Font Remy is a row of four beautiful holiday gites set above the Gironde estuary in the vineyards and sunflower fields of the Charente-Maritime region of France. Font Remy is so named because of an old well which provided water to what was originally several huge farm buildings. Passing through the fields, a small left turn leads you onto a driveway that sweeps up to a wide lawn behind which the four cottages sit.
The Font Remy cottages sleep ten (Rose), ten (Jasmine), six (Wisteria) and six (Honeysuckle) respectively, very comfortably. They sit in two acres of immaculately kept grounds overlooking breathtaking views and just 2km from the pretty fishing port of Mortagne-sur-Gironde. The largest of the gites is Rose Cottage. This was once the manor house and the grandest in the local area.
The owners are Huw & Cathy Thomas. The couple have been providing ‘special family-friendly holiday lets in France’ for nearly fifteen years. Huw first encountered Striking Places through his marketing brands, thebestof Welwyn and Hatfield and thebestof St Albans and Harpenden. He has been working with us ever since.
When the time came for Huw and Cathy to refresh the Font Remy website and that of their other property, Chateau-de-la-Place in the nearby Saint-Fort-sur-Gironde, they immediately thought of us. A Google Street View Trusted Virtual Tour would be the ideal tool to showcase their holiday lets and put them on the Google Map.
During the scoping process Huw and Cathy outlined a number of key considerations that needed to be addressed by the virtual tours of the Font Remy Holiday Cottages. The holiday let business is a very competitive market. They needed to utilise the best, most cost-effective marketing to show off the beauty of the cottages. They needed to be noticed and make a lasting impression. Most importantly, they needed to stand apart from their competition.
They were also keen for visitors to experience absolutely everything the properties have to offer. Even good photographs can’t always convey the character or atmosphere of properties that have been so lovingly renovated.
The holiday cottages can be rented individually or together which means guests need to make well-informed decisions. They also vary in size. A description on a website isn’t always enough to convey this. For example, from the outside Jasmine looks like one of the smallest cottages because of the lower roof. It is actually a bit of a Tardis, since the inside is considerably larger. Huw and Cathy needed the virtual tours of the Font Remy holiday cottages to visually describe the properties in magnificent detail with the space and features clear for customers to view.
The benefits of appearing directly on Google are numerous and central to why Huw and Cathy chose to optimise their presence with a Google virtual tour. The virtual tour means the property can be viewed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Additionally the business will stand out whether people are looking on Google Search or Google Maps.
Recent research published by Google states:
• When searching for businesses, consumers use mapping products 44% of the time
• On average, 41% of these place searches result in an on-site visit
• Listings with photos and a virtual tour are twice as likely to generate interest
Huw and Cathy are absolutely delighted with the tours. They will embed them on both their websites and Facebook pages. Striking Places created the Google My Business pages for these properties too. Although the virtual tours of Font Remy have only been live for a short time the statistics provided are remarkable. Huw & Cathy have given us permission to publish these results at a later date. Watch this space!
Cathy Thomas | Owner | Font Remy Holiday Cottages
“We were trying to work out how best to show off the beauty of the place. It’s a crowded market. We needed to be noticed. We had to do something independently. Having a virtual tour gives you a much better idea of the space, both outside and in. Also anyone looking on google maps will be able to look around. It gives us a great edge. I was really impressed with how quickly and thoroughly Jo worked, and how she made the most out of a limited timeframe, given the weather constraints.”
Take a virtual tour of Chateau De La Place for more of our private holiday let 360 virtual tours.
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