GITE
ADVERTISING ON THE INTERNET
Gitelink, Gites de France, Clévacances, Booking.com and
the others
There
are hundreds of ways to rent out a gite on the Internet in 2024, and
none of them
are perfect. In fact almost all of them - other than renting
directly without any intermediary - come with a cost, sometimes a quite
considerable cost. To quote a well-known
phrase, there's no such thing as a free lunch. And let's be absolutely
honest! If there is one
reality that has to be accepted by owners, it is that unless you are
charging way below other properties in your area, or are paying heavily
for premium listings,
no single type of Internet
advertising will fill your property for the whole season.
In today's world, the more you advertise, the more customers you will
get. That's elementary marketing; the more complicated part is to chose
the best and most cost-effective forms of marketing.
There
are basically FOUR methods
of gite advertising on the Internet. These are
- 1. Your
own website;
Put up your own site and take bookings directly.
Advantage: no commissions to pay. Cost:
the cost of setting up your
own website (minimal), of advertising it (people won't find it
unless
you make it visible,
not just
present, on the Internet), and the time you take doing this. Unless you
advertise your website
elsewhere, you are not going to get many visitors. But if done well,
this is likely to be the most
cost-effective solution . You fix your
prices, and nobody else takes a commission on your sales, unless you
use commission-based advertising too. Beware of supposedly "free"
websites. Of course they're not reallly free. The classic trick is to
catch users with a very basic free package, then charge over the odds
for extras. Prefer the basic package offered by reputable web-hosting
companies.
- 2. Direct
link directory advertising:
Example:
Gitelink
Direct
links to your site are essential for owners who want to avoid the
high listing fees and commissions charged by the big holiday rental
sites. You'll of course need a website first for this.
Directories
list websites for a small annual fee (from £35 for 2024
with Gitelink),
and send visitors directly to your site through a link.
"Links"
from other
sites are essential
for establishing an internet presence – meaning a
presence in Google search results, so there is a direct and indirect
advantage in having direct links. You get people clicking through to
your website, and a stronger Internet visibility of your site in direct
search results.
No
commission.
- 3. Online
holiday rental marketplaces which put up a page about your
property on their
website.
Examples:
Gite.com , HomeAway, Owners Direct, Simply owners. What do these do?
They put up a page about your property on their own website – which is
necessary if you don't have your own website, but rather superfluous if
you do have your own website.
These
traditionally charge an annual
fee, which can be big!
For 2024 one rental marketplace is charging £289 a
year (not to mention those extras that you may be invited to
pay
to
get your property to show up higher in their listings).
Others
take a commission.
Travel-nest charges owners 20%
plus VAT... which may not sound too much but
could actually eat up half
of your profit margin! Remember that commissions are
calculated on your rental
fee ... not on what is left for you after your running
costs have been deducted.) Some big rentals sites are
now charging
customers as
well as
owners, so effectively getting paid twice for
stays booked
through their services, and increasing the cost to guests.
- 4. Using
an online reservations agency
Examples: Gites de France or Booking.com, AirBnB
These
will generally increase the number of reservations, but at a cost.
Commissions
on bookings are typically in the range of 10% to 20% and may work out
at up to 25% once
all the bits and extras have been added in to the cost –
which can work out at a
lot of money in the course of a year. In
addition, some of these big names have started charging a fee to the
customer as well as the owner. They also have hundreds of thousands of
properties, so unless you pay for
priority exposure, or
have a uniquely attractive
property, these sites are unlikely to bring you in a full season of
bookings, let alone a full year's bookings.
Of course, using an online Booking site like Booking.com is
easy;
owners just sit back and wait for the visitors to arrive... But at what
cost? If a family makes a two-week booking at a medium rate of 700 €
per week, commission due to the booking site (for just those
two
weeks) will be in the range of 210€.... or about
the same as
six years' commission-free listing with Gitelink.com
Methods 1 and 2 are best used together, and possibly also with
either
method 3
or method 4; but
methods 3 and 4 should never be used simultaneously
Gitelink
quality criteria and values:
Gitelink is a
selective
directory:
We include only properties that come up to the Gitelink quality
criteria and values. Our criteria are a bit more flexible in areas of
France where there are not a lot of gites available. .
Most of the properties proposed to the directory meet these criteria,
many far exceed the minima; but from time to time we have to refuse.
There is no quality chart to sign, no inspection; we presume that the
information and photos on websites submitted are correct and
that
property owners do not deliberately mislead either us or their
potential customers. In short, we trust our advertisers to be
honest.
Values:
Gitelink lists properties that respect their customers. Gitelink does
not knowingly list gites that are well overpriced. A gite that has
special qualities can charge above normal for their area – no
problem
with that; but we will not promote gites whose advertised rates are
unjustifiably high for what they are offering. Other listings sites may
have no qualms about doing this; we do.
The
criteria:
Minimum
surface area:
A minimum of 30 m² for two people, or 36m² for three
people, thereafter
at least 12m² per person (advertised capacity). Most
rural
gites
easily meet this standard. (Different criteria apply for B&Bs).
Outdoor
space: every property must have an outdoor area - garden,
sunny courtyard or terrace or in certain cases a spacious balcony.
Furnishing:
each property must be furnished attractively. This does not necessarily
mean expensively, but it does exclude properties furnished with the
cheapest furniture available.
Capacity:
the announced sleeping capacity implies the capacity in beds, in
bedrooms. Extra places on sofa-beds in the lounge can be mentioned.
Exceptions:
Gitelink also accepts flats or apartments in exceptional locations, as
long as other qualities compensate for any of the above criteria that
may not be met. For example, we accept less spacious but attractive
flats/ apartments in historic urban settings, or modern flats in high
quality developments (with pool and grounds), notably in the Riviera /
Côte d'Azur.
For
Sale: Gites
for sale in France, directly from the owners.
Terminology:
Gite, cottage,
villa, rental or what?
Site
Search Search for holiday accommodation by
keyword with the
Compared
to other directories and online holiday rental booking sites .....
Visibility to visitors....
On its website, one of the major UK gites marketplaces claims a choice
of "thousands" of gites listed, and "a million" visitors a year.
At
Gitelink, we don't beleive in the old saying "big is beautiful".
Gitelink is a niche site, and we get a lot less overall visitors than
the huge commercial directories - about 150,000 in 2019 and rising
- but with only about 150
properties in the directory, each property listed on Gitelink is likely
to get discovered by hundreds of potential visitors in the year, with
the most popular properties generating over 500 visits in the
year.
And to achieve this number of visitors from Gitelink, owners do not
have to pay for high-cost extra premium listings. Gitelink believes in
a level playing field for all, insofar as listings are concerned. After
that, the number of visitors will depend on other factors - area,
capacity, and what is on offer.
With most Gitelink
visitors coming from targeted Google searches, there is a high
proportion of potential customers for the properties listed. It's not
the number of
sites listed that
makes an effective directory; it's the
ratio
between the number of visitors to the directory and the number of sites
listed. And on that, Gitelink is probably unbeatable .....
Privacy
:
A listing with Gitelink ensures
full privacy for your personal data. Gitelink does not have any online
database, and the directory pages contain no personal data, the only
connection being a link to your own website or webpage. Unlike most other holiday
rentals sites, Gitelink
will send you customers via a direct link to your website, not
through an online contact form, meaning that Gitelink cannot possibly
acquire any details about your customers or those who make enquiries.
The only
information that will be known is the number, not the identity, of
visitors who click through to each website.
A unique partnership
Gitelink is the unique and sole gites advertising partner of
About-France.com,
one of the major French tourism sites on the Internet. With up to 4
million visitors a year, About-France.com is a major source of visitors
to Gitelink.
Advertising
Prices...
Compared to the prices charged by the big brash
holiday rentals sites,
Gitelink prices are generally unbeatable
Gites with a
capacity of up to 12
guests can be listed for 2024 for just
£35 or
€39 - which is at
least
six
times less than some big vacation rental sites
Even our top
rates,
for large gites operations, are well below other sites' cheapest basic
rates....
In fact, listings with Gitelink are pretty well risk-free.
For
example, a website offering a single gite with weekly
rental rates from £400 or 480 €uros would
need to take only
one single week's booking in
fourteen
years to make a Gitelink listing worthwhile!
As for B&B's, a
single
night's booking in the year, even at only 50
€uros, would
be enough to pay back the cost of a listing.
For gites charging at least £500 a week, the likely return on
investment of a Gitelink listing is even better.
►
Return to
Gites in France
About / Legal
Gitelink is based in France and operates under French microenterprise
status. Consequently VAT is not charged.
Gitelink
is a directory, not a booking agency. It does not operate as an
intermediary between advertisers and customers. It does not take
bookings. It does not maintain an online database. Its function is to
publish and publicize details of accommodation and thereafter enable
direct contact between gite advertisers and customers, cutting out
commissions charged to owners by bookings sites, and booking fees
charged to holidaymakers.
All
information on gites and other accommodation provided on gitelink.com
is done so under the entire responsibility of the property-owners or
their webmasters. Gitelink cannot be held liable for any possible
errors or misleading information in the descriptions of properties
listed in the directory. Descriptions posted on Gitelink are a short
summary of the indepth information provided on the external websites to
which each description is linked.
Requests for further information on Gitelink.com should be addressed by
email.
Property owners:
add your gite or holiday cottage to Gitelink France
If
you already have your own
website, just read on and sign it up.
If you
do not have
your own website, Gitelink can create and host a mini-site (four pages)
for you.
Ask for details
Gitelink -
which started life back in 1999 - is a directory that produces results.
Which is why we are now in our twenty-fourth year. Results are
certainly
what you are looking for, if you are wanting
effective advertising for your gite. Don't take it from us,
take
it from people who already advertise their gites or B&B on
Gitelink
France.
Feedback
What
our announcers say:
►
I
have just been reviewing
our marketing and carrying out an overview of our traffic, as we have
had an exceptional year and have a high demand for holidays for next
year.
Gitelink is one of our top platforms, so we are happy to say
we
will be advertising with you again next year,
Tina - Northwest France, August
2022
►
We have been letting for 23
years now and I
think for most of that time we have been with Gitelink and we would
like to say thank you for all the referrals you have sent to us. We are
sure we would not have enjoyed the success we have without your help.
Grahame -
Southwest France, November
2021
►
I'd just like to say thank you for all the help
you have given me over the years.
Ralph - Western France, October
2021
►
3 days on your site and I have my first booking!
Not too shabby!
Carolyn - gites in the Midi, January
2019
►
I have forwarded (your details) to the new
owners as I sold the property last month. I would like to
thank you for your excellent website which has driven a lot of traffic
to both my rental and sale sites over the years
Julie - western France, November
2018
►
.... We are very pleased to have regular traffic
on our website through Gitelink
Anna - central France,
November
2018
►
.... I had at least two bookings this year
because of Gitelink, which was very good
Sue - West France, October
2018
►
.... Also, I received my first booking via a
Gitelink referral yesterday - so thank you. (
Just a few days after
listing....)
Lorna - Brittany, May
2018
►
We've just taken a four-week booking, the longest
we've
ever taken, and the guest has confirmed that he found our site on
Gitelink. And it's not a peak season booking, but for weeks that are
harder to let.
Ginny - Southern
France, March
2018
► Your
site
has been an effective way for us to increase our website traffic over
many years, and the only reason we don’t want to renew is that we’re
quitting the business.
Patrick -
northern France, December
2017
►
Thanks.....I still get a huge amount of traffic through
Gitelink. All the best
D.G. Brittany, December
2016
►
I have sold my farm now so its bye bye and thank you
for
everything. You have always brought in business and that's
the
main thing.
S.P. Loire valley, November
2016
►
Gitelink has been very good for us, and for that I thank you,
it
seems to have brought people from far and wide as well, Australia being
the furthest to come via your site! Thank you for your
service.
A.S., Normandy, November
2015
For the number of clicks I received, I think your service is
really worth the money: they come from a site highly focused on the
subject, unlike ..... where you can end up being displayed in the
most irrelevant places
Ben, south of France, October
2015
►
We are very pleased with the listing! We already had
some
great bookings last year and our first booking this year was all the
way from Budapest in Hungary!
Adam, south of France, February
2015
►
"This year was our 11th year of giting and every year seems
to be
different! Gitelink has been very good for us this past year,
so
thank you for all your efforts, much appreciated."
Alison, Northwest France, December
2014
► "We
very much value Gitelink and get a lot of clicks to our site"
Tim, south of France, January
2014
►
"I have been very pleased with
the number of hits I receive via Gitelink, more than my listing on
Holi****.co.uk"
Pat, southwest France,
January 2014
►
"We
had a good year thank you and Gitelink ranked well in our analytics,
top as far as internet referral was concerned.
Despite the doom and gloom of other B&B's we were pretty busy
all summer and turned away a lot of clients."
Jonathan, south of France,
►
"Additionally I have a 2 week booking
already for May/Jun 2013, from Australia! It came
via Gitelink."
Patrick, southwest France, Dec
2012
► "I have sent the renewal form .... as always our
link from Gitelink has provided us with a good proportion of the hits
on our website.
Pat, northern France, Oct 2012
► " My
google analytics show Gitelink sending high numbers to my website.
Recently I discovered that a 3 week booking for Ocotber (fabulous!)
which I thought had come through Facebook as this is how she first made
contact, came originally through your site. "
Carolyn, south of France, Oct
2012
►
"Thankyou for another fantastic year of
advertising"
Catherine - Brittany - Nov. 2011
►
"Bookings (from other sources) are slow this year and as
Gitelink is so reasonably priced I decided it was worth the investment
to have an extra listing. "
Helen - southwest France
- June 2011
►
"We definitely want to renew with Gitelink.... I have done my
own
analysis and know that we get results from you."
Michele, north-east France ,
►
"I’d like to renew my listing for (my
site)... Gitelink has of
course been a fantastic source of referrals throughout the year, by the
way.
TP, Burgundy,
►
" This year to date we
have received around 1500 referrals of which Gitelink account for 955
(64%)."
Pat, south-western
France,
►
" I have been extremely impressed with the amount of traffic
that Gitelink has generated for my site this year, thank you very much."
Caroline, Brittany,
Best for quality
Unlike most gites directories, Gitelink sets
quality
standards (see right-hand column), and we refuse up to a quarter of all
applications.
==================
Rural
gites
throughout France - directly from the owners:
Select an area on the map
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