{"id":406884,"date":"2026-05-01T15:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T15:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/406884\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T15:17:11","slug":"the-importance-of-being-on-site-for-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/406884\/","title":{"rendered":"The importance of being on site for success"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"kicker t30 font-weight-bold m-font-weight-bold tertiary color_mobile_tertiary hasTextColor hasTextColorMobile\" style=\"\">Letters<\/p>\n<p class=\"subtitle \" style=\"\">A reader argues that having a presence brings better feedback and satisfaction<\/p>\n<p>\n        &#8216;A high percentage of our clients were repeat bookings, some coming back year after year&#8217;<br \/>\n        Richard Williams\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-weight-bold m-font-weight-bold\" data-lab-font_weight=\"font-weight-bold\">To the Editor,<\/p>\n<p>I wonder if Didi Hawkins (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.connexionfrance.com\/magazine\/im-an-estate-agent-and-these-are-the-five-errors-that-newcomers-make-in-france\/766550\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">I\u2019m an estate agent and these are five errors that newcomers make<\/a>) has ever run a g\u00eete.<\/p>\n<p>Her otherwise good advice in the article falls short on the subject of \u2018g\u00eete dreams\u2019. Her suggestion is to keep the g\u00eete at some distance from the house so guests do not bother the host with their problems. This will not lead to a successful business or repeat visits!<\/p>\n<p>All you need to do is lay down some rules. For 20 years, I ran a small g\u00eete very successfully, and one of the major selling points (apart from the swimming pool) was that we were on site in case of problems, which could then be addressed immediately.<\/p>\n<p data-lab-font_weight=\"\">Guests were free to &#8220;appear in the garden&#8221; as early as they liked (but hardly anyone did). The pool was available from 10:00 onwards, after the daily clean.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We informed them that we would swim between 17:00 and 19:00 so, if they preferred a quiet swim, to please avoid that time.<\/p>\n<p>We never had any problems, and a high percentage of our clients were repeat bookings, some coming back year after year.<\/p>\n<p>A neighbour let out their house during the summer months and stayed with friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Guests were unable to have their problems (water, faulty items, etc.) resolved for at least a few days. The result was that, after a few years, the bookings dried up completely.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-weight-bold m-font-weight-bold\" data-lab-font_weight=\"font-weight-bold\">U.C., Dordogne<\/p>\n<p data-lab-font_weight=\"\"> Do you run a g\u00eete in France, or have you stayed in one? Share your experiences with us at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.connexionfrance.com\/magazine\/running-a-gte-in-france-why-being-on-site-matters-for-success\/mailto:letters@connexionfrance.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">letters@connexionfrance.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Letters A reader argues that having a presence brings better feedback and satisfaction &#8216;A high percentage of our&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":["post-406884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}