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I don't post often enough on here - just a look at the threads and I can easily lose an afternoon with some good chat and realise why I try and avoid the distraction! So apologies if I am being seen as abusing the forum here and feel free to shut me down.
We have a well placed little holiday rental nestled in the mountains of the French Pyrenees National Park (the area where riding is allowed) had it for years and I tested the water here a few years ago about renting it out to the bike crowd, it was taken with a lot of interest but a lot of comment about letting strangers use personal home, all the risks etc... Few years later and AirBnB is a thing and works great for us here!
I could rave all day long about the riding locally in the region, the mountain biking straight out the door, the famous Col's for the shaved leg crowd and rideable from the house and (my favourite) the reasonable proximity for some epic Spanish riding with Basquemtb.
Of late it's being taken up mostly by the french and lots of availability in the dates outside of french holidays. I appreciate this is not the forum to be advertising here but any pointers to getting out to the bike crowd would be most appreciated (poorly disguised attempt at getting some further research on the local trail network potential)
Thanks for any tips
The standard answer is "stealth ad on STW". However I would say - make a Youtube video channel and move into the 21st century. Footage of downhilling in the sunshine beats links to cheapskates who think £60 a night is what it costs at the Dorchester.
Thanks Nico - interesting comment. In reality I was thinking more 'stealth ad" - a video is a lot of work and sounds like the potential for a lot of negative 'poor footage' 'wobbly video' negative bike on YouTube. If there is any interest I would be happy to share the details - its a great place to ride I genuinely believe. Thanks though (dont expect to find me down there with a film crew just yet!)
All you need is GoPro. Whenever I want to MTB somewhere new I type the destination then VTT, BTT and Mountain Bike into YouTube search and if I find anything interesting share with people who might be interested. This has resulted in the whole club going to Ainsa. If you don't want dicks posting comments then disactivate them, I haven't ever had negative remarks despite some really naff videos filmed on cameras/phones with next to no pixels and lousy microphones.
You're a bit coy about where you are, an hour south of Pau is a bit vague. I'm in Pau and ride in the Vallée D'Ossau when I can drag myself away from the local singletrack which is more fun for less suffering. I don't think naming the valley is giving too much away. There's a message service on STW now.
I started a thread on here about riding in and around Zona Zero, Ainsa where I live on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees. A place that, like you, I genuinely believe is fantastic to ride and would be of interest to people frequenting an MTB Forum. . . .
The thread was closed. No explanation was given but chatting to friends on here it looks like one of the posts either by me or another STW member promoting uplifts/guiding etc fell foul of the STW advertising rules . . . .
I wasn't trying to advertise under the radar, I was just a bit hyped after the "Enduro World Series Mega-Fiesta" had been here and got carried away. If you are setting out to deliberately go "stealth" I'd say don't. . . .
Look at what other local successful companies are doing and "take inspiration" from it
Are you in Luz St Sauveur?
Just found your number, will send you a message if there's any dead time when we're in Ainsa in May, Spekkie. There are plenty of threads if you Google "ainsa singletrackworld", and you're on most of them. 😉
You've just done the impossible, Spekkie! You've become Tony.
Hey Gav! It looks lovely your place and thanks for the mention. The rules are really clear, you can promote your place in response to a direct question by someone else. There are lots of such questions and it’s a good chance to see what people think about your place / services. What isn’t allowed is starting your own threads and trying to stealth promote, that is almost certainly what would cause an issue, as mentioned above!
You have a few trail areas opening and opened up round there. It would be worth targeting that, doing some content about the riding which could be useful to other people and getting that up on your web. It will help people find you. Basically creating useful content will bring people to your web. I see lots of questions here about people asking for destinations where they don’t need a guide and you could be well set to answer those.
Or get in with a local guiding outfit. I know that we have a lot of people contacting us to use their places and for those we use it is pretty much a guarantee of plenty of out of tourist season bookings. We don’t use your area currently, however who knows in the future, we are always searching!
'twas just a glitch, you're Spekkie again 🙁
Look forward to meeting up sometime Edukator. You're just up the road!
All. Some really good advice in there and thank you for the time and effort. Doug - I was hesitant to mention your name as a shameless plug for our place and I hope you dont mind that I did, as always I can't say good enough things about your set up down there and I hope that's the way it was taken. I really appreciate your sage advice - above and beyond what I needed thank you, my intent was to feel the rules a little as I am far from as experienced on the forum as you are (where do you find all this time!?). I would love to see you our side but I can imagine its not on your immediate radar given the quality and expanse of terrain you have there.
So if somebody asks then I can post the Airbnb link and have it firmly recorded in STW forum. Its a start but all points taken on better and more effort to get some links and advertising out there.
So we've found some locals!! Thats even more exciting than renters! Brilliant. Edukator - I was not at all trying to be elusive about the location and indeed it is down in the Valley D'Ossau, Louvie Juzon - Pedehourat to be precise. We have been down there for years and I had no idea about Pau trails so next visit I will be looking you up if thats ok.
All of this is why I do enjoy the forum. Thanks guys for the great support and feedback (Spekkie - interesting feedback on the pulled thread and (thanks to Doug) I fully appreciate the area you are in! wow!)
Maybe hire or buy a gimballed drone and GoProHero 4 They make almost pro quality videos with ease , just dont fly it near Gatwick .
Then upload footage frequently but dont overdo it , 3-4 week gaps is probably enough. Then maybe pay Facebook for targeted marketting placement . Not sure how much this costs , or how it works but i suspect 'they' listen in via smartspeakers
There should be people on here who know an awful lot more about filming / marketting etc than me.
Louvie Juzon – Pedehourat
Eh bé, t'es au fond de l'ubac austère ! T'as le soleil combien d'heures par jour en hiver ?
The vallée d'Ossau has never really taken off the way other valleys have tourist wise. Gourette is already shut (with a load of snow) while other resorts are continuing through the school holidays. They only run one lift in Summer for the tourists but they aren't going to attract the downhill mob with that. So it's all about being fit enough to ride up and still enjoy the descent. I think you'll do beter with the roadies, classic cols in every direction, if I were doing it that's the market I'd aim at. They're richer for a start. I rented out a flat twenty years back and that attracted only roadies.
I'd be delighted to share a trail or two.
I´d actually like to know the Airbnb link to your place. I´m on the lookout for places within driving distance for October (I live in the basque bit)
Edukator - haha! We get that question a lot but its further up the valley than the little hamlet so it does indeed fair just fine for the sun in the winter. I've just been down in February and it was stunning. It sits on a great spot, south facing and seems to get some great weather (of course we are normally Aberdeen, Scotland based so I may have some bias!)
It's a fair shout for the roadie crowd for sure - we can see that market taking off here in Scotland and, as you say, it seems well 'financed' for sure. (I wouldn't be daft enough here to call us mtb'ers cheap....) I do really appreciate your advice here Edukator and will be sure to look you up when we get down next (its potentially a while) The Ossau valley is so far behind we also find it frustrating but probably also part of its charm - that said it has come a long way in the last decade and seems to finally be realising what it has going for it. Gourette is amazing but a ski resort that closes when its snowing has always baffled us.
The house / Pedehourat is far enough along the Lourdes route that of late we have been finding ourselves heading that way and away from Valley Ossau. The valley there is far more advanced in its embracing of modern tourism and the riding and skiing is a lot more appealing. Cauteret bike park is pretty impressive in the summer with a decent length of trails there and the town itself has a nice vibe. You also cant really knock the Funicular at Lourdes - cheap, stunning way to climb a bike 500m vertical, open all year and the new enduro trail down the back finally made the most of the expanse of terrain there. Its a great day out for the days you dont fancy climbing. A brilliant new bike store there finally make Lourdes town centre worth a visit too (bikeandpy)
So hopefully I've made my case here that I'm genuine about encouraging the area and not just out to sell rental days. I was pretty disappointed about the riding there 10years ago (until I found Basquemtb!) but the new generation of 'big' bikes have IMO opened up the huge amount of incredible riding terrain that these mountains have to offer and I cant get enough of it now.
Despite the kind attempts to promote my amateur video making capabilities and promote me to the next big film maker in the biking world I think I'll be keeping the place low key secret - in some ways you dont want to promote too much as it is part of the charm..
Appreciate the chat guys
sunrider - since you asked I attach the link below. Hopefully this does not suffer the wrath of the forum gods and see a good thread about riding in the area pulled:
Love that part of the world, I've done the Quebrantahuesos a few times and that runs just down the road from you...
This is definitely relevant to my interests - might be in the area in July (thinking of going Dordogne, Bordeaux and then Hondarriba to visit a friend who lives there) so maybe a stop off to do some mountain biking!
AirBnB listing looks good too, and prices seem very reasonable
but the new generation of ‘big’ bikes have IMO opened up the huge amount of incredible riding terrain that these mountains have to offer and I cant get enough of it now.
If anything really opens the place up it will be big enduro "e-bikes" that mean more than just one or two climbs/descents in the day.
My first trip to Lourdes went well, I was picked up hitching by a nun who dropped me off at the santuary. All very spiritual until I walked into town and long the souvenirs street... . I don't like the place and that despite having done a few pilgrimages myself.
If you see a guy singing and playing the guitar on the square in Cauteret go and say hello Henri, we play together when I'm there or he's in Pau. I can get to Cauteret from home in Pau with only about 5km on the road.
Hi Gav - Good luck with everything!
Can you PM me your email address?
Cheers.
Tony.
PM sent Spekkie - Edukator, I'll reach out too.
e-bikes. I'm not going down that discussion here. Probably also best I dont comment on Lourdes tourism and the long wait at Pau airport as the americans all stretch their check in allowance with holy water....
Guitarhero - The proximity to Bordeaux and the coast from this part of the world is what makes it so special - mountain biking, surfing holiday is incredible. Love it. Dont hesitate to reach out if I can help with advice (other than 'call Doug...' which is the best advice)