Booking a Vacation Rental online can be a little confusing. We are often asked “What is the difference between booking a property directly with the Management Company or Owner, versus booking through a 3rd Party Website”. Here are the answers to those questions:
| RockiesRentals.ca | HomeAway.comVRBO.com | AirBNB.com | TripAdvisor.comFlipkey.com | OwnerDirect.com | |
| Lowest Price Guarantee1 | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Last Minute Discounts | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Booking Process | Book Direct with Owner/Manager | 3rd Party Website sends info to Owner/Manager | 3rd Party Website sends info to Owner/Manager | 3rd Party Website sends info to Owner/Manager | 3rd Party Website sends info to Owner/Manager |
| Payment | Pay Rockies Rentals directly. Prices is CAD | Pay HomeAway Directly³ | Pay AirBNB Directly³ | Pay TripAdvisor or FlipKey Directly³ | Pay OwnerDirect³ a ‘Match Fee’ and then the rental fee to Rockies Rentals directly. |
| Damage Deposit Collected | Credit Card Hold2 | $500-$1000 | $500-$1000 | $500-$1000 | Credit Card Hold2 |
| Damage Deposit Returned | Not Applicable | 14 Days | 14 Days | 14 Days | Not Applicable |
| Service Fee (charged to Guests) | No Service Fee | 5-12% Service Fee | 5-12% Service Fee | 5-15% Service Fee | 10% Match Fee |
| Deposits | 25% to Confirm 25% 2 months prior 50% 1 month prior | 25% to Confirm 75% 2 months prior | 100% to Confirm
|
100% to Confirm | 25% to Confirm25% 2 months prior50% 1 month prior |
| Cancellation Policy | Refund if dates are re-rented, less 10% Cancellation Fee | No Refund | 50% Refund if cancelled more than 7 Days prior Service Fee Non-Refundable | 50% Refund if cancelled more than 60 Days prior 25% Refund if cancelled more than 30 Days prior Booking Fee Non-Refundable | Refund if dates are re-rented, less 10% Cancellation Fee |
1. Lowest Price Guarantee: If you find a Lower Price for a Rockies Rentals property, we will match the price and deduct $25. Price must be in Canadian Dollars, and for the same dates, property, and number of Guests.
2. Credit Card Hold: If the Guest chooses to pay by a method other than Credit Card, a Damage Deposit will be collected.
3. Payment to 3rd Party booking sites: When you book with HomeAway, VRBO, AirBnB, TripAdvisor and FlipKey you pay them directly for your rental. The rental amount is then released to Rockies Rentals on the first day of your stay. Rockies Rentals does not have access to your credit card or payment details. If you are having issues with payment or your credit card, please contact the 3rd Party Booking site you booked with.
4. Owner’s Direct: Owners Direct charge the customer a ‘Match Fee’. It is a type of commission. Once you pay the ‘Match Fee’ to Owner’s Direct you will then need to pay Rockies Rentals directly for your stay. Rockies Rentals does not have access to your credit card details that you gave Owner’s Direct.
5. Minimum Stay: Do you want to stay in one of our properties but the minimum stay is too long for you? Please get in contact with us. We can put you on a wait list in case the minimum stay is shortened or we add a new property to our inventory that has a shorter minimum stay. We can also keep you on the wait list in case we can ‘Split the Week’. What we mean by split the week is we get one guest who wants to stay Monday to Wednesday and another guest who wants to stay Thursday to Sunday but the minimum stay is 6 nights. What we can do is take bookings for both guests and the reservations together will add up to the minimum 6 night stay. There will be an extra clean required and the cost of the clean will be split up based on the number of nights booked by each guest.
