A while ago I made a post about the idea that people were sometimes put off coming to France for a holiday because it was ‘no longer French enough‘ – the suggestion being that France is becoming more ‘generic European’ and less like the traditional France that made it so interesting.
True or not, the question has come up again as I have spent the last couple of weeks updating the gites.
We now have flat-screen TV’s in both the gites, along with DVD players and a good selection of films – but we don’t have English TV, and I am a bit tormented whether we should have it or not. I know that lots of gites (well, those with English owners at least) do now have English television available, and it’s moderately easy to install, even here in deepest darkest southern France. But is is the right thing to do?
My personal view is probably that people aren’t bothered, they don’t come on holiday to watch Eastenders etc and it is another nail in the coffin of making a holiday in France seem less ‘foreign’.
But of course my view doesn’t matter, what matters is whether we would get more bookings if we did have it installed, or could charge more per week; or we would get less bookings because families think their children would spend all day glued to the TV; or it would make no difference whatsoever to anything.
There is also the ‘special case’ of sporting events such as the World Cup or Tour de France for example, where UK television channels have a completely different focus than French TV. Important to some – but how many? Perhaps a real soccer enthusiast will refuse to leave home anyway during the World Cup, and a cycling enthusiast can manage without endless interviews with and about Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish, as long as they can see the race.
Anyway, all thoughts would be very welcome. How do I decide? Should I or shouldn’t I get it installed for 2011 or will I be helping to undermine the very reason why people are coming to France in the first place?
I think that if all goes well there should be no need for English TV. However, we do have English TV in our 2 gites because we have learnt that many people expect it.
Also, if it rains (not that it ever rains in sunny Brittany) and the family is trapped indoors, having English TV might make the difference between the perception of the holiday.
Not sure if I’d want TV of any sort whilst on holiday but, then again, I don’t watch TV and… what’s a holiday anyway?
You’re right about weather being a factor – that’s largely why we’ve put in new TVs and a bigger DVD selection, like you say ‘just in case’, so that people at least feel like a wet day isn’t a completely miserable experience.
I’m also thinking that maybe parents will be quite happy leaving their children in front of a TV from time to time so they can enjoy a glass of wine in peace outside, or when the children wake up before their parents in the morning. Kind of thing we might have done ourselves when the girls were small and liked watching disney films over and over again, I suspect.
Among the DVDs here is a ‘Tudors series 1′ box set and one comment in the guest book last year was ‘had a great time…can’t wait to get back and get Tudors series 2′. Hard to predict what someone else is going to enjoy on holiday!
I think while there will be some of your guests that will happily sit on the terrace absorbing the French ambiance even on the occasional cold wet summer’s evening (and I vaguely remember last year there were lots of those) there will be others that will want to have access to UK TV or BBC radio which comes with those sat boxes. Especially families with moody teenagers whose idea of fun will be sitting anywhere other than with their parents. Best to let have them the choice. Access to the internet would probably be more important and the more techie ones who have brought their laptops with them could watch any BBC programmes on iplayer.
Regretably you would probably would have more bookings if you had English TV.We enjoy a break away from TV when on holiday, but as in most things we are probably a minority.
Is it possible to split the difference and have both French and English channels? I’ve never looked into getting English TV over here, but then, I’m fluent in French, so I watch French TV. However, on a trip home to Ireland recently with my French partner, we really appreciated that one hotel had a selection of DVDs in French which both of us could watch. Watching TV didn’t take from the holiday – in fact it was a lovely treat to sit down and watch a film together and unwind from long days sightseeing…
To be honest, I actually prefer if there’s no tv at all on holiday, but different people have different needs I suppose.
If you’re not intending to install the English language TV for 2010, why don’t you use the season to do some market research? Either put a little questionnaire in all the gites, or just try to ask every client (not just the parents!) their opinion at some point during their stay, and keep a note of the answers. That should give you a fair idea of your current clients thoughts. As for those that you may be losing because you don’t have English TV, I’m not really sure how you would get their opinion, short of organising one of those pop-up questionnaires for clients who leave your website without booking.
Lastly, I would agree re the WiFi access – that’s going to get more and more important, particularly as the new ‘smartphones’ take over the market.
We would certainly also keep the French channels (which come via an aerial and TNT). Almost all our DVD’s are in both French and English because they are bought in France and include ”version original’.
That’s a good idea to actually ask people! I’d already considered putting a poll on the gite website so people could ‘tick a box’ to let us know their thoughts.
WIFI incidentally we already have and I have recently added a signal amplifier to improve the wifi signal in the gites, but while it is fine for emails and a bit of surfing etc our line is too slow to allow people (or us) to watch movies online, not much I can do about that it’s in the hands of France Telecom. I agree how important it is and usually only book hotels etc myself that have wifi access.
We don’t have a gite, but for the moment we live here. (Mayenne) And like most people, watch a bit of telly. I had a Freesat box installed, which means I have to live with a wall-mounted sat dish, which I think rather spoils the look of my old house. A necessary evil, as I prefer to watch English telly.
Also, having a parabolique outside means I have to fess up to having AV equipment, and therefore have to pay Sarko’s iniquitous AV taxe – for receiving Freesat. !
That’s a very good point, and part of the reason why we haven’t already got it – one house + 2 gites = 3 dishes, not at all in keeping with the property. We used to have one dish but that has been removed now that TNT (freetoair) in France comes through a normal aerial.
I confess my ignorance. Not that I’m now very likely to have my parabolique removed, but what is transmitted on TNT? French progs?
Originally to get the French television apart from the basic 5 channels you needed a dish, but then they all started being transmitted on TNT – so yes, French channels only, but lots of them and in digital quality, through an aerial. Quite often they are also simultaneously broadcast in English so for films and ‘big series’ like House or Desperate Housewives we are able to watch in English if we choose. The programs that are also in English don’t seem to get publicity mentioning it so it’s a case of trying each program.
I would like UK TV in case it rained, to watch when I’m getting ready and if I had kids, to keep them quiet (I think?).
I have UK tv in France and whilst I love my French life and don’t even watch much TV, I find French TV really really bad (and so does French hubby).
Whenever we travel I’m always really happy if they have English TV but it wouldn’t be a decision making point for me.
I think it would be a good idea to survey your guests this year maybe?
I spent a week in Bezier in September 2007 when the six nations rugby was on and the house we were staying in did not have english TV. I was devastated. In my view the TV ought to be able to view british programmes including sport. I rented out my own apartment in spain and had satellite TV and would expect that as standard wherever I went unless the rental was exceptionally cheap.
Lord… that will tell you how up to date I am re telly stuff – we were living here for nearly a year before we realised that we could get TNT if we just bought a little decoder for €25… up till then the 5 channels did us just fine. Of course, now that we have nearly 20 channels, we spend more time flicking than watching…
And now, reading through your reply, I realise that I can watch some programmes in English! A definite case of RTFM… (Read The F****** Manual!)
Boris
You don’t need three dishes, one dish with a suitable LNB and distribution amplifier will fed all three cottages
Regards
Bob Dunbar
Bob, that sounds like my kind of answer! Where would I find / what would I look for in a distribution amplifier? Would I need special lead to cover distances of, say, 20 metres?
Cheers
Boris
Apologies for the delay in replying, I’ve been away working and now I’m up to my neck in redecorating the English house prior to selling as I have at last decided to ‘retire’ to the Charente Maritime due to a downturn in my business. If you only need four outlets a suitable LNB will do. A british company CPC do all the kit.
cpc.farnell.com
Suitable items are: AP02034 90cm dish
AP02031 Quad LNB
Cable: Either CB12726 (balck) or CB12727 (white)
F- type plugs (at least eight) AV15299
CPC are wholesale distributors, therefor the cable is in 50 or 100m lengths. I dont know if they will deliver to France but, as I have an account with them, let me know of any difficulties and we can try to arrange something between us.
NB Dont get a ‘quattro’ LNB they have four outputs but work differently.
Regards
Bob D
Thanks very much again Bob, also for the offer of help geting hold of the items. I’ll get right onto it – though installation will likely have to wait for october when the gites are empty again.
Cheers!
Ummm … NO! When I go to England I don’t get French TV so why should there be English TV available in France?
When I was last in Florence we stayed in a 4* hotel – English TV was available if we PAID for it on pay per view.
Surely people can do without English TV for week?
(I’ve managed in France for almost 2 years!)