22/ Personal use

Personal use is usually possible with properties in “tourist residences” and can really be considered to be the “icing on the cake”! French holidays can be quite expensive and this will allow you to save a considerable sum of money on your yearly holiday!

Each different management company has its own formula but here are the most common:

- You get one or more weeks “free” use in the year at fixed dates, which may or may not suit you.
- You can choose your weeks and this directly impacts the yield according to the season of your choice.
- The management company offers no free personal use, but you can use the property at any time with a discount of a round 20 - 25% on the public price (this is the solution which offers the most flexibility).

Perhaps the greatest advantage of all is the possibility to “swap” your weeks in your own property for weeks in another property run by the same company.

Say you are the owner of a two bedroom villa sleeping 6 and you want to spend your holiday with another couple and their two children, nothing is stopping you from renting a three bedroom villa that particular year.

Alternatively, you want to go skiing one year, or try the Atlantic coast resorts – all you have to do is register with the exchange facility offered by these management companies and choose the holiday destination you have been dreaming about.