Missing in Action – Cottageblogger is Back

You may or may not have noticed I have been MIA for a couple of months. Part of me hoped no-one would notice, but the ego side worried my comments and the occasional rants on aspects of vacation rental were missed. That aside, I’m now back in action and you’ll be seeing regular posts from now on.

It was a long and not-so-hot summer here in Ontario and it seems the trend for staying closer to home caused a boost in interest in cottage rentals as we have had our busiest year ever, which is why it’s been over three months since I last posted to the blog. A sad excuse but genuine, and it’s provided me with material to last for the next six months, at least.

The other thing I did in my extended break from posting was to take a 5-week tour of the US in the Wendy House. For those in the know (and UK based), a Wendy House is a child’s play tent and I yearned to have one when I was a little girl. So when we finally bought our 38ft fifth wheel and gave it a name, the Wendy House it became. A tad larger than my childhood dream, but it still feels the same – cosy and safe – a home on wheels.

The reason I mention this is that we have visited 19 US States and stayed at 15 different campgrounds, and while there is on the one hand, a vast difference between a campground and a vacation home, on the other, there’s a lot of similarities from a consumer viewpoint.

For those who have not experienced this type of camping, we have a completely self contained unit with a full bathroom and shower; cooking facilities that match those at home albeit with a little less space; an office corner with a desk, and a fireplace for cooler nights. However when I look for a campground to stop for a night or for a more extended stay, I am just as interested in the facilities on offer as I would if I were booking a vacation rental. Considering that campground fees can vary from as little as $12 per night to over $100 per night, there’s more at stake than a piece of grass or gravel to park a camping trailer.

We use a very helpful review website to identify parks we want to visit as it has been clear in the past that campground owners can overplay their facilties and make them sound much more appealing than they really are. We look for:

· Proximity to other campers – how close the neighbours are

· Cleanliness of washrooms and public areas

· Amenities on the camping pad – firepit, table or other seating area and a pleasant area to enjoy the outdoors

· Somewhere to walk the dog

· Good wifi and cable connections if advertised

So, it’s not very different from the things our rental clients are interested in. What bugged me most on this trip was the amount of places where facilities and amenities were promised on web sites but they were not available when we arrived. To us it wasn’t a real big deal when we were only stopping for one night, but for an extended stay, it would have been very annoying. It made me think how much more irritating that would be for vacation rental guests.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting a series of lessons we learnt from this past summer of vacation rentals. Some of these relate to the thorny issue of over-promising and under-delivering and offer interesting insights into how easy it is to create a negative relationship with a guest.

It’s good to be back and in the posting mode again, and I’ll look forward to hearing your comments and shared experiences.