About the home owner
When you arrive at your holiday home, it is always the homeowner who welcomes you, as we at Catalonia Holiday Lettings strive to follow the guidelines of responsible tourism that supports the locals and reduces mass tourism.
The Catalan holiday homes have often been in the family for up to three, four and five generations. As industrialization restricted the work of farmers, the need for the many farms were diminishing. About 20 years ago, the first homeowners began to renovate the beautiful country homes and turned them into stunning holiday homes, and today there are more than 1400 privately owned holiday homes in Catalonia. The homes are usually run by the whole family, but it is mainly the women in the family who are in charge of decor, managing and welcoming guests. In the case of an older homeowner, the eldest son will inherit the land and the farm, and so the daughter-in-law will typically manage the holiday home whilst the son is responsible for the fields and livestock.
The population of Catalan country-side are modern people and Catalonia is the richest region in Spain. The holiday homes are of top quality as the home owners are fully aware that a holiday home must be comfortable, beautiful houses, equipped with all the comforts of home.
A typical family that owns a holiday home is proud of their beautiful holiday home, an incredible amount of energy has been put into the restoration and a lot of money has been spent on rebuilding the house. In Catalonia, one takes care of the family values, as they will be inherited by the next generations. When we started up almost 15 years ago, only a few of the houses had a swimming pool. Today, all our houses have a swimming pool and several have even begun to have an indoor pool. There are tennis courts in some houses, one of our houses has a large mini-golf court, most houses have table tennis or table football, many houses have playgrounds and all houses have a wonderful terrace! And as time goes by, almost all of our houses now also have WI-FI, although not always at the same excellent speed that you may be used to from home.
The homeowners are very happy to have international guests, they are proud of the fact that guests from far away choose to visit their region and they are very interested in creating the best possible framework for you during your stay. When we started working in Catalonia, very few homeowners could speak English, but as time has passed and more daugthers-in-law seem to have taken over, it is no longer uncommon to find that the family can speak English.
The home owners’ native language is Catalan, which is a mixture of Spanish and French, but all homeowners speak Spanish and most French. They are also proficient in gesturing, so our experience has taught us that homeowners and guests can come a long way in their communication. However, should you need help: we only a phone call away, and are always willing to help!
Some homeowners deliver a little of their own eggs (if they have chickens), maybe a homemade sausage or a little from the vegetable garden as a gesture. Many do not do it but everyone will welcome you with open arms and have one big wish: "That you will have a fantastic holiday in their beautiful holiday home".
And we recommend that you, in good faith with responsible tourism, remember that we travel to experience diversity. Luckily the sofa does not look like the one we have at home, in Catalonia you do not sleep with thick duvets (it would probably also be a far too hot experience), the WIFI may not have the same speed as we are used to and the menus in the small cozy, catalan towns are neither Danish, English nor French. If you are lucky, you may find a menu in Spanish, but otherwise you will have to go ahead with your smart-phone and translate the Catalan into Spanish.
We hope you will enjoy being close to locals and that you will enjoy the opportunity to experience a beautiful and authentic holiday with friendly and welcoming hosts.
