Meet the people behind South France Holiday Villas

...bringing you pre-checked and approved holiday rental properties with pools in the South of France

South France Holiday Villas Ltd. was started by Juliana Forte with the aim of providing a friendly, efficient service to clients looking for that perfect holiday property in the Languedoc, Provence or Cote d’Azur in the south of France.

It’s always a worry when booking a holiday – you never know quite what to expect when you rent a holiday home for the first time but we take all that worry away by personally checking every single rental property we have to offer.

Right from the start, we were determined to only rent out properties which one of our team had personally visited in order to ensure that there are no hidden problems with the villas booked by our clients. We realized quickly that it was the only way to make sure there are no nasty surprises when clients arrive at their holiday home – you definitely don’t want to find that it is next to a nightclub or a motorway!

We offer a wide range of properties to suit all budgets. We don’t just have villas with private pools, but also cottages and apartments, either with a shared pool or near the beach, or traditional village houses for clients to experience real southern French village life!

THE BOOKINGS TEAM

The Bookings Team, who speak both English and French, are based mainly in the UK although they make regular trips to the south of France on property inspection trips and to enjoy the sun, wine and cheese! The team are highly motivated to provide the best possible service for our clients and put a lot of effort into each enquiry to make very specific searches for a property to suit the client’s individual needs. Therefore, if a customer doesn’t see their ideal property straight away on our website, they should contact us so we can do the searching on their behalf.

We go to great lengths to select only the best quality holiday homes available in the area and we know all the owners personally. We try to meet with them on an annual basis to discuss the results of the questionnaires we sent to all clients who book with us and to look at improvements that could be carried out for the next rental season as a result.

While you are here on holiday, either as an owner or as a guest, we are always available at the end of the phone in case you have any problems during your stay. If the problem is with the property i.e. the pool needs a clean etc, then we will contact the property managers for that property and ensure that the problem is dealt with swiftly. If you have a problem such as one of your party falls ill, then we are on hand to help you get the assistance you need. We will always go the extra mile for our rental clients and you can rest assured that you are in safe hands and will receive the best service possible.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT TEAM

The Property Management team are very experienced in dealing with just about any problem which could possibly arise during the summer season, but although we often think we have seen everything, every year there are more surprises in store!

We provide an efficient changeover service within the Languedoc as well as a pool cleaning service, laundry, security visits over the winter period, translations, emergency assistance and contacts for tradesmen.

Out of office hours, up to 10pm, any message left on our main mobile number will be read within an hour so emergencies can be dealt with.

Moving to France was one the best experiences of my family’s life

It was also one of the hardest!

Juliana’s family moved to France for the usual reasons of sunnier climate, more relaxed lifestyle and a better environment for raising children. We chose this area for its beaches and superb access both to the UK, Spain and the Pyrenees for ski-ing weekends. The move was made with children, grand-parents and 2 cats thrown in for good measure and we encountered many difficulties during our first year in France, even though 3 of us already spoke good French.

With such a large age range in our family (7 to 70 at the time!), we had to deal with a variety of issues ranging from finding schools, builders, doctors etc, registering with the French National Insurance scheme, getting a Disability Badge for my mother, finding work and starting a business. One of our biggest obstacles was to find the right school for the children and as we didn’t meet any British people with young children who lived in the area for almost a year, it meant we had no-one’s previous experience to help us with our choice of schooling. We literally went through the yellow pages phoning every school to find out what its age range was and if it could offer any assistance to my non-French speaking children. My father’s priority on the other hand was to find a good plumber and a golf course!

The business was originally created to offer a friendly relocation service to other people moving to this area as my own experience had showed how helpful such a service would have been to us. We have assisted many people over the past few years and got great pleasure from helping them with all the important issues first, i.e. getting the children into schools, sorting out insurance, and then assisting with the myriad of small (but still important!) issues which make life in France so different to the UK. Whatever problem you might have, the chances are that we’ve been there and know how to sort it out!

The business then gradually developed into providing a changeover service to owners of holiday rental homes and this also included pool maintenance, gardening, meeting and greeting guests, surveillance visits, sorting out general household problems and being the emergency contact for guests.

Over the years the business has changed dramatically and following a major re-launch in 2011, now concentrates on renting out the 450 properties on our website in the Languedoc, Provence and the Cote d'Azur.  This has proved an exciting challenge for us and we love finding fabulous houses to offer to holidaymakers. It is tremendously satisfying to be able to assist in giving someone a fantastic holiday and we will always go the extra mile to ensure that all goes smoothly for them. We have just welcomed another member of our family into the business and Jake (20) is proving to be an excellent ‘right hand man’!

Juliana Forte, Director

South France Holiday Villas Limited is a company registered in the UK under number 7504520. The head office is 3 LDL Business Centre, Station Road West, Ash Vale, Aldershot, Hampshire, GU12 5RT, U.K.

We act as booking agents only for the owners of the properties on our website. Your contract for the rental of any property seen on our website is with the owner of the property and not with South France Holiday Villas Ltd. We are responsible only for processing bookings made through our website and other advertising means and the client is liable to the owner and vice versa in all legal respects.