Leaving the job to a company such as HOLIDAY SERVICES changes your life : no need to scrub and wash on the first and final days of your stay; the garden is looked after, the house is prepared prior to your arrival; no need to rely on neighbours or to ask relatives (who usually live miles away) to heat the house or check if trees have damaged the roof after a storm. No need, either, to waste time selecting a new cleaner each time or to travel miles in winter because the last occupant forgot to turn the water off.
At HOLIDAY SERVICES, we speak English, fluently. Your non-French speaking guests, friends, etc. will never feel lost in a foreign country, surrounded by strange people with strange habits. They can rely on us, whether they need information on a museum, a taxi or a doctor …
When you add up the direct and indirect costs such as : cleaner and gardener, occasional repairs which could be taken care of by yourself but are not because you don’t live there all year round, telephone conversations to select cleaners, gardeners or “handy men”, repairs due to lack of follow-up (a leak in a roof after a storm, rusted locks…); and if you also take into account the irritation, the frustration, the lack of rest, etc. then, relying on a company such as HOLIDAY SERVICES becomes financially interesting.
By relying on a company such as HOLIDAY SERVICES, you allow men and women, who would normally either work on the side or leave the Ile de Ré with their children, savings and skills, to work in the “open air”, legally. Illegal work offers good value for money … at an individual scale but it never lasts. And after a while, villagers leave, schools close, and so do shops and many services. In a word, life goes away… except in summer when the island is turned into a gigantic holiday resort. Too bad for the “open all year” atmosphere of the island. A fun park in the summer and a deserted island the rest of the year : is that what you look for when you invest in a second home ?
Chris Vadot
