Booking Deposit. Gite owners have different ways of tackling the question of payment. A deposit of 25% at the time of booking, or payment in full if the time difference between booking and arriving is less than eight weeks, will probably be necessary before your booking is confirmed. You need this booking confirmation before planning (and paying for) costly travel arrangements, so the earlier you start the process the better.

If your booking is cancelled within eight weeks of the holiday commencement date, you will forfeit your deposit. Seems harsh, but, don't forget, the gite owner may have turned down several other bookings for the same dates. Some owners will reimburse you if they manage to re-let the weeks you have cancelled. Some will allow you to carry forward the deposit against a future trip. Make sure you fully understand the deposit terms you are agreeing to.

Breakage Deposit. Most gite owners expect normal wear and tear and mishaps like broken glasses and the odd plate. Normally, they are philosophical about this. Carelessness is one thing, but downright "don't care" is another, however, and some have experienced extensive damage in the past. At best a difficult subject at worst a 'deal-breaker', the subject of reimbursement for damages does need to be tackled at the time of booking. Many gite owners will ask for a cheque as a deposit against breakages. This should be held by the owner and not cashed. The cheque should then be returned once the owner has been able to inspect the property.

Cleaning Deposit. Occasionally, you will be asked to provide a cleaning deposit as well. You are expected to leave the property in a clean state and most gite renters do... out of a sense of pride. There are some that do not. Gite owners expect a certain amount of cleaning and know how long it should take to turn their gite around for the next holidaymakers. If there is excessive cleaning to do, this will incur a longer turnaround and, subsequently, it will mean added expense re: hourly paid cleaners/gite carers. You may be asked for a small additional cleaning deposit of, say, £50 to cover this eventuality. Again, this should not be cashed unless necessary and you should receive this back once the property has been inspected.

If you do not want to face having to clean your gite yourself on the last morning, you will normally be able to enter into a prior arrangement with the owner, to have the gite cleaned for you after you leave at a small additional cost. The key here is "prior arrangement", so that the gite owner can make sure that this requirement is planned for and booked in.

By and large we are dealing with a cottage industry here (if you will excuse the pun) and it will be exceptional, rather than the norm, for you to be able to pay for your gite rental by credit card. Even when you can, it is not unknown for the gite owner to charge a small booking fee of around 3% or 4% to offset the charge made to them by their bank.

Cheque. Normally you will be asked to settle the gite rental cost by cheque. With most gites listed on this gite Holiday France website being owned by Brits, payment is calculated in (and may well be requested in) £GBP (sterling).

Cash. To avoid loosing money on bank fees for the transfer of a UK or other nationality cheque, some gite owners may ask you for a cheque which they will then hold and exchange it with you for Euros once you arrive.

Bank Transfer. More and more, because of the excellent (mostly!) French banking system, gite owners will ask you to transfer the sterling or Euro equivalent amount direct to their bank and will provide you with an e-mail attachment detailing their account and international banking codes. A painless way for you to proceed, especially if you are set up for personal telephone banking.