Advertise your holiday villa in the South of France with confidence

No Upfront Fees | Full Control | Quality Family Bookings | Personal Service

Whether you're new to renting out your home in the South of France or have been letting your property for years and are looking for a new perspective, we help you get the most out of your investment.

We’re a family-run business with a friendly, professional team based in the South of France. Advertising with us means that you draw on over 20 years of local experience. Since 2006, we’ve specialised in connecting quality properties with loyal British, Irish, and Northern European holidaymakers. What makes us different? Every member of our team also lets their own home or gîte, giving us first-hand insight into what owners really need from an agency.

A smarter alternative to Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking

Choosing where to advertise your villa is an important decision and not all options are the same. Compare us with other platforms to see why many villa owners prefer our more personal, balanced, and flexible approach.

What to expect once your listing is live

Once your listing is live on our website you will receive an arranged visit from a member of our team in order to view your villa, apartment, or chateau. We are there to familiarise ourselves with your property and to ensure that our published details are accurate. We will be pleased to meet with you or your local representative and answer any of your questions or offer advice, as necessary.

We can then also offer you the option to distribute your listing to our SFHV Partner Network accessing markets worldwide, with a focus on the Northern European market and the French domestic market. We are partnered with 3rd party platforms and OTAs via our channel manager and can distribute your listing onto their networks for maximum exposure. This is an optional service, and you can handpick yourself on which platforms you would like to have your property advertised, if any. Partners include Airbnb, VRBO and the wider Expedia Group network (Abritel, FeWo Direkt, etc.), TUI Group network, Locasun, and others; as well as villa compare sites such as HomeToGo and Holidu. 

How does it work?

When we receive an enquiry or booking request for your property we will contact you straight away via email and possibly text message/Whatsapp or phone to discuss any questions that the client may have, as well as to confirm availability. We will not accept any reservation request without having confirmation from you that the booking is accepted. We normally deal with enquiries and booking requests within a few hours of receipt. We also have an active sales team that will propose relevant properties to clients, meaning that your property is not just idly sitting by waiting for a potential client to find it.

Upon acceptance of a booking request by you, we will deal with the collection of the deposit payment as well as the completion of the booking form. Note that the contract remains between the client and owner. Once everything is confirmed, you will receive an overview of the booking, including client details.

At this point, you will receive a deposit payment of 20%.

You will receive a further part payment of 50% 21 days before the arrival date.

The remaining payment of 30% plus any extra charges will be paid out 2-5 days after the arrival of the client.

You will have the client's details from the moment that the booking is confirmed so you can get to know the people who will be staying in your house, ask or answer any questions that you or the client may have about their stay, prepare them for their arrival by sending address details, security codes, details of the property manager/local caretaker, travel directions, etc.

If a client cancels their reservation more than 8 weeks (56 days) before their planned arrival, you will still receive the 20% deposit. If a client cancels their reservation less than 8 weeks (56 days) before their planned arrival, you will receive a full payout. Clients are strongly recommended to take out adequate travel insurance.

We create lasting relationships with our owners, and we know many of them personally. To keep in touch, we regularly send out a newsletter for owners which provides updates on the latest developments, highlights some exemplary listings, and talks about case studies of owners who we feel have some special insight into successful letting. Have a look at our Owner's Experiences page for case studies and owner interviews.

Tips for successful letting

Advertising your property well can sometimes seem a little overwhelming and a bit hit-and-miss. But not to worry as we have the experience to help you make the most of your holiday home and get clients to press that ‘Book Now’ button.

Below, you will find a list of things that will help you to get more exposure and attract more clients:

A detailed description of your property is key. When booking a property, people are handing over their hard-earned money in return for a fantastic holiday. To make sure that our clients know exactly what to expect from the property, it is important to provide all details about your property, inside and out. Describe the living areas, the amenities and facilities that your property offers, the outside area, the layout of the bedrooms and anything else that you deem important for clients to know. House rules are also very important to make clear to everyone involved. Do you accept pets? Fantastic, let us know! Is your property child friendly? Wheelchair accessible? Do you have a chlorine or salt-water pool? All of this is very useful information for us and the clients, so clue us in on every aspect of your property for an accurate representation!

Get your photos right. Pictures speak a thousand words and are vital to promote your property. Provide good quality, recent photos (minimum size 1200x800) that show the property in its entirety.  Poor quality photos will not sell your property, no matter how lovely the actual property is. Need some help? We offer affordable holiday home photography for our owner-partners.

Get your rental rate right. esearch your local market, assess what kind of rental properties are in your local area and how much they rent per week. Make sure to list your villa at a competitive, realistic rental price. If you're just starting out, be prepared to undercut the competition a little to get clients interested and give your holiday villa a chance to earn valuable customer reviews. If you need advice on this, we are here to help, so please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

Respond quickly to enquiries. Speed is of the essence. Respond quickly to our enquiry and you're ensuring that the client who is interested in your property does not have enough time to research others. At South France Holiday Villas, we deal with every enquiry the second that it hits our inbox. Owners need to do so too and respond to all enquiries as soon as possible. 

Keep us up-to-date on accurate availability. We rely on our owners to provide us with up-to-date availability in order to speed up the booking process. Often, a client will have their heart set on a particular property that is showing as available for their dates, only to find out that the property is already booked. In order to eliminate this disappointment, we ask you to update availabliity regularly in your owner account or synchronise our calendar with your main calendar via ical.

Reviews are invaluable. . Any and all positive reviews that you have are incredibly helpful. Only have them in a guest book? That's fine! Scan them over to us and we will get them onto your property page.

Some other tips that work!

• Smart TV and WiFi are now considered essentials in a holiday property.
• Good property management makes the difference between a property which is impeccably presented, and one that is just acceptable. If you aren't on-site to manage your property yourself, then contract an individual or a company in whom you have complete confidence. We provide property management services in the Beziers area.
• Consider installing efficient heaters/radiators and possibly even a pool heater so that you can lengthen your letting season into April, October or even during the winter months.
• Cast an objective eye over your property. Clients will not necessarily appreciate too many personal items on display, and they will certainly not appreciate clutter. Keep the lines clean and simple – it will be easier on the eye, and easier on the cleaning. Ensure that peripherals such as loungers and parasols are in good repair.
• Act on the generous side when it comes to cutlery, crockery, glassware and linen. If your house sleeps four, don't just leave four of everything but add extra plates and glasses etc.
• Consider making your property wheelchair-friendly; people with disabilities are just as in need of a holiday in the sun as those without.
• Health and safety are paramount. Your swimming pool has to be securely fenced or alarmed, and any sudden drops in the garden need to be either secured or mentioned on the property details to protect small children or the infirm.

One of the most helpful tips that we can offer you is the following. Imagine yourself as a client and spend some time in your own property. Cook, relax, watch TV, sunbathe by the pool, ... use every facility on offer in your rental property, and make sure that every aspect of the house is fully functioning, clean and offers everything required. Also make sure that there is enough of everything, if your house sleeps maximum 8 people, provide sufficient cutlery, glasses, pots, pans, sunloungers, etc. This has proven to be the most effective way of making sure that your property is ready for clients.