Running a gite/auberge on the Le Puy route

[Tracying]

I hope it is OK to ask this question here.

I am planning my Camino for 2018 but will be doing a "business Research" trip with my husband and daughter this summer to Cahors.

I am Irish and my husband is French, we live in rural Ireland but my husband would love to return to France. A number of years ago we spent a lot of time in France looking at properties to buy that would be suitable to run as a hotel. We finally found one and had made all the arrangements to move but the sale fell through and then we had the property crash here so couldn't sell our Irish property. Looking back on it I think we had a lucky break as we were looking at running a large establishment and be employing more staff than I wold be comfortable with.
So now we have this opportunity again and I am thinking much smaller. We spend a lot of time around Cahor and I suggested a business that would cater to pilgrims (and others) and look at budget friendly accommodation.
My idea was for a rural location about 10km from Cahor, with a pick up/drop off service to/from the Cathedral. We would have about 4 ensuite double/twin rooms, a bunk room/s accommodating about 8-10 people and possibly a camping area. Services would include a communal kitchen lounge area, toilets/showers and a heated pool....this is a must for me and the one condition I insist on if I move to France. I would provide optional table d'hote meal and continental breakfast.

So my question is would this work.
Would pilgrims be prepared to step slightly off the route to stay if a collection service was available.
Would this be a place were pilgrims may stop for more than one night taking a rest before moving on.
I assume June to Sept would be busy but would we have pilgrims outside this time.
What about winter, are there many pilgrims around Cahor then.

I'm not going into this with a "romantic notion", we have been planning a move to France for over 10 years and will move regardless of whether it is with this option or another. We both have experience of working in hospitality, I have studied hotel management and work now as a cookery teacher. We actually met when both of us were working in a hotel.

Thank you

 

[mspath]

Tracying,

What big plans you and your family have for the future!

Since you will be walking this summer and plan to stop in small places do ask the proprietors their opinions re successfully running a gite/albergue/chambre d'hôte.

For recent relevant posts on this forum see --
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...g-of-opening-an-albergue-is-it-possible.39691

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/so-you-want-to-run-your-own-albergue.21604/

Believe me hosting can be hard work; you are 'on' 24/7 and need always to be prepared!

My husband and I live in a small French village, facing the Marne river. We have had a b&b for 20 years as well as providing simple family hosting for passing pilgrims. My first pilgrim shell hangs at the door marking the path. It has been great to greet/meet/help our guests but also at times overwhelming!
Send me a pm/conversation for further thoughts.

Happy research and Bon chance!

 

[Tracying]

Tracying,



For recent relevant posts on this forum see --
https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...g-of-opening-an-albergue-is-it-possible.39691

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/so-you-want-to-run-your-own-albergue.21604/

Believe me hosting can be hard work; you are 'on' 24/7 and need always to be prepared!

Many thanks, I have just read those posts, great information and I'm not put off yet. As I said we both have hospitality experience including B&B. Husband has native French and adult daughter with us for summers has fluent French. Husband can turn his hand to most electrical/plumbing/DIY and son is a carpenter and plasterer so between us all we have most of the skills needed covered.
I am more concerned about my "numbers", the rooms/bunks I am considering, is it too little/too much. And would pilgrims be happy to stay a little off route.

I may message you another time with more questions but for the moment am still at the planning out loud stage.
Thanks

 

[TMcA]

Hi Tracy,

I have finished and started hiking in Cahors several times. I will add my thoughts which reflect only what I would do myself.

Would pilgrims be prepared to step slightly off the route to stay if a collection service was available.

I personally would not if other lodging were available. Once I get started, I want to keep on going unless there is a lot to see in a place.

Would this be a place were pilgrims may stop for more than one night taking a rest before moving on.

Cahors has the cathedral, the "secret garden" tour, the small museum about the Resistance, and its bridge, but even in their totality, I don't think Cahors would attract many hikers as a stopover/rest day.

I assume June to Sept would be busy but would we have pilgrims outside this time.

Because many French hikers walk the route in stages, I would say you would be also busy in May and into early October. I am not sure how many people walk in the summer - I have never done so.

A final thought...I did, in fact, complete one fourteen day hike near Cahors. I chose to stay at La Truite Dorée, a great place with copious servings of good food which I wolfed down with gusto. That small hotel is linked by bus to Cahors, tho the frequency of service is not good. So there would be competition for you in the Cahors area.

Just my thoughts.

Tom

 

[Tracying]

Hi Tracy,
I have finished and started hiking in Cahors several times. I will add my thoughts which reflect only what I would do myself.
Tom

Many thanks Tom, great information

 

[Magnara]

I hope it is OK to ask this question here.

I am planning my Camino for 2018 but will be doing a "business Research" trip with my husband and daughter this summer to Cahors.

I am Irish and my husband is French, we live in rural Ireland but my husband would love to return to France. A number of years ago we spent a lot of time in France looking at properties to buy that would be suitable to run as a hotel. We finally found one and had made all the arrangements to move but the sale fell through and then we had the property crash here so couldn't sell our Irish property. Looking back on it I think we had a lucky break as we were looking at running a large establishment and be employing more staff than I wold be comfortable with.
So now we have this opportunity again and I am thinking much smaller. We spend a lot of time around Cahor and I suggested a business that would cater to pilgrims (and others) and look at budget friendly accommodation.
My idea was for a rural location about 10km from Cahor, with a pick up/drop off service to/from the Cathedral. We would have about 4 ensuite double/twin rooms, a bunk room/s accommodating about 8-10 people and possibly a camping area. Services would include a communal kitchen lounge area, toilets/showers and a heated pool....this is a must for me and the one condition I insist on if I move to France. I would provide optional table d'hote meal and continental breakfast.

So my question is would this work.
Would pilgrims be prepared to step slightly off the route to stay if a collection service was available.
Would this be a place were pilgrims may stop for more than one night taking a rest before moving on.
I assume June to Sept would be busy but would we have pilgrims outside this time.
What about winter, are there many pilgrims around Cahor then.



I'm not going into this with a "romantic notion", we have been planning a move to France for over 10 years and will move regardless of whether it is with this option or another. We both have experience of working in hospitality, I have studied hotel management and work now as a cookery teacher. We actually met when both of us were working in a hotel.

Thank you

There is an Irish couple who are the hosts where we stayed in Moissac - it was a friendly happy and apparently successful place, so it could be worth getting in touch with them and asking their insider opinion.

 

[Richard P]

Hello Tracying
I'll start by answering your first question about pilgrims willing to step off the route: for me yes. When I walked two years ago I did stay in many gites, accueil communal and the occasional hotel. The reason to leave the route was to try to get a good nights sleep. I know many, many people post on this forum about the wonderful experience of being cloistered night after night with your fellow walkers but there are some who snore, wheeze, cough, mumble etc. and after four or five nights you just want silence - rest.
I can't begin to count the number of signs (big and small) tied or tacked to a tree or post advertising a private room and for me if I was looking for a good nights sleep or the sign read Good Food, then I probably would follow it. On more than one occasion I stayed two nights. It was just so relaxing.
A conversation I had with a fellow and his girlfriend who were offering several rooms in an ancient village in an equally ancient but beautifully restored farmhouse 4 km. off the path went something like this: Locals living 5 to 6 kms either side of the chemins have a reasonably steady flow of potential customers walking nearby every day for 4 or 5 months and in many areas there is either high unemployment or you must drive 30 - 40 km each way to work in a larger town or city. So, if you have the financial wherewithal to make a room or rooms available - why not?
With regards to the amount of work. You have your family there and if you love it - it's not really work.
Go for it and good luck.

 

[NavyBlue]

Hello,

Some points to be taken into consideration for your project :
- Beyond 15 hosts, the rules change and your business will be considered as a hotel, with specific constraints https://www.service-public.fr/professionnels-entreprises/vosdroits/F31521
- Operating a kind of shuttle between the cathedral and your gite would be another constraint : 10 x 2 km, including an urban section, are rather long and you will be tempted to group people at given hours. Which doesn't fit completely with the wishes of the pilgrims (having a shower asap, cleaning and drying their clothes before sunset...). You will have also to deal with the various wishes about leaving time in the morning. I have met a gite owner who was a bit overwhelmed by such problems (but his gite was more remote than your project).
- Some economic information here http://www.ladepeche.fr/article/2016/05/20/2348288-pelerins-st-jacques-font-bien-economie.html

 

[Kanga]

Yes, I'd contact Rom and Aideen at Gite Ultreia in Moissac - a lovely Irish couple who have catered to pilgrims in their gite on the Le Puy route for many years. They have developed the site so that it now also includes some beautiful bed and breakfast room. Here are their contact details from their website: http://www.ultreiamoissac.com/contacteng.html

 

[Tracying]

Brilliant, great info all and lots to consider. Richard P, your thoughts are what I was considering....providing a place where pilgrims may wish to take a rest day. I am planning my on Camino and don't intend on walking every day but taking a rest day every 7 to 10 days (finances and time allowing).
Great and valuable information Navy Blue thank you. I knew there was a cut off to deliniate chambre d'hote from hotel. I have a book with all the regulations but it is out of date so will get a new one and do more research on holidays this year.
Thanks

 

[Tracying]

Thanks Kanga, great info.

 

[Magnara]

There is an Irish couple who are the hosts where we stayed in Moissac - it was a friendly happy and apparently successful place, so it could be worth getting in touch with them and asking their insider opinion.

Just got the name of that gite in Moissac from another forum post - Gite Ultreia, with hosts Rom and Aiden.

 

[Kanga]

Yes, @Magnara, in case you wanted it - I posted a link above to Rom and Aiden's website - here it is again: http://www.ultreiamoissac.com/contacteng.html

 

[Tracying]

Ok I am back and many thanks to you all for the advice.
So some bits of news.

Firstly I am getting a bit fitter in preparation for holidays this year and hopefully walking the Camino in 2018. I am walking almost every day and swimming and have lost 6.5kilos, lots more to go but it is a start. Walking 10k isn't difficult for me now.

I have realised that the small town near Cahors that we were looking at is bang smack on the Camino itself. So we are looking for a property with land within 5km of the town and hopefully still on the route.
I have ordered the Miam Miam Dodo book to locate the exact route.

We are planning 3 weeks there in September and I hope to spend a few days walking the local route. This will give me a chance to chat to people and see they types of accommodation they use and what foods they like to eat. I am a good cook but French Haute Cuisine is beyond me and not what I hope pilgrims will want. I sent an email today to an agent to book accommodation.

I have been looking at some immobilier sites and am very pleased with the availability of suitable properties for sale in the area. I will contact the agents closer to our planned holiday to make some viewing appointments. Financially I should know by September if this will be possible for us within the next 5 years or will have to be a longer term plan. Regardless viewing some properties is always good research and a great way to get to know the area better, immobiliers are a great source of information.

An finally I have a new job, I am now working in a country house and the main part of my job is dealing with all the admin...organising all the bookings, managing the website and all the booking engines. It is great experience for me and while I still wont have knowledge of French regulations I will be able to market our business internationally and have detailed understanding of costings and pricing. I also deal with guest relations and this can only be beneficial experience. I work with the chef at big events and while I am a good cook I am getting great tips is mass catering particularly in preventing waste and food storage. I have decided that an industrial fan/steam oven is a must.

So that's my news for now and thank you all for your great suggestions. Hopefully I will be able to host you at our auberge sometime.

 

[Tracying]

6 weeks time and we will be in France.
Hotels and a house rented.
Miam Miam Dodo well thumbed by now and I may have worn google map street view out.
Today it is back to the immobilier sites and try to make some appointments

 

[Kanga]

@Tracying I see from your other posts that you are a vegetarian. We did stay in one vegetarian gite - and the food was less than impressive! Which I think is a pity because I have had some fabulous vegetarian meals; here in Sydney the Asian influence is strong and many tasty Asian dishes are vegetarian.
One thing to remember is that when you are catering to the passing walkers you really only need one or two menus. Because your guests are only with you for one night or at most two nights, so it is fine to serve the same dish night after night. I remember talking to one hostess about this, after complimenting her on the main meal she laughed and said she should be able to cook the dish well, she'd done it hundreds of times!

 

[Tracying]

Thanks Kanga...you are full of knowledge. Yes, I don't eat meat but have no problems at all cooking it and do almost every day, I worked in a pub as a steak chef for 4 years....ironic. I'm less competent with fish but find with a decent oven you can steam it and make sure you have a nice sauce to go with it. My two main fish dishes are a cod mild green curry and a monkfish wrapped in parma ham and baked in a tomato and caper sauce. As I myself can be "awkward" with food I never plate anything but leave it in large dishes on the table to serve yourself, main meat or fish , some salads, cooked veg and a starch...so take only what you like.

I seem to have so many plans for this holiday trip that I wont actually get time to "holiday".