Congratulations – you’ve just purchased a cottage in Ontario’s Cottage Country, and have decided to welcome guests to your new cottage as a short-term cottage rental! Whether you’ve purchased the cottage as an investment property and wish to maximize your income, or one that you plan on using yourself as much as possible, while helping to cover some of the costs of ownership, you’ve completed the first and most important step.
Next, it’s time to decide how to manage your cottage rental. The two options are to do it yourself (hands-on hosting) by using platforms such as Airbnb, or hiring a full-service cottage rental management company. Generally, a rental management company such as CLRM will offer you a couple of management options – Tier 1 or basic management, where you handle the changeovers yourself (or with your own cleaning team), and we handle everything else, or Tier 2, outsourcing the details of changeovers as well, so you’re truly hands-off.
The right decision varies depending on your own preferences and capabilities. We get the question all the time from prospective hosts asking how our services compare to Airbnb. We feel it’s important to know what the differences are so that you’re making your decision based on all the facts. That’s our goal here – to provide you with the pros and cons of hands-on hosting vs. hands-free income, and provide all the necessary information to help you make an informed decision.
Below we will summarize the advantages (actually – advantage singular), and disadvantages of managing your own rentals on a platform such as Airbnb vs. a full-service rental management service.
Advantage – Cost Savings
There is just one advantage to doing it yourself, but it is an important one – the cost savings. Of course, this makes sense. Airbnb charges a fee for using their platform and managing your rentals, but it’s always going to be a lower rate than you’ll pay for a management company such as CLRM, as the services offered by each are not at all comparable.
Disadvantages
By comparison, the disadvantages are many, and we feel they’re as important or more important, than the cost savings, and should be strongly considered when making your decision. Although you will save money, the time and effort this will cost you should be seriously considered.
1. Regulatory Requirements | Short-Term Cottage Rental Regulations | Licensing | MAT Taxes | Code of Conduct | Insurance Requirements
Many jurisdictions have already implemented, or are considering legislation, for short-term rentals in their areas. Navigating these local bylaws, licensing regulations, and obtaining the proper insurance coverage is crucial—especially in areas like Kawartha Lakes or Muskoka, where rules are evolving quickly.
Renting on your own means that you must research the local regulations and arrange for all the requirements to be met, Codes of Conduct to be signed by all guests, and MAT taxes to be submitted to the municipality in areas that require those.
For cottage rentals that CLRM represents, although you are responsible for applying for your license yearly, and paying the associated fees, we are here to help you through the process based on our experience with other properties in the area.
Short-Term Rental Regulations for your Cottage Rental
Our team at CLRM stays up-to-date on all existing or newly implemented municipal requirements governing short-term rentals and helps ensure your cottage rental remains fully compliant.
Licensing
Licensing is generally required yearly when dealing in an area with short-term rental legislation, and the requirements vary greatly from region to region. CLRM has helped many hosts through the process, and we’re here for support if you need information in order to apply successfully for your short-term rental license.
Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay
MAT Taxes
Many areas also include a MAT (Municipal Accommodation Tax) requirement, along with their other short-term rental regulations and requirements. If a MAT tax is required in your area, CLRM collects it from all your guests and remits payment directly to the municipality on your behalf.
Guest Code of Conduct
This is getting to be an increasingly common requirement, and is now in effect for many municipalities, including Lake of Bays, Algonquin Highlands, Dysart et al, Kawartha Lakes, and many more. Guests must sign a Code of Conduct before their stay, agreeing to the specific rules in their jurisdiction.
While some Codes of Conduct requirements are fairly simple, consisting of a page or two agreement from the municipality, others require extensive attachments. As an example, Algonquin Highlands has many requirements that must be attached to the Code of Conduct that guests must sign, including a copy of the short-term rental licence, the property’s floor plan, a copy of the Code of Conduct that the host also signs, a copy of the By-Law, including additional By-Laws for pets, noise, parking & fireworks. They also require information such as the type of access and the most recent inspections.
Phew! This is all looked after by CLRM seamlessly on your behalf, saving you a lot of time and headache! If a Code of Conduct is required in your area, CLRM sends it to the guests electronically upon confirmation of their booking/reservation, and ensures it’s signed prior to their arrival. Hosts are sent copies of all these signed documents for reference, and in some circumstances, as is required by the municipality.
You are solely responsible for ensuring your guests sign this documentation if you’re doing it yourself with Airbnb.
Insurance Requirements for a Cottage Rental
While all homeowners know that insurance is required for their property, did you know that you need to have coverage for short-term rentals specifically also? If anything happens at your property during a guest stay, or even when no guests are in residence, if you don’t have coverage for short-term rentals, or your insurer doesn’t know you rent the cottage out even occasionally, it can cause them to decline a claim.
CLRM offers you guidance on obtaining suitable rental insurance, and we can suggest some companies to help if you’re not able to obtain the correct coverage with your existing insurer. We will also keep you informed as to the best practices, so you can rest easy knowing your investment is protected.
2. Pricing and Occupancy Optimization
Airbnb provides basic pricing tools and relies on hosts to set and adjust rates, with no assistance.
CLRM uses over 25 years of market data, region-specific trends, and competitor analysis to optimize your pricing strategy for peak performance throughout your rental season. Based on experience, we know when it’s possible to raise rates, when to run promotions, and how to fill those shoulder season gaps as much as possible. We will share our experience with you so that you can make informed decisions for the best return on your investment.
CLRM continually monitors your property’s booking patterns and will reach out as needed with suggestions on raising or reducing your rates. These are only recommendations though – you always have the final word on your rental rates when you list with CLRM!
Without an in-depth knowledge of seasonal demand patterns in areas like South Bruce Peninsula or The Frontenacs, owners often leave money on the table, or price too high and have unused dates on the calendar.
3. Listing Your Cottage Rental Property
If doing it yourself, you are responsible for preparing the listing on Airbnb. Taking photographs, or having them taken professionally for the best results, loading them to their site, and coming up with the best wording to market your cottage. If you wish to provide a guide to guests to give them information prior to and during their stay, which is recommended, you would have to prepare that yourself, ensuring you’re constantly updating it.
By contrast, our listing service includes a professional photo shoot, taking a virtual tour using our Matterport system, and writing the listing and Cottage Guide (to provide to guests) on your behalf.
A professional digital Guest Guide is created at the same time, and sent to guests electronically, providing a polished and easy-to-update guide that reflects highly on your property.
Once your listing is live on our site, it will be sent to you for approval, and uploaded to any outside platforms you’ve chosen to list on (Airbnb, VRBO and Google Travel are all options) at no additional cost to you.
4. Marketing and Visibility of your Cottage Rental
It may seem like Airbnb is a magic solution that will automatically give your property exposure and generate bookings, but the reality is far more complex. Yes, Airbnb is a very popular platform, and many guests start their searches there, but that doesn’t automatically mean they’ll even see your cottage in their search results. There are many listings throughout Ontario’s cottage country, and it’s very common to find that yours may be lost somewhere at the end of the search results.
In terms of the prominence of your listing, Airbnb’s algorithm can be hard to decipher, making it difficult to obtain good visibility with search results. A few things seem to help – having a wide open calendar, ideally far in advance, having a generous cancellation policy, receiving good hosting reviews, avoiding bad reviews, and better yet, becoming a Superhost or earning the coveted “Guest Favourite” icon.
Unfortunately, there’s really no way of knowing exactly what to do to improve your visibility in search results, and the algorithm can change at any time at Airbnb’s discretion. In addition to having an Airbnb listing, you will also need to market your property outside Airbnb on social media while working to figure out how to improve its visibility on Airbnb at the same time.
For cottage rentals in the competitive
Ontario rental market, visibility matters.
At CLRM, we handle all the marketing for you. Your property is promoted on our own high-ranking website, www.clrm.ca, where there’s no algorithm to reduce search results. Guests are able to search alphabetically for a specific listing, insert dates to pull up ALL available properties for their dates, search by region, or even by type of cottage.
In addition, we will also list your property on either (or all) of Airbnb, VRBO, and Google Travel, if you choose, at no additional cost to you.
Now the marketing process begins! Our strategy includes SEO optimization, regular social media promotion, and newsletter campaigns. With our loyal base of pre-screened returning guests acquired over 25 years, we have a record of securing bookings before listings even go live, and we consistently have potential guests sign up for our Cottage Watch List so they’re notified of all new listings immediately once they’ve been opened up for bookings.
Deciding to hire a management company for more services doesn’t mean you can’t also have the advantages of other platforms, at no additional cost or effort to you!
5. Dealing with Guests Directly | Inquiries | Bookings | Pre-Arrival Questions and Awkward Requests
Inquiries
You would, of course, be responsible for replying to all guest inquiries promptly, to avoid being penalized for not responding in a timely manner by Airbnb. We believe this is one factor taken into account by their algorithm in determining how visible your property is, so it’s important to try to always respond quickly.
CLRM looks after all inquiries on your behalf, involving you only when a request is outside your normal parameters (incorrect changeover dates, too many guests, a pet that’s normally not permitted, etc.). The only time you even know there’s been an inquiry is when you receive the booking confirmation if they proceed!
Bookings
Both Airbnb and CLRM will accept bookings on your behalf, collect the funds from the guests, and remit them to you shortly after the guests arrive, less the appropriate management fees. If you set your Airbnb settings to auto-accept, the procedure is the same up to that point – you will simply receive a confirmation of a booking once it’s been made.
As long as the guests requesting to book are within the parameters you’ve chosen for your cottage, for the correct changeover days, and don’t have previous bad reviews, CLRM will automatically accept bookings on your behalf.
With Airbnb, the information you’ll receive with a booking confirmation is minimal, unless the guests are willing to answer your follow-up questions. You will find out the guests’ last name, their star rating, and you can review their previous guest reviews. If you don’t have auto-accept turned on, you can see the ratings and reviews and factor them into your decision-making upon receiving a request to book.
Pre-Arrival Questions and Awkward Requests
CLRM deals directly with all guest questions leading up to, during, and after their stay, only involving hosts as necessary. Some guests are extremely time-consuming, and will flood you with dozens of emails or phone calls before they even arrive!
In addition, you will be constantly inundated with requests for earlier arrival/later departure, more guests than the property is listed for, a special pet request, and much more! Such requests can be hard to decline, as you may not want to risk having unhappy guests who might leave a bad review, or even worse, have them potentially damage your cottage.
Such requests are handled by CLRM daily, in a firm and professional manner, only reaching out to you if we feel a request is reasonable and worth your consideration.
These questions and awkward requests are dealt with on your behalf, with only occasional questions or requests passed on to you as the host. Either way though, when working with an agency, such as CLRM, you’ll only be speaking with our team and we’ll never ask you to call a guest directly.
6. Complaints – From Guests or Neighbours (or Both!)
With Airbnb, you’re on your own, dealing directly with guests’ questions and complaints, which can be tricky when you also own the property and manage the rentals. In addition, neighbours are yours to deal with if they’re not happy with your guests for any reason.
Dealing with Guest Complaints
Even the best-prepared hosts will occasionally have to deal with disgruntled or unhappy guests. Appliances break down, damage to the cottage or an amenity from a previous guest, a cottage they consider to be insufficiently clean, an injury, or a BBQ that’s acting up – all are common causes for guest complaints and requests for compensation.
If you’re a do-it-yourself Airbnb host, you will be dealing directly with these complaints, at all hours of the day or night. A very common problem is an entry issue. The guests are trying the wrong entry code, having difficulty with a lockbox or electronic entry system, or are unable to find the hidden key. This issue is made worse by the fact that guests can, and often do, arrive in the middle of the night, making for an unpleasant nighttime interruption for you, as the host.
Or, worse, the guests may complain straight to Airbnb, which will then notify you of the complaint, most often with an accompanying request for compensation or even a full refund. With Airbnb there’s very little consideration of your side of the story when making their decision, as they’ve deliberately become much more guest-focused within the last year, much to the frustration of hosts.
You will still hear about any valid guest complaints from CLRM, but we do listen to both sides, and will side with hosts when we feel a guest complaint is not valid. If it is deemed to be a valid request, i.e. an amenity advertised is not available or there’s a change or an error on your listing), we will recommend a compensation amount, but you do have input and are taken into account for this decision.
CLRM deals fairly with all guest or host issues, questions, and concerns before, during, and after a guest’s stay, providing 24-7 service for in-residence emergencies.
Neighbour Complaints
You’ll want to keep your neighbours happy, or at least accepting, of your rentals. Unhappy owners can lead to complaints to the municipality if you’re in an area with short-term rental licensing, and in extreme cases may lead to the loss of your rental license.
When doing it yourself, you will be the one to mediate any disputes, contacting the guests to let them know a neighbour has complained and hoping they’ll modify their behaviour (if warranted). Some neighbours are simply unhappy that a property is being rented out at all, and may go out of their way to complain to you about things that really aren’t a problem – i.e. “excessive” daytime noise.
Others will contact you (or the municipality) about valid complaints that you will need to go to your guests with (having a campfire during a fire ban, excessive nighttime noise, setting off fireworks, speeding on cottage roads, etc).
With CLRM, neighbours are encouraged to contact our office directly – taking you out of the loop entirely (although we will generally inform you of the complaint so you’re aware). We will then reach out to the guests directly to demand that they change their behaviour immediately, and ensure they’ve done so with a follow-up later if needed.
7. Damage Claims
Luckily, most guest stays are uneventful and seamless, but it’s unfortunately not always the case. You will almost certainly experience some type of damage at some point. How these claims are dealt with varies considerably.
Airbnb has its AirCover program, which sounds great, but it has very exacting requirements that must be fulfilled to successfully collect on a claim. You will first need to approach the guest directly, through the Airbnb platform, to request compensation within 14 days of their departure. In many cases, the guests will simply refuse to pay.
You will then need to claim through Airbnb support, using the Aircover complaint system. All documentation must be provided within 30 days of departure.
To successfully submit a claim, Airbnb requires the following documentation:
- Photos of the item before the damage occurred
- Proof of the original purchase cost (receipt or invoice)
- Photos of the item after the damage occurred
- Links or photos of comparable replacement items showing estimated costs
Even if you’re able to provide all the above required documents, there is no guarantee your claim will be approved, and appealing is rarely successful.
With CLRM, all guests pay into the Accidental Damage Protection Plan (ADPP) and claims are made directly to us. While we still require some documentation, it’s a much easier and generally a much more successful process for hosts.
8. Cleaning, Maintenance & On-the-Ground Support
If you’re using Airbnb and managing your cottage rental remotely, finding reliable cleaners and maintenance personnel in some areas can be a challenge. And what happens if something breaks mid-stay?
CottageLINK Rental Management has a trusted network of local service providers across Ontario’s top cottage regions. We can help you coordinate each step of the process before rentals begin so that you know we have you covered should an issue arise.
9. Time Considerations
Your time is valuable – why value it so cheaply? Dealing with all of the above considerations can be extremely time-consuming, more than you’re likely expecting. Getting your listing set up on Airbnb, having to determine what local regulations must be followed, dealing with guest issues and complaints on your own, claiming for damages after a booking…it all takes a lot of time and should be considered in your decision-making on how you’d like to manage rentals. See Cottage Rental – How to Avoid The Hidden Costs of Self-Managing.
Your time is valuable – and shouldn’t be spent dealing with the fine details of hosting when there’s a good alternative.
Which Cottage Rental Management Option Is Right for You?
Airbnb is ideal for do-it-yourself hosts, who don’t mind being responsible for everything: screening guests, fielding guest questions, handling booking details, managing cleaning, negotiating complaints and refund requests, and being available for 24/7 guest communication. If you live near your property and enjoy hands-on involvement, this can work well.
At CottageLINK Rental Management, we specialize in waterfront properties throughout Ontario. Our personalized service, deep knowledge of the market, and commitment to quality mean your property performs at its best—without you lifting a finger.
Ready to Maximize Your Cottage Rental Investment?
Whether you’re in Muskoka, Haliburton, Parry Sound, Kawartha Lakes, or anywhere in between, we’d love to help. Visit www.clrm.ca or contact us today to learn how we can manage your cottage rental with care and confidence.
Let us help you turn your cottage rental retreat into a rewarding, worry-free investment.
