EMR Vacation Rentals Inc

What a fabulous location for our gathering, we were 5 ladies celebrating our 60th birthdays, and found the perfect place to chill out, enjoy the view and walk along the beach. The house is as shown in the pictures. The kitchen is well equipped with the necessities, and outside has both a bbq and a pizza oven, as well as outdoor seating areas. Unfortunately, we had a lot of rain during our stay so did not have the opportunity to utilize the outdoor space. The only downside was on the one clear night we going to sit by the outdoor fireplace but alas the outdoor furniture pillows were nowhere to be found. A short drive to loal wineries, cideries as well as local markets. I did have some minor feedback for the rental company that manages the house but they did not even acknowledge the email which was abit disappointing after a great stay. Would recommend for families as there are four bedrooms, the only downside is only two bathrooms, and one is in the master suite.

Luxurious and spacious accommodation for two, though there is a pullout couch, so four if you didn’t mind sharing. EMR vacation rentals could not have been more helpful and professional. Situated on a treed hillside about 10 minutes drive from Duncan and Cowichan Bay. Will be our preferred home away from home next time we visit the area.

I booked the Casa de Kai rental property through EMR Vacation Rentals.

I would strongly recommend that you do not book a vacation rental through EMR Vacation Rentals.
Also, be wary to check if a property listed through Air BB or VRBO are managed by this EMR Vacation Rentals, because the same experience would still happen to you even if you book through these other services.

1. Unprofessional.
They were over-eager to secure payment (I received 3 calls within 24 hours after submitting my request). They never sent me a copy of my signed rental agreement. When I called my rep with questions my calls were answered with a tentative 'hello', rather than any professional greeting identifying themselves as a representative of the company. They were slow to respond to my questions, and when I followed up after hadn't heard back after 3 days the person said, 'no haven't heard back about your inquiry. I mean, I could call again now if you want me to'. Seriously?

2. Not focused on customer experience.
This company is focused only on getting paid. The check in time on their app was wrong. Very wrong. It stated 9 AM, then on the day before our arrival our 'greeter' brushed it off as a bug with the app and told us we couldn't arrive till 4 PM. An hour before our arrival, the 'greeter' texted to tell us they would be an hour late to greet us. On the day before check-out they called, texted and emailed to ask if I would be checking out early. The check out time is already 10 AM! Also, be aware that you must use either laptop or phone app to get your check in details, even though they make you plan your arrival time with a person.

3. Putting your privacy at risk.
On arrival day, when the 'greeter' first told me they would be an hour late to greet us, they asked me to just text him a photo of my ID to them instead!
When I refused, they offered to allow me to email it!
People, DON'T DO THIS! Sending your ID by text or unencrypted email is so risky and a legit way to lead to identity fraud.

4. Inflexible booking policy
They require the person who booked the property to show up with photo ID and the credit card used to make the booking.
To the point that they won't even let you transfer the stay to someone in your family. (frustratingly, they might then not even have a person show up to greet you).
Also, your reservation with EMR is completely non refundable. And if they tell you that this is because the owners of the property say so, this is not true. EMR management themselves enforce this policy and they alone adjudicate any request for adjustments to your booking. And let me tell you, they won't consider any changes.

I travel to Vancouver Island often, and we were excited to find a nice place to stay with our pets.
Sadly, I will not book the Casa de Kai property again because I will never trust EMR Vacation Rentals again.

I would not book again through EMR Vacation Rentals.

I am reluctant to do this review, as it might cause this home to be so booked that we can't get in again in the future!

Great location, fantastic views, very clean, everything was operational, lots of room, very quiet and relaxing, fully equipped kitchen, pool, hottub, beach access, gas firepit, cold plunges.everything we wanted for a company retreat.

The only complaint was that the wifi internet was quite slow, only around 26 Mbps on a speedtest. And the signal was weak in some areas of the house.

The set up was very nice and our stay would have been more comfortable if the home had A/C. We couldn't enjoy the view as we had to keep the drapes closed in order to minimize the heat.

Really beautiful location, Well maintained home, timely and prompt property management.
We had to cut short our vacation by 2 days and they were considerate to refund me 1 day rental as I requested.
There was boil water warning in the area and they immediately provided with water dispensing system and external bottles throughout the home.

We stayed in absolutely gorgeous place Villa Miraloma. Each detail was so unique and beautiful. Thank you. Absolutely love this place. I will be back 100%. Thanks again

We had an awesome stay in Langford. The place was comfortable, clean and quiet. The nearby 95 Blink bus was every 15 minutes to downtown Victoria. Butchart Gardens were gorgeous and about 30 minutes away. Whale watching, waterfalls and plenty of trails (walk or bike) The parking spot was tight, so don't rent a large vehicle.

We listed our property with EMR Vacation Rentals in October 2022, had our first “guest” in February 2023. Before the second guest was due, in late February 2023, (we were away on holidays) the cleaning staff from EMR claimed that they ran into an overflowing washing machine, (a problem that we never had, and more importantly, hasn’t repeated itself) …
Unfortunately, with amazing lack of common sense, to stop the water, instead of simply shutting off the water supply to the washer, they decided not only to close the main water supply to the house, but also inexplicably, open the water to the irrigation system of our acreage, which had been properly flushed in the fall. Not surprisingly, doing so in sub zero temperatures led to major damage to pipes, valves and sprinklers. EMR didn’t accept any responsibility, leaving us with a major bill.
Not impressed at all, not only with their lack of professionalism, but also appalling performance securing rentals. Would not recommend them at all.

This was our second time staying at this property. Angela was our host and was very understanding with our check in requests. Would definitely recommend and will return again on our next visit.

We enjoyed this vacation home rental - everything we needed and more was here for us to enjoy and make our stay very happy! You can tell that the owner cares and every detail was carefully planned and thought out with regard to provision. The house is awesome with modern fixtures and beautiful windows, covered sun room and perfect view of the ocean. We felt very taken care of here. Thank you

The Station Villa itself was lacking minor certain kitchen utensils (ie.) veggie peeler for cooking and it was not thoroughly cleaned prior to our arrival. The floors were not washed, nor were the carpets vacuumed. The bathroom walls were not washed of urine from the previous occupant who had additionally forgot a grey sock under the master bedroom bed. All the fans within the unit were covered in dirt, dust and webbing. Keep in mind we were charged a $175.00 Cleaning Fee so with any luck the occupant after our stay may benefit from my payment? Parking is not available for the unit and as such the occupant must move the vehicle to parking across the street if they are parked out front for longer than 2hs. Unfortunately, the parking across the street is for 3hrs and not overnight. So be prepared to play the parking spot game or roll the dice for a ticket. My recommendation to the Management team is to have a checklist that is to be signed off on once cleaning is completed. I would provide photos however I thought best to not completely embarrass the management and cleaning organization with the evidence.

Needed a bit more window covering for privacy. No smart tv. The host Richard was very accommodating with our ever changing arrival time. Very quiet area.

We stayed for a month. The unit met and exceeded our expectations. The location is great, by a large marina. Plenty of areas to walk, and just minutes to downtown, airport, and ferries. Loved the recliners, fireplace, and living space. The two maintenance ladies are friendly, and obliging. The only negative is the kitchen floor, (with plans to replace)
We hope to stay next year.

Booked Pendray house in Victoria via VRBO.

Richard the “greeter” is extremely unpleasant and inhospitable. He called to organize our arrival time, which we had booked a ferry based on the 5pm earliest checkin time as advised by EMR. He must have had other plans because he tried to push us to change our ferry reservation to an earlier time slot.

He was very gruff, and told us that he’s a busy man so he wouldn’t have time to wait for us if we were at all delayed so he wanted to schedule a later meet time. Basically we were instructed that we would have to arrive and then wait for him, but he would be unwilling to wait for us.

When we finally arrived at the agreed upon time, (an hour after the checkin time and 3 hours after Richard suggested we arrive) the house still wasn’t ready and we were all instructed to wait outside in the back yard area.

My husband walked over to the edge of the yard where a path leads down to the shore. Richard stepped out and roughly shouted at us in a stern voice saying “YOU ARE NOT TO GO DOWN THERE! ”

To be yelled at and scolded like a child 2 minutes after arrival was a shock.

There is NO signage, no rope, and a simple “hey sorry that area belongs to the neighbours” would have been sufficient and understandable.

He told us all to wait outside and he was only willing to show my mother the house, who was NOT in charge of the booking. Why the 6 of us adults couldn’t also enter the house to view was a confusing shock.

My mother has early Alzheimer’s and couldn’t even remember most of what he said to her but she was too intimidated to say anything against him and just followed.

His patronization of our family continued as he spoke about the tide. My 72 year old father referred to him as “arrogant and rude” and my 71 year old mother said he was a “bully and not welcoming” but their words are too kind.

I’m confused as to why a revenue-generating business would want to have such an unpleasant man as the face of the experience as he is likely to be the only person we actually encounter.

When we asked him questions like “Is there laundry detergent? ” His response was “In the 6 years I’ve worked for EMR, they’ve never supplied this so I don’t know why they would start now. ” Yet when we actually looked, there was a ton of detergent provided.

We tried to ask him other questions and he rudely remarked that we can refer to the binder for all information we could possibly need to know.

However — the wifi did not work and when we called the support number provided, the girl on the line hung up on us and didn’t call back. We had to call again the next day and turns out they changed the password but didn’t bother to tell us.

Also, the patio furniture is filthy and covered in cobwebs and debris. The container of beach gear smelled like a dead fish has been marinating in there all summer.

That wouldn’t have been a big deal at all, but after such nasty experiences with Richard, it just left an extremely unpleasant feeling with us and we would never recommend this rental to anyone we actually like.

Self-important, arrogant, patronizing, condescending, rude, and the worst possible ambassador you could have in a hospitality environment. EMR needs to find another greeter.

The property location is stunning. The water is calm, the sun rises and sun sets are breathtaking!
The house itself had a good ambience but lacked details such as adequate oven trays for cooking/baking etc. There wasn’t any salt or pepper (no condiments at all). Those are things that someone doesn’t want to have to buy when visiting for a short time. The smoke detector would go over constantly whenever the oven was turned on (there wasn’t any smoke). The pillows were flat and lumpy so we drove into Duncan and bought two at Walmart. The shower in the main bathroom has an interesting turn switch to go from faucet to shower head, it took a bit to figure that one out. Lastly, the basement ceilings are very low. The two people staying with us were 6ft tall so that was not ideal for them at all. All in all, the location was beautiful, the house itself was average and could use some attention to detail. EMR vacations was lovely to communicate with, definitely no complaints there.

We stayed at one of EMR properties in Metchosin. Excellent house, had absolutely everything you could need. Well stocked, plenty of room for everyone (there was 7 of us), huge kitchen, games, movies and very clean. Photos were accurate, we actually found the place nicer that the photos. Gorgeous view. Lots of trails in the area, including a trail out back of the property that met up with the galloping goose trail. We would definitely recommend this place. The check in process could be smoother, but there was good communication from EMR. Not an issue that would deter us from renting again.

We found the property much farther away from Nanaimo and civilization than expected. Otherwise it was a positive experience.

Pros:
Place was spacious
Big master bedroom
Lots of towels
Close to Walmart and Superstore

Cons:
No AC and fans were barely functioning which made the stay very uncomfortable
Bedsheets were not clean and pillows had stains on them
Parking was an issue for bigger vehicles
Check-in was inconvenient as someone had to be there to let you in so needed to schedule an exact time of arrival.

Would not stay at this property again as the stay was uncomfortable with no proper air flow.

North Lake met our expectations of a lovely small lake close to Vancouver free of the noise of motor boats with silky clear water suitable for swimming. Lydia made sure the cottage was clean. She was reliable and helpful.

The cottage is a modest one room cabin with bathroom, kitchen, covered porch and views of the lake through a grove of trees and rhododendrons. However, we needed to spend a couple of hours cutting back overgrown plants to make the short poorly maintained trail passable. This leads to a wooden deck with more open views of the water, which also required the removal of plants coming up through the cracks. This is the best place to eat and pass the time when the weather permits. Steep slippery steps lead to an equally slippery floating dock which is in need of a complete rebuild to avoid serious injury. This in turn leads to a tilting raft mostly covered by an ancient fibreglas paddle boat and an equally ancient fibreglas rowboat both of which are overturned and difficult to upright.

The scale and siting of the cottage built by unskilled design and labour is not without charm, though settling over the years makes it impossible to fully close any doors. It appears to be well insulated and easy to heat, though the lighting is clumsy. The furniture is modest but reasonably comfortable. It is the cheapness of such elements as old cast off DVDs, out of date tourism information, dry cleaner hangers, curtains that don’t fully cover the closet, the mish mash of dishes and cooking utensils, along with the 25 year old spices from Woodwards that makes guests feel the “host” is not interested in welcoming them but rather in the exorbitant $400 plus per night that is being charged.

My family's favorite place on earth! How can I adequately describe the magic of the North Lake Vacation Home and North Lake. Imagine clear, soft lake water, loons, peace and quiet, stunning natural-style gardens of flowers and herbs and staying in the most lovely thoughtfully, well-equipped home right on the lake. Enough said!

We had a great time in Victoria, BC and we rented the Station Villa Condo suite through the Vrbo app.
The location is very close to grocery stores and shopping and the condo itself gave us plenty of space for four adults with two bedrooms and 2-1/2 bathrooms. The kitchen had everything we needed to cook quite few meals which was awesome.
But, we gave it 3 stars as the parking situation was not set up to be convenient. If you wanted a parking spot, you would only be allowed to park up until 8pm at which time they closed the garage and then you would have to park in front of the shops and then move your car after 11 am across the street. Also, we could not get checked in earlier than 4pm which was annoying since our flight arrived at 9 am but when we were checking out, the maid showed up right at 7am when we said we were leaving. Wish they gave us at least a half hour to not feel rushed. The wifi did not work when we arrived. They kept telling us to unplug and plug back in the router but it ended up being the wrong username than what was written in the book so we didn’t technically have wifi until like 8pm. Lastly, it is on a main road so expect lots of road noise. You will have to leave your windows open as there is no AC and they only gave us one fan. When we requested a 2nd fan, they left a really dirty one. I took it apart and cleaned it so it was ok in the end. Those are my thoughts. Thank you.

EMR Vacations was fabulous. The place we rented was more beautiful in person than the photos, exceeding all expectations. What a lovely surprise! And EMR staff were helpful throughout the rental. It was so refreshing to have real people to answer my questions and engage with me. They worked with me on my questions, requests and follow up (when I left a few things behind). They were friendly throughout the entire process. I will definitely look to EMR for my next vacation.

Highly recommend. We booked from out of province and was a bit worried that the property wouldn’t match the pictures but my fears were put to rest as soon as we got to the property. The place was beautiful, clean, easy accessible and exactly as pictured. The level of communication from EMR was fantastic and I found them very professional and trustworthy.

Nice location and the house and garden was lovely, with nesting birds entertaining us with their songs! It was a perfect match for our family and the dogs had a great time in the garden with lots of room to play fetch! The humans enjoyed the hot tub! Great hikes nearby from anywhere from 5 mins to 30 minutes drive away, with beautiful scenery en-route. The only reason I am not giving 5 stars is because there was a lot of dust in a couple of the bedrooms, and under the couches in the living room, which played havoc with my son's allergies. Thank you Jordan for coming up with a great solution to help out with checking in, with difficult ferry schedules and looking forward to coming back again to explore more of the area.

Beautiful home, beautiful property!
Well outfitted kitchen and Absolutely everything you would need was there. The beach out front was spectacular! Lots of fun activities to do very close by too.

Every aspect of dealing with EMR Vacation Rentals was a pleasure. They are professional, easy to contact and make every effort to provide customer satisfaction.
This was my first time dealing with this company ; I will definitely choose them again for my vacation rental bookings.

I would give 0 stars if I could. Please don't do business with this company! They are extremely unprofessional and interpret their contract according to their needs, they put a Covid clause in their contract to trick people into signing something that they will refuse to honor. Please do yourself a favor and don't even consider these scammers when renting a place. Another note is: The other reviews here are from people that work there, don't be fooled like I was!

Edit1: To EMR Vacation Rentals - You say you can't find my name in any contracts? This just reinforces my point about EMR not honoring a contract, not only the Covid clause but other aspects of it as well. I stand by my statement that EMR is extremely unprofessional!

We have recently listed our property with EMR and have had an extremely positive experience to date. The staff provide high quality service, are very professional and responsive.

The company certainly put their priority on customer service, whether you be the owner of a property they are taking care of or the guest wanting to make a reservation. The EMR team strive to provide all round high quality service and are always easy to reach and discuss matters with. If you are wanting a reliable company to look after a property you wish to earn extra income with then I highly recommend the EMR family. You couldn't be in better hands.

EMR has made renting our harbour condo in Victoria very convenient. We are out of town owners and the EMR team manages absolutely everything to do with the property and guests, this includes appliance issues etc.even on long weekends. They answer emails immediately and are very professional.

I've been using EMR for many years, and from time to time issues come up as expected, but it's how the company handles these problems that's important.
I've always been able to reach someone and when I do, they've been super professional and easy to deal with. Their friendly attitude and timely responses are always appreciated.
I would highly recommend them!

Was a beautiful house and yard! Comfy beds. Enjoyed our stay. Looked exactly as in the photos. Beautiful kitchen - but disappointed in the meager supplies in the kitchen. Didn't even have salt! Not really enough serving or cooking dishes to make much. Could be stocked alot better. Also not even one face cloth for each person and no extra towels. Easy check in and we were allowed to check in abit early which was nice. Would highly recommend this place if the kitchen was stocked and more amenities (games, books, towels).

Hello, we have been listing with EMR for about half an year. The staffs are very helpful and professional. We highly recommend listing with them.

I have worked with EMR for over 4 years, and throughout that time I have found them to be prompt, efficient, and professional. The staff is incredibly caring and lovely. EMR reduces all our stress and We are grateful for EMR and their entire operations. I couldn't be happier to continue working with them.

EMR vacation homes is an excellent company. We are incredibly happy with their service to us. Without exaggeration I can say that this is one of the most reliable and solid companies we have ever dealt with.

EMR Vacation Rentals manage our property in Victoria, B. C. We have only high praise for their work as property managers: readily available, immediately responsive when needed, meet new clients on their arrival to fully acquaint them with the property. Effectively handle any issues raised by the clients. We fully recommend them!

I have used the services of EMR now for some 10 years, letting my holiday home out and so have a great deal of experience with EMR. My wife and I find the company and staff run a wonderful service where we have no worries in regards our home. We live in Europe and as such, can’t look after the house, EMR do a great job.

Yes I can confirm I took the time out of my day to drive all the way to East Sooke in a storm to shovel snow off your East Sooke property and salted the drive. I did the back patio for free and even gave you a friendly Sooke discount. All for you to leave a 1 star review of my business. Which is funny because you had originally gave me 5 stars as I was the only guy which was willing to do it short notice as you had a client coming in last minute and needed it done for them. Then you decided months later to change it from 5 stars to 1 star. Seems like I owe you a review for your poor business practice in dealing with another local company. Thanks and if there was any issue with my shoveling snow for you last minute in a storm, an email would suffice before you blast me for a good deed.

Almost 2 years I have worked for EMR and it is a great place to work. I love helping people find a home to enjoy Vancouver Island.

I booked a house that is managed by this company. They called the next day to tell me that they cancelled my booking due to a mistake they made on the listing. Barely received an apology.