Frequently asked questions:
1. What are the Season, Shoulder Season, and Off season dates?
*Summer season is June
15 through September 14. This also includes all holidays
*Shoulder
season is the wonderful weather months of fall (Sept 15 through October)
and the spring (May - June 14). Still perfect weather and sunshine, but save
money during this time! Spring Break
included here.
*Off season
is the unreliable weather months of November through April. Save a
lot of money! Enjoy a winter storm, with wonderful sunshine days between each storm!
2. Why do you list a cleaning fee separately? why not have it included?
Since we get only a small percentage of the rent, we have to
separate out the cleaning fee and make
it a separate item. We also offer a choice of services here, we offer a discounted cleaning service for those who
want to save some money
by doing a few things themselves before they leave. This is what is
charged on your original bill, then
if you have chosen the full clean instead because you would prefer that we do
some or all of
those items, that additional
amount will be added
to your bill after checkout. The cleaning fee is separated out so you will
have a choice
about the amount of cleaning fee you wish to pay.
3. Why do you need to know our arrival time?
Since we check our guests into the homes in person, we
need to know what time you will be arriving, as
you may be the only arrival that day, or we may have many arrivals and we need
to plan to have someone
available when you call. We need to make a schedule based on when
the guests are arriving on
a given day. We ask that you give us an approximate time of
arrival once you have made your travel plans (please
give this to us no later than 48 hours prior to arrival) and that you make a call 30 minutes out
so we can get our checkin host
ready to drive to the house with you. This
will save you waiting time! We do not have a 24 hour desk, so we need to schedule
employees!
4. Why do you not offer refunds in the Season and Holidays if my plans change?
If this was a hotel with 200 identical rooms, then that would be possible.
Instead, you are renting someone's home, and
they have taken it off of the rental program to rent it to you. Most
reservations come in months in advance
and if you have rented the house and cancel at a later date, it is probably not
possible to find another
renter for the dates you have rented for yourself. It is better to
wait until your plans are firm before you rent a house.
5. Why are your pet friendly houses
different from other pet friendly rentals?
We try very hard to keep our homes beautiful and clean, without any pet odors or
pet hair. To do this we have to
ask our pet owners to follow a few guidelines, and we do a lot of extra cleaning
to make sure our houses are as pristine as possible.
Almost all pet owners notice the difference right away, and appreciate the extra
effort we put into our houses!
6. What sets your houses apart
from other vacation homes I may have rented?
We are lucky to represent the finest homes on the Oregon coast. If we
offer you a cabin, it will be the best cabin available
anywhere. If we represent a cottage, it will be the best cottage
available, and if it is a home, it will be the finest in it's category!
We have the Unique Beach House and the Villa category for the truly original, truly fine beach
houses, the best of the Oregon coast.
We are completely hands-on, and the finest homes deserve this extra attention.
This is what we offer to you.
7. What will be charged to my
security deposit?
Nothing
will be charged to you if you leave the house exactly the way you found it, and
have done the items on the discounted
cleaning list you were originally charged. If you have not done every item
on that list, then you will see a small charge on your card (or
out of your deposit) for the balance of the full cleaning fee. If you have
done any damage or left any kind of extra mess (See Policy
page for full details), then you will see a charge for that. If you have
added charges during your stay, those will be put on
your security deposit. Otherwise,
your security deposit will either never be charged to you,
or it will be promptly refunded.
8. Why can't I pay my reservation by credit card over the phone like hotels do?
We cannot take a credit card over the phone because we have no way of
authorizing that credit card without identification in hand.
The CREDIT
CARD company will not guarantee your card to us unless we have the card in hand, and
your
identification in hand.
We do accept cards on arrival
for your balance of course, as we can see your card and your identification at
this time and so they
are
guaranteed by your credit card company.
Why do hotels take credit cards over the phone? Actually they don't.
They will set an identical room aside for you with a
phoned in
card and will hold it for you as long as they want to, but you still must present a
credit card in person to get access
to the room! They do have a 24
hour
desk, so you can arrive almost any time. However
they would not hold a room for you with a phoned credit card if they did not have
dozens
of identical rooms available (for example on a holiday they may actually be booked)!
In the case of an
entire home, this is
the only home this person has and they do not want to take it off of the rental
market
with just a
non-guaranteed credit card over the phone, and we cannot blame them.
There are so many advantages to renting
someone's home, but this is the one slight disadvantage.
Still, we think you will be glad you made this little bit of extra effort!
9. Why do some homes have amenities and others do not?
Remember that you are renting someone's home!
The home is set up by the owner the way that they like it. So no two will
be
identical.
But that is the fun part about vacation rentals!