Anyone out there in france running a gite...successfully??

[mamafridi]

I feel like such a cliche, but for years I've dreamed of living in France and running a gite.
This summer we went to the Aquitaine area and saw several places that were already established gite businesses. We chose that area because it seemed affordable, but also because it's very beautiful. However, we were soon to learn that even if the price tag of the property seemed pretty fair for what you get there was a HUGE notaire fee to add on to it. I suppose that was when the rose-tinted glasses started slipping.
I then began to notice that there were quite a number of gites for sale so doubts as to whether there is actually enough work to go round for all them occurred, and that perhaps (even though the vendors all had other personal reasons for wanting to sell) the real reason for selling their businesses is that there just isn't the work.

I'm aware that we'll never get rich from running gites, but I additionally noticed that the cost of living is quite expensive too, and that's not taking into consideration other bills, so could we even survive on the gite business alone?

I just wondered if there was anyone actually in the business that could possibly tell me how things REALLY are business-wise and whether life in France is truly idyllic as it looks from the outside? Or should I just get a grip and leave the dream as just that?
Apologies for long thread.

(Have name changed for this). We run a small gite in SW France and are taking on some renovations which will give us some more

The reality is this about running a gite in rural france:

Don't expect to get all your income from the gite; you need another source (We have rental property in the UK)

You must be practical otherwise you will be paying through the nose for local french tradesmen. (DH does all of our building, plumbing, electrics, carpentry, car maintenance, so we save a lot of money that way.

Lots of french red tape to go through, so be clear about your financial circumstances.
France is expensive and you don't have access the the same variety and cheap products in the french countryside, so you do have to live differently (make things from scratch a lot, which is fine if you have time and love cooking.)

Winters are short, but can be mind numbing boring as everything shuts down.

If you are currently living in a city, be aware that rural life is very different.

We have however had some lovely gite clients and wouldn't be expanding if it wasn't working for us.

However, i would consider renting a house for a year and see if you like it before you commit.

Take a look at www.laymyhat.co.uk and ask your questions there. Some of the issues are the same for property owners everywhere, not just france.

Some good points made by both the above posters.
I've been running a gite here in Southern Brittany for 5 years, I average about 30+ (2010 was 41 weeks which was a bit too successful!) weeks a year in bookings. There is no way you could survive on the income with just one. However, for us it works well - Saturdays are a bit frantic as I prefer to do all the cleaning myself, but I'm always around for the children, we've met some fantastic people who have come as guests and become good friends, and overall it suits us really well. Like everything it depends what you want out of life etc...
You can check us out here and you're very welcome to cat me if you have any specific questions

This is my pipe dream too. I know this is a fairly old thread but am keen to be inspired more by people who are already doing it?!

My mum has a bed and breakfast in France. It is however her retirement project so doubt it would make a living for a family!

This thread is really old! But just to update our situation as above - we were so booked up, with a waiting list of ten families for some of the peak summer holiday weeks! We've just signed for another house so we can now operate two gites, which should (if I get my finger out!) generated about 75% of our income. So it can work out!

Fab news Jen! In my head it'll be really easy and dead lucrative dream on

Do you have children? How did they settle out there if so?

We'll see about that!!
DS1 was 2 when we arrived (now nearly 13) DS2 was born here in 2008, so there wasn't much adjustment really. From what I've seen in others, unless your DC's are gifted at languages, or very outgoing, then the younger the better. That said, we have friends whose daughter was 11, and she took to it really well, so it does depend on the child...

My DDs are nearly 3, and 3 months. Best start nagging DH about it

Wow your gite looks amazing! That's going on the bookmarks.

Ok this is an old thread but I do believe people use threads like this for information - also I want to set a few things straight which I disagree with.

The question was about making a reasonable living.

One existing Gite owner stated that you need an additional income, I have to say that is a blanket statement. Its like "how long is a piece of string".

My wife and I have owned two tourist businesses and we run a website for people buying and selling them, we have tons of experience, not just ours but what we see and hear running the website.

Counter example: We had a ten bedroom, ski and summer season tourist business in France 90% of our customers were French and we did not have any alternative income but we did have a small mortgage - we made more than we needed to live on.

My wife speaks Danish and German and has a working knowledge of Dutch so we were able to pull in small numbers of visitors from Holland. Germany, Denmark and so on - do not make the mistake of thinking that people who can speak English will always want to speak English and really for both political politeness and good basic business sense you really do need to have moderate French under your belt either before you start or within a year or two - any additional languages are a bonus.

So here are some points.

1. Tourist/Gite businesses vary - some will support a family some will not.

1. Number of seasons? Location ?

1. Do you speak French well enough to attract French guests? An "English" only tourist business in France is a bit like an engine firing on two cylinders, it will only scratch the surface of the available clientele and put you and your business at a greater level of risk. We had many months solidly booked with French guests when linguistically challenged businesses of a similar nature only 5km were struggling. I am sure there are some fantastic businesses in France where no-one can speak French but as a thumb rule lack of linguistic ability will cut you off from at least 50% of your market and quite possibly much more.

4.Have you business acumen - some people leak money like sieves, other people know how to provide a quality service and yet spend little providing it.

1. Do you have lots of skills - good DIY and practical skills - the more you can do yourself the less you pay out.

1. Do you like people? Can you create a pleasant atmosphere? Watch the hotel inspector on UK television, if you watch ten episodes and do not understand the criticism or advice she lays at people's feet?

1. Do you have at least 50% of the asking/final price in hard cash? We sold both our tourist businesses ( on our own website ) and at least 8 out of 10 people were naive in terms of what they would be able to borrow from a bank. We were generally good natured about this - not all sellers are so forgiving and you may well get your nose bitten off if you approach a seller with naive ideas about what you can afford. Its a good idea to talk to a bank in the area you are looking first and get some kind of an idea what your realistic budget will be.

And with all due respect to other posters here, just as there is no one size of shoe then it is not realistic to categorize or pigeon hole tourist businesses - the only way to really learn more is to get out there and do some serious research.

Some rose tinted dreams do actually turn into reality but the canny buyers do copious amounts of research and realize there is nothing fluffy about running a tourist business and surviving to make a good living - you need to be just as good a business person as anyone else making a living in a competitive arena.

Apart from doing the ground work to find out what your budget is and what it can get its also a very good idea to source out the department tourist stats which will helpfully allow you to look at overnight stays and get an idea what the level of demand is in the area you are interested in.

Its all about research and good business sense.

kind regards

Jon - www.BuyMyDreamHotel.com ( est 10 years )
former French tourist business owner.
former campsite owner.

I forgot to add.to my previous post

Do remember that school holidays vary from country to country. Relying on guests from one country only can result in you being fully booked one month and empty the next.

File this under the importance of some linguistic ability and taking an interest not only in your newly adopted country but the visitors to that country from the ones that neighbor it. Knowledge of school and worker holidays can help you know when to launch an advertising campaign targeted at a specific country or a specific area within a country ( The Germans very sensibly stagger holidays on a geographic basis so as to avoid the crush ).

Jon

You won't keep a family fed and housed with a small gîte business. The few English people I'm aware of who make a living from the tourist business have sizeable operations which obviously require a big upfront investment. They also tend to be canny at marketing. A not insignifiant proportion of the more successful gîte owners that I know are journalists or PR (ex or still freelancing). At a guess for most of them the gîte income pays for luxuries rather than putting food on the table.

Of course it's possible to make a living out of offering tourist accommodation - but if you have kids you may find it a tough lifestyle - the busy season is also your kids' 2 month (3 month in secondary) summer holiday.

I appreciate that this is many years after the initial comment but as I have found it then perhaps others have too.

Basically, there is no right or wrong answer to this question. It is possible to run a gite and for it to cover your costs. Like anything else, it just depends on what your property is like, how you market your property, what your needs are etc etc. Just like any job and that is what it is: a job. To me it's far better than sitting in an office all day asking for permission to leave, however, others will see that as being far easier and the rewards outweigh the inconveniences.

Regarding children, up to about the age of 11, when they start secondary school and it's generally fine. Secondary school age and upwards is heavily dependent on your child as even for children brought up in France it is a very intense system and to do all your lessons in French, to the same standard as a French child, takes a lot of courage. I know people whose older children have flourished and others that have simply gone back to the UK.
Living expenses are what they are. Some things are more expensive and others cheaper. It depends on where you live as prices are vastly different in different areas of France, as are the activities that you may do in your spare time. If you're outdoorsy then there are loads of things that you can do for free or not a lot. If you like shopping and the kids like going to the cinema etc then it will cost, just as it does in the UK. Hope this helps.

My partners father runs a gite in a very rural part of France and before Covid hit he was doing really well with it, we’ve come over to help do some renovations in the hopes that next summer we can rent it out again.

As the person above said do some research and work out if it’s right for you (and definitely stock up on certain bits and bobs)