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Letting Gites Successfully

Property Accreditation

Many first-time visitors to France are unaware of the direct letting market. Most believe that properties advertised through an agency have been vetted and would be of a higher standard than properties advertised independently. Finally and not surprisingly, everyone thinks that they are dealing with professional bonded organisations, so it is safer to book a holiday through these companies. This confirms a point made in previous months about expecting people to part with thousands of pounds for a holiday based on a couple of photographs and a telephone conversation with someone they have never met. There can be few other products that costs so much where people are expected to buy, sight unseen.

The problem can be summed up in a few words: distrust, low confidence and a misguided pre-conception that the direct letting market is unprofessional. The truth is of course, renting through private owners not only usually represents better value for money, but also that standards are in general higher than many agencies. Private owners offer a far more personal service than dealing with someone in an agency that may never have seen the property they are selling. There are always exceptions to this rule and we have discovered at least one web site (www.wellearnedbreaks.com) that is an exception to this rule. Lesley Roads, of Wellearnedbreaks, who partner with Condor Ferries, told us the she personally visits and inspects every single property on her web-site. This is quite uncommon amongst managing agents. The other benefit that dealing with an agency provides is that they offer a wide selection of properties, know the latest availability status and save the caller having to make scores of calls.

Two of the objections raised have already been addressed by another French travel operator (France One Call). They have removed the necessity to make dozens of calls by developing computer programmes capable of finding any available property given almost any criteria, on scores of web sites anywhere in France within seconds. Secondly, their members' properties are accredited based on feedback from people who stay in them in the previous year. This enables their members to advertise their properties displaying globes that have become recognised as symbols of quality and excellence by people travelling to all the countries World One Call operates in. It also helps them to monitor standards and prevent complaints as everyone gets tarred with the same brush when holidaymakers recount their experiences.

This only leaves the subject of overcoming the ignorance of holidaymakers who are unaware of the direct letting market. The first of a series of workshop sessions took place last month with almost fifty property owners attending. These projects are designed to achieve three objectives. The first is to create a greater awareness of events and the benefits of visiting France outside of the summer holidays. The second is to make arranging a holiday in France with private owners as easy and accessible as possible culminating in the third and ultimate objective of not only tapping into an existing market but also increasing the demand for properties throughout the year and so increasing incomes. Each attendee left with a task to perform from writing an article if they had literary skills, to helping in the creation of a "What's on and Where" web site designed to give people as many reasons as possible to visit France. No-one was under the delusion that a few owners are going to make an enormous difference but a hundred or maybe a thousand people all working towards the same aim is a formidable marketing machine if they are all pulling in the same direction.

The market won't change overnight, the tide can turn against us driven by powerful market forces far easier than we can counter it, which is why any significant difference can only be achieved by a united effort by a professional body.

The UK press, whilst giving France extensive exposure, albeit not always positive, will tend to favour companies that take large display advertisements in their publications. This is understandable as their incomes depend on advertising revenue. Some papers will bend to a moral obligation to advise their readers of what is newsworthy and/or 'best advice' and it is this line we need to follow. Property owners are already having to pay out too much on advertising, so any public relations campaign has to have a minimal cost aimed at maximum returns to ultimately reduce their advertising overheads. Being part of a professional body with accredited
properties vetted by people who stay in them will permit property owners to demand more for their properties because there is a huge market out there willing to pay for quality and security.

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