Taking care of your Rentals - Looking after your Guests

Cottage Owners The cottage owner faced with picking the right agent has an unenviable task. The choice varies enormously, from the agent servicing a particular locality with a handful of properties, to the province- wide agencies perhaps handling hundreds. Our aim is to offer something a little different from the others.

To this end, we work very closely with owners to develop the right marketing strategy for their cottage. Each one has individual merits and may appeal to one customer group rather than another.

A free advisory service is provided for owners who are considering offering their property for rental. Naturally, we would hope that this would result in CottageLINK Rental Management being selected as the agency to represent the cottage, however this advice is not contingent on that choice. Our aim is simply to help people gain the most from their decision to rent their property.

To stay ahead of the competition requires consistent work, a good sized marketing budget, efficient teamwork on both our sides and a good reputation. We will make sure your property receives the widest exposure both here and abroad, through targeted marketing efforts.

Cottage Knowledge on Newswatch - Tuesday at 5.30pm

Each week we feature one of our rental cottages and focus a 3-minute segement on a cottage related topic. The aim is to provide an informative and interesting topic for potential renters to show different aspects of cottage living.

We can only feature cottages within the CHEX TV area as there is a limitation on how far the camera crew will travel so we are contacting all our Haliburton/Kawartha owners to see if they would like their property included.

Advertising
Our advertising is targeted to ensure we reach the widest possible audience. We advertise regularly in Cottage Life magazine, Toronto Life,selected Toronto newspapers in the Classified ads section, and in UK and European travel magazines when opportunities arise. In 2007 we will be sending regular press releases to selected travel writers and journalists. Our account managers actively seek out other media outlets such as radio and TV stations to advertise new products and events.

We also look for niche marketing opportunities; for example worldwide canoe clubs and angling associations. Our quarterly owners’ newsletter gives details of all advertising and marketing activity planned.

Cottage Shows
We will have a booth at the following shows in 2007::

Themed Weekends
We will help you to develop a marketing plan that is unique to your cottage. If events and festivities happen in your area, we will market themed weekends based around them. For example, if there is an Arts Weekend; a Dog Sled Derby, Winterfest, or similar event, we will feature it on the website and draw attention to it.

Depending on the location, ambience and proximity of your cottage to local attractions or activity centres, we will develop a special breaks package at certain times of the year. This could focus on romantic breaks, family fun, hiking and biking, nature watch to name but a few. These special breaks packages will be featured on the website and be offered with selected cottages.

Owner Newsletter
Our quarterly newsletter includes a range of tips and ideas for marketing your cottage, developing cottage guides, increasing rental opportunities, and adding value to your rental packages.

A Partnership
We see the relationship between us and our owners as a working partnership. This allows for a free flow of information and discussion on the best way of marketing and renting your cottage. Each cottage is assigned to an account manager who will create and maintain this relationship, and work with you to develop the marketing plan. Face to face or telephone meetings are welcomed as are suggestions and ideas on improving our services to you.

Our account managers are cottage owners themselves who already market their own properties successfully, so understand the issues that need to be addressed.