Save money on your next cottage vacation rental!

How would you like to save some money the next time you are looking for a cottage vacation rental?   Below I give some insight on what is costs the owners to list on those sites and how you can get the best price when shopping for your cottage vacation!

When guests are looking to get away for a vacation, they have a lot of options at their disposal.  Airbnb, VRBO, TripAdvisor, and Booking.com, are a few of the larger vacation rental platforms prospective guests can use to find their perfect vacation getaway.   There are many more sites available, and it seems that every week there are more platforms coming on board to take their slice of the vacation rental pie.   So how do you as a traveler, find the best deals for a cottage vacation rental?  First let me tell you how the sites work from the viewpoint of a vacation rental owner.

Airbnb and TripAdvisor - Both of these sites do not charge the owners to list their property.   If a guest books the property through the platform, the site simply takes a small percentage of the money as their compensation (usually around 3 percent).   So an owner who decides they want $200 for that one night at their property, will simply increase the price so that the portal gets their commission and the owner still gets her $200 to cover the bills, expenses, and hopefully have some left over as profit.


VRBO - Runs a bit different than the first two, in that it charges the owners a fee to list their property. The site does not take any commissions on bookings from the owners.   How does VRBO make its money?   VRBO charges the guest a "booking fee", which is essentially a commission on the transaction, but they charge the guest up front to book.  There is no need for the owner to increase their price as they still get their $200, but the guest still pays a higher price covering the VRBO booking fee.

Booking.com - This is a again free for the owners to list, but the owners receive a commission invoice at the end of each month to pay for bookings generated from the listing site.   So what do owners do to offset those costs?  You guessed it, the owner will increase their rates on this site as well so they take home that same $200 for a single night rental.


So what does this mean to you, the rental guest who wants to have the best vacation they can have at the lowest possible price?   It means that you should book directly from the owner or rental company.   At the very least find their website to compare prices.  Many times you can save hundreds of dollars by sourcing them directly.   By all means, look on one of the portals to find the cottage you are interested in!   But if you see "Oak Bay Hideaway" in Port Severn on Airbnb, or "Birch Grove" in Parry Sound on VRBO, take the time to do a google search for the same property and location.  Many times you will find the direct website where you can book at discounted prices!

Take your savings and put it towards your next vacation!  Have a fantastic summer!

To do in Muskoka Ontario - Johnston's Cranberry Farm and Muskoka Lakes Winery!!

We have heard so many good things about Johnston’s Cranberry Farm and we’ve had a number of guests comment on the good times they’ve had there, so we thought it was time we checked it out for ourselves!  

We arrived on a beautiful summer day in early July of 2015.  Four of us went there for the day.  My wife Jackie, my sister and brother-in-law, and myself.    I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy it as I am not a drinker and have never been much of a fan of wine, but I was still curious about the cranberry harvesting.  After receiving feedback on how much our guests enjoyed it, I was looking forward to the day.   Our first stop was into their store and gift shop and my wife’s eyes opened wide!   Right away she was picking out fun gift items for friends and family.  We had a lot of fun just browsing the different items and the large variety of the original wines they had for sale.  

We spoke with the friendly staff and asked what was most popular for tourists when they came to the cranberry farm.  They suggested the guided tour, the wine tasting, and the cheese platter!  We were happy to sign up for all three!

We started with the wine tasting.  A wine server had a number of their wines set up and told everyone a brief summary of how it was made and the appeal that each wine had.  Again I’m not a fan of wine generally speaking but I soon became a fan of their blueberry wine!  To this day we always have a bottle of  Muskoka Lakes winery blueberry wine on hand.  It was a lot of fun trying all of the different bottles of wine!

Next we were off on the guided tour.  We learned the history of the farm and how the company has grown into what it is today.  We learned about their farming of the cranberries and how they are harvested and eventually turned into wine, jams, sauce, and many other products.  It was really interesting to see the large vats where the wine is made.

We finished the day with the cheese platter and a glass of our favorite wine from the wine tasting.  We relaxed in the sun on their patio and enjoyed the fresh air and talked and laughed. 

Over all I had a lot of fun on the day and wouldn’t hesitate to suggest that visitors to the Muskoka area take a tour of Johnston’s Cranberry Farm and Muskoka Lakes winery.  It’s just one of the many fun adventures in Muskoka, Ontario.    If you have been to Johnston’s Cranberry Farm I’d love to see your comments below on your favorite memories from the visit!  Which wine did you like best??

 

Island Queen cruise - Parry Sound, Ontario

Here is the next in our series of attractions and things to do when in Muskoka, Ontario.  There is so much to do a see it may take awhile to review everything but we are going to give it our best shot!! Click here for our youtube video of the review!

Ok so I have to be up front here in saying that I wasn’t expecting much when it comes to a sight seeing cruise of some islands.....  What I was most excited for was that it would force me to get away from the work I was doing at the cottage and I might be able to relax for a couple of hours out on the water.  I gotta say….it was way better than I expected!! 

They offer a two hour morning cruise or a three hour afternoon cruise.   I had teenagers in tow so I thought it best not to push my luck on a three hour tour and chose to do the two hour morning cruise.   Once we were underway I was regretting the fact that I didn’t choose the three hour tour!   We toured through the many islands – I should say that the tour is also known as the 30,000 island tour….  I really enjoyed looking at the cottages on the water, seeing all of the islands, and hearing facts about the area from the loudspeaker as we passed points of interest.  It was a smooth relaxing tour with an on board cafeteria and washrooms.

Would I do it again?  Absolutely!!  Next time I will do the three hour tour and I think I will give it a try in the Fall season to see some of the changing leaves!  The kids ended up having a fun time too!  

Next time you are at one of the Serenity Vacation Rentals cottages – be sure to check out the Island Queen cruise!!

Bear Claw Tours

Looking for something fun to do while staying at one of our Muskoka Cottages?  Look no further! For an adventure that you and your family won't forget, try Bear Claw Tours!

So what is Bear Claw Tours? – Well it is a guided ATV tour through 1,000 acres of private trailed beautiful Muskoka land.   Bear Claw is located just 7 kilometres East of Parry Sound which is centrally located for all of the Serenity Vacation Rental Cottages.   We had the opportunity to take the four hour tour with Owner / Operator - Andrew Ryeland in late June of 2015 and all I can say is WOW!

I knew we were in for an adventure right from the opening emails when I asked the ridiculous question “What is your rainy day policy” and is humorous reply was “we don’t charge extra for that”!  We arrived for our private tour and Andrew greeted us and had us begin to prepare for the ride.  Andrew had us go through a large selection of helmets, gloves, rubber boots, and rain coats and pants.  We were then all geared up we were ready for our ride!

There was a large selection of ATV’s to choose from.  Because we had our two youngest with us, we chose two of the side by side ATV’s for my wife and I to take with the younger kids.  Our older son had an ATV to himself.  After a short safety and instructional talk, we were on our way.  Our family had little to no experience on ATV’s, so it was nice that the vehicles were all very easy to learn and ride.  Within a minute we were on the trails!  I was blown away by the terrain we were able to go through.  We were over rocks, tree stumps and fallen trees, streams, mud, and open fields.  Andrew was fantastic for showing us points of interest and pointing out any animal tracks we came across along the way!   There was only a couple of times during the tour where one of us got stuck but Andrew was an expert at quickly getting us back on the trail.  

During the tour we stopped for periodic breaks.  I had to laugh when Andrew offered my wife coffee, tea, hot chocolate, juice, or expresso, – and then he opened his storage container on the back of his ATV and he had it all!  The kids had juice and snacks while my wife had a hot coffee!   All of the  snacks and drinks were included in the cost of the tour!  For the entire four hours we were making our way through the bush on the scenic trails, or we were on breaks listening to Andrew tell stories of his adventures, eating snacks, or looking at the beautiful Muskoka scenery and wildlife.   

My family and I had a fantastic time and we can’t wait to go back!   We do have some video footage of the adventure you can click to see.   Thanks for a fantastic time Andrew!  If you are staying at one of the Serenity Vacation Rentals cottages, you have to make a point to visit Andrew and experience the Bear claw ATV tour!   We highly recommend it!

Rocky Horror Picture Show

RCMPI production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show!

Well Lee Valley is up and running! I am very excited about the response from out guests! We have almost completely booked the summer, most spring weekends are full, and we are now starting to inquiries about our Autumn weekends. Some of my favourite things from Lee Valley are 

1) The Bunkie - A fantastic one bedroom bunkie with kitchen, bathroom, and living room with fold out sofa bed. Amazing views of the lake and a little getaway from the rest of the family if they are getting too noisy! lol. This is a perfect spot for older kids, inlaws, or friends.

2) The Muskoka room and Sunroom - Here we have a screened in area at the back of the cottage for those evenings where you don't want the bugs, but you also don't want to miss out on the cool outside air! The sunroom on the second level is a great spot for reading, listening to music or playing a board game!

3) The land! This is our first cottage on flat land allowing you to easily walk to the water without any steps. The lake is just a few feet away from the cottage which is great for watching the kids play, swim, or just to enjoy the view! Password - Lake Manitouwaba

I'm hope you will get a chance to come and enjoy Lee Valley and I hope you enjoy the presentation of "The Rocky Horror Show"!!

Count down to Lee Valley

I'm super excited about adding our third cottage "Lee Valley" and I'm happy the new owners put their trust in Serenity Vacation Rentals to rent it out for them! There are only few things I can say at this point as the deal closes April 5th, but what I can tell you is that we will have all the information updated here on the website on that day. I'm happy to email any details to anyone who is interested in the meantime! I can highlight some of the features for you though..... A nice sandy beach, flat land close to water (no steps down stairs or walk down a steep hill to get to the water), a separate bunkie with it's own kitchen and bathroom perfect for the in-laws or older kids! 

I can't wait to get in there and take more pictures after we've had a chance to make it a true Serenity Vacations getaway! We will have one month to get it ready before the rentals begin. We will begin renting Lee Valley for May 1st and we've already had some bookings! 

We are meeting with the previous owners this week to learn about some of the operations of the cottage. i'll be sure to keep you updated on the progress!

First blog ever!

I thought it was time we started our very own blog here at Serenity Vacation Rentals! We will have some very exciting news in the next few weeks! We are in the process of adding our third vacation rental property Lee Valley. There is not a lot that we can say at this time other than check back to our website after April 5th for more information!