Tots To France

We had a terrible experience with Tots To France when we rented a gite in France. Whilst this may be a one-off, after the terrible experience we had during the holiday as well as with the Tots to France personnel after the holiday when we complained, we wanted to forewarn others that may be thinking of booking through them. The main issues are highlighted below:

1. For what you get, the gites are heavily overpriced. We paid almost £1000 for a week, and had some French friends visit us for the day, and they could not believe what a rip-off it was. A French run gites will be half the price for twice the quality;

2. The gite was run by an English family (which I think is the norm with Tots to France gites) that had decided to subsidise their own holiday lifestyle by renting out rooms to other Britishers. It was common to see the owners sun bathing / lazying around and we felt bad to disturb them when we needed something (almost like interuupting their holiday!!) Where as the accomodation that would be run by the locals would be run as a business with two important ingredients - customer care and service.

3. The gite owner%26#39;s obsession was with selling their wines and tried repeatedly to organise wine tasting evening with us. Having a baby we were not in the least interested in this, which really annoyed the british gite owners.

4. The gite was delapidated and required major renovation. The curtains on the windows were extremely transparent which let in sun light at 5am....which meant we were all up at 5am.

5. The swimming pool was a dirty little inflatable one with a concrete floor around it...ideal for a child to fall and crack the skull on (nothing like what was in the picture)

6. There were no child locks in the cupboards

7. The garbage bin which was outside our door (and the owners regularly walked past it) was not emptied for the entire week we were there, which was incredibly smelly with baby nappies and food left-overs.

8. Even after showing photos of the above to the Tots To owners, their response was that we should have complained to the gite owners!!! If this is the case, why bother booking through Tots To when one can book directly through gites in France.

Since returning we have found many gites you can book in France directly and this is what we would recommend. Do a Google search, and you will find plenty!!

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Help! Weve just booked with them - which gite was it? we are going to Les gites du Vin, an hr north of bordeaux.

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Hi -

While I sympathize with some of your complaints, I object to the term %26quot;ripped off%26quot; which is a phrase very commonly used when Brits complain about things they could have avoided with a reasonable amount of research.

Any information you can find with a Google search can%26#39;t be considered difficult to obtain. A little more effort with a guide book, would have given even more, and possibly better, information, since there%26#39;s no chance that it is an advertisement included in the text by the owners. A posting here on the forum, could have resulted in even more information and advice. A number of us would have suggested that you compare whatever else you find with what%26#39;s available through official French channels before making a decision, since official postings are visited/inspected before inclusion in the lists.

Unfortunately, many prospective tourists from the UK trust only other Brits. The biggest problem is that an alarming number of Brits believe that the hospitality business is easy, and requires little or no time on the part of the operators of whatever type of establishment involved, and operators make %26quot;a bloody fortune%26quot; for their non-effort because their Deed of Ownership is really a %26quot;license to print money%26quot;. As someone who has worked in a number of areas of the industry, I can tell you that every single assumption above is wrong, and if you seriously believe any of them, I have some swampland in Florida available for sale at the right price.

Usually Brits start out to finance their Retirement Home in France as proprietors of a B%26amp;B. When that turns out to be too expensive, difficult and time consuming, they whine loudly while they convert their property into self-catering units, which they mistakenly believe will be really, really profitable for little or no effort, et voila, they%26#39;ll be able to be vacationers on their own property. Wrong!

Folks, do yourselves a favour and stay in places that are operated by professionals in the field. The ownership is unimportant. Professionals understand that there are minimum standards to be maintained - the trash must be carried away daily, repairs must be made in a timely fashion; off season if possible, or between guests if necessary. Facilities must be clean. Properties that are marketed specifically to families with young children must be rendered child-safe.

To owner-operators: If you want to sell your own self-labeled/produced products to your guests, leave a brochure in their unit and ask ONCE if they are interested in a tour/tasting/demonstration. If the answer is no, don%26#39;t make mention again.

To guests: if something is wrong/broken/unsatisfactory inform the management politely but firmly (if necessary) as early in the day as possible, even if they are %26quot;sunbathing/lazying around%26quot;. They operate a business and you have paid good money to stay in the business they operate and have the right, therefore, to expect that certain standards prevail. If you don%26#39;t complain to management on-site, you won%26#39;t prevail with anyone else.

Every country has a government agency that can be approached with regard to important issues like rotting garbage. Child locks aren%26#39;t necessarily under their purview, but basic hygiene is. A complaint about this one particular item to the agency that issues Tourist Accommodation Licenses, can result in serious consequences if an inspection reveals that the situation has not been rectified since your complaint was lodged.

A TAL isn%26#39;t a right, and the agencies involved are very happy to revoke them if conditions warrant such action. If the establishment is being operated without a TAL, then government agencies can be very difficult to get along with, and large fines are often levied.