DeborahAnn

To those of you who have searched for gites recently are you having any problems with the www.gites-de-france.com website?

I booked my Brittany gite two months ago and had no problems looking at possible gites.

I've noticed last week while trying to find gites around Biarritz that the website design has changed, search options are different and I can't get any information downloaded. Am I doing something wrong? I can't remember ever having a problem at the site.

I'm glad I've already found my place for this year but I'm getting so frustrated trying to search for our next trip.

Thanks for any help or suggestions you can give me. Deborah

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DeborahAnn

Has anyone used the gites website recently? Thanks, Deborah

MyriamC

No problem in getting access to the website.

DeborahAnn

myriam, thanks I tried it again and i can bring up the site but i can't pull up any listing of gites. I get a prompt telling me that time has expired and I should try again. It's been doing that to me for almost a week now.

I'm not sure if the problem is at my computer because of AOL or Explorer or if something happened when they (gites) "improved" their website.

Thanks for the help, Deborah

StuDudley

I've used the "old" site hundreds of times. Yesterday I too noticed that they have made major changes to it. I can't get it to work. It crashes if you try to do anything but the simpliest of searches. I input the specific Gite we're staying in next week, and it gave me some sort of system error message - in French. I then just asked for 3 wheatie gites - and it gave me a list of 120 gites. I then wanted to narrow the list down a bit and asked for 3 wheatie gites with a swimming pool - and I got another system error message. I then gave up.

On the old system, there was different software for each of the 90 or so departments in France - which made it very confusing for users. About 70% of the departments used some flavor of ITEA software, and it worked great. About 20% of the departments used RESENINFRANCE and it worked about as poorly as this new software.

I think they are trying to get all the departments to use only one flavor of software - perhaps RESENFRANCE. As normal with French web sites (SNCF is a perfect example), it looks like they implemented a new system before all the bugs were worked out.

Stu Dudley

TuckH

Try this...

http://www.gites-de-france-bretagne.com/

DeborahAnn

Stu, now that I know it's not my computer I can relax until they work out the problems. I never had any problems working online with the diffent departments so for me the new layout is not an improvement. I tried to get the listing of our gite in Brittany just as a check and got nowhere I am just glad I have lots of time before I need to search for our next gites.

Tuck, your suggestion might be a means of getting around the problems with the new technology on the gites site. I'll try a few things now that I know it's not my computer.

Thanks, Deborah

TuckH

I too have had recent difficulties - so it's not a problem of yours...

MyriamC

The search function using the map apparently doesn't work, not in English, not in French. Searching by criteria works fine. You just have to browse to the area and department of your choice after which you will get the list of available accomodations. Very clear IMO.

DeborahAnn

myriam, wish it were as clear to me, it might be that some regions are working and not others and within the region some departments are available but not others. For Bretagne, of the four departments all are available through the site that tuck suggested except Finistere the location of our gite. It may be that the listings for Aquitaine is having a similar problem regarding the area around Biarritz. I'll just wait it out. Thanks for the assistance, Deborah

TuckH

www.gites-finistere.com

MyriamC

DeborahAnn,
For Finistère I get 759 results of which 552 bookable online. This through the www.gites-de-france.com website. These are only the "rural gîtes", I didn't check the B&B's, nor the stopover gîtes.

MyriamC

For Aquitaine, it gives 446 results for the Pyrénées Atlantiques (Biarritz area).

StuDudley

>>For Finistère I get 759 results <<

How long do you think it would take for you to evaluate 759 Gites?????

Enter something in the "criteria" box - like you only want to see 3 wheatie Gites, or a gite with a swimming pool.

I tried to enter the specific Gite # we're renting in Brittany, and just like the Vaucluse search I did yesterday, I get the time-out system error message. I also inquired about Gites in the Buche du Rhone department - I want a 3 wheatie Gite with a swimming pool. Just like the search I did yesterday for the same criteria in the Vaucluse dept, I got the system error message.

Sounds like it's not working to me !!!

Also, there are fewer selection criteria now. Before, you could specify that you wanted to be in a specific region of Finister - can't now. You could also specify that you wanted to be within 5K or so of a river - can't do that anymore.

Stu Dudley