> Re-read Kevin's post. He owns a lovely BB/Chambres d'hotes in Provence -.....

Kevin, thanks for the clarification. I knew about the French hotels having to offer room rates and breakfast separately (so I take rarely hotel breakfast) but did not know about B&B - Chambres d'hotes.

It makes sense to me that by law a place calling itself B&B would indeed have to give you breakfast. Otherwise, it's a hotel and they have a whole bunch of other regulations and requirements to be called a hotel. That's regulation and makes sense to me -- you want to be a B&B and not have hotel regulations or standards, you have to provide breakfast (or whatever the official French term is for B&B).

The fact that they break out the fee when it is mandatory seems silly, and I wouldn't stay in such a place either, I guess (they are probably doing that for advertising to make their rate look lower). Maybe I would just call it a peculiarity if I really liked the place.

By law, a hotel cannot make you pay for breakfast, however, in France.

It was a tactic to make her prices look cheaper...yes, she is obligated morally or legally to provide breakfast.

If there are people medically prohibited from eating that... well too bad... they know that..
so again, I wouldn't be intimidated by this tactic...free enterprise is the answer to her scam.I encountered a woman like this in Italy and I posted some disparaging comments online about her...So these tactics do not pay in the long run

The owner might be right. I searched for and found the relevant statutes :


"Les chambres d'hôtes sont des chambres meublées situées chez l'habitant en vue d'accueillir des touristes, à titre onéreux, pour une ou plusieurs nuitées, assorties de prestations."

"L'activité de location de chambres d'hôtes mentionnée à l'article L. 324-3 est la fourniture groupée de la nuitée et du petit déjeuner."


The statute mentions that their activity is to provide both a room and a breakfast, and the wording seems indeed to imply that these services can't be separated ("fourniture groupée").

However, in this case, I wonder if (actually, I doubt that) they can bill separately the room and the breakfast and more importantly advertise only the price of the room (and since they already told you that the price will be € 10 more than you expected, it seems they don't care much about actually billing the price they're advertising).


But I might be wrong. Maybe they can bill separately the room and the breakfast even though they're supposed to sell a service including both.

Hello everyone,
I am not going to name the B&B as I am not into badmouthing places. I've already made a reservation at another lovely B&B. I think it worked out for the better in the end.

I just feel, like Christina said, they advertised one price and then retracted it and gave me a different price.

If it is indeed mandatory to serve breakfast at a B&B then they should include it in their prices, not list it seperately like it is optional, like you see on hotel sites.

It's okay though, they won't have my business and I'm sure not many will go for their type of advertising so eventually they will probably be forced to change...or continue to lose customers.

Thanks again for your input,
Michele

"If it is indeed mandatory to serve breakfast at a B&B then they should include it in their prices, not list it seperately like it is optional, like you see on hotel sites."


I agree. Even assuming that they can legally advertise this price (And I have strong doubts), ethically, they should mention the real,full, price.

I too would have searched for another place to stay. What would have been the next "surprise" you would have had when showing up?
I hope you'll enjoy the other place you found.