CONNECTICUT, USA — Summer waterfront rentals may be hard to come by these days. With limited options for Connecticut residents and surrounding states, the sights are set on the Connecticut beaches.
For 15 years, Karl Kieslich, owner of New England Cottages, has provided what some may call a private oasis. He has booked 100% each year. In years prior to COVID-19 people came from all over, now the main bookings for Kieslich have been from surrounding states like Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New York.
A big difference between 2019 rentals and 2020 is the length of stay, people are looking for longer safe havens to get away from COVID-19.
“They were looking for up to a year," said Kieslich. "They were calling us from New York mid-March saying hey what do you have for the next six months and it wasn’t even a question of price or where its what do you have.”
With all of Kieslich’s waterfront property’s sold out for the season, he says he’s still getting calls, but he gives the callers this advice.
“We refer them to home away.com or VRBO.com those are the largest websites for vacation rentals by owner but what I’m hearing from a lot of phone calls a lot of the renters aren’t even responding,” said Kieslich.
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The rentals for New England Cottages are cleaned and sterilized between each vacation goer. Bring your own linens is also necessary for some of the houses. Keislich also bought extra grills and separated picnic tables to ensure each cottage had its own space.