[:en]Dear friends old and new,
As the confinement is extended by 15 days in France, I'm writing to let you all know what's happening here at La Bourdonnerie. As with everyone else, Covid-19 is having a big impact on us as a family. The schools have closed and we're doing our best to help the boys with their studies and keep them entertained, rain or shine. We're all playing our part, and staying home, which I believe it's the same in most European countries right now. We're lucky to have space, and we count our blessings for that every day. We're all healthy, and cases of coronavirus in N remain low compared to other regions of France for the time being.
Business-wise, I am sad to say we are canceling all bookings for April already. We don't yet know what the situation will be in May, June & July. We're crossing our fingers that at some point soon, things will return to normal and we can once again welcome you back on the farm. Our first guests of 2020 were meant to be arriving yesterday and it was quite dispiriting: as our regulars will know, we spend a lot of time and money each winter improving different elements of La Bourdonnerie, and it is heartbreaking to see the cottages sat empty .
Like almost everyone else, Covid-19 is having a big financial impact on us, but we hope, with careful management we will pull through. The holiday cottages are our main source of income, but fortunately I do some other digital work as well and that revenue stream is thankfully unaffected.
For guests who cannot make it here due to the travel restrictions, we're trying to manage things in a way in which everyone has a reasonable outcome. À good proportion of guests followed our advice at time of booking and took out travel cancellation insurance, which means nobody is out of pocket. If you need any documentation for your insurance company, please let me know and I can provide it promptly.
For others, we're offering to postpone their holidays either to later in the year or to 2021. I'm currently working on putting in place à voucher system on the website which will allow guests to rebook and apply their voucher for the amount they have already paid. Please bear in mind that by delaying your holiday in this way, we're still making à 100% loss on your booking which would have otherwise happened this year.
Finally, I would like to thank those guests who we've been dealing with so far. Some of the emails we've received, and gestures you have made, have touched us deeply, and confirmed our faith in humanity. We're all in this together, and we're trying hard to 'pass it on' in our own dealings with 3rd party suppliers during these difficult times.
[:de]Dear old and new friends,
As the curfew is extended by 15 days, I am writing to inform you of the situation at La Bourdonnerie. Like everyone else, Covid-19 has had a huge impact on our family. Schools are closed and we are doing our best to help our boys learn and keep them entertained come rain or shine. We are fulfilling our responsibility and staying at home, which I think is the case in most European countries at the moment. We are lucky to have space and we are grateful for it every day. We are all healthy and cases of Covid-19 in Normandy are currently low compared to other regions of France.
As far as business is concerned, however, things are not looking rosy. We are already canceling all bookings for April. We don't yet know what the situation will be in May, June and July. We keep our fingers crossed that things will return to normal soon and we can welcome you back to our farm. Our first guests of 2020 were supposed to arrive yesterday, and it was quite disheartening: as our regulars know, we spend a lot of time and money every winter improving La Bourdonnerie, and it's heartbreaking to see the houses standing empty .
As with almost everyone else, Covid-19 is having a major financial impact on us, but we hope that with careful management we will get through it. The holiday homes are our main source of income, but fortunately I also do other digital work and fortunately that source of income has not been affected.
For guests who cannot make it here due to travel restrictions, we will try to arrange things amicably. A large proportion of guests have taken our advice when booking and taken out trip cancellation insurance, which means they are not stuck with the costs. If you need documentation for your insurance company, please let me know and I can provide it to you promptly.
For everyone else, we are offering to postpone their vacation either to later in the year or to 2021. I am currently implementing a voucher system on the website that allows guests to rebook and redeem a voucher equal to the amount already paid. Please keep in mind that through this process we still make a 100% loss compared to a normal season.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone with whom we have been in contact recently. Some of the emails we received and your gestures touched us deeply and confirmed our faith in humanity. We're all in this together. We try to pass on all the good in our own businesses to our partners in these difficult times.
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