Why pay more for Canmore?
It’s not all about the money.
We love our guests and they matter to us
We prefer to deal directly with our guests as this is an advantage over dealing with a large hotel chain, not all vacation rentals are the same and we have found that guests like the personal touch and to know what they are getting and who owns the condos. We want the opportunity to build your trust in us. We have some wonderful families and sports teams who stay with us regularly and we wouldn’t have had an opportunity to build a relationship with them if the system was a click and book operation.
At Rentalsintherockies.com we have always tried to keep things simple. We have no hidden fees and other than the tax, which we have to add by law we don’t charge any extras. Many businesses try to show a headline figure for their product or service and then add additional charges. Airlines add taxes, theatres add charges for booking and credit card fees. We just think the price you see is what you should pay. These businesses are entitled to make these charges, but they don’t always make it completely clear what the fee is and when you pay it.
At the end of 2015 Expedia bought the Homeaway network of vacation rentals listing web sites, for close to 4 billion USD. We have listed our condos on these sites for some years, the sites include Homeaway.com, VRBO.com and Vacationrentals.com. All of these sites are very popular and give us an opportunity to receive enquiries for our vacation homes in Canmore Crossing can be trusted.
Expedia has now started to try and recover some of their massive investment by introducing booking fees to potential renters which are between 5 – 12% while still charging the owners to list their properties. This is done in the checkout process when booking through Expedia’s listing sites VRBO, Homeaway etc. According to Expedia, the process is apparently easier for the guest and gives them peace of mind. We disagree as we have always used Paypal and now we are taking credit cards directly, which does not involve an extra charge for our guests. This is secure for both guest and owner, this offers both sides of the deal, peace of mind.
Expedia’s goal is to force all owners to advertise in this click and book way. Bookings must be completed within 24 hours, which doesn’t always allow enough time to answer all of a guests questions, considering we have enquiries from all over the world and many time zones. Expedia is a company who is free to conduct business in any way it sees fit and as an OTA (Online Travel Agent) they can charge fees in any manner they wish. However, some potential guests have started to complain or ask the vacation owners to swallow the fee, but even if things change back, who knows what the future brings. Will this mean higher fees to both owners and guests? To be fair to Expedia, they have come from a hotel background. If you stay in a Hilton at London, it’s going to be pretty similar to the Hilton in New York. In this case clicking and booking with little contact works. Besides offering unique individual homes, we have local knowledge and can offer information which will improve the enjoyment of your vacation. Other listing sites have also come under scrutiny during the covid crisis in 2020 Airbnb accused of ripping off both guests and owners.
We enjoy speaking with and emailing directly with our guests and we try to make the experience as enjoyable as we can. We also have a genuine desire to give our guests the best value. No one is going to sit in our condos for their entire visit and not go out! If communication is hard then how can you offer individual advice of what there is to see and do near your vacation home. Half the fun of a vacation is looking forward to the trip. Clicking a button doesn’t seem quite as exciting.
“Even if you wish to stay with other owners in Canmore or anywhere in the world! Please remember the point of a vacation rental is personal contact and to stay in a unique home. Happy traveling.”
We would love to welcome you to Canmore!
Don't Be Shy!
Drop us a line anytime, and we will get back to you as soon as we can.