Would you object to follow up questions after your holiday?

[jenpetronus]

We've had a holiday gite to rent in Brittany since 2006. It does well, we are happy, we make improvements, I think (by the number of people who come back) that we are providing what people want

But! We've been doing it so long, and been out of the UK so long, I sometimes worry I'm out of touch, so I had the idea of sending some of our regular guests a short survey, say once a year, asking them honestly what they think - about future plans, pricing etc etc - the problem is, I really want them to be honest, and want a cross section of guests too - am I being cheeky asking for their time doing this? Is everyone sick to death of being presented with endless requests for "feedback"? Should I offer an incentive? Or is it just all a rotten idea?

Thanks for any (ahem) feedback

We go to a regular place several times a year and rent direct from the caretakers who have been there for a long time. They send us Christmas card and give us a little extra off when we hire.

I wouldn't mind if they sent us a short, easy, uncomplicated survey every year or two. And I wouldn't be bothered about an incentive really as we love the place.

However, if we weren't regulars and I received the survey after one booking I wouldn't bother to fill it out and it may or may not annoy me based on the day it hit my inbox.

Just be sure to put the option to opt out of future surveys and I think it'd be fine.

Good luck with it all.

Could you set up the survey on one of those sites like surveymonkey? And if technically possible, set it up so responses are anonymous, so they might be more frank than if they were emailing something back to you.

Then instead if the email being mainly the list of questions, it can be a friendly explanation of why you are doing this, why you value them and their opinion, that it's totally voluntary, and how to opt out if they don't want to see one ever again.

I'll look into that Winnie it's a great idea (the anonymous idea) thank you.

Thanks too GreatSnafu I'm thrilled you've found somewhere you think so highly of, and appreciate your comments.

Whenever I leave a holiday home I'm always itching to give feedback, whether I've loved it or whether the fact the owner of the house lived in the garden shed for the duration and was clearly snooping in the house every time we were out annoyed me a lot. So I think a shortish surveymonkey thing would be fine - you're not forcing them to do it, after all.

at your shed-owner Hassled I don't think I could have kept quiet - why on earth would they want to snoop around?! It's probably not even legal!

I'm pretty active on Trip Advisor, but think it's me comparing everything we do to others - I'm the first to give praise where it's due too

Thanks again for everyone's comments, all is noted!