A new site!

French is rapidly becoming my second language! I remember the nightmares that I had when I first settled here in 1996, literally dreaming in french and being totally confused by all that I heard around me.
After 12 years I find myself thinking and dreaming in french, and indeed have days when I start to panic about my fast fading English vocabulary.
It must be bad when your own mother comments on how poor your english is, especially as I was once a Secondary school teacher!
So, I may as well put this new found gift to use, and have decided to create a french site.
Hotelsafloat.com is so popular now that even french people send me emails, so it seems only fair to reward their patience with a site dedicated to them.
Vacancesplaisance.fr is now in the making and I am busy typing french appraisals. No doubt I will make many mistakes, but the essential is that I am making an effort.

Many of our clients worry about the language barrier, but after 12 years here, I can confirm that making a small effort goes along way with most french people. A friend of mine when holidaying here had to take her son to the chemist for a cough. With very little french she was very worried. She held her hand out at child height, said 'enfant', and coughed. 'Wet or dry?' replied the chemist and instantly found the perfect medicine!

So, next time you are planning your holidays and wondering whether you will be able to get by, rest assured!
I look forward to seeing more and more English speakers here.

See you soon!

Discounted cruises!

Hi everyone.
In the current economic climate, everyone is looking for a bargain, and today I have just that!
We are currently offering a 40% discount on a hotel barge cruising on the Nivernais canal, a discount which has never been seen before.
If you would prefer a cruise on the Burgundy canal, we have the best value vessel there too and are currently offering a 20% discount.
I know that some of you would love to cruise on a hotel barge again this year, but fear that the prices are beyond your reach. With these discounts, we can help you fulfill your dreams!
Just call or email me for details at
hotelsafloat@aol.com
+33 614 25 02 00

We are cutting the rates, not the standards! Here at Hotels Afloat we are passing on these incredible savings.

Happy New year and the financial crisis

Happy new year to you all!
The Paris boat show is now behind us, and despite the financial crisis, visitors were numerous and emails have been flooding in ever since!
Although I love being busy, I was hoping for a quiet week at the beginning of the year as I am moving my office, having outgrown our present premises. But no! I am just having to work very long hours and unfortunately Father Christmas did not answer my request of an extra 4 hours per day for 2009!

While many companies are struggling, www.hotelsafloa.com and Bouba Meca Boat at www.appelbouba.com are both flourishing.
Here at Hotels Afloat we are kicking off the season with a number of special offers:
Our clients can currently save up to 300 euros when booking by 7th February on our larger boats in the south of France, one of our most popular destinations.
In addition, we continue to extend the discounts offered to us so that our clients benefit. We are also happy to negociate our prices so if you are fighting the effects of the crisis, please do send us an email at hotelsafloat@aol.com
We will do our best to find you a cruise within your budget!

Paris Boat Show

HI all,

This month see's one of the most popular events in Paris: the Salon Nautique.
Although not holding a stand this year, I will be nipping up to Paris to inspect the 'nouveautés', and to meet prospective clients looking for that special cruise.
Many visitor's attend the show looking for a boat to purchase, but there are increasing numbers looking for that special boat holiday, whether it be a self drive or crew chatered cruise.
If you are unable to attend the show, and let's face it, you may not want to be among so many people!, you may like to visit our site instead where you can see all the self drive boats on display at the salon, and many, many more.
As an English speaking agent, I can assure you that my advice will be impartial and based on my knowledge of the french waterways, hire boat companies, regions, gastronomy and so forth acquired over the past 12 years since I moved to Burgundy.
Visit my site now at
http://www.hotelsafloat.com/
and beat the crowds!
In addition, we are offering some excellent early booking discounts up until the end of the year. With just 23 days to go, contact me sooner rather than later to save up to 15% on published rates.

See you soon.

Rhone cruises and preparing for the Salon Nautique at Paris

Hi and sorry for not having been around for a while. If you could see the piles of work on my desk would you appreciate why!
The post cruise comments are still coming in, and I have been working on a few new projects too concerning my site at
www.hotelsafloat.com
Although the credit crunch is likely to hit tourism, I am quietly confident that 2009 will be a success even so, especially having recently selected a new product to add to our range.
River ship cruises in Europe are becoming an increasingly popular way of viewing a great deal in a short space of time. Ten days ago I had the pleasure of an inspection trip aboard the Princesse de Provence, a ship for over 100 guests, which as her name suggests cruises between Provence and Burgundy. I have to admit that I was overwhelmed by the standards aboard. My assistant and I had adjacent cabins, with a maid between us! We were equally assigned a waiter who was attentive to our every need including our allergies to sea food and lemons. Having the same waiter throughout your stay aboard means not having to re-explain your needs each time you sit down to eat! The food aboard was sumptious, refined and plentiful, and the wine cellar very good too. This level of service was not reserved for us: All guests benefit from this personal service which remains discreet at all times.
The Princesse de Provence offers a range of shore excursions, but guests are equally at liberty to make unaccompanied visits, or of course to stay aboard if they so wish. Spoilt for choice, I am sure that a 7 day cruise would insure time to relax and to visit the towns and villages too, without being in need of a second holiday to recover!
This ship will soon be featured on our site. Should you wish to receive information, please do not hesitate to email me at
hotelsafloat@aol.com
The temptation was to overstay but of course, I had to get back to the office as soon as feasible and here I am looking at the report and website work that I must surely attack tomorrow!
My partner has just created a company, Bouba Meca Boat, so I have been teaching him some basis computer techiques so that he can deal with his own emails etc! For a mechanic, the keyboard seems to be a complete jungle but the logic of Excel is proving far more interesting.

I am now planning my stay at the Salon Nautique at Paris (THE Boat shown) in December. If any of you would like to meet me there, drop me a line in advance so that I can come fully prepared with any information that you may required, whether you wish to hire a self drive boat, join a river cruise or even buy a boat!

On the home front, the latest news is that my partner and I are now officially engaged, but don't worry, I wont be changing my name as James is far easier to spell and to find on the www!

Post cruise comments

Having finished the updating of my site at
www.hotelsafloat.com
I am now enjoying contacting my clients from the 2008 season to enquire about their cruise experiences. Of course, it's wonderful when clients contact me spontaneously once back home. Those emails often arrive on a less-than-perfect day in the office, giving me a boost when I need it. Divine intervention or chance, I leave you to judge for yourselves, but we all know that warm glow when good news or praise arrive out of the blue. Being my own boss is great, but of course nobody pats me on the back to tell me what a great job i'm doing! So, to all of those who wrote to me this season, thank you! Your emails make me smile, and enable me to improve our services.
Some of your comment make it onto the guests comments pages of the site, so take a peek if you would like to see how others have faired before you take the helm!

Apple fairs and saucissons

Having been very busy at work, and in the garden tidying up for the winter, it was a pleasure to take an afternoon off on Sunday to visit the local Apple Fair. Nothing to do with iphones, ipods or computers, but a celebration of the wide variety of apples grown in France, and more particularly in Burgundy.

I am a keen apple muncher: I even have a bowl of fruit in the office and often have to wipe sticky marks off the keyboad, but even I was surprised to see the variety of colour and textures on display.

Other local produce on show and available for tasting included apple juice, honey and saucission, the latter being dried sausage which we love to eat with a glass of red wine! Try it, you might actually like it. At one time, this was the Burgundy farmers' staple breakfast and lunch!

We chose saucission de cerf, sanglier et morbiere: Deer, wild pig and a local cheese. So much for the diet this week. These are just too good to resist, and the fact that they keep for months does not interest me at all: I prefer to eat them now, thank you very much.

If you ever get the chance to visit a rural fair in France, often called La Jour de.... , do go. Not only were our tastebuds awakened, but we also met some local musicians, a wood turner, sculptor and still life painter. It's a great way to meet the locals: Even Chataigne the dog enjoyed it (especially the saucisson de cerf)