99.9% of the public love a deal. A large part of that 99% search exhaustively for that perfect deal. Since we are IN THE BUSINESS doing Wasaga Beach cottage rentals, we know exactly how to get the best rates. Let’s talk below about how to score a deal on Wasaga Beach hotels or cottage rentals. Keep in mind you won’t get something for nothing and you should always “buyer beware.” Certainly when it is too good to be true, it often is; not always, but often.
Save 10% to 15% By Avoiding 3rd Party Sites
Many of the decent Wasaga Beach hotels, motels and cottage rental websites are hidden. Well not actually hidden, but they are buried on the 10th page of the google search. The thing is, companies like airbnb and VRBO have paid a ton of money to catch your eye. As a side note, they are an unfortunate side effect of the internet. They are basically an advertising company who takes a large commission from you and the cottage owner. You are going to use this to your advantage though. Since they have a large collection of listings, you can use their site to find the cottages that you like. You can contact the businesses directly, thus eliminating a 10% -15% commission off of your rental.
The trick here is to find a unique feature of the cottage you like in the photos or description. Then, do a search on it for contact info. Sometimes a photo will have their street sign or business name showing. You can call the number if it is there or search the business name. Keep in mind, it is hard to ask for it outright from owners. The 3rd party sites block contact info until you make a booking. Owners get in trouble for offering it too because they monitor the messages.
Choose Weekdays
This may already be obvious, but it deserves attention. If you have a choice between booking a weekend or weekdays, you’ll almost always find cheaper rates for weekdays. Take our units for example, weekdays are up to 1/2 the price of weekend days. The differences vary, but it is fairly reliable amongst Wasaga Beach hotels and cottages.
Relating to this, long weekend days and holidays are almost always more money. In fact, they are often more money than even regular weekends. You save money if you avoid those days.
Bulk Days Discounts
The more days you book, the lower the per-day rate works out to be. For example, booking a full week at Wasaga Beach cottage rentals knocks upwards of 20% off. Even booking a 5 day stretch yields you a slight discount. That’s the case for some of our units.
Off Season
Choose months other than July and August to save money on renting a cottage or motel in Wasaga Beach. For example, our lowest rates are in the dead of winter. As May rolls around, our rates start to climb gradually until they are at their peak in July. Then, by September, they start to go down again gradually until November. These rates begin in November and stay constant until May. If you ever see the pricing on a graph, it looks sort of like a head with shoulders. The shoulders represent the gradual increase in May and the gradual decrease in September. The head represents the peak in July and August.
Group Multiple Hotel, Motel or Cottage Units into One Large Cottage
We often encounter large groups of 8-10 people that ask about 2 or 4 separate units. That’s completely fine and we are happy to accommodate that. We often recommend that the whole group stay in one large unit (if everyone can get along, that is!). This is instead of multiple units. For example, two of our 2 bedroom units for 2 days are $720.00. On the other hand, one of our 3 bedroom units for 2 days is $515.00 . Savings of $205 – not bad.
Ask for a Discount
This isn’t our favourite tactic, but it may work. The cottage business of Wasaga Beach cottage rentals is already pretty fair. Admittedly, we have discounted before from someone asking. It helped that they either rented from us before or they were really polite and cool about asking. Sometimes a last minute ask works too. We research carefully to ensure we are very fair. Most of the time the rate you see is the bottom line.
