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Who is Nice Pebbles?

Nice Pebbles Ltd is a company which was incorporated in August 2006. Its registered office address is 94 Holland Street, Manchester M34 3PZ. We are registered tour operators in the UK. Our directors and shareholders are based in France, UK, and the USA.

Nice Pebbles SARL is a registered estate agent at 20 Rue de l'Hotel des Postes, 06000 Nice, France. France requires all companies connected with real estate to carry a license and insurance. We are licensed under societaire number 41075W and our carte professionelle is number 11284.


The booking procedure up to your arrival

Can we stay for less than one week?

What is included in the price?

How do I book?

How do I pay?

How will I know how to get to the apartment?

Why am I paying in GBP and Euros?

What if I need to cancel?

How do I know my hard earned money is safe?


Our terms of business with our guests

What time can I check in?

What time is check out?

Do I have to pay a security deposit?

Are pets allowed in the apartments?

Is smoking allowed in the apartments?

What if I want to change my dates?

What if I want to change my apartment?

What if I am unhappy with any aspect of my stay?


Information and tips to assist you when you stay

How do I get to Nice?

What is provided in the apartment?

Why are extra linen and towels so expensive?

Wi-Fi in the apartment

TV in the apartment

Where can I park?

What will the weather be like?

Do I need travel insurance?

Where can I obtain a mobile phone during my stay in Nice?


For investors

I have an apartment and would like to advertise on your site. Can I join in?

I am interested in buying an apartment. Can you help?

I need a lawyer to explain French Law. Can you help?

CAN WE STAY FOR LESS THAN ONE WEEK?


Of course. We appreciate that you might like to come for a long weekend, or take advantage of inexpensive weekday flights. You can check the prices for any length of stay on the automated system. For longer stays, it is best to email us for a price since we may be able to offer a discount.







WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE PRICE?


Our price includes one of our representatives meeting you on arrival, a basic grocery pack to get you started in the apartment, all utilities, and cleaning the apartment at the end of your stay. Your bed will also be freshly made up with Egyptian cotton linen and towels will be laid out for your use. You will have our contact mobile number to use during your stay to deal with any difficulties which may arise. You will be entitled to use our free luggage store and concierge service.







HOW DO I BOOK?


You can book on-line at any time. Should you prefer not to do this, or have difficulties you can ring us during the hours of 10am - 12 noon Monday to Friday and we will help you process your booking. Or you can send us an email and we will take it from there. We ask for a deposit to book the apartment of 25% of the value of the booking to secure the dates. This deposit is non-refundable. Two months before arrival, we will request the balance for your stay, minus the linen and end of stay cleaning, which is due in Euros on arrival. To avoid any doubt whilst the cleaning and linen is paid on arrival, the linen and cleaning are still included in the price quoted. There are no hidden or extra charges. Additionally, any extra services such as one of our packages will be charged in Euros on arrival. If you want more information on this, please see our Terms and Conditions.







HOW DO I PAY?


We accept payment through all major credit and debit cards. You can provide your credit card details over the telephone or through our secure server when you book on-line.















HOW WILL I KNOW HOW TO GET TO THE APARTMENT?


Once we have received your deposit, you will receive detailed information about the location of the property and all details to contact us during your stay. You will be given choices of where we should meet you. After we have met at the agreed meeting point, you will be personally taken to the apartment.







WHY AM I PAYING IN GBP AND EUROS?


The price we advertise is the price you pay inclusive of all cleaning, linen, and taxes. The amount due on arrival is paid to our self-employed staff who are registered under their own companies. This includes our service laundry. Because we are paying for these services in France, we must take Euro payments to cover the charges. Accordingly, we fix a rate between the Euro and GBP twice yearly. It is impossible for this to be completely accurate due to fluctuations. We change our website apartment rates to reflect the changes between the two currencies periodically. The prices in both GBP and Euros are fixed at the time of booking. We will never ask for a higher Euro amount on arrival if the Euro weakens. At the same time, we cannot change the quoted amount to pay if the Euro strengthens. Thank you for your understanding. We look forward to the UK joining the Euro!







WHAT IF I NEED TO CANCEL?


The 25% paid on booking the apartment is not refundable. Any other monies that we have received from you will be refunded as follows: over 28 days before arrival, 50 percent will be refunded; over 14 days before arrival, 25 percent will be refunded. To comply with money laundering regulations, our refunds can only be made by direct payment back to the credit card the monies were received from. In some cases you may incur your bank's small handling charge for this service. We cannot refund monies any other way to avoid the risk of inadvertently “cleaning” money. We thank you in advance for your understanding. Should you wish to claim for any lost monies through your insurance company, then we will assist as far as we possibly can.







HOW DO I KNOW MY HARD EARNED MONEY IS SAFE?


We bank with Lloyds TSB in the UK. All monies received are held in a trust account until a guest has vacated the apartment. Owners are only paid after our guests have left. We have been vetted and approved for merchant bank status. Guests can make payments via a secure line. In the event of a dispute, guests have the right to challenge the payment and our merchant bank will hold the money until the dispute is resolved.







WHAT TIME CAN I CHECK IN?


Check-in time is 4pm on the day of arrival. We want you to start your holiday as soon as possible and we will always try to meet you and take you to the apartment as soon as you arrive. However, if a guest is leaving at 10:30am that morning, you may not be able to check in until 4pm. Please note that arrivals after 8pm will attract a surcharge of 20 euros, payable on arrival. Arrivals after 9pm will attract a surcharge of 30 euros, payable on arrival. Arrivals after 11pm will attract a surcharge of 50 euros.







WHAT IF I WANT TO CHANGE MY DATES?


Changing dates will require us to update the owner, the cleaners, our assistants, and the calendars. There will therefore be an admin charge of £ 30 to £ 60 for date changes for the same apartment once your deposit has been received. We may not always be able to accommodate date changes, but will try to do so where possible. If we cannot change your dates and you no longer wish to stay with us, our cancellation policy will apply. Please see our Terms and Conditions for more information.







WHAT IF I WANT TO CHANGE MY APARTMENT?


Changing apartments will require us to deal with two owners, update two sets of calendars, updating assistants and cleaners for two apartments. There will therefore be an admin charge of £ 50 for apartment changes once your deposit has been received and the confirmation form sent out to you. We may not always be able to accommodate apartment changes, but will try to do so where possible. If we cannot accommodate a move to another apartment and you no longer wish to stay with us, our cancellation policy will apply. Please see our Terms and Conditions for more information.







WHAT IF I AM UNHAPPY WITH ANY ASPECT OF MY STAY?


We would hope that we can rectify any aspect of your stay which has been unsatisfactory. If we cannot resolve any complaint for you, then we consent to a mediator being appointed by Dispute Settlement Services Ltd. DSS has extensive experience in the travel industry and will seek to resolve any disputes quickly and efficiently.


Guests, if preferred, can complain through our French regulating body. To do so requires a level of French which is why, in the interests of protecting our guests and in the spirit of co-operation, we also offer avenues of redress in the UK.


We seek at all times to keep complaints to a minimum and hope that if one arises we will be able to find an amicable resolution.







WHAT TIME IS CHECK OUT?


Check-out time is 10:30am. Out of season we may be able to accommodate a late check out, but late check outs will be difficult from March to October and during Easter and Christmas holiday periods. We do offer a luggage storage facility in our Shop. This is situated at 20 Rue de l'Hotel des Postes, in close proximity to the Tramway and Gare Routiere bus station. This service is free. If you have a late flight on your departure day, then please consider using this service. We cannot guarantee that you will be able to leave luggage in an apartment after the 1030 a.m. check out.






DO I HAVE TO PAY A SECURITY DEPOSIT?


We take credit card details from you on arrival in the same way a hotel does. We do not charge the card unless damage occurs. In the event of any damage, you are advised to call us so we can assess the damage together. Failure to do this will result in our decision on the value of the damage being final.







ARE PETS ALLOWED IN THE APARTMENTS?


We are afraid pets are not welcome in the apartments.







IS SMOKING ALLOWED IN THE APARTMENTS?


No, all of our apartments are non-smoking.







HOW DO I GET TO NICE?


Nice is a well-connected city with TGV, an airport, and a port. The Nice airport (Aéroport Nice Côte d'Azur) has two terminals and is well served by budget airlines.


Recommended direct flights to Nice:


• easyJet from Bristol, Belfast, Gatwick, Liverpool, Luton, Newcastle, and Stanstead.


• British Airways from Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, and Birmingham.


• BMI and its subsidiary BMI Baby. BMI baby flies from London Heathrow and Birmingham. BMI from Birmingham and Nottingham East Midlands airport


• Jet2 from Leeds Bradford and Manchester.


• Fly Globespan from both Glasgow and Edinburgh.


• Nice Airport. A guide to Nice airport including a pictorial map of the terminals and bus stops, phone numbers of all the airlines operating from the airport, parking areas, prices and many more details, contact names, and numbers.


• Sky Scanner. Type in "Nice UK" and Sky Scanner will search the cheapest flights that month on the main competitors, including easyJet, BMI. and Jet2.


An airport shuttle bus (no. 98) operates from both terminals. This bus (€ 4) is the most convenient and cheapest way to get into central Nice. It leaves every twenty minutes from terminals 1 and 2 and the last bus every night yearly is at around 9 p.m., and in July to September this increases to nearly midnight. The bus takes you down the route of the Promenade des Anglais, directly into Nice centre. After approximately 20 minutes, it reaches its final destination, the Gare Routière which is in easy walking distance of most Nice Pebbles apartments. For information on the complete public transport network of Nice Côte d'Azur, check the ligne d'azur web site.


For private transfers between the airport and any of our apartments, we suggest using ATS. We have contacted several private hire firms in Nice, and ATS offers the cheapest one-way fare into Nice of € 36. Nice Pebbles guests regularly use ATS and feedback is always positive. They wait for you at the airport terminal with a card with your name on it. It's a stress-free way to start your holiday. All their drivers speak English and they will be familiar with the location of your apartment.


Nice can also be reached by TGV. The train takes five and a half hours from Paris. You may find a budget airline ticket is less expensive than the train. The Nice train station is situated at the top end of Avenue Jean-Médicin on Avenue Theirs. SNCF trains are plentiful and frequent to all destinations on the coast between Saint Raphael and the Italian border which makes Nice a fantastic base for exploring most of the Côte d'Azur. If you are planning a trip around Europe, you may want to take a look at the European Rail Guide. More modestly, SNCF still offers good services into and around Nice.


Nice is also easily accessible by car, the fastest route being the A8. However, once in Nice, we would advise that if you are a group of less than four, you ditch the car in favour of public transport. Considering hiring cars for the days you need one, rather than for your entire stay. Car parking is expensive in Nice, around € 20 a day, and with such great public transport options to most of the popular destinations on the French Riviera, you will probably find a car is not necessary.


If you think you will still need a car, or want to explore some of the more remote parts of the Côte d'Azur, then we recommend using Hertz. As well as being based at Nice airport, they also have offices at the train station and next to the Le Meridien hotel. The Le Meridien is a particularly handy place to pick up a car for a couple of days if you're staying at a Nice Pebbles apartment. All their offices open on Sunday morning, which is an unusual bonus for companies operating in France.







WHAT IS PROVIDED IN THE APARTMENTS?


We want to offer a home away from home feeling for all of our guests, so all of our apartments have all the necessary kitchen equipment including a kettle, cafetiere and toaster. The glassware, crockery and cooking equipment are all provided as well as a Brita water filter. As part of a Welcome package we provide; a tea towel, washing powder, dishwasher powder, washing up liquid, and two full rolls of toilet paper to get you started, as well as a basic grocery package. For items such as a microwave please go to each individual apartment and view the amenities; if the apartment has it, it will be listed here. Each apartment is equipped with an iron and ironing board, a high speed hairdryer, and an alarm clock. We also provide 2 pillows per person, one set of sheets for the made-up beds, a bath towel and hand towel for each guest, and a bath mat as well as a mini shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel.


We do not provide the following: linen and towels for a sofa bed, extra towels and linen (although these can be provided at extra cost), beach towels, kitchen roll, or endless supplies of toilet rolls. If you wish to purchase a package that provides you with these items, please consult our packages and special offers. Please check the white box on the individual apartment pages to check if the apartment has the amenities such as a washing machine, Wi-Fi, TV connection, etc. All the apartment amenities are listed there.


Why are extra linen and towels so expensive?

We hear you! Unfortunately Nice is an expensive city and professional laundry is not much cheaper than dry cleaning. Unlike a hotel we do not have the facility to do laundry in house and then wheel it up on a trolley in a lift between the hotel floors. Instead, it has to be picked up, delivered, taken back and forth from apartments and laundered too. If we explain that our service laundry charges us 2 euros a pillowcase, we hope you can see how a full bed of linen and towels can add up. Service laundry is one of the major expenses of our business.


Wi-Fi in the apartment

Not all of our apartments have Wi-Fi. The ones that do are advertised as such. Wi-Fi access is provided free of charge, unlike hotels which charge around € 30 a day for use. Please respect that we have decided not to charge for this service and that occasionally the local network can fail, or sometimes the modem is not compatible with your laptop. We have found that laptops using MS Windows tend to work in the apartments most of the time, but there can be difficulties with Macintosh. Like a hotel, we cannot take any responsibility if your individual laptop does not work in an apartment or if the signal fails, though we will of course try our best to get you hooked up. We are not technical engineers and problems can be outside of our expertise. Often a signal failure will need the assistance of the provider and this can take several days or weeks to resolve. The same policy applies with cable TV or a phone line. Where we cannot resolve a technical problem for you, we can give compensation of a maximum of £20 per 7 days to allow you to use an Internet café, go to the cinema, or phone home. This is offered as a good will gesture as compensation for your disappointment.


TV in the apartment

Not all of our apartments have television. Basic French television is not great and there are certainly no English channels. For this reason, some apartments have chosen not to hook up to the TV and just have an LCD screen with a DVD player. Some DVDs are provided, but we would encourage you to also bring some of your own in case the ones in the apartment are not to your taste. Where there is a connected television, this will be advertised as such in the highlights box on the apartment page and in the apartment description. Some of our apartments have a cable package. This will have at least one news channel in English. It will also have some music channels that play English music. Some of our apartments have more English channels, and even SKY. If they do, this is detailed and advertised in the white box. Occasionally, the cable TV signal can fail. If this happens, our guests will need to rely on the fall back of DVDs. We are afraid that we cannot be held responsible for signal failures.







WHERE CAN I PARK?


We think the best map of car parks is at Nice Plan Ville web site. Go to "Transport" and then to "Parking". Move the cursor on the page to move the map around to where you want to be. You can print the map for a good reference to bring with you. It is only in French, but it is easy to navigate. Expect to pay around € 30 a day for parking.







WHAT WILL THE WEATHER BE LIKE?


Nice enjoys a similar climate to other Mediterranean cities, but has the advantage of being protected from the wind by the surrounding hills and mountains. This enviable micro-climate assisted by Nice's proximity to the sea means there is still a mild climate in winter and the heat is reduced in summer. You should enjoy sunshine all year round and it is not unusual to slip on a t-shirt as early as February. Average monthly temperatures for winter (November to March) range from 9 to 13 degrees C. and in summer (May to September) range from 17 to 23 degrees C. BBC Weather and Meteo France are good sources for long- and short-term forecasts.







DO I NEED TRAVEL INSURANCE?


It is advisable for you to have your own comprehensive travel insurance that will cover all liabilities incurred by you in France. This is not limited to, but will include any accident, injury, accidental damage to property or persons that you may cause. Most policies provide, as part of the general cover, third-party personal liability insurance at no extra cost so it should not cause you any problems to obtain it. Travel insurance will also assist in lost luggage, any expensive accidental breakages, or if you are a victim of crime or have a medical emergency. Please do not ruin your holiday by not taking out insurance.


If you're looking for travel cover, we suggest Globelink Travel Insurance. They offer competitive rates and a comprehensive range of policies from single trip to annual cover. We particularly like the different levels of cover they offer, such as backpacker cover, economy, and fully comprehensive.


WHERE CAN I OBTAIN A MOBILE PHONE DURING MY STAY IN NICE?


We recommend Cellular Abroad for international cell phone rentals and prepaid SIM cards.







I HAVE AN APARTMENT AND WOULD LIKE TO ADVERTISE ON YOUR SITE. CAN I JOIN IN?


We are always looking for great, well maintained and stylish properties to add to our Pebbles' portfolio. Please contact us. If you would like to find out more about us first, you can you take a look at Riviera Pebbles where you will be able to find out more about our services.







I AM INTERESTED IN BUYING AN APARTMENT. CAN YOU HELP?


A lot of past guests who have visited us see the great potential of buying in Nice as a holiday home and long-term investment. So this is quite a popular question for guests at the end of their stay. We now carry our own portfolio of properties to buy in Nice and Owners are also selling their rental apartments through us, if the need arises. We are a fully licensed and insured estate agent in Nice.

If you are looking for a mortgage or even just a French bank account, we would recommend HSBC. We can put you in touch with personnel there, please just ask. Alternatively, Michael Hackney at french-mortgage.com offers a wide range of mortgage products from various providers. He is particularly adept at finding solutions for people with more complex finances.




I NEED A LAWYER TO HELP ME UNDERSTAND SOME OF THE FRENCH LAWS APPLICABLE TO ME. CAN YOU HELP?

French inheritance laws are very complicated and very different to English inheritance laws. If you die in the UK your French property will still be subject to the rules of succession in France. Unlike in the UK, in France you are not able to simply dispose of your assets in France as you wish. The surviving spouse is not always protected.

If you need to draw up a new will to take into account your French property, then we recommend you speak with Lindsay Kinnealy at Pannones in Manchester. Pannones is a well known and respected law firm and Lindsay's knowledge on the law in France is very impressive. She heads a team of lawyers who deal with all aspects of property abroad and speaks fluent French. She can help not just with wills and probate but with any legal issue which might arise with your French property. If you also have properties in other European countries, her team can also help.

Lindsay can be reached at lindsay.kinnealy@pannone.co.uk or france@pannone.co.uk. Her department offers various fixed packages charged either at their hourly rates or at a fixed fee. As most issues are individual, you are likely to prefer a bespoke service tailored to your individual needs and/or budget.