Our business depends a lot on recommendations and reviews from guests, but we know everyone is busy these days and every vendor on the planet asks for reviews. So we're giving you an incentive!

Every month, we give out $50 Amazon gift cards to people who wrote reviews! That's right, all you have to do is write a couple of words about a property you stayed at, and you could win $50. If you write more than one review, you'll be entered to win more than once.

How does it work?

Each month, at the end of the month, we look back at all the reviews we got for the month. We look across all the websites we get reviewed on (Facebook, TripAdvisor, VRBO, Airbnb, Google) and select one or more people to get a $50 Amazon gift card.

The Amazon gift card (which looks like that picture on the right) is emailed directly to you. It will come to your email address with a note from us, thanking you for the review!

Where to write reviews?

After departure, we send each guest a list of specific links (via email) that they can use to write reviews for the property online. Use that email to write a review. If you don't have the email, contact us and we'll get a copy right over to you.

Alternatively, here is a list of the websites our properties are listed on. Each of these websites allow you to leave public reviews.

Our properties on TripAdvisor
Our properties on VRBO
Our properties on Airbnb (requires that you originally booked on Airbnb)
Our properties on HomeEscape

Many of our properties are listed directly on Google as business locations. Open Google Maps and search for the property name directly (like "Westcott House") and it will pop right up.

You can also review our company, at large, on Facebook. After leaving a review, be sure to follow us so that you keep up to date with the latest news and contests.

Frequently Asked Questions

If this list doesn't include your question, just ask! We'll be happy to answer it and add it to the list!

Do I need to notify you after leaving a review?

No, we look directly at the review websites (ie. the website mentioned above) and find our winners. We then email each winner directly. As long as we can figure out who you are from your name, handle or review information (which we typically can) there's no need to let us know which review is yours.

Does it have to be a 5 star review?

No. That being said, only honest reviews qualify. If we feel the review is unfair or dishonest, it will not qualify for the monthly drawing.

What do you consider to be an "honest" review?

This is a great question and one that the vast majority of netizens should spend some time learning. The biggest overall thing is to keep the entire property and booking experience in mind. One or two negative things does not mean a property was "bad" or should drop from 5 stars to 3.

Honest reviews take the vacation area and property type into consideration. A mountain cabin will never be as fancy as a Ritz Carlton, but the mountain cabin may very well be 5 stars relative to its location, amenities and type of vacation. "5 star" should not be used like a Michelin rating where it's only reserved for the finest experiences worldwide. 5 star means the property was generally as advertised (ie. the guest got what they paid for) and the guest would come back again. 4 star means the guest would come back again if something was fixed or added, but something took away from the experience so the 5th star couldn't be given. 3 stars means the property advertising was misleading or false. 2 and 1 star reviews should rarely be used except where there was truly a terrible experience and major deception.

Honest reviews do not blame the owner or property for bad assumptions made by the guest. "The cabin was on gravel roads! We didn't know!" ....did you ask ahead of time? Did you Google the address or location? The fact that a property was farther away than the area you wanted to be is not the fault of the owner or property. We clearly show all the addresses of our cabins. You can Google them at any time and get the directions to the Park or nearest grocery store. If you didn't ask, and then were disappointed with the location, your review should not reflect that.

Most people that visit rural/mountain cabins do it precisely for that reason - they want to be in a rural or mountainous area. They like forest, gravel roads and nature. If something about that ends up bothering you, you should ask yourself is that the fault of the owner/property or your fault for booking something that really isn't in the scope of what you enjoy?

Honest reviews are objective about problems. If there are problems, the guests should ask themselves the following questions:

Did the owner/manager respond quickly? Did they try to resolve it or were they missing in action?
Was the problem in the owner power to control? An electrical outage for 3 hours can happen anywhere at any time - no way the owner can control the power grid. "It rained all weekend!" How could the owner control the weather?
Did you research, or ask about, the issue ahead of time? Sometimes, a bad assumption, made ahead of time, can color your experience though the property was correctly advertised.
Was the problem common for a normal house? You are renting a vacation house, not a hotel room. A lot can go wrong when you're renting an entire house. If the a/c stops working, that's a pretty normal thing for a large house. The owner should respond quickly and have backup options ready (eg. window or portable a/c units), but reviews should not give a 1 star for the a/c going out when that's something any house can have happen.

Can I review & win a gift card more than once?

Sure! If you leave your review on more than one of the above websites, we will consider it multiple times in the monthly drawing. That being said, please do not review our other properties that you have not stayed at. This can actually hurt us because the website may remove our advertising if they believe that our customers are posting fake reviews on our behalf. Only leave a review if you actually stayed. If someone else in your family or group also stayed at the property, then they can post an honest review as well from their own account.

Which website is the most important one to leave a review on?

If you can, copy and paste your review to multiple websites. That helps us reach everyone with your information since guests find us on lots of different websites. However, if you only leave one, please leave a review on TripAdvisor, VRBO or Google (in that order). Airbnb is good too but you have to have booked through there to leave a review.

Why are we doing this?

We've actually done this practice for a long time - looking back at reviews at the end of each month - for internal purposes. We wanted to know what to correct at our properties and spot trends where things might be going sideways.

In recent times, we realized that a lot of great guests (people like you!) have helped our reputation and provided important business details, so we felt like you should be rewarded too. Why not learn about ourselves and give back at the same time?!

Write a quick review and win a $50 Amazon gift card!