Seeing this thread again caused my wife and I to discuss once more this issue of researching rental accommodation. One of the other things we have done is to see if we can find any cross-references to places we are considering. As an example, we found Rose Cottage in Saignon in 2003 on either French Connections or Holiday Rentals; when we googled the name, we discovered not only reviews on Slowtrav, but also the owner's own website, which had additional information (www.henriettataylor.com).

On the related topic of rental agencies, mimar above points out that you may pay a bit more to rent through an agency. Rose Cottage provides a good example: on her website, Henrietta Taylor charges €615 to €920 for a week (that would be about $800 to $1200 US, unless my math is horribly wrong); the France By Heart rental agency in California offers the same house for $1370 to $1620 US a week (http://www.francebyheart.com/provenc..._Rental_11.asp).

Anselm

WillTravel, I think you should stick to graded accomodations. you can find them or ask them to tourist offices in the town you want to stay.(at least in France)
Those flats have been checked and rated with stars by the Préfecture. they must fit to a list of precise standards, if not they can't have as many stars as they would like.
A friend of mine thought he would have 3* but he had only 2 because his flat is on the 3rd floor with no elevator.
a shower instead of a bathtub can withdraw one star for example.

that's why I wanted mine to be rated, to reassure my future guests... I'm very anxious about my future rating (should be end of april) because I could have only 3* just instead of 4 just because I have no proper garden, but as I'm in the towncenter, the persons who came to check it will ask for a dispensation for having 4*. now I have my fingers crossed! :-)
corinne [email protected]

cocofromdijon: I wish you all the best in the classification process.

Please tell us about the outcome and -- within Fodor's limits on commercial messages -- provide us all the details on what you are offering!

anselm: unusual choice, which I am sure you have chosen carefully. This is an area I do not know, although we drove from the Toulouse area to the Maconnais last October, via Brive and C-Ferrand, on the autoroute/ highway.

(Heavy rain, mist in the mountains -- hope you have better weather)

:-) thank you tedgale!
I'm still struggling to make a nice website (and I promise the photos are all mine, except Dijon logo ;-) )
I've made a photo album on ofoto site, you can have a look and tell me what you think it deserves...
http://www.ofoto.fr/BrowsePhotos.jsp...id=46730535733

cocofromdijon, those are wonderful photographs! The apartment looks very appealing, and the location is spectacular. (By the way, I liked seeing the snow in one of the pictures. We have only visited France in the spring and fall, so it is intriguing to see winter weather.) We haven't been to Dijon yet, but when we do we'll be looking for a place to rent. Best wishes in your endeavors.

tedgale, yes, Auvergne is a slightly unusual choice, at least for North American visitors. A few other Fodorites (indytravel, clairobscur, cigalechanta, and Michael, if I recollect properly) have posted tantalizing information in the past, certainly enough to whet our appetites.

It is an obligatory destination for the Asterix fans!

Anselm

Anselm, it is already 3pm in Dijon but I can say you make my day! :-) thanks for your help.
my husband and I had a real love at first sight when we visited that flat, the surroundings are really stunning as well. I don't remember if I put pictures of the works (we spend 7 month renovating it, just the two of us for most of it, my father helped us with the oak parquet floor to go faster)
I even put small paper flowers on the toilets walls (about 30).
I do think it is my 3rd child! :-)

I agree with you when you say you distrust websites saying everything is perfect. My only regret is not to have a private parking place next to it. there is a large paying car park beside the Fine Arts museum (free from 7pm to 9am and from 12.30 to 2pm) but if my guests are coming by car I take a week ticket to the nearest underground car park (which is 10 mins walk..) isn't it nice? ;-)
my first guests are Australian and coming by train on the last week of may, I'll pick them up at the railway station. I think everybody renting an accomodation should do that!
I spent more than 11 years working in hotels like Holiday Inn, Mercure in Dijon, Hostellerie de la poste in Avallon...so I know what service is!
If you're curious to see the flat during the works just ask me.
corinne

ttt

Very nice photos indeed.

If you are limited in the number of photos on your website, I would suggest that you show essential details, in this order of priority:

bed (15) kitchen (22) bath (23) table (21) computer (19) fireplace (16 or 18)

You do not, among your photos, have a REALLY attractive vue d'ensemble. But it is not necessary to have one, in my view.

You can describe in your text the overall size and contents of the studio room, then illustrate it with photos of the most attractive details.

For exterior shots: The vues de l'appart (10,12) provide important information. The aerial model (27) tells the rest of the story -- if you can intensify the colour on the red box that indicates your building.

All the best.

thanks ted for your advice!
so you don't think photo 1 shows almost everything in the main room, do you? I can't do better than that unfortunately or I would stand outside! I like the view on the pyramide as well because it shows how quiet it is on that side as well.
I actually made a photo gallery page with 8 inside pictures (no text, just click on the photo to see a bigger size) maybe it is too much, I should follow your advice to put outside photos as well but it hard to choose!
I didn't think it would be such a brain teaser!
I shot a little video I'd like to insert as well...
Now I have a little more technic skills with frontpage I need ideas!

Thanks to all who posted some nice general advice about renting/reseaching apartments - very helpful! Coco, I just love your apartment, it's beautiful! Please postmore about it or your booking site as Ted said "within Fodor's limits" when you can!

theorie tedgalienne de la pub.:

1. texte = faits; images = atmosphere

2. tout resumer dans une seule photo aurait l'effet de diminuer les volumes

3. les points de vue multiples creent, par contre, une impression d'ampleur, tout en etablissant la relation entre les divers elements.

thank you Margie! how nice of you!
if you want to know more about it, I put it on www.locations-france.com/us (France then 21.côte d'or) I'm the only one in Dijon for now.
and still hope to be on www.cotedor-tourisme.com, next week if I'm lucky...
I can tell you (for willtravel for instance)that all the accomodations on that website have been into the classification process whereas anybody can put an ad on locations-france.
on cotedor-tourism.com you can as well look for hotels, camp sites, restaurants, gourmet products festivals, museums etc... full of useful info!

oulala ted je suis impressionnée!
j'ai bien compris la leçon que je vais m'appliquer à mettre en oeuvre!
encore un week end que je ne vais pas voir passer, vive la vie de famille!

ce site me rend dingue même mes enfants le disent alors....
si tu as un exemple representatif que tu trouves vraiment top, n'hésite pas!

J'ai decouvert ce site hier soir -- appart de luxe au coeur du 16e a Paris:

http://www.vrbo.com/global/siteframe...vrbo/21652.htm

pas mal!!
j'aime bien le slide show (je suis très photos!) moins le grand texte du début. et il n'y a aucun plan! je trouve ça important de savoir où c'est placé.
y a t-il une version française? j'essaie de faire 2 versions donc encore plus de temps! :-(
merci en tout cas, tu es sympa!

Je ne crois pas qu'il y ait une version francaise.

J'ai adore le grand texte, qui communique parfaitement la personnalite exigeante, meme eccentrique, du proprietaire -- ce qui m'assure, par consequence, d'un entretien parfait et des prestations de qualite.

Mais si on brisait quoi que se soit.......!!

Conclusion: L'appartement ayant ete un affaire de "coup de coeur", dont etat actuel est le resultat de beaucoup d'effort de ta part, tu pourrais peut-etre personnaliser un peu votre texte.

Resultat: Impression de proprietaires serieux, engages, soucieux......

...et enthousiastes.

tu as bien fait de souligner le texte que j'avais à peine survolé, effrayée par la longueur... le début est très intéressant en effet et surtout très sélectif, même moi qui suis soigneuse j'aurais peur de toucher quoique ce soit!
pour le texte il va vraiment falloir que je me creuse la tête! c'est bien beau d'être enthousiastes mais pour faire passer ça tout en restant sérieux...
heureusement les vacances sont bientot finies et je pourrai réfléchir au calme à partir de lundi!

Je ne suis ni redacteur ni traducteur, mais je suis "consommateur averti" ainsi qu'un amateur des mots, dont certains collegues admirent le style d'expression (dans ma propre langue)....

Si jamais tu aura besoin de conseils, je serais tres heureux de fournir un service purement informel de revision et redaction, de la version anglaise de ton texte.

N'hesite pas a me contacter par courriel ([email protected] ou [email protected]) si cela te semble utile.

Je n'insiste pas, pourtant!!

tu es un chou! :-)
c'est très gentil de ta part de vouloir m'aider, en fait je fais la même chose sur un autre forum (LP)quand certains ont besoin d'aide en français.
un moment j'ai même cru que tu étais français, c'est le "si jamais tu auras besoin..." qui t'a trahi! (si jamais tu as besoin)
tu es de quelle nationalité? ici on ne sait rien sur personne, c'est frustrant!