibly much more expensive to visit CE (especially if dog owners) . Our house is in on a major tourist route in the Midi and we see far fewer UK plates than a few years ago.
I’ve always found a lot. They are often near the Mairie and are usually well signposted. The small town I live near has several around the town centre.
2 Likes
I probably should clarify I do have apps but only if I can get them direct from the website or APKpure and I’m very selective about them and their permissions. The toilet one sounds fab!!!
We generally live in a small SW town, albeit the second largest in the department at 5700 soul’s, but we have seven public charging points with three more planned for the next month.
Even we are getting two chargers this year and we have about 320 people. The nearest village 2km away has about 900 people and they’ve had several chargers for about four years. There is an initiative though locally to get lots of chargers installed.
Same here - lots of small (300-400 person) communes, but there usually at least one EV charging point at the Mairie.
All the supermarkets down here (Lidl, Aldi, Intermarché, Netto and LeClerc) have multiple EV charging points.
Hi,
I hope this is allowed here - please remove if not. I run gites.co.uk and was chatting to one of our owners about French Connections yesterday.
We run a simple model - list your property then all communication and payment etc is direct with the guest.
We’d be happy to offer anyone moving from French Connections to us 15 months for the price of 12. You can read more at gites.co.uk
In any case best wishes for the coming season.
Thanks,
Duncan.
For me, over the years, what has been key is repeat business. I usually start the new year with half my bookings already in place from returners who rebook almost as soon as they get home.
I spoil my guests rotten - very generous welcome packs, tight pricing, emphasis on comfort, cleanliness and quality furniture and a huge information pack with suggestions on where to go, restaurants, etc And I’m not interested in star ratings from the gite marketing businesses because that just brings me difficult guests who make a fuss - all of my 5 stars come from people who’ve stayed.
I don’t have any problems with Brits, but then I only take maximum four guests at a time, so usually it’s either just couples or 2 adults and one or two teenagers (who can be noisy round the pool but not otherwise). The huge benefit of repeat business is that I know them and they know me and what they are coming to.
I’m on Vrbo, aiming at the UK market (so all in English). I’m not a fan of their business model but they were invaluable through Covid because they listed me on European sites (no effort or cost on my part) with an AI translation engine - not perfect but good enough. That brought me Dutch, German, Belgian and French guests when the Brits weren’t travelling. They tend to book later so normally I don’t see them as the Brits book as soon as ferries / flights are open. The Europeans are ok but I find them less warm - my British guests LOVE staying here and let me know. For continentals, we’re just another gite - there is so much choice that however good I am they are looking over my shoulder in the expectation they will find something better next year.
Vrbo bring me my new guests who I then convert to returners, so of course in subsequent years they come direct and love it because it’s cheaper.
Returners are the our bedrock! I could have written the same as you but swapping Brits with Europeans. The few Brits we have had have generally been a pain, and the europeans warm and friendly. One British group - 2 couples - arrived with a car full of stuff that was clearly listed as being offered with the gîte like their own barbecue (!) and apart from the initial conversation said not a word. No bonjour/bonsoir if we encountered them in the drive, nothing. And then packed up and left without saying a word either - our check out time is 10 and we saw them drive out at 9.45h with not so much as a wave. Not an issue, but so weird.
Whereas with French families we often gets the kids tumbling out of the car and lining up to shake hands - so sweet.
1 Like
One often overlooked site is Gitelink.com … They’re our best referrer by far. We’ve been with them for years. Very reasonably priced, just 39 € for their basic listing. They don’t have too many properties listed, which is a big advantage. And there’s no commission.
1 Like
How about [Gitelink](https://gitelink.com ?)?