Reserving accommodation

[Brodie]

I am an English speaker with little French. I am trying to book accommodation on the Le Puy route by using email. I am getting very few responses. I'm wondering if gites are so busy during the season that they dont check their emails perhaps, or at least dont respond to booking requests by email. Has anyone had this experience? I am wondering if because of the volume of requests maybe that they only take them by phone. I would be obliged if anyone could give me advice on this.

Thanks.

 

[digitalgerry]

I am an English speaker with little French. I am trying to book accommodation on the Le Puy route by using email. I am getting very few responses. I'm wondering if gites are so busy during the season that they dont check their emails perhaps, or at least dont respond to booking requests by email. Has anyone had this experience? I am wondering if because of the volume of requests maybe that they only take them by phone. I would be obliged if anyone could give me advice on this.

Thanks.

Hi Brodie
I am in france, and I;d say I'm surprised to hear this. I assume you are emailing in French? If so you should get responses, but check theylve not ended up in your spam.
I run a b&b and we prefer direct bookings over Airbnb & booking, so I'd suggest the following:

1. See if they have a reservation form on their site
2. Call them, most will speak English as they're dealing with international clients
3. Some don;t take reservations, especially the traditional hostel styles, where its first come first served.

So hope that gives you hope.
Best wishes
Gerry

 

[BillW]

Brodie... I did Le Puy last year. I spoke no French, so like you, I used email to reach out to lodgings. I found nearly all responded, but some took a few days or even as long as a week. In a few cases, I checked to see if their phone number was on WhatsApp, and tried reaching them that way. I also used Booking.Com to book a bunch of places. Best of luck to you, the Le Puy route is wonderful.

 

[J Willhaus]

I am an English speaker with little French. I am trying to book accommodation on the Le Puy route by using email. I am getting very few responses. I'm wondering if gites are so busy during the season that they dont check their emails perhaps, or at least dont respond to booking requests by email. Has anyone had this experience? I am wondering if because of the volume of requests maybe that they only take them by phone. I would be obliged if anyone could give me advice on this.

Thanks.

Are you leaving soon? Maybe you are checking too far ahead.

 

[digitalgerry]

Brodie... I did Le Puy last year. I spoke no French, so like you, I used email to reach out to lodgings. I found nearly all responded, but some took a few days or even as long as a week. In a few cases, I checked to see if their phone number was on WhatsApp, and tried reaching them that way. I also used Booking.Com to book a bunch of places. Best of luck to you, the Le Puy route is wonderful.

French businesses are slow, email is still 'new' but you should get a response, but if not try caling.

 

[Brodie]

Thank you all very much for responding and giving me such helpful replies. I shall keep on trying and glad to know it may not be because they are booked out!

 

[SabsP]

French businesses are slow, email is still 'new' but you should get a response, but if not try caling.

I guess some French businesses still mourn for the Minitel....

 

[Karen Landow]

I am an English speaker with little French. I am trying to book accommodation on the Le Puy route by using email. I am getting very few responses. I'm wondering if gites are so busy during the season that they dont check their emails perhaps, or at least dont respond to booking requests by email. Has anyone had this experience? I am wondering if because of the volume of requests maybe that they only take them by phone. I would be obliged if anyone could give me advice on this.

Thanks.

Hi Brodie, I am walking in to Le Puy tomorrow after having started in Geneva. Like you, I speak very little French and am continuing on from Le Puy to SJPP after a few days rest in Le Puy. I had read that accommodation may be hard to find in some towns so a couple of weeks ago I booked ahead for the first two weeks. I used a combination of booking.com and emailing gites. I used Google translate to email them in french. They all replied but some took a few days. I also managed to book a night at the abbey in Conques which required a deposit paid via PayPal. Good luck with your adventures and maybe I will see you along the way.

 

[Robert Long]

For what it is worth I want to echo Karen's experience. Last Sept 2022 my son, best friend, and I walked 7 days on the LePuy. I too have no French. I booked our trip in Sept 9 months earlier in Jan 2022. I was able to contact each gite using their own web site. I did not use Bookings. They responded quickly. I did confirm reservations the month before we left the States. Only one gite asked for a deposit. She wanted me to wire 35E. I would have cost me $35 to send it. I explained this and offered to mail cash. She declined that and kept my reservation for me.

The Le Puy is a marvelous walk, best food ever.

Buen Camino Bob

 

[Flog]

I've found the best way to enquire about a bed is to contact by whatsap... google translate if necessary. In my experience, people respond to whatsapps much faster then emails and you can usually see if it's received. French and Spanish mobile numbers start with 6 or 7, or 06 or 07.

 

[Carsten Bauermeister]

I am an English speaker with little French. I am trying to book accommodation on the Le Puy route by using email. I am getting very few responses. I'm wondering if gites are so busy during the season that they dont check their emails perhaps, or at least dont respond to booking requests by email. Has anyone had this experience? I am wondering if because of the volume of requests maybe that they only take them by phone. I would be obliged if anyone could give me advice on this.



Thanks.

 

[mrosenlof]

I am in Cahors on Le Chemin right now. I can call and ask about a room in French. About half the time, people respond in English, of the remaining half, half of them give me a slow and simple enough response that were good. The remaining 25% use fancy words from the 99% of French that I dont understand. ;-)

I'm finding that best response is from phone calls, even if I leave voicemail, then SMS (text), then email. The vocabulary to book a room is pretty limited.

French phone numbers that start with 06 or 07 are mobile, so can probably accept a text msg.

not sure that helps the OP almost 4 weeks later, but thats my current experience. I booked four places today, 1 in English, 2 in french, one by SMS in french. my comprehension of spoken french is pretty terrible.