Renting our first Gite, help needed
 

Calling out to Stu or any others who have rented gites in France.

We have selected a gite through Gites-de-France and have paid our deposit by credit card on line. This was easy:)

Now we have received our contract, in the mail. Thankfully I can read French somewhat, but not totally. I'll be referring to the dictonary some!

We also bought the insurance for 8€. They sent us a seperate mailing for this.

On the gite form, there is a line for our credit card #. If we fill this out will they automatically take the payment for the remainder of our payment, which is due at a later date? I guess I want to know exactly how you pay the remainder of the cost? It looks like there is a 150€ deposit de garantie, or security deposit. Do I bring this in cash when we arrive?

Should I mail the form back to the central office, which is in Pau, for a gite rental in the Basque area?

Also I want to let the owner know we'll be arriving on Sunday evening, not on Saturday evening, even though our week rental begins on Saturday. Do I just let the main office know this since I only have the owners name. I do have his phone #, but I'm not to sure we can carry out a conversation in French about it.

Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated! We are so excited to have rented our first property. We'll know how to do this better the next time.

I think you're going to have to let us see the contract. I'll happily hlep if you do.

Do the people have their own web site?

They do have their own website, but it's not to detailed. We think we keep the contract until the remaineder is due, then mail it in with our CC information.

I think I'll e-mail the main office in France and ask them my questions.

Stu, if you're out there can you tell us how to follow up?

Thanks so much.

>>On the gite form, there is a line for our credit card #. If we fill this out will they automatically take the payment for the remainder of our payment, which is due at a later date? I guess I want to know exactly how you pay the remainder of the cost?<<

Each department works a little differently, but not much.

You will have to FAX them your CC number twice - once now and another time about 1 month before your rental. When they process your first payment, they "usually" mail you the form necessary for the second payment. However, I just dug up the payment we made for our June '07 rental, and we have not received the second payment document yet. We'll probably call them, or use the duplicate first payment document for the second payment.

Some departments will FAX back a confirmation that they recived your CC FAX - and some won't. We always call them if we do not get a confirmation.


>It looks like there is a 150€ deposit de garantie, or security deposit. Do I bring this in cash when we arrive?<<

Yes. On a few occasions, the proprietor didn't even ask for the deposit.

>>Should I mail the form back to the central office, which is in Pau, for a gite rental in the Basque area?<<

No - FAX it to them - it's quicker.

>>Also I want to let the owner know we'll be arriving on Sunday evening, not on Saturday evening, even though our week rental begins on Saturday. Do I just let the main office know this since I only have the owners name. I do have his phone #, but I'm not to sure we can carry out a conversation in French about it.<<

You'll probably need to contact the proprietor. You could FAX the Pau office now and ask them the same question, but my guess is that they'll tell you to make arrangements with the proprietor. Normally they give you all the proprietor info after you make the second payment (it is wise to make the payment several weeks before the due date to allow for extra mailing time from France to the US).

You will also need to contact the proprietor to tell him/her if you need to rent sheets & towels, if it's not included for this property.

Stu Dudley

Thank you so much Stu for your expertise!

We already paid our deposit by CC on their web site as soon as we reserved, and it's shown up on our bill.

I guess this means the paperwork we have received from them is for the final payment, so we'd only have to fax them our CC information once. Is this correct? Do you pay your deposit by fax, or by CC when you reserve on line? So far this department seems to be a good one to work with. Thanks for the tip on faxing instead of mailing this form.

Also, thanks for the information that they'll send better contact information with the owner once we send in our final payment. I was wondering why we don't have an actual address:)

I'll check about the sheet and towel situation. I think the web page said they are included, but we'll check on that.

I appreciate all of your help Stu!

>>we'd only have to fax them our CC information once. Is this correct?<<

That's correct

>>Do you pay your deposit by fax, or by CC when you reserve on line?<<

Cash is the best way (when you arrive there) - unless you can write a check in Euros. The deposit is paid to the proprietor. Doubt if they would have CC capabilities.

>>Also, thanks for the information that they'll send better contact information with the owner once we send in our final payment. I was wondering why we don't have an actual address.<<

You will have to call or e-mail the proprietor to get the exact meeting instructions if the info you get from the Pau office is "fuzzy". Almost all of your dealings after the final payment will be with the Proprietor.

Most of the time, you are responsible for cleaning the place when you leave. Ususlly you can pay the proprietor to do this (about 40E). Tell the proprietor what you want to do if this is the case. There may be a small charge for electricity or a "person" tax when you depart. In the 30 or so Gites we've rented, this has been nil or zero. Only necessary if you have a pool, or rent in winter when you'll need heat.

>>I'll check about the sheet and towel situation. I think the web page said they are included, but we'll check on that.<<

About 10% of the times we've rented, they're included.

Stu Dudley

Thanks Stu. You've been a great help.

This trip is in May, and our week there in centered in the Basque area. I've been trying to find a gite for our Sept. trip to the Languedoc, but think it'll be better for us to hop around a bit. The areas are so spread out there. At least a gite will work out for one of the trips.

Your help is wonderful!

Here is where we've rented Gites in the Languedoc. On every occasion, we were busy almost every minute of the day, & we never ventured very far from the Gite.

Near Ganges - 1 week.

Near Espalion on the Lot River - 2 weeks. Our favorite area

Near Caussade in Quercy - 2 weeks

Near Lamalou les Bains - 1 week. Our least favorite location

Near Ceret in Roussillon - 2 weeks. Lots of different things to see in this area. Plus you can venture into Spain.

As correctly pointed out in another thread, Quercy & the Lot River near Espalion are in the Midi-Pyrenees - not the Languedoc. However, both areas are included in the Michelin Green Guide to the Languedoc.

If you want to sample all of the Languedoc and your vacation is less than 2 weeks, I think you will need to move around to several different locations. If you want more of a relaxed vacation, save money, go to markets & cook at the Gite, and see a good representative sample of the Languedoc, I would suggest at least 1 week in the Espalion region (you can hit the Gorge du Tarn from there), and 1 week in Roussillon - where you can venture into the southern end of the Pyrenees & also the Med coast around Collioure.

Do you have my 35+ page intinerary which describes our experiences in this region - along with detailed restaurante write-ups?? If not, e-mail me at [email protected] & I'll sent a copy. Also, let me know what gite you're staying at in the Pays Basque. If it the same one where we stayed for 2 weeks, or close by - I'll send a write-up I did for a friend who stayed at a different Gite, but in the same town where we stayed.

Stu Dudley

Thanks Stu, I do have your itineraries and have studied them. We only have 10 days in the Languedoc, and fly in and out of BCN so we're going to move around. I've studied the map and used viamichelin alot, deciding this is the best solution for this trip. I'm actually the person who figured out your gite in Espalion, remember:)

The Basque area is also 1 week + 2 days on our way down from Paris, since our 3 week trip starts in Holland, goes to Prague for 4 days, then to France for 9 or 10. Thank goodness for SkyEurope. Relaxing, ha, ha:)