AussieFrance

In France, where I rent out a cottage for two adults, the normal arrival time is 4pm. However, I can only find a reliable cleaner in the afternoon who would not be finished until 5 pm. Do you think that is an acceptable time for American and Australian visitors to arrive?

adrienne

It depends on several factors. Are you in a town/city or the countryside. Would the people be arriving by train or car. If by train, is there someplace to store their luggage until 5:00. Is your cottage near a large airport where people would be arriving after a long flight or is it some place where people would stay in the middle of their vacation.

Are you open to receiving guests later than 5:00 to fit into their schedules? Up until what time?

I would not mind arriving at 5:00 if it was not after a long flight.

AussieFrance

Hi, thanks for your answer. Anyone staying here would need to pick up a car either in the town (Blois), 5 km from the house, or at Tours (direct from Charles de Gaulle airport by train), which is about an hour's drive. We have a key box, so guests can arrive any time they like after 5 pm.

adrienne

Will someone be available to advise on how appliances work and any peculiarities of the property?

Christina

I'm American, and wouldn't make any distinction between 4 and 5 pm for a place I really wanted as that makes little difference. 4 pm is already pretty late, after all. A lot of places in Paris won't allow you in until afternoon, anyway, but usually before 4. But in Paris, people often arrive early morning, so then they have to figure out what to do anyway. But if you don't normally allow people in until 4, I don't think it matters that much.

StuDudley

We've rented 50 gites in France. Once or twice they were still cleaning the gite at 4PM. Tell your guests to drop off the bags at 4, and then have them go to the grocery to load up on supplies after checking out what you have available at your cottage. That's the usual arrival-day ritual with us.

Stu Dudley

StCirq

What time do people have to check out of your place? When I was renting my French house, I asked people to arrive between 4 and 7, but that was because that was a period of time my neighbor was willing to be available to greet them and help them get settled. Sounds like you just have a key available. Anyway, I don't think 5 pm is too late (but in my case, it usually too until at least that time for American renters to even get to my house - they'd have been able to arrive in the Loire a lot sooner). I agree that the usual scenario is drop off the bags, then go load up on supplies the first day, so I think it will work fine, assuming there's somewhere to load up on supplies nearby.

AussieFrance

Thank you, everyone, for your input. I might look for another cleaner, in any case, because I think it will be cutting it a bit fine, but it doesn't seem that easy!