Intrawest To Sell European Properties

Laura, thank you for posting the information. :D

Yes, I agree, thanks Laura for posting and clearing up a few issues for us.

I haven't posted about this lately because I'm currently feeling rather cross with P&V.

I tried to book our Feb half term holiday with them in Courchevel on the internet in June, and the site wouldn't let me. So I phoned their UK office and did it over the phone, but the French woman dealing with me had great difficulty understanding my name and British address, although I even pronounced the letters of my name in French for her (I have been having French lessons recently).

Then I didn't get an invoice for ages, so I phoned again to query whether they had my address correctly - they said they did. Finally I got an invoice about 6 weeks later with my name and address spelt completely wrong - it's amazing it got here. Presumably it was because they got the post code correct and the postman managed to work out that it was me.

So, I would say that P&V need to improve the quality of their staff in their UK office.

Plus - I would also like British sized tea cups and an electric kettle :lol: Last summer we stayed in a P&V Maeva apartment in Bandol and I had to boil the water for my tea in a saucepan and drink it out of a cereal bowl. I realize this is because it was a French apartment (we didn't see any other British people there) but a few small changes like this would really make a big difference to British visitors.

Ally

Ally, it's quite normal for rental accommodation over a lot of Europe, to not have kettles, or large Teacups or Mugs. Not all nationalities drink tea like the British. You could take a travel kettle with you, we did for years, along with a mug each :D

Foreign holidaymakers form a rather small % of visitor numbers for P&V I reckon.

Bandit,
Unless I misunderstood what Laura said, I think P&V are trying to get more British customers, and I was just trying to be helpful. A kettle and a few cups wouldn't cost them much,

Ally

AllyG wrote:Bandit,
Unless I misunderstood what Laura said, I think P&V are trying to get more British customers, and I was just trying to be helpful. A kettle and a few cups wouldn't cost them much,

Ally

Who would provide the items, the rental company, or the apartment owner?

Bandit,
I'm not too sure, but I think P&V own most of their apartments, and there are only a few on timeshare, and even these I think are let through P&V who presumably lay down the rules about what is provided in the apartments.

I know with our holiday cottages I have to furnish them, and keep them in a good enough condition to satisfy Visit Wales (previously the Welsh Tourist Board) in order to keep my four stars.

Maybe Laura has the answer to your question?

Ally

Hullo Ally, Bandit et al,

I passed on your questions about the various points in the post last week and P&V have asked me to pass on the following answers (which I hope clarify a few things for you!)

Call Centre: They were actually really grateful for your points about the call centre. This has actually now been passed onto Head Office (such is the power of social media!). She wanted me to clarify, the centre is currently based in Paris on a UK phone number. This is to keep the costs low for UK clients when they call. At present, only selected team members with language skills are allowed to take international calls. This is quite a newly established team, and so they are keen to improve their service so your feedback was really helpful. She's also advised they have an additional training/practice session to ensure they are meeting UK standards soon.


Kitchen-ware : Kettles and mugs are already provided in most properties that have a high percentage of UK and Ireland visitors which includes many in ski resorts, especially in the 3+ and 4star rated properties and most of the holiday villages and city centre apartments. However the vast majority of residences in coastal resorts don't yet have massive appeal for UK visitors so these are not a priority at the current time. This hasn't been pushed along so far because the majority of UK visitors here tend to not mind "going native" as it were, and using bowls, however they'll of course keep working on a possible change in all properties if the demand from customers is there.

As an additional note, she wasn't sure if people were aware that all equipment in P&V, Residence MGM, Adagio and most Maeva properties are standard and managed by P&V. Most apartments are 'owned' the vast majority, on leaseback deals to P&V.

There are however, a few Maeva timeshare owned residences, previously operated by Orion but these are a very small minority and on the whole are not promoted to the UK market - or any market as the majority of the owners use them! At the same time, fixtures and fittings in these properties may differ.

I hope that clears everything up for you all? As always, if you want to know anything else just give me a shout.

Best wishes,
Lx

Thanks very much, Laura, that was most helpful.

So, I can look forward to a nice cup of tea boiled in a proper kettle and drunk out of a decent size cup in Courchevel in February in our Maeva apartment :D

You wouldn't happen to know, would you, if they provide duvets in the Maeva self-catering apartments? The previous apartments we've stayed in all have sheets and blankets, and my daughter simply can't stand blankets (typical fussy teenager).

The last few times we've been she's actually brought her own duvet and cover in her suitcase, only we got caught out in Bandol because she used one of those vacuum bags to make it small enough to fit in her suitcase, and they only had a dustpan and brush in the apartment! We both had to sit on the duvet to squash it small enough to fit back into the bag.

It doesn't really matter but it would be nice to know.

Thanks again,

Ally