Established Gite business for sale, situated in the French Pyrenean mountains accomodating up to forty tourists in ten guest rooms for summer and winter seasons. The Gîte is extremely well located being in the 'Pays Toys' which represents the very heart of the Pyrenean tourist map, with world famous sites such as Gavarnie, Pont d'Espange and Tourmalet on doorstep as well as the GR10 hiking route which literally passes the end of our drive. As far as the Pyrenean locations are concerned it doesnt get any better than this.
The Gite is situated at an altitude of 850 metre on the same 2600 metre moutain as the Luz Ardiden ski station (base station 1730 metre) and only twenty minutes drive to Domaine de Tourmalet (La Mongie), which is one of the largest and most popular ski stations in the Pyrenees. All roads are well maintained as they are required by tourists so access is not a problem, the current owners manage fine with a normal family car. Whilst true wilderness is to be found not far away; the Gite and nearby towns and villages have all the usual comforts
The area is very popular in summer time, walkers and mountain sports fans enjoy unparalled mountainous beauty with numerous high altitude lakes and the world famous Cirque de Gavarnie, the Gite enjoys a healthy summer and winter trade with approximately the same revenue for both seasons.
There are many types of Gite, this is a “Gite de Sejour and Gite d'Etape”, we are members of Gites de France and have a quality classification of three “epis” (out of a possible four), we are currently charging 33 euro per night per person including evening meal, this is considered very good value and we have the lowest prices in our locality for this level of quality. Gites de France classify Sejour/Etape as Gites of large capacity (12 to 50 ) particularly convenient for families and groups of friends who wish to spend a weekend or a holiday together. This is certainly accurate for us since our capacity is for forty people and many of our loyal clients are extended family groups or friends (often in the age group of thirty and above). Most stays are pre-booked but we also take passing trade in the form of small groups of walkers, we are very well placed for this since the world famous GR10 hiking route literally passes our front entrance sign, see below
Since the concept of a Gite de Sejour/Etape does not exist in many places outside of France it is worth explaining the philosophy. A Gite de Sejour lies somewhere between a bed and breakfast and a hotel but with the proviso that the business is capable of being run by a small number of people (usually a husband and wife) and so prices are lower than for a hotel. In return for cheaper prices clients understand that in contrast to a hotel, workload is kept to the essentials, good breakfast food and evening cuisine are classed as essential whereas daily room cleaning or changing of sheets is not, indeed when clients arrive they find their sheets in a neat pile on their bed and their first task is to make their own bed.
The gite business is capable of supporting a family, turnover* is 85,000+ Euro which is attractive given the relatively low workload, very much sought after location, winter and summer season trading, the low cost of living in the area and the asking price of 600,000 euro which includes all land, buildings, the business and the owners appartment.
*Partial results for 2008 Jan to end Aug - 84,000 Euro already taken, conservative estimate of additional 6,000 Euro to end of Dec leading to projected 90,000 Euro turnover for 2008.
Client Base |
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The gite is sold with a very healthy existing base of customers, approximately 95% French, at least one of the new owners will be required to speak reasonably good conversational French or be capable of achieving this within a few months of immersion with guests. The loyal (repeat) clientelle have been very kind and understanding with the current owners so whilst a reasonable level of linguistic skill is required it should not be seen as an obstacle for those willing to work at it.
Cuisine |
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The business is sold with a restaurant (40 places), professional kitchen+equipment and adjoining bar and relaxation area (bar licence class 1 included). Training will be offered so that that ten dishes currently offered to guests may be learnt. We feel that the menu would be easy to learn for any competent home cook, but some passion for food is essential, our cuisine is extremely popular with our French guests and it is necessary therefore that the cook radiates some passion. Assuming a reasonable base level of competence we feel your passion for cooking may actually be more important than your current knowledge. We would of course teach you our 'emergency' backup plans such as Confit de Canard which comes tinned but is extremely popular.
Guests enjoy a continental style breakfast and an evening meal. In keeping with convention for this style of Gite all guests eat the same menu and at the sitting time which lowers workload for the owners considerably.
Owners Apartment |
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Beautiful apartment for the owner(approx 120 m2) large open plan lounge/diner with glass sealed wood burning fire, three large bedrooms (one with mezzanine for storage), a small office, two bathrooms with WC, cubby room and electric heating throughout. The appartment is ideal for a couple or a family. The fact that an owner's appartment is included is a major advantage since similarly priced and performing businesses often do not include owner accomodation and the rental or purchase of a seperate living space for the owner can be a considerable financial drain for the small scale tourist business.
View From The Owners Apartment |
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The following pictures show the view from the main sliding door windows in the apartment
Restaurant,Bar And Lounge Area For The Clients |
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Guest facilities include a large lounge area with open log fire, tv, restaurant area, bar, sofas, toilet
Guest Rooms |
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Nine of the ten guest rooms are found on three floors of the main guest building and are bright and simply decorated with easy clean floor surfaces. The tenth room is separate from the rest. All rooms have a toilet and shower and electric heating. Some of the rooms contain bunk beds which are very popular with families. The total capacity is forty. The main guest room building also contains a ski room
Guest Parking |
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The village is very well maintained and provides three large and close parking areas for the village and its visitors. The most distant overfill parking area is 100 metres from the Gite, the closest is only a few metres away, together the three carpark areas are sufficiently sized to easily cope with demand.
Reason For Sale |
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The owners are selling the gite in order to move to Italy in order to buy and run a campsite business with other family members.
Local Amenities and Practical |
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- Shops, Restaurants, Bars, Doctor, Dentist, Pharmacy: Luz-St-Sauveur 4kms.
- Almost all client consumables are delivered direct to the Gite by the suppliers - delivery staff have access so you do not have to wait around if you have to be somewhere else.
- Nursery, Primary and Secondary schools (16 years) at Luz-St-Sauveur, free school bus from village.
- School/College (over 16 years) at Argéles-Gazost - 20mins - free school bus.
- Open air swimming pool, cinema, music, sports clubs at Luz-St-Sauveur 4kms.
- Tourist Office (co-operates closely with us - sends clients) at Luz-St-Sauveur 4kms.
- Large City Shops Amenities Tarbes 40 mins or Pau 60 mins.
The Sale Of The Gite Includes |
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The business, all buildings and land including…
- 3 guest rooms for 2 persons
- 4 guest rooms for 4 persons
- 3 guest rooms for 6 persons
- Ski room including ski racks
- Restaurant/Bar/Relaxation Area including open fire.
- Professional Kitchen
- Courtyard and Small Rear Garden
- Large owners appartment with magnificient mountain views (circling eagles included!), an open plan pine beamed lounge area with log burning fire, bathroom and small office.
- Website
Energy |
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The guest rooms, guest areas and owners appartment are electrically heated however the guest bar/relaxation area and the owners appartment also have log burning fires.
An oil-fired boiler supplies all hot water.
The current owners pay a very slight dividend for electricity from renewable sources (hydro-electric) and would be keen to sell to a buyer who wishes to continue to run the Gite on this eco-friendly basis.
Training |
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Approximately twelve distinct menus will be taught including regional dishes, which are very important to please our French clients but do become routine once mastered. We will teach the new owners the simple and easy hospitality skills that have helped us become well known as a warm and friendly establishment with many repeat bookings and new bookings coming by means of word of mouth.
Goodwill and existing bookings will be included. The current owners will continue to take bookings. The sale is conditional on new owners honouring all existing bookings, which will ensure a smooth start and immediate income for the new owners.
Location |
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We are based in a small village overlooking the town of Luz St Sauveur and only thirty minutes drive from Lourdes, forty from Tarbes and approximately one hour from Pau (international airport). The large pink dot on the following map shows our approximate location near to the French-Spanish border
Website |
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The business is sold with a comprehensive professional quality website which is translated into several languages including French and English. The website includes an online booking form which results in enquiries being delivered as emails. The existing owners are ex-IT professionals and wrote the site themselves and can provide a reasonable amount of customisation for the new owners. The website contains many pictures of both the Gite and also the surounding areas including pictures of area of outstanding natural beauty all to be found within a short distance from the Gite, be sure to check out the panorama images which pan across some of the most beautiful countryside in Europe. On the website you can also find details of local activities, pictures of the ski centres and also piste maps for Luz Ardiden and Tourmalet/La Mongie
Workload |
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For an establishment with a capacity of forty the workload is very low and can be comfortably handled by a couple.
Rooms are cleaned before guests arrive but thereafter guests are responsible for keeping the room clean, this is normal practise for a Gite of this type.
Guests eat at the same time, the menu is fixed so is not necessary to cook a choice of dishes.
The current owners looked a buying a hotel before buying this Gite, one of the biggest factors in the decision to choose this type of Gite instead of a hotel was the greatly reduced workload which does not necessitate hired help, keeping costs low but also avoiding complicated employment regulations.
When we are operating at peak capacity then the days are long but not intense, for instance we usually manage to go skiing for two hours a day even when we are full. Middle and low season tend to be very relaxing as the demands of twenty of fewer guests are not great, the vast majority of guests are fit and active people so they demand very little fuss.
Lifestyle |
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The current owners offer a description of their lifestyle as an indication - the new owners may of course want to adopt a different approach.
We choose to work approximately 150 days a year leaving something in the order of six months holiday, this time is spent enjoying the mountains and also travelling around France (especially Atlantic and Med coasts), Greece and Italy by road. We could choose to work more but for us a balance of quality of life is a very important factor..
A key advantage of a Gite (vs hotel) is that most bookings are taken months in advance and so there is very little dependence on 'passing trade'. French (ie domestic) tourists do not tend to book in advance for hotels in France and therefore hotel owners are not able to plan small holidays and vacations around guest occupancy as easily and optimally as we can, effectively they are tied down to the business.
Marketing |
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We have a close relationship with the local tourist office and receive bookings from them. Our main sources of new clients are direct referals from existing satisfied customers, our website and the tourist board, our website is well linked in the local listings. Our experience has lead us to believe that maintaining a warm, helpful and friendly relationship with clients results in repeat bookings and referals (70% of bookings are repeat), we believe this is probably the most important factor of all. We are members of Gites de France and Rando Accueil and appear on both of their websites and paper based literature.
Contracts/Relationships |
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A large company in Mimizan on the Atlantic coast have an arrangement with us. Each year this brings in approximately 300 overnight stays which are partly paid for by the company, the visitors are mainly employees accompanied by their families. This also generates new custom since most employees return under the company scheme the next year but some also choose to return independently of the company scheme for supplementary holidays throughout the year and bring friends. This is a nicely sized arrangement since it generates enough revenue to be significant but not so much that we are heavily dependent on one source of custom.
Price |
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The gite is for sale at 600,000 euro - this includes the business, buildings and owner's appartment.
Local lending conditions will necessitate that prospective buyers have at least 300,000 euro in capital but 400,000 euro is recommended. We can recommend the local branch of a well respected French national bank who have mortgaged and provided business banking services for the Gite business under current and previous ownership for nine years, similarly we can fully recommend the services of our accountant who has a long standing relationship with the business, charges a very reasonable annual flat rate and has nearby offices.
The price includes guest furniture, equipment, goodwill, training and the website, the owners are prepared to undertake a reasonable amount of work customising the website for the new owners
Consumables such as heating oil and wood fuel will be sold separately.
Contact Details |
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The current owners may be contacted as follows
By telephone
from outside of France 0033 562929690
from France 05 62 92 96 90
The telephone is answered in French but please feel absolutely free to speak English or German.
email giteforsale@dial.pipex.com
The Beauty Of The Pyrenees |
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A selection of local attractions and beauty spots that our clients regularly visit
Additional Photographs |
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Panorama Views Of Local Scenes |
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If you have broadband then please dont miss our scenic panoramas which are on our main customer website, the following link will open them in a new browser window or tab - click here
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