First season - building work and photos...
First season - building work and photos...
Hello... We moved to France (Charente) in October and are upgrading both gites ready for the summer season. I was wondering how you advertised when you were starting out, if you were doing building work/ decorating...? Our smaller gite is almost finished so isn't really a problem. In the larger gite, the bedrooms should be finished by the end of March, but we're having a new open plan kitchen/dining/sitting room built which won't be completely finished/furnished until mid-June. We were going to advertise availability from the start of July, but of course we won't have any photos of this room. Is this likely to put people off? Are they likely to book on the strength of good photos of the exterior/bedrooms? Our only other option would be to change things around for this first summer and let out our own open plan main room, and use the newly built one ourselves. This, apart from the upheaval (having only just unpacked) isn't without problems in terms of bathrooms and pool access/garden space, but we might have to consider this option. Any thoughts or advice? I'm starting to feel very conscious that we're relying on a good summer's rental, but won't have a full set of photos!
I had the same problem. We took pictures of what we could - (from some creative angles at times) and then just replaced them on the website as and when we could get better ones.
I can tell which are the early ones still up on my site by the lack of pictures on the walls, It didn't seem to put anyone off though and we booked out very fast for what was left of the summer.
I can tell which are the early ones still up on my site by the lack of pictures on the walls, It didn't seem to put anyone off though and we booked out very fast for what was left of the summer.
We were in the same boat and didn't finish the conversion until 10 MINUTES before our first guests were due to arrive (I kid you not) - all the photos we originally had look fine but you cannot see the mayhem that is behind me in each one!! So take photos when you can and update them when possible is my advice.
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costa-brava
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Get a nice looking book, a vase of flowers and a bowl of fruit. Two coffee cups and a coffee jug look good on a little table. Then just take pics of the little corners not a broad view. You're worried about getting one good photo of the living/dining area but 3 or 4 little ones could look better. If there are stairs you can sometimes get a good ambient pic. Outside should come up good. If you have a Ryanair airport nearby, steal their route map; they won't mind. Views from the windows and balconies are good. One that says "views from the living room" might do instead of the actual living room.
Apologies. Posted in the wrong thread!
Last edited by Mouse on Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
One martini, two martini, three martini floor!
We had exactly the same problem with the first summer of our new build cottage. I wouldn't swap rooms around unnecessarily. I would just make it clear on my listing/website using phases to your advantage like 'under renovation/complete refurbishment', 'currently being finished to the same high standard' , 'all will be pristine and newly decorated for the coming season with quality, tasteful furnishings' etc. Then, even in the absence of a picture you are creating an encouraging and welcoming impression. It shouldn't be a problem if guests know the property is new to the market and you should be able to fill it will last minute bookings. The absence of photos without an explanation would be more problematic IMO. I would wonder what you were hiding. 
Re: First season - building work and photos...
We, too, had a similar scenario when we bought our Dordogne gite complex in 2005. The first season, we ran with two smaller gites/pool. Jan-June, the following year, we converted (using local builders) a large old tobacco drying barn into a four-bed gite.Emmy wrote: I was wondering how you advertised when you were starting out, if you were doing building work/ decorating...? I'm starting to feel very conscious that we're relying on a good summer's rental, but won't have a full set of photos!
We were keen to open for business in the barn from July to catch the high-season guests and help to defray the expense of the build. We were completely upfront with enquiring guests about the 'work in progress' (to explain the lack of photos) and offered the first guests a 50% reduction in return for them 'snagging' the property for faults and allowing us access for interior photography should we need it. All went to plan, the work was finished on time and the guests were happy.
It can be a bit of a high risk enterprise as you've only recently arrived in the area and if you are using local builders of unknown provenance. But, if you forcefully project manage the build and only release funds in stages when you're satisfied with the work, it should go OK. Just be honest with guests about the work in progress - always the best policy. And paint intriguing word pictures until you have the real thing.
And welcome to the Charente! We’re a bit closer to Cognac than you – but the Barbezieux area is lovely
Jim
Thank you!
I'm really grateful for the very helpful answers and all the encouragement! It's good to see that there are alternatives to moving out of our own private space, which I want to avoid... Yes, stressing the fact that everything's new is a good idea, and we must finish the bedrooms at least asap and start advertising, hopefully in the next two weeks. Thank you all!