Jan W

Overall satisfaction: Excellent

Services from rental manager: Excellent

Cleanliness Excellent

Location Average

Property condition Very Good

We enjoyed our stay very, very much. The house, the sea, the wildlife and all the stuff we might use, the phone calls, and so on. A week is way too short. For sure, we hope to come back again. It was a very long, but very beautiful drive from Alberta. Greetings from Jan and Annemieke. Fort Macleod AB

Richard M

Overall satisfaction: Excellent

Services from rental manager: Excellent

Cleanliness Average

Location Excellent

Property condition Excellent

We've just returned from a week at A Heron's Rest - myself, my husband, his mum, dad and brother, and out 19 month old son. So here are our thoughts

Firstly, wow, what a setting! Perfectly secluded with the sea just a few metres from the garden, but also within walking distance of the shops for supplies. It was wonderful sitting outside, watching the wildlife. We saw sea otters, dolphins and the eponymous heron at high tide bald eagles, crabs and fish in and around the rockpools at low tide and deer and a racoon in the woods around the house.

A Heron's Rest is an older property and so is a little dated in its furniture and decor, but was extremely comfortable and had the feeling of a well-loved home rather than just a neutral place to sleep. The kitchen was very well equipped, with every utensil or pan you could possibly need alas no dishwasher though!. There were also many extras which we, and our toddler, really appreciated the piano, the lawn games, the Landlubber boat, the slide and swings, the supply of felt tips and paper, the videos and all the games and toys. My in-laws loved the powerful binoculars and the wildlife books and my mother-in-law spent hours glued to them waiting for the sea otters to surface.

The layout of the house was wonderful with the open plan living area and huge picture windows. The bedrooms had plenty of room for suitacses and the beds were comfortable. The only downside was that there was only one bathroom between the six of us. However, it was huge, with plenty of towels and storage and hanging space, so the inconvenience was minor and was totally outweighed by all the positives the house offered.

I have marked down the reservation agent's service only because the agent invoiced us the wrong amount - the low season instead of the shoulder season. It was no problem and we emailed her back to say that we were being charged too little. However, before we heard back from her with the correct higher price, we'd received an aggressive email from someone else demanding payment. It was all resloved, and other than that misunderstanding, the service was excellent.

A nice touch was that our hosts emailed us a week before we arrived to tell us what wildlife there was around, and also phoned us our first morning there just to check that we had everything we needed. Our greeter, Susan, was also very helpful and thorough and was very accommodating with our arrival time.

So in summary, a fantastic place to stay for a really great vacation.

Isabelle & Thierry L

Overall satisfaction: Excellent

Services from rental manager: Very Good

Cleanliness Very Good

Location Very Good

Property condition Very Good

Heron's Rest is a very nice place, peaceful and warm with a lot of space for a big family. We loved our stay in this house.
The only thing maybe which could be improved would be to add a dishwasher !

Carolyn E

Overall satisfaction: Excellent

Services from rental manager: Excellent

Cleanliness Excellent

Location Excellent

Property condition Very Good

We booked A Heron's Rest on the basis of the on line photo gallery which showed it was by the sea but they didn't do the property justice.

Unlike a lot of properties, this one was well away from the main road Highway 19A and as a result was very quiet and private. The whole thing was well equipped although it would have been nice had there been some basics like salt and pepper, herbs and spices left for our use and there was honestly just about every home comfort present for our use, books, videos, CDs vinyl LPs Cable TV. WiFi etc.

The property manual was comprehensive and extremely helpful as was the file full of maps and leaflets as well as the guest books showing what other visitors had found worthwhile seeing and doing. The owners were great with their communication before and during our stay - and the personal welcome we received when we dropped in early to collect the keys.

In short, we enjoyed every moment of our stay here and were sad on leaving. We would have no hesitation in recommending this property to family and friends.

Martin H

Overall satisfaction: Excellent

Services from rental manager: Excellent

Cleanliness Excellent

Location Very Good

Property condition Very Good

The view to the ocean every morning at the breakfast was awesome! Very cozy, very nice stay there.

Gerry and Linda O

Overall satisfaction: Excellent

Services from rental manager: Excellent

Cleanliness Excellent

Location Excellent

Property condition Very Good

We really enjoyed our stay. The only negatives were that the internet service wasn't working which was disappointing and there was no axe or hatchet available to cut kindling for the wood stove which was otherwise great. Our rating of the price was based on shoulder season rates and was pretty reasonable but I thought the addition of a cleaning charge seemed a bit much.

Overall we would definitely do it again.

EMR Response

We are very glad you enjoyed your stay at A Heron's Rest. It really is a wonderful place to experience the ocean at your door step. The owner of the property has asked us to provide their response to your concerns about the internet, axe or hatchet usage, and the cleaning fee.

EMR Vacation Rentals management note: Our normal cleaning fee on a 3 bedroom property range from $150-$175. The $75 cleaning fee on A Heron's Rest is half the cleaning price on most properties.

Sarah and Dan K

Overall satisfaction: Excellent

Services from rental manager: Excellent

Cleanliness Excellent

Location Very Good

Property condition Excellent

The place was exactly what we had envisioned. It's situated in the most ideal setting and the cottage itself was extremely well equipped with everything we needed and wanted.

The cleanliness was very good. I did notice some cobwebs here and there but overall it was good.

I also appreciated talking with the owner prior to our stay. He gave me a good idea about the nature spotting that we could anticipate and he was obviously eager for us to enjoy our stay as much as he must when he stays there himself.

I have already recommended the place to my friends and family. We would come again in a heartbeat.

Thank you.

Marlene D

Overall satisfaction: Very Good

Services from rental manager: Excellent

Cleanliness Very Good

Location Average

Property condition Very Good

We are a group of 5 women and 4 of us come from Europe and arrive in sunny California to meet and complete our group, who grew up together and had planned a vacation in Vancouver Island and especially in a Herons Rest that charmed us right from the beginning when seeing the photo's of your website. Despite the rainy whether on the day of arrival, we left sunny California mind you, the greeter had warmed the house so that compensate the cold and rain. Everything was provided in the house which makes our stay so convenient especially the cooking part afterward enjoying the dinner with a bottle of wine. No restaurant could give us the atmosphere we had every evening because of the house. felt like 5. Fortunately the rain was just at the start so we could make tours and come back and light the fireplace and enjoy the herons rest. If we will visit Vancouver Island again we certainly choose for the Herons Rest again.

Vivian M

Overall satisfaction: Very Good

Services from rental manager: Average

Cleanliness Excellent

Location Average

Property condition Very Good

It was very quiet and private which is a plus. The beach was lovely and the wildlife interesting. The washer and dryer was also a plus. I would also like to say that the fireplace is amazing. It heats up the whole building quickly and there was plenty of firewood available. We felt that our time at A Herons Rest was a positive and enjoyable experience which we would like to have again.