France Direct was formed in 1997 as a direct reaction against the ill conceived, poorly promoted and above all expensive advertising that was available at the time. We have grown into one of the most effective websites in our field, linking thousands of visitors to France each year with owners of French holiday accommodation.
Bookings are made directly with the property owners, who in 95% of cases are English speaking. You will be able to discuss your accommodation and local places of interest with someone who has a working knowledge of both and not just an agent with a limited knowledge of either. In short, you will have complete control over your holiday. There are no agency fees to pay nor any other hidden charges.We continue to go from strength to strength with a first rate travel service and a "Swap Shop" database which shares availability between our Members. In October 2000 we launched our travel dedicated website www.francedirect-travel.com and January 2001 saw the launch of our direct booking service with our sister website: www.gitesdirect.com If you can't find a property for the weeks you desire, contact us at Swap-Shop@francedirect.net and we'll search our database and our members will contact you direct. If you are the owner of holiday accommodation in France and would like to join us, you can find full details on our Advertisers Page.
We would welcome your comments in our Guest Book which will help us to make this Web site work the way you would like it to. If you would like to view our
quest book please click on this link. If you would like to Add a Link to your web pages or web site, please complete
the form provided, all we ask is that you add a link from your web site back to us. You can view your link on our Links Page.
This is what some of our Members say about France Direct and the services we offer. If you click on the Members name, it will take you directly to their advertisements.
"The season is now sufficiently advanced for us to be able to make a judgment on the effectiveness of the advertising medium you are providing.
For us, FRANCE DIRECT has been a very successful means of advertising our property to let; they have produced more enquires for various dates during the
year than we could satisfy. In two cases clients have contacted us having looked at the FRANCE DIRECT web site and made their bookings without further information being provided. When asked if
they would like a brochure the reply has been, "it's not necessary, we've seen all we need on the web site". Others have said that the web site is easily found and the information comes up
quickly.
You may rest assured that we shall continue using your service next year . Don't be afraid to let potential clients of yours contact us for a reference."Neville and Elizabeth Gay. Membership Number FD98120/G1
"France Direct has gone from strength to strength in a very short time, with an ever developing, informative and effective website covering several aspects of tourism but one which remains easy and speedy to use. It does seem to attract people who enquire and book, rather than time and money-wasting brochure collectors which larger companies seem to generate - and all this without inflated advertising prices." Wendy and Peter Long. Membership Number FD98146/L1
"I thought I would drop you a line to say how pleased Carolyn and I are at the response to our advert on the France Direct web site. We only started advertising in June and have so far managed to fill 11 weeks on the two gites and expect to get more before we are finished. If we had been ready earlier we could have picked up quite a few more weeks, we know this because we turned down quite a lot of enquires. The "Swop Shop" is an excellent means of maximizing the potential lets of the advertisers, we have picked up a number of them this way. Next season we would like to upgrade to the online booking form as I feel this would save a lot of time and effort in postage. It also gets the customer committed then and there. Thanks once again for the superb service". Phil and Carolyn Sims. Membership Number: FD20191/S9
"I have been advertising my Gîte for three years with various companies and have had little response. This year I decided to try France Direct. Although I was late in getting a computer set up and had problems with it at a vital time, I still managed to fill eleven weeks in a year when bookings are generally down in France after the December storms and oil slicks at sea. Pat Tayler. Membership Number FD99171/T4
I have no hesitation in recommending France Direct to anyone, Gîte owners or visitors to the web site looking for a holiday. The bookings are coming in from all over the world because of the
large audience the Internet reaches. The Swap Shop has given us inquiries that otherwise would have been lost and the Travel Services commission has almost completely paid the cost of our
annual membership. Margaret Ashton. Membership Number FD99161/A4
Yes we will continue with France Direct, you have been our best source of enquires for the last 4 years - that is why we tell everybody about you!!!! and we will continue to tell them!!!! Karl and Sandra Ayling. Membership Number FD98103/A2
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