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Three contracts, two ways to let, and what you receive
The complete guide to letting management with Ascent Megève: the real market in the commune, the team who looks after your chalet, how we fill the season and then the week, the three contracts you choose between, what each one covers, and what is billed separately — with the prices.
Because owners in Megève do not all have the same project. Some never want to think about it again. Others already let to their own network and want to keep it. Others still fall outside the para-hotel tax regime and have no reason to enter it. This guide helps you work out which one fits you.
Megève · Demi-Quartier · Combloux · Praz-sur-Arly · Cordon
Ascent Megève is a brand of Care Concierge — Care Properties Management & Advisory, an estate agency holding professional licence (carte professionnelle) CPI 7401 2021 000 000 012.
Part 1 — The market
Megève in verified figures
Before talking about commission or contracts, it is worth looking at the market your property sits in. Every figure on this page comes from a public source — INSEE (the French national statistics office), the tourist offices and official press packs. We have discarded anything we could not corroborate.
Megève counts 7,831 second homes against 1,508 main residences, for 2,893 permanent residents. In other words, most of the commune’s housing stock stands empty for much of the year.
| Commune | Residents | Dwellings | Second homes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Megève | 2,893 | 9,429 | 7,831 | 83.1% |
| Praz-sur-Arly | 1,311 | 3,021 | 2,256 | 74.7% |
| Demi-Quartier | 801 | 1,766 | 1,287 | 72.9% |
| Combloux | 2,093 | 3,610 | 2,555 | 70.8% |
| Cordon | 998 | 1,297 | 790 | 60.9% |
Source: INSEE census 2023, full commune datasets. Older sources with different values are still in circulation: always check the year.
What these figures mean for you
The limiting factor in this market is not the number of properties: there are more than 7,800 in Megève alone. It is the number of properties actually brought to market and properly looked after. A property that sits idle is not neutral — it still costs you in service charges, property tax and upkeep, and it deteriorates faster than one that is lived in and monitored.
What the valley really weighs
The commune-by-commune figures show local demand. The Pays du Mont-Blanc tourist observatory gives the scale of the whole — and that is where the most useful figure for an owner sits.
Accommodation is the valley’s largest spending category, and the fastest growing
Over the 2024/2025 winter, the Pays du Mont-Blanc recorded around 3.277 million overnight stays, 47% of them generated by international visitors, with an average stay of 5.6 days. Those visitors spent around €557 million. The largest category is neither lift passes nor restaurants: it is accommodation, at €171.2 million — 30% of the total, and up 18.1% on the previous winter.
The cold-beds problem
A “cold bed” is a sleeping place occupied only a few weeks a year. In January 2024, the Combloux tourist office put the commune’s stock at roughly 13,000 tourist beds, of which close to 70% were cold beds — in a commune that nonetheless recorded 240,000 overnight stays between 17 June and 26 August 2023, up 13.5% on the previous summer.
The best balance between the two seasons
Around 178,000 overnight stays a year across 3,705 tourist beds, 30% of them international visitors. The figure that matters here is the split: elsewhere winter dominates everything; in Cordon, summer accounts for close to half the activity.
A season that is growing
324,200 overnight stays over the 2025/2026 winter, against 312,000 the winter before — around +3.9%. The only one of our villages outside the Évasion Mont-Blanc ski area: it skis on the Espace Diamant, with its own lift pass.
The proximity effect
801 permanent residents for 1,766 dwellings, 1,287 of them second homes. Some studies treat “Megève–Demi-Quartier” as a single destination: for an owner, that means the same clientele as Megève, on different land values.
An honest reading of the average stay
That 5.6-day average describes the market as a whole, which is overwhelmingly made up of short stays. Letting for the season addresses a distinctly narrower clientele — but one whose spend, by definition, is counted in months rather than nights. That is precisely why we look for the season first and the week second, and not the other way round.
Sources: Megève winter 2025/2026 press pack; Combloux tourist office, January 2024 presentation and summer 2023 review; Cordon 2025 press pack; Tourisme Haute-Savoie, 2025/2026 winter review for the Pays du Mont-Blanc. Full list with URLs on page 27.
Our portfolio, commune by commune
The market figures show what the valley weighs. These show what we actually do in it. They are drawn from our online catalogue on 18 September 2026 and change as mandates come and go.
| Commune | Properties | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Megève | 90 | 73.8% |
| Combloux | 14 | 11.5% |
| Demi-Quartier | 10 | 8.2% |
| Praz-sur-Arly | 6 | 4.9% |
| Cordon | 2 | 1.6% |
Properties published on ascent-megeve.com as at 18 September 2026. Properties under mandate but not publicly listed are not included.
Why this page belongs in an owner’s guide
Because a commission rate means nothing without the volume behind it. Dynamic pricing only works if there is something real to compare against: in Megève we position your property against 89 others we know from the inside — their actual prices, their occupancy, their quiet weeks. It is that local density, not an algorithm, that separates a full calendar from an average one.
A limit we own up to
We have little presence in Cordon and Praz-sur-Arly. If your property is there, you should know it: we manage fewer references, so our price comparison is less precise than in Megève. We will say the same thing to your face when we give you an estimate.
Part 2 — What we do
What we take on
One point of contact, one rate, and everything else on our side. Here are the four things we do in your place, from day one to the end of every month.
Find your tenant
Professional photography, listing copy and translation, distribution across the platforms and on our own direct-booking site, dynamic pricing, and a digital guide specific to your property. The season is sought first; the week takes over if it does not conclude.
Run the stays
Guest relations from first enquiry to departure, arrivals and departures, housekeeping by our own team — never subcontracted, professional laundry with hotel-grade linen, handymen for routine upkeep, and a 24-hour emergency line.
Handle the formalities
Rent collected under financial guarantee into an escrow account, rental contracts drafted and signed on your behalf, tourist tax (taxe de séjour) collected from the tenant and then declared and paid over to Megève town hall, and dealings with the platforms in the event of damage or a dispute.
Show you what is happening
A detailed management statement, the payment of your income, and at year end all the documents you need for your tax return. A named contact within the team, not a generic number — which matters particularly if you do not live in the valley.
What you no longer do yourself
Answering messages at 11 pm. Comparing your price to your neighbour’s every week. Finding someone to clean on a Saturday in February. Buying new bed linen. Handling a check-in with a tenant arriving from abroad. Filing the tourist tax return before the 15th of each month. Letting the plumber in. Answering the building manager. All of that is included in the commission, and none of it will appear on your statement.
A useful word about how we are organised
Ascent Megève is a brand of Care Concierge, an independent family-run group that today manages more than 250 properties from Chamonix to Megève. In practice: you deal with a team dedicated to Megève and its villages, backed by the resources of a group — salaried housekeeping teams, a linen stock in the valley, a regulated estate agency and a one-million-euro financial guarantee.
The team who looks after your property
Not a platform with a support number: people who work here, who go into your home, and whom you can call. Six in ten visitors to Megève come from abroad — they book without visiting, do not know the valley, and expect everything to work on arrival. That is exactly where a team on the ground changes the outcome.
| The person | What they do for your property | Languages |
|---|---|---|
| William Artus Head of Ascent Megève | Running the business in Megève and the neighbouring villages: the letting strategy for your property, the season-versus-week trade-off, and day-to-day owner relations. | French, English, Spanish |
| Sébastien Blasco Co-founder — Owner relations | Your contact on the contract, the terms and everything that concerns the mutual commitment. He is the person you discuss the choice between the three formats in Part 3 with. | French, English |
| Lorie Chenal Head of listings | Writing, translating and optimising your listing, distributing it across the channels, and keeping the availability calendar. | French, English |
| Laila D’ham Housekeeping team leader | The in-house housekeeping team and the cleanliness standard between two tenants. She is the reason a February changeover goes the same way as a September one. | French, Arabic, English |
| Sacha Cousin President | Legal representative of the agent and data controller for your personal data. Signatory of your mandate. | French, English |
In-house housekeeping, never subcontracted
Our housekeeping teams are our own, salaried and present year-round, trained to our standards and familiar with your property. That is what makes it possible to hold quality and timings in peak season, and to know exactly who entered your home and when. They are backed by a professional laundry supplying hotel-grade linen for every stay.
An emergency line, and what it actually covers
Day-to-day support runs 7 days a week, 9 am to 5 pm. Outside those hours, a 24-hour emergency line takes over: a boiler failing on a bank holiday, a problem on a Sunday evening in peak season. We separate the two deliberately rather than advertising “24/7” without saying what sits behind it.
Our office is in Sallanches, 33 quai de Warens, open 7 days a week from 9 am to 5 pm — about twenty minutes from Megève. The team covers Megève, Demi-Quartier, Combloux, Praz-sur-Arly and Cordon. We would rather say so plainly than let you picture an office on the village square.
The season first, the week second
This is the principle that shapes everything else. We look first for a tenant for the season. If the season does not conclude, your property moves to weekly letting rather than standing empty. And the date on which we switch from one to the other is your decision.
The switch date — check it before you sign
In the mixed mandate, the automatic switch is set at 1 November: any winter period not covered by a signed seasonal contract on that date may be opened to short-term letting without further agreement from you.
You can move that date by writing to us before 15 October each year. The request must be renewed annually: failing that, 1 November applies automatically. This is the kind of detail that only becomes visible once the season has passed — we would rather put it in plain sight here.
Once the seasonal contract is signed
The dates it covers are locked and can no longer be marketed weekly. If a date conflict arises from a scheduling error, the seasonal contract always takes priority over any short-term booking, whatever date that booking was confirmed.
If the seasonal enquiry arrives after the switch
We will try, with the guest’s agreement, to move or cancel short-term bookings already confirmed so the seasonal contract can go ahead. If that proves impossible, we are required to honour confirmed bookings and the property stays in short-term letting for that period. You are told immediately.
Weekly letting is not just a fallback
For some properties it earns more than a single seasonal contract, because school-holiday weeks and the end-of-year festive period let for considerably more. The simplest approach is to compare the two options for your own property — which is exactly what our free estimate does. We will tell you frankly which of the two makes more sense for you, including when the answer is the week.
A legal point to watch. The mandate distinguishes two durations, and the boundary sits at the 90th night. Up to 90 consecutive nights, the stay falls under Part A — short-term letting, exclusive mandate, under article L. 324-1-1 of the French Tourism Code. From the 91st consecutive night, it falls under Part B — long seasonal letting, non-exclusive mandate, with different fees, formal inventories, and exemption from tourist tax. A full winter season can fall on either side of that line depending on the dates chosen: it must be checked case by case before signing, because everything else follows from it. (In your signed mandate these are called Volet A and Volet B.)
All of this is included in the commission
You receive no separate invoice for these items. They represent a real cost, carried entirely by Ascent Megève. What is billed separately appears on page 17, with prices.
- 10 to 20 professional photographs, retaken after signature and refreshed as the property evolves
- Listing copy, optimisation and translation
- Distribution on Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO/Abritel, HomeAway, Expedia, Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy, Google Vacations, HomeToGo, Holidu and HVN
- Your property on our direct-booking site
- Dynamic pricing, recalculated against your real competition
- A digital guide specific to your property
- Guest relations from first enquiry to departure
- 24-hour emergency line, day-to-day support 7 days a week from 9 am to 5 pm
- Arrivals and departures organised and supervised; for arrivals after 6 pm, support by phone or a visit the following day
- Hotel-grade household linen: bed linen, towels, bath mats and tea towels
- Basic consumables: washing-up liquid, sponge, dishwasher tablets, toilet paper, bin bags
- Visual inspection of the property after every departure, with immediate reporting of any damage
- Rental contracts drafted and signed on your behalf
- Rent, charges and security deposits collected into an escrow account, under financial guarantee
- Tourist tax collected from the tenant
- Dealings with the platforms over damage, disputes or contested reviews
- Representation before the town hall, the French tax authority (DGFiP) and Atout France within the scope of the mandate
- Collection and retention of tenant identity documents
- A detailed management statement
- Your income paid over between the 15th and the 20th of the month following departure
- Documents needed for your tax return at year end
- A named contact, not a generic number
- No software subscription, no listing set-up fee, no file-opening fee charged to you
What there isn’t
No monthly subscription. No installation or listing set-up fee. No file-opening fee. No photography fee. No software licence or channel-manager fee. No variation in the rate by season or occupancy level.
Why a single rate rather than billing by the job
Because a single rate on gross income aligns our interests with yours: the only way to increase our revenue is to increase yours. A model that bills for every intervention encourages more interventions. Ours encourages filling your calendar and keeping your property in good order — and it is why we take no margin on third-party contractors’ invoices.
Part 3 — The three contracts
Which one is right for you
All three contracts rest on the same service, the same team and the same guarantees. What separates them comes down to two questions: do you fall under the para-hotel tax regime (para-hôtelier), and do you want to carry on letting to your own network?
| Mixed mandate | Para-hotel Standard | Para-hotel Prestige | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who it suits | The owner outside the para-hotel regime who wants the long season first | The owner who wants to stop thinking about it entirely | The owner who already has a clientele, a housekeeper or established habits, and wants to keep them |
| Tax regime | Rents exempt from VAT art. 261 D 4° b of the French Tax Code | Para-hotel — 10% VAT on rents, 20% on extras | Para-hotel — 10% VAT on rents, 20% on extras |
| Exclusivity | Part A exclusive Part B non-exclusive | Exclusive. No direct letting, no other agency | Non-exclusive, except the online platforms which remain exclusive to us |
| Management fee | Part A — 19% incl. VAT, payable by you Part B — 20%, payable by the tenant | 19% excl. VAT on all gross rents collected | 19% excl. VAT on bookings we bring only |
| Para-hotel services | None — the contract expressly excludes them | Welcome, linen, housekeeping and breakfast by our teams, in every case | Allocated item by item between you and us, amendable by rider |
| Notice period | Part A — 30 days, any time Part B — 90 days before the annual renewal | 30 days, any time | 60 days before the annual renewal |
| Security deposit | Card pre-authorisation up to €2,000 incl. VAT depending on the property | Pre-authorisation up to €2,000 excl. VAT depending on the property’s value | 25% of the booking value |
| Liability for damage | For what a visual departure inspection could reasonably have revealed | Across all stays | Only on stays we clean ourselves |
| Tourist tax | Part A only — €90 incl. VAT / year. Part B (91+ nights) is not liable | All nights — €90 excl. VAT / year | Our bookings only. Yours are your responsibility. |
| Calendar | We keep it. You block your own stays | We keep it. You block your own stays | You synchronise it in real time across all your channels |
| Your own use | Unrestricted, provided it does not encroach on a confirmed booking | Permitted, up to 50% of the year to preserve the tax regime | Permitted, up to 50% of the year to preserve the tax regime |
| Specific clauses | 24-month client protection on Part B | — | 12-month non-circumvention and upholding the quality standard on your own channels |
The most important point on this page
The mixed mandate and the para-hotel contracts do not fall under the same tax regime, which is why one quotes prices including VAT and the others excluding it. This is not a presentational detail: it is a 20% difference on every figure. Page 16 explains exactly what that changes for you, and why comparing the headline rates directly makes no sense until you have looked at the regime.
The mixed mandate — Part A
One contract, two parts covering the two ways of letting your property. This is the format for owners who fall outside the para-hotel tax regime — rents are then exempt from VAT, and every figure in this contract is quoted including VAT. You can take Part A alone, Part B alone, or both: it is a tick box at signature.
Short-term — exclusive mandate
Stays of 1 to 90 consecutive nights. For the duration of this part, you undertake not to let the property directly or through another operator for those durations — any booking made in breach of this exclusivity gives rise to payment of the contractual commission.
of gross rent collected, payable by you. Excluding end-of-stay cleaning charged to tenants, excluding tourist tax. Deducted from funds collected before payment over to you.
- Fixed term of 12 months, renewing automatically for further 12-month periods
- 30 days’ notice by recorded delivery, at any time
- Payment between the 15th and the 20th of the month following departure
- Card pre-authorisation up to €2,000 incl. VAT on all bookings
What separates Part A from Part B, in one sentence
In short-term letting, you pay the commission, and you are paid after the tenant leaves. In long seasonal letting — next page — the tenant pays it, and you are paid before they arrive. Same agency, same property, same team: only the length of the stay decides which applies.
A word on the calculation base
The 19% is calculated on the gross rental amount — the accommodation price paid by the tenant — and not on what remains after the platform’s own commission. That is what keeps the rate verifiable at a glance, whatever the channel. The exact wording is at article A.4 of your mandate: read it before signing, and ask us to confirm it if it seems ambiguous.
The mixed mandate — Part B
This is the part that sets this contract most clearly apart from the other two: the fees are payable by the tenant rather than by you, and you are paid before the tenant moves in.
Seasonal — non-exclusive mandate
Stays from the 91st consecutive night. You keep the right to find a tenant yourself or to entrust that task to another professional, with no commission due on that basis alone. In return, you undertake to tell us about any letting you conclude, to pass on any enquiry from a tenant who has already come through us, and to honour the contracts we sign in your name.
payable exclusively by the tenant, included in the advertised rental price. The rent stated in the lease is a net-to-owner rent: you receive it without any fee deduction.
- 10% if you introduce the tenant yourself, they are not already a client of the agency, and we agree to manage the letting
- 90 days’ notice before the annual renewal
- Check-in and check-out inventories are drawn up — unlike short-term letting
- Platform distribution is here an option to tick, and only if you do not already have your own listings
- Security deposit held in escrow until the check-out inventory
The Part B payment schedule
| Deposit on signature | 25% |
| Balance, no later than 30 days before entry | 75% |
| Paid over to you after funds clear | 5 working days |
And in all cases before the tenant’s entry date. That is the most concrete difference from short-term letting: you are paid before the stay, not after.
If the seasonal tenant cancels
| Between 44 and 30 days before arrival | 25% retained |
| Fewer than 29 days, or on the day | 100% retained |
Indicative terms, set out solely in the seasonal lease and adaptable to the property and the period. You are told of any cancellation within 48 hours.
What happens to those deposits. If we manage to re-let the period, they first cover the gap between the original rate and the new one; any balance is retained by us as a re-marketing premium. If the new rate matches or exceeds the old one, the whole amount is retained by us. If the shortfall exceeds the deposit, you bear no further cost on that account and the deposit is paid over to you in full.
Client protection clause. Any tenant we introduce to you and who has actually occupied the property counts as an “introduced client”. If they return to let within 24 months of their last stay, directly or through another intermediary, the letting fee remains due to us, unless otherwise agreed in writing.
Para-hotel Standard
For the owner who wants to stop thinking about it. You hand over the property, we take care of everything — and you take none of the services back in-house. That is the trade-off for a format in which you have nothing left to manage.
whatever the source of the booking
The mandate is exclusive: every booking goes through us, including those that come from you. You pass the enquiry to us — reservations desk or agency — and we handle it. No direct letting, no other agency.
- The para-hotel services are provided — welcome, linen, housekeeping, breakfast — which secures three of the four services required by article 261 D of the French Tax Code
- We keep the availability calendar; you simply block your own stays
- We answer for damage across all stays, within the limits of what a visual departure inspection could reveal
- Tourist tax collected, declared and paid over via FARITAS for every night
- 30 days’ notice, at any time — the most flexible of the three contracts
- You can no longer let directly to your own contacts without commission: exclusivity applies to all rents
- You cannot assign part of the services to your own housekeeper or staff
- Your own use is capped at 50% of the year, failing which the para-hotel regime is at risk
The question to ask yourself
Do you already let, today, to people you know? If the answer is yes and it amounts to several weeks a year, the Prestige contract on the next page will cost you less. If the answer is no, Standard is the simplest and most complete of the three.
Bringing it to market
10 to 20 professional photographs, direct-booking site, digital property guide, dynamic pricing.
Maintenance
In-house team and partner tradespeople. In an emergency we can commit up to €200 excl. VAT without waiting; beyond that your approval is still required, emergencies included.
Security of funds
Separate escrow account, SO.CA.F financial guarantee of €1,000,000, professional licence CPI 7401.
Para-hotel Prestige
Designed for the owner who already has a housekeeper, a clientele or established habits, and wants to keep them. You decide what you handle yourself and what you entrust to us.
On those you conclude yourself, off-platform: €0.
On a chalet let six weeks a year to your own network, at €10,000 a week, that is €11,400 excl. VAT in management fees this contract does not charge you. The calculation applies to those six weeks only: every booking we bring is still commissioned at 19%.
1 · The online platforms remain exclusive to us
Airbnb, Booking.com and VRBO are entrusted to Ascent Megève exclusively in both para-hotel contracts. You may neither list your property there yourself nor instruct another operator to do so. That is what guarantees a single listing, one registration number and consolidated reviews — the three conditions for a good ranking, and therefore a good occupancy rate. A booking at €0 commission is therefore one concluded off-platform, with a client who came from you.
2 · A client we brought you stays commissioned for twelve months
The guest must not have been introduced to you by us. This is the non-circumvention clause, at article B.2 of the contract: a client introduced by the agency remains commissioned for twelve months, even if they come back to you directly.
3 · The commission drops to zero, the services do not
Housekeeping, linen and the welcome for that stay are still charged if you have entrusted them to us. The commission is zero; the services are paid for as used, at the same rates as in the Standard contract.
What falls to you under Prestige
- Real-time synchronisation of the calendar across all your channels
- Departure inspection on stays you clean yourself — we answer for damage only on stays we clean
- The tourist tax declaration for your own bookings
- Upholding the quality standard on your own channels, which is covered by a dedicated clause
- The supporting records for services you provide yourself
Two practical differences worth knowing
The security deposit changes form. Instead of a capped card pre-authorisation, it is 25% of the booking value — €2,500 on a week at €10,000. More protective on a valuable property, heavier to ask of a guest.
The notice period is stricter. 60 days before the annual renewal, rather than 30 days at any time as in Standard. Missing the window commits you to another year.
One chalet, three contracts
Rather than sending you back to the clauses, here is a worked example. A four-bedroom, four-bathroom chalet, luxury standard. The same property, the same dates, under each of our three contracts.
Six weeks a year to your own network: 6 × €10,000 × 19% = €11,400 excl. VAT that the Prestige contract does not charge you. It is the biggest gap between our formats, and the only serious reason to choose Prestige over Standard.
How to read this page honestly
This chalet does not exist: it is an example, chosen with round numbers so the comparison stays readable. Real figures depend on your property, the season and the services chosen. The welcome, housekeeping and laundry package is set property by property, charged at the rate in force at the time of the work, and forms no part of any of these calculations.
And above all: do not compare €1,900 including VAT with €1,900 excluding VAT. They are not the same sums, and they are not the same tax regimes. The next page explains why.
Excluding or including VAT: why the regime changes the price
This is the most technical point in the guide, and the one that does most damage when skimmed. Two contracts can both quote “19%” and not cost the same — or cost exactly the same, despite an apparent 20% difference.
Your rents are exempt from VAT
Without para-hotel services, your rents are in principle exempt from VAT under b) of 4° of article 261 D of the French Tax Code. You do not charge VAT, and you cannot reclaim it either.
The direct consequence: the 20% VAT we apply to our fees is a final cost to you. That is why this contract quotes 19% including VAT — the VAT is already in the figure, and nothing is added on top. On €10,000, that is €1,900 out of your pocket.
You are VAT-registered, so you reclaim
By providing at least three of the four hotel services defined in article 261 D of the French Tax Code, you enter the para-hotel regime: 10% VAT charged on your rents, and VAT reclaimable on your costs and capital expenditure.
The direct consequence: the 20% VAT on our fees is something you reclaim. It costs you nothing. That is why these contracts quote 19% excluding VAT — the only figure that actually concerns you. On €10,000, that is €1,900 of net cost, with the VAT passing through without touching you.
The result, once VAT is put back in its place
In both cases, the real cost of our management is around 19% of your rents. That is no coincidence: it is the same rate, expressed in the unit that makes sense for each regime. The choice between our contracts should therefore not be made on the headline rate — it should be made on your tax position, on exclusivity, and on what you want to carry on doing yourself.
The other tax consequence, often the decisive one
If you stay outside the para-hotel regime, your rental income falls under the micro-BIC regime (the simplified French regime for small business income). The allowance then depends on one thing only: whether the property is officially classified as tourist accommodation (meublé de tourisme classé), a voluntary process carried out by a body accredited by Atout France and valid for five years.
Above those ceilings, the simplified real-profit regime applies. The gap between a €15,000 and a €77,700 ceiling is substantial for a Megève chalet: if your property is not classified, that is almost always the first thing to look at, before even choosing a contract.
This guide is not tax advice. The para-hotel regime affects your position well beyond your relationship with us, and it is covered by a specific contract, separate from the mixed mandate. We will tell you what we know about how it works in practice; for the decision itself, speak to your accountant. Partner accountants are available if you do not have one.
Part 4 — What it costs
What is billed separately, and at what price
None of these items appears without having been announced. Each is set out in your contract, with its price, and shows on your management statement. Which column applies to you depends on the contract you signed — see page 16.
| Item | Who pays | Mixed mandate incl. VAT | Para-hotel excl. VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| End-of-stay cleaning Not part of our commission calculation | The tenant | by property | by property |
| Tourist tax Collected then paid over to the town hall on your behalf | The tenant | communal scale | communal scale |
| Tourist tax filing service Collection, calculation, online filing and payment via FARITAS | You | €90 / year per property | €90 / year per property |
| Fitting a key safe Only if none exists, once | You | €30 | €30 |
| Your own stays — linen Towels and bath mats included. Free if you bring your own | You | €37 / double bed €23 / single bed | €37 / double bed €23 / single bed |
| Your own stays — cleaning Where the stay requires the property to be put back in order before letting resumes | You | €37 / hour | €37 / hour |
| Breakfast One of the four services in the para-hotel regime | The tenant | not applicable | cost plus 20% |
| Parts and supplies Parts, small broken equipment, crockery and glassware | You | at cost | at cost |
| External contractors Plumber, electrician, heating engineer. Invoice payable within 20 days | You | at cost no margin | at cost no margin |
| Stripe payment processing On VRBO, Abritel, HomeAway, Expedia and direct bookings | You | 3% | see contract |
| Platform commission Deducted before the funds reach us | You | by channel | by channel |
| Handling a cancellation or rehousing Where you terminate the mandate, or the cancellation is attributable to you | You | €40 / hour min. €40 (Part A) min. €150 (Part B) | €40 / hour |
| Mandatory technical surveys Energy certificate, electrical and gas where applicable, public-building compliance above 15 people | You | at cost | at cost |
| Restoring the property between lets Cleaning or laundry required by a prolonged period of non-occupancy | You | current rate | current rate |
| Initial preparation Bringing the property up to standard before first marketing, if required | You | quoted | quoted |
The €200 threshold, and why it exists
Above €200 of maintenance work, your written approval is required before anything is commissioned. Below that threshold, we can act in an emergency and tell you immediately afterwards. It is the compromise between a chalet that stays usable on a February Sunday and an owner who does not like surprises on their statement.
Part 5 — Day to day
When you use the property yourself
Your chalet remains yours. You block your own periods whenever you wish; the only universal limit is not to encroach on a booking already confirmed. But there is a further limit that owners often discover too late.
The 50% limit — para-hotel contracts only
In both para-hotel contracts, your own use is permitted up to 50% of the year. This is not a rule we invented: beyond that, the commercial character of the activity becomes arguable and the whole para-hotel regime — and with it the 10% VAT rate and VAT recovery — is at risk. If you expect to use your chalet for more than six months a year, the mixed mandate is probably the contract you need, and this guide tells you so rather than letting you find out at an inspection.
Blocking your dates
From your owner portal, at any time. Block as early as you can: once a booking is confirmed it cannot be cancelled without cost. Allow a short synchronisation delay between the owner portal and the platforms — we cannot be held responsible for a double booking arising during that window.
Any period not blocked is treated as available
That is the default rule. We cannot be held responsible for bookings confirmed on periods you omitted to block. Keeping your calendar current is your responsibility — and, under the Prestige contract, synchronising it in real time across all your channels.
Linen — two options
| Your choice | What we do | Price |
|---|---|---|
| You use our linen The default, unless you tell us otherwise before the stay | We make up the beds and supply bed linen, towels, bath mats and tea towels. | €37 / double bed €23 / single bed |
| You bring your own linen Tell us before the stay | We do not make up the beds and do not wash your personal linen. | €0 |
The cleaning, however, is still necessary
Where a stay by the owner, their family or their friends requires the property to be put back in order before letting resumes, the cleaning is done by our teams and charged at €37 an hour. This is not an administrative constraint: the next tenant arrives in a property that must meet the same standard as always, and it is your online rating that depends on it. Your family and friends are subject to the same terms as you — the rate applied depends on who occupies the property, not on who booked it.
A point often overlooked. Every week you keep for yourself is a week that does not let. That is not a criticism — your chalet exists to be used — but it is worth putting on the table at the estimate stage. School holidays and the end-of-year festive period are the most sought-after times in Megève: we can show you what each blocked week represents, with the figures.
Damage, security deposits and disputes
A clear process, including about its limits. We would rather tell you in advance what we cannot guarantee than have you find out with us after the event.
- A visual inspection of the property and its visible equipment after every departure
- Immediate reporting of any breakage or missing item
- A card pre-authorisation on every booking, whatever the channel, with the ability to charge it
- Applying that pre-authorisation first to cover the damage found
- Opening a claim with the platform for any remaining balance
- All amicable steps and their follow-up
- Check-in and check-out inventories in seasonal letting (Part B)
- Pay for damage caused by tenants ourselves
- Guarantee the outcome of a claim with a platform
- Answer for damage that is not visible, concealed or undetectable during a standard visual inspection
- Answer for damage that cannot be linked to a specific stay or an identified tenant
- Carry out a formal inventory after every changeover in short-term letting
- Contact former tenants to pursue payment
The security deposit changes form by contract
| Contract | Form | On a €10,000 booking |
|---|---|---|
| Mixed mandate | Card pre-authorisation, by property type | up to €2,000 incl. VAT |
| Para-hotel Standard | Card pre-authorisation, by property value | up to €2,000 excl. VAT |
| Para-hotel Prestige | 25% of the booking value | €2,500 |
In seasonal letting, the deposit is held in escrow until the keys are returned and the check-out inventory has been jointly verified. It can in no circumstances be treated as rent or paid to you in advance.
Why we take a pre-authorisation on every booking
Because the guarantee programmes run by Airbnb and Booking.com decide the outcome of a claim on their own, and their policies change. A deposit taken by us, on every booking and whatever the channel, depends on nobody else. That said — and it is written into your contract — we do not accept financial liability for damage caused by tenants: we deploy every means available to us, without being able to guarantee the result.
Three obligations that fall to you, and that matter
You must take out and maintain home insurance that explicitly covers furnished tourist and seasonal letting — a standard policy does not cover this activity — and send us the annual certificate before any letting begins. The property must have a Wi-Fi connection: without one, we cannot put the listing online. And it must have a working smoke detector, with public-building rules applying if capacity exceeds 15 people. Finally, do not leave valuable personal belongings accessible to tenants: we cannot answer for them.
Tourist tax in Megève
Megève applies tourist tax (taxe de séjour) on actual stays across the whole commune. It is paid by the tenant on top of the rent, then declared and paid over to the commune. Many owners discover this after the fact, and it takes considerable time when handled alone.
The commune’s timetable
- Nights declared before the 15th of each month, for the previous month
- Paid over twice a year: before 31 May for the period 1 November to 30 April, and before 30 November for the period 1 May to 31 October
- Where a platform collects the tax, it declares and pays it over for the stays concerned
What we take on
- Collecting and checking stay data: nights, chargeable persons, exemptions
- Calculating the amounts due under the Megève scale
- Entry, validation and online filing
- Payment on schedule and archiving of supporting records
€90 per year per property, shown on your management statement. All you need do is give us your property’s registration number, once.
Under the Prestige contract, the split changes
We declare and pay over the tourist tax for the bookings we bring. Bookings you conclude yourself are covered by your own declarations, to the same deadlines and under your responsibility. That is the direct counterpart to the €0 commission, and it is the point owners most often underestimate when comparing Standard and Prestige.
Two legal points worth knowing
The registration number is compulsory
The law of 19 November 2024, known as the loi Le Meur, extends registration of furnished tourist accommodation with a national number. Since 20 May 2026, every listing must display that number and state whether the host is a private individual or a professional. The systems are being rolled out gradually: check the applicable process with Megève town hall before letting.
Beyond 90 nights, the tax no longer applies
Lettings from the 91st consecutive night — those falling under Part B of the mixed mandate — are not subject to tourist tax, under article L. 2333-31 of the French local authorities code. It is one of the concrete differences between letting for the season and letting by the week.
Where our responsibility ends. It is limited to the filing and payment steps, based on the information you give us. Any penalty arising from inaccurate, incomplete or late information remains your responsibility. On request, we will provide a detailed summary of the periods and amounts declared.
When you are paid, and how
The payment timetable is the most concrete difference between letting by the week and letting for the season. In short-term letting you are paid after departure. In seasonal letting you are paid before arrival.
Between the 15th and 20th of the month after departure
We collect all gross rents, charges and security deposits on your behalf, into an escrow account covered by our financial guarantee. Our fees are deducted from the funds collected, and the balance is then paid to you.
As and when funds are received
Your share of the 25% deposit is paid over within 5 working days of it clearing. The same applies to the 75% balance, and in all cases before the tenant’s entry date. The end-of-booking statement then shows a near-nil position: only the recognition of our fees falls at the end.
Why we cannot pay earlier on short-term lets
The platforms release funds to us some time after the tenant arrives, and that delay is not ours to set. We can only lawfully pay over what has actually been received: that is a rule of regulated property management, not an internal preference, and it cannot be varied by agreement. It is also what protects your funds.
Your management statement
It sets out all bookings received, charges deducted and fees due. In seasonal letting, statements are issued only in months where something happened — a deposit received, a balance paid over, sundry charges, the tenant’s departure — on the 15th of the month following those events.
Your tax documents
At year end we give you all the documents needed for your French tax return. You can then declare your rental income yourself or hand it to our partner accountants. It saves having to reconstruct the letting history yourself at tax time.
A word on platform accounts. We do not take over your existing Airbnb, Booking.com or Abritel accounts, and we do not act as co-hosts. We create and manage new dedicated accounts for your property, and tenants’ payments are collected by us. This is not an administrative convenience: our systems only work correctly with a single main account, which is what allows accurate bookkeeping and avoids having to ask you every time access to sensitive data is required.
Part 6 — The framework
A regulated estate agency, not simply a concierge service
Your rental income passes through our account. French law regulates that activity strictly — and not every service provider in the valley operates under the same regime.
- Professional licence CPI 7401 2021 000 000 012, Property Management and Transactions, issued by the Haute-Savoie Chamber of Commerce
- SO.CA.F financial guarantee of €1,000,000 (no. 33000)
- SO.CA.F professional indemnity insurance, valid throughout France
- Activity governed by the loi Hoguet of 2 January 1970 and its implementing decree of 20 July 1972
- SAS Care Properties Management & Advisory, variable capital, Annecy trade register 893 974 501
- EU VAT number FR03 893 974 501 · activity code APE 6831Z
- Registered office: 275 avenue des Alpages, 74310 Les Houches — office: 33 quai de Warens, 74700 Sallanches
- No shareholding link with any bank or financial institution
- Funds held in a dedicated client account, separate from the agency’s own money
- Fixed term of 12 months, then renewed automatically for further 12-month periods
- 14 calendar days’ right of withdrawal, counted from the day after signature
- Notice: 30 days (Part A and Standard), 60 days before the annual renewal date (Prestige), 90 days before the annual renewal date (Part B)
- If we terminate, we honour bookings already confirmed through to the end of the current season
- Termination for serious breach: without notice, after a formal notice left unanswered for 15 days
- Rates reviewed annually, announced three months in advance
- Non-discrimination undertaking (art. 225-1 of the French Criminal Code)
Consumer mediation
Under article L.616-1 of the French Consumer Code, any consumer may refer a dispute free of charge to a consumer mediator. The mediation body we subscribe to is currently being appointed; its details will be published on ascent-megeve.com/en/legal-notice and sent to you with your mandate. The European online dispute resolution platform remains available at ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr.
If you terminate, one point to know
Bookings already confirmed on the date of your notice must be honoured or cancelled. Any cancellation or rehousing charges applied by the platforms are then payable by you — they can reach 70% of the booking value for a last-minute cancellation. The time we spend handling this is billed at €40 an hour, with a minimum of €40 per short-term booking and €150 per seasonal contract. Avoiding it is simple: give notice early, outside periods that are already booked.
The right of withdrawal and the request to start immediately
You have 14 calendar days to withdraw without giving a reason. The mandate does, however, include an Annex 2 by which you ask us to begin performing the service immediately, without waiting for that period to end — this is what allows the property to go online straight away. If you then withdraw, the service already performed is billed pro rata. You are not obliged to sign that annex: if you do not, we wait for the 14 days to run before starting.
A useful habit, whichever provider you choose
Ask for their professional licence number and their certificate of financial guarantee. A company that collects your rental income without a professional licence is not authorised to manage property. It is a question worth asking everyone, including us — and our numbers appear above precisely so that you can check them.
How it starts
From the first conversation to going online, allow up to two weeks. Faster if the compulsory documents reach us quickly — that is almost always what sets the date your property goes live.
We talk about your property
Fifteen minutes are enough to establish your objectives, your own use of the property and the contract that suits it. We also check your regulatory position — if your property is not eligible, we tell you before you sign.
You sign, you describe
You sign the mandate and complete the property questionnaire: equipment, bed spaces, access, instructions, particularities. That document is what feeds the listing and the digital guest guide.
We come to the property
We assess the property, take 10 to 20 photographs, create your dedicated accounts and your access to the owner portal. A key safe is fitted if there is none.
The property is marketed
Published on the platforms and on our own direct-booking site, calendar synchronised, pricing switched on. Your property is positioned for the season first, then for short stays according to the switch-over date agreed.
There is nothing left for you to do
We handle the whole relationship with your tenants, from first contact to departure. You receive your management statement and the payment of your income.
- A Wi-Fi connection in the property — without it, we cannot go online
- Home insurance explicitly covering furnished tourist and seasonal letting, with an annual certificate
- Your registration number from the town hall, once
- A valid energy performance certificate (*DPE*) — compulsory for furnished tourist accommodation too
- A working smoke detector
- The sets of keys, and access to communal areas or the ski locker
- 10 to 20 professional photographs, at our expense
- The listing written in full, and translated
- The digital guide to the property
- Hotel linen and consumables for the first service
- The set-up of every tool and account
- The tourist tax declaration from the first booking
- A named contact within the team
Your questions
The contract and the commission
Which contract should I choose?
Two questions almost always settle it. Do you qualify for the para-hotel regime? If not, it is the mixed mandate. If you do: do you already let to your own network? If you do, and it amounts to several weeks a year, it is Prestige. Otherwise it is Standard, which is the simplest and the most complete. If you occupy your chalet more than six months a year, the para-hotel regime is ruled out in any case.
19% of what, exactly?
Of the gross rental amount: the price paid by the tenant, before platform fees. Not the amount left after their commission, and not the amount after cleaning or tourist tax. Under the Prestige contract, only on the bookings we bring in.
Why 19% of gross rather than of net?
Because every channel takes a different rate. If we calculated on the net figure, our real rate would change with every booking and you could never check it at a glance. On gross, it is always 19% — whatever the channel, whatever the season.
19% excluding or including VAT? Surely that is not the same thing?
It is not, and that is deliberate. The mixed mandate quotes incl. VAT because your rental income there is VAT-exempt: you will not reclaim the VAT on our fees, so the only figure that concerns you is the one that leaves your pocket. The para-hotel contracts quote excl. VAT because you are VAT-registered and you reclaim it: it costs you nothing. Once VAT is put back in its place, the real cost is comparable. Page 16 sets out the calculation.
Under the Prestige contract, what is genuinely at €0?
The commission, on bookings you conclude yourself off-platform, with a client we did not introduce to you. Airbnb, Booking.com and VRBO remain exclusive to us in every case. And the cleaning, linen and welcome for that stay are still billed if you have asked us to handle them: the commission is zero, the services are paid for as used.
Is the cleaning deducted from my income?
No. End-of-stay cleaning is billed directly to the tenant with their booking. It does not reduce your amount and does not enter into the calculation of our commission. Only the cleaning that follows your own personal stays is billed to you, at €37 an hour.
Is the linen billed as a package or per item?
Neither, for your tenants’ stays: sheets, towels, bath mats and tea towels are included and renewed for every stay. A per-bed rate applies only when you or your family occupy the property: €37 per double bed, €23 per single bed — and €0 if you bring your own and tell us beforehand.
Is there a subscription, an administration fee or a listing fee?
No. No monthly subscription, no set-up fee, no software licence, no channel-manager fee, no photography fee, and no seasonal variation in the rate. What is billed separately appears on page 17, with its price.
Am I tied in for a fixed period?
The mandate runs for 12 months and renews automatically, and you have a 14-calendar-day right of withdrawal from the day after signature — subject to Annex 2, see page 22. Beyond that, what counts is the notice period: 30 days at any time under Part A and Standard; 60 days before the annual renewal date under Prestige; 90 days before the annual renewal date under Part B. The last two are windows. The law does, however, require us to tell you between one and three months before the renewal date that you may refuse the renewal (art. L. 215-1 of the French Consumer Code): you cannot be tied in for another year simply because nobody told you.
Day to day, the season and your income
What happens if my property finds no tenant for the season?
It moves to weekly letting for the rest of the winter, rather than standing empty. Under the mixed mandate that switch is automatic on 1 November for any period not covered by a signed seasonal contract. You can move that date by written request before 15 October, to be renewed each year.
Does my season fall under Part A or Part B?
That depends solely on the number of consecutive nights. Up to 90 nights, it is Part A: short-term, exclusive mandate, 19% payable by you, tourist tax due. From the 91st night, it is Part B: non-exclusive mandate, 20% payable by the tenant, inventories of condition, payment before entry, and no tourist tax. A full winter season can fall on either side of that line depending on the dates: check before you sign.
Can I still use my chalet myself?
Yes, under all three contracts. You block your dates from the owner portal, provided you do not encroach on a confirmed booking. One caution, though: under a para-hotel contract your personal use is capped at 50% of the year, to preserve the tax regime. Under the mixed mandate there is no cap.
Do you greet guests in person?
Access is self check-in by default: a key safe or secure lock, plus a full digital guide specific to your property. We attend in person when the tenant asks and the schedule allows. For arrivals after 6 pm, we assist by telephone or visit the following day. Under a para-hotel contract, the welcome forms part of the hotel-type services and falls within the package agreed.
Do you carry out an inventory of condition after every stay?
That depends on the type of letting, and we prefer to say so plainly. For seasonal letting (Part B), yes: inventories of condition are drawn up on entry and on departure. For short-term letting, no: the pace of turnovers does not allow a formal, jointly signed inventory at every change of tenant. The team carries out a visual check after each departure and reports any breakage or missing item immediately. Valuable personal belongings should therefore not be left accessible.
Who pays for damage caused by a tenant?
The card pre-authorisation is called on first. For the balance, we open a claim with the platform. We do everything we can, but we cannot guarantee the outcome of a claim, and we do not accept financial liability for such damage. We are answerable, however, for what a visual departure check should have picked up.
What do you charge for a repair?
Our handymen deal with routine upkeep: you pay only for parts. Where a trade is needed — plumber, electrician, heating engineer — the contractor bills you at cost and we take no margin. Above €200, your written agreement is required before work is commissioned. Below that, we can act in an emergency and tell you immediately afterwards.
When am I paid?
For short-term letting, between the 15th and the 20th of the month following the tenant’s departure, once the sums have actually been collected. For seasonal letting, as payments come in — within 5 working days, and in any event before the tenant takes possession.
Where can I check all of this?
In your signed contract, which prevails in the event of any difference of wording with this guide; on your management statement; and at ascent-megeve.com/en/property-management. For a specific question, call us: no question is too detailed — it is your property and your income.
In summary
The eight points to remember
| 1 | Three contracts, one and the same service. What separates them is your tax position and what you want to keep doing yourself — never the quality of the management nor the security of your funds. |
| 2 | For short-term letting, the management rate is 19% of the gross amount under all three contracts. Incl. VAT under the mixed mandate because you do not reclaim VAT; excl. VAT under the para-hotel contracts because you do. The real cost is comparable. |
| 3 | For seasonal letting (Part B), it is 20% payable by the tenant, included in the advertised price. You receive a net owner’s rent — and 10% if you introduce the tenant to us yourself, they are not already a client of the agency, and we accept the application. |
| 4 | The season first, the week second. The switch-over date is 1 November under the mixed mandate, moveable by written request before 15 October, to be renewed each year. |
| 5 | Cleaning is paid by the tenant, tourist tax goes to the commune, and linen is included. Our cleaning team are our own employees and the work is never subcontracted. |
| 6 | Everything billed separately appears on page 17, with its price, in your contract and on your management statement. No item ever appears without having been announced. |
| 7 | Under the Prestige contract, the commission falls to €0 on your own off-platform clients — but the platforms remain exclusive to us, the non-circumvention clause runs for 12 months, and the tourist tax on your own bookings is your responsibility. |
| 8 | A regulated estate agency: professional licence CPI 7401, €1,000,000 financial guarantee, separate client account. Ask any provider for those documents, including us. |
A question about a particular point?
Fifteen minutes are enough to find out what your chalet or apartment can generate, and which contract fits it. Our team is local and replies within 24 hours.
This guide describes how our rental management works in Megève and the neighbouring communes, together with the rates in force at the date of publication. The amounts used as examples are illustrations, intended to make the calculation readable: they are neither an estimate of your income nor a commitment. Rates are reviewed annually, with three months’ prior notice. In the event of any difference of wording, the terms of your signed contract prevail. This document is neither tax advice nor legal advice: for any question concerning your own situation, consult your accountant, your notaire or the Megève town hall. This English version is provided for convenience; the French contract documents are the binding ones.
Sources
Where the figures come from
All the market data quoted in this guide comes from public sources, consulted and verified in September 2026. The housing data is taken from the INSEE 2023 census. We have set aside anything we could not corroborate.
- INSEE — Full dossier, Megève (74173)
- INSEE — Full dossier, Praz-sur-Arly (74215)
- INSEE — Full dossier, Demi-Quartier (74099)
- INSEE — Full dossier, Combloux (74083)
- INSEE — Full dossier, Cordon (74089)
- INSEE Focus — France’s housing stock at 1 January 2024 · insee.fr/fr/statistiques/8272000
- Megève — Winter 2025/2026 press pack · megeve.com/espace-presse
- Combloux tourist office — January 2024 presentation and summer 2023 review · combloux.com
- Cordon — 2025 press pack · cordon.fr
- Tourisme Haute-Savoie — winter 2025/2026 review for the Pays du Mont-Blanc · hautesavoie-tourisme.pro
- Tourism observatory, Communauté de communes Pays du Mont-Blanc · ccpmb.fr
- Ascent Megève portfolio at 18 September 2026 — 122 published properties, breakdown by commune (page 05)
- Law no. 70-9 of 2 January 1970 (loi Hoguet) and decree no. 72-678 of 20 July 1972 · legifrance.gouv.fr
- Tourism Code, articles L. 324-1-1 and L. 324-2 — furnished tourist accommodation and declaration to the town hall
- Law no. 2024-1039 of 19 November 2024 (loi Le Meur) — national register of furnished tourist accommodation
- General Tax Code, article 261 D 4° — VAT exemption and the para-hotel regime
- General Code of Local Authorities, article L. 2333-31 — tourist tax and stays of more than 90 nights
- Consumer Code, articles L. 111-1, L. 215-1 to L. 215-3, L. 221-18 to L. 221-28 and L. 616-1
- Article 129 of the 2024 Finance Act — the tax authority’s FARITAS service
- Property administration mandate — mixed furnished tourist lettings, 2026 edition (Parts A and B and common provisions)
- Para-hotel management contracts, Standard and Prestige, 2026 edition · ascent-megeve.com/en/para-hotelier-contracts
- Ascent Megève — Property management in Megève · ascent-megeve.com/en/property-management
- Ascent Megève — Seasonal lease in Megève, the owner’s guide · ascent-megeve.com/en/seasonal-lease-megeve-owner-guide
- Ascent Megève — The seasonal rental market around Megève · ascent-megeve.com/en/megeve-seasonal-rental-market-figures
What we left out
Several figures circulate in this market that we have deliberately set aside, for want of a verifiable source: a count of beds let privately in Combloux, a ratio comparing the yield of a professionally managed bed with that of a cold bed, and occupancy rates by accommodation type that we could not find in the documents they were attributed to. We would rather publish five solid figures than twenty unverifiable ones — and we apply exactly the same standard to the figures we will give you about your own property.
Let’s talk about your property
Fifteen minutes are enough to find out what your chalet or apartment can generate, and which contract fits it.