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How to Rent out your French Riviera PropertyFor many people the only way to make their French Riviera property purchase financially viable is to rent it out on short term holiday rentals. The popularity of the cote d'azur as a tourist destination means that there are thousands of potential renters every year. The trouble is for you is that there are hundreds of properties to rent too. The competition is tough - therefore if you want to rent out your French Riviera property any more than to a few friends and family, you will have to get professional! There are many expensive advertising options available and numerous website owners vying for your business - be careful, alot of money can be wasted. There is an old advertising saying that "50% of all money spent on advertising is a waste of money - the difficulty is knowing which 50%!" We at Nice-City-Vacation.com have extensive contacts and experience in this field and hope our useful tips will steer you toward the "right 50%". Build Your Own Simple Website. Our top tip is to use a "one stop shop" website building package that is designed and proven to generate traffic. We recommend SiteSell - the World's most popular small-medium business website package. It is basically idiot-proof and if you follow the process you will drive large amounts of search engine (Google, Yahoo etc) directed traffic to your French Riviera property site. There are free website-building packages available that can create some very pretty sites ... but what good is that without anyone being able to find it? One weeks apartment rental will pay for several years worth of SiteSells hosting package. Advertise on Large Proven Website(s). While your own site is being built and getting found by the search engines it is prudent to advertise on somebody else's site. In our experience Holiday-Rentals.co.uk (see the advert-link at the foot of this page linking to their Nice page) are the best. Their adverts are seen by many thousands of visitors and while your advert will be one of several hundred French Riviera properties, the leads you will generate justify the cost. Again there are freebie (for the first 12 months etc) websites out there and it is little work to "cut-and-paste" an advert onto them - but don't expect many leads. Consider a Full Property Management Service. For a substantial percentage of your rent there are companies who can fully manage your French Riviera property for you. This will include advertising, meeting your guests, cleaning and property supervision. The best we have found at managing French Riviera property is RivieraPebbles run by British couple Simon and Amanda Walker. They can only manage a handful of properties themselves but may have vacancies or may be able to recommend someone of similar quality. The advertising is welcome but even more importantly the attention to detail provided by a company such as RivieraPebbles means that you should receive many repeat bookings too. Be very careful: for some reason the cote d'azur attracts a number of shady characters, often ex-pat Brits, who have set themselves up in business expressly to deal with foreign investors. These people play on your potential lack of French and your geographic remoteness. ALWAYS ask for their French company SIRET number and do not be fooled by any "Oh, I have registered my company in Ireland/UK/Luxembourg" - to trade and carry out work in France, they must be registered in France. Be suspicious of anyone paying their cleaning staff cash ("on the black") - they are behaving illegally and may well have the same attitude in their dealings with you. Get plenty of references and follow them up. Likewise when you rent a property in France be wary of Agents or Property managers who suggest "Just bring the cash with you" - they may well be pocketing the money for themselves, with the rightful owner (and mortgage payer) of the property totally unaware. Your Contacts. Let people know. Your friends, family and work contacts. Put your website address in the "signature" of your email. Put your website address on your business card. Make a point of telling your most gossipy friends and those friends who move in a large social circle that you have a French Riviera property to rent. Pop an advert up in your local post office and hairdressers. Make your Property and therefore your Guests Sparkle. Successful property renters generate around 30% of their business from repeat customers. To do this your property and the service you provide need to be excellent. customers have a large choice of Riviera properties, but if they find one that delivers a great overall package many will come back time and again - and tell their friends. Self-catering holiday villas & apartments Return to the French Riviera Property page Return to the Nice City Vacation Home Page
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