Rent a cottage for two or three nights over the Easter weekend and enjoy standard weekend/extra night rates. Don’t pay premium long weekend rates on selected cottages. Give us a call on 866 323 6698 for details and you could be spending your Easter on the lake this year. Here’s some ideas:

Six Mile Cottage – On beautiful 6-Mile Lake, this popular cottage is yours for the Easter weekend at $925 for 3 nights for up to 6 people.

A family of five can have a great time at Creekside – a peaceful location on  an inlet just off Stoney Lake.  This cute cottage comes with a hot tub and a deck overlooking the water.  Spend some time in pretty Lakefield or explore the local Provincial Park.  At $520 for a 3-night break, it’s a bargain.

This great cottage sits in a quiet bay on beautiful Eagle Lake and is available for rental from May through to October.  With three bedrooms and two bathrooms and living accommodation on two floors, it has lots of space for two families.  If you’ve never visited this part of Eastern Ontario before you are in for a treat with lovely scenery, great places to visit and tranquil surroundings if you just want to stay put.  Check out the listing for Eagle Ridge

While ‘Cottage Country’ gets all the hype with its Canadian Shield-rimmed lakes and the isolated, rocky splendor of Georgian Bay, there’s a part of Ontario that offers a different style of summer vacation. For those who are seeking fabulous, sandy waterfront with the benefits of being in and around a vibrant village atmosphere, Port Stanley on sunny Lake Erie makes a great choice.

This beautiful harbor-side village offers shopping, sailing, swimming, golf and plenty of restaurants as well as the opportunity to enjoy live presentations at the Port Stanley Festival Theatre. Children will love the long stretch of sandy beach while golfers have the choice of several 9 and 18 hole courses within 30 minutes of Port Stanley.

At just over 2 hours from Toronto this is a great alternative to the cottage country areas where you might be up to an hour from the nearest supermarket or restaurant. So, for families wanting a great vacation destination with waterfront on the doorstep, yet still have enough to keep them occupied off the water, this secret of Southern Ontario may be just what you are looking for.

Port Stanley Retreat is a delightful cottage close enough to the village and beach to walk, but far enough away to enjoy countryside tranquility. Tucked away in a wooded hillside spot and sleeping up to 6 people, it’s a perfect spot for a small family. Book now and plan your Lake Erie getaway.

It’s too late to get a good cottage:  True or False

FALSE: There are lots of new cottage owners who have just bought and closed on their purchase, and are now listing their properties for the first time. The secret is in how to find them. Unless listing agencies have a method for highlighting new listings or last minute availability, you’ll have to go through each listing and check whether the week is open or not. A tiresome process, so you may be better served contacting a few agencies and asking if they have something new coming up. We have just listed over a dozen new cottages, with another 15 or so to come in the next few weeks. Call us on 1 866 323 6698 and ask about what’s new, or bookmark this blog as we’ll be listing them all here as soon as they go on the web site.

Rental rates are higher through an agency than a private listing: True or False

FALSE: A reputable agency will place a competetive rate on a cottage that will be on a par with private listings. You may have to pay a booking fee on top of the rental rate. What you get for that is the assurance that the cottage has been inspected by agency staff, meets their minimum standards, and is regularly checked and maintained by the owner or his representative.

Discounts apply for last minute availability

FALSE: Some owners may discount late availability but don’t expect this to happen. There is a high demand for weekly rentals even at the last minute and we usually have a list of people waiting for a cancellation or late listing.  Many owners would prefer to use a vacant week themselves rather than offer a deal. However, it’s always worth asking.

All agencies are created equal: True or False

FALSE: There are a lot of rental agencies operating in Ontario, and thankfully, most are professionally managed and comply with provincial regulations of either the Real Estate Board (RECO) or the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO). However, offering cottages for rent and accepting a commission from an owner for doing the work, can seem an easy business to set up, and there are a number of unregulated agencies now listing cottages on web sites. To ensure your money is protected, held in a Trust Account, and managed professionally, make sure the agency you use is RECO or TICO registered. The logos and registration numbers should be clearly displayed on their sites and in supporting literature.

The same is true of a cottage. If you contact an owner or agency to ‘book’ a vacation rental, they may place that property on hold for you while you complete a rental agreement and send in a deposit. This will make that property unavailable to other interested clients so if you take your time over completing the process and subsequently change your mind, that property has been out of circulation for that period and the owner may lose out on other potential bookings.

It is not surprising that most agencies will not allow a hold without a deposit of some sort, and expect all, or a portion of it, to be non-refundable. This covers their costs of generating a rental agreement, and the potential for lost income to the owner if the renter changes his or her mind.

Read cancellation policies very carefully. You run the risk of losing your deposit if you cancel and the owner or agency is unable to re-rent the period that has been booked. Even if they do, expect to pay a cancellation penalty in the region of $150.

Renting a privately owned property for a short term is very different from booking a hotel room, or an apartment owned by a resort, and for those who have never taken this type of vacation before, it can be a bit unnerving to be asked to sign a legal contract. However, you should be very wary if an owner does not ask you to complete a rental agreement. Booking policies and Terms and Conditions of Rental are there to ensure fairness for everyone, and are not generally designed to be restrictive. They protect all the parties involved in a rental agreement and make sure that everyone is aware of their responsibilities.

Renting a cottage  is a wonderful way to spend time with family and friends in a home-style environment in a fabulous location. It’s worth the extra paperwork to enjoy it to the full.

It is not too late to reserve a sandy waterfront if you know where to look.  We list new cottages all the time and want to share some that still have lots of availability for the summer.  There are wonderful sand beach cottages for rent in July and August and here are a few:

Kennecebport – on Kennebec Lake in Eastern Ontario – sleeps up to 6 people in a traditional cottage.  This is very private and has a fabulous private sandy beach a few minutes walk away.  It is on the cottage property – the cottage is half way down the driveway that continues on to the beach so you can even drive your car down there.  At $1225 per week, it is great value!

Rainbow’s End – on Lake Manitouwabing near Parry Sound – is a new listing and will accommodate up to 12 people in its 4 bedrooms and 2-bedroom bunkie.  The big beach will be a hit with all the family as will the decking and extensive docks.  Renting at $3900 per week this is a good deal for two or three families to share.

Nature’s Paradise is a good budget option.   A shared sandy beach is a 5 minute walk from the cottage which makes the rental rate of $795 per week a real bargain.  It’s a neat cottage sleeping up to 6 and includes a canoe and aluminium boat.

Acorns is a brand new listing at Lafontaine on Georgian Bay that sleeps up to 6 adults and 2 additional children. Get the benefits of Wasaga Beach style waterfront without the hordes of people.  This beach is shared by a handful of local cottage owners so you can enjoy the crystal clear waters of Georgian Bay at a great rate of $1475 per week.

The Sharicton – on Whitestone Lake near Parry Sound – has a new owner who was a previous rental guest who liked it so much she bought it!  There’s a good recommendation.  The beach and lawns make this really great for kids and adults alike – and the dog!  This cottage sleeps up to 8 people at $1850.

We list new properties all the time so keep in touch with us and we’ll let you know what’s coming up.

For the active, there are a number of hikes varying in difficulty and length, with a pathway that leads to the top of the rock that offers fabulous views. Canoeists and kayakers can explore the quiet backwaters off the main lake or smaller lakes within the park, and watercraft can be rented from the Park offices. There’s sandy swimming beaches to keep the children happy too. The Mugwump Ferry operating daily in the summer takes visitors across Mazinaw Lake to the Mazinaw rock.

Nearby Smart’s Marina, on Hwy 41 offers boat rentals from a canoe at $25 per day to a pontoon boat at $275 per day. With fishing in plentiful supply on the lake, a full day out will keep the whole family occupied.

Our closest cottage to Bon Echo Provincial Park is Stonewood – a 10 minute drive. Stonewood , on Little Marble Lake, sleeps up to 10 in four bedrooms and is privately located with its own sand beach. A complimentary Park pass will give you access into Bon Echo as many times as you want during your stay. The park is within an hour from many of our other eastern Ontario cottages

Photo of Mazinaw Rock by Napanee Gal on Flickr

“….cottages in eastern Ontario are less likely to be equipped with satellite television and other trimmings than those in the Haliburton and other vacation hot spots.”

That may be true if you rent with other agencies or from private advertisements, and for some people a rustic cottage with minimal facilities with obligatory mouse poop and dust bunnies is what cottage vacations are all about. However, if you are more discriminating about your vacation accommodation you’ll be looking for cottages with the features that will make your vacation more enjoyable and less time consuming.

From our perspective, it doesn’t matter where a cottage is – location should not impact on the quality of the accommodation. Each one is inspected and we turn down those that don’t meet our high standards. Just take a look at our eastern Ontario collection and see the excellent features and facilities in each. And if you are a cottage owner in this part of the province and want to work with an agency that values quality in each property we represent, just call us for an information pack. We’d love to meet you.

Photo: Stonewood on Little Marble Lake

Here’s a couple of examples:

Sea Breeze on Lake Ontario accepts pets, has a hot tub, and a fabulous outlook on Lake Ontario. Less than 2 hours from the city so you’ll have plenty of free gas to explore the beautiful Northumberland area.

Squirrel’s Leap or Chalet Tranquilite near Mt Tremblant in Quebec are both   great locations for a short gas-paid break from Ottawa. Enjoy the beautiful Laurentians before the summer crowds arrive. Choose from a gorgeous log cabin for two with awesome views of Tremblant and easy access to Parc du Tremblant, or a wooded location near to Lac E’querre.

Call us to find out the cottages that have joined our gas promotion programme. 1 866 323 6698

There’s so much to do in the spring.  Take a paddle out on a quiet lake in a canoe or kayak; hike in one of our beautiful provincial parks; go geocaching and explore the countryside on a driving tour.

Just give us a call and we’ll help you plan your spring break and find the right cottage.  Don’t forget you can check the availability of all our cottages so easily by clicking on our calendars.

* This offer is on selected cottages up to June 24th and does not include the Victoria Day weekend