Handsome Dan's Port Renfrew — Hotel in Juan de Fuca Electoral Area

We stayed at Wit's End cabin #46 for 4 nights, here are the Pros and Cons.

Pros: -Private. It's on a corner but decently covered by bushes. -It has all of the amenities. -Structure wise it is a decently well built cabin. -All the appliances worked. -Large fridge, stove had a strong air vent and the light worked. -The instruction / guide book on the table, could use more details in it but was helpful.

Cons: While we appreciated the standard check-in and check-out emails, the level of communication from the management company throughout our stay was excessive. We were contacted daily—sometimes multiple times—via text and email, which unfortunately began to detract from the overall comfort and relaxation of our visit. Many of these extra messages felt unnecessary and could have been avoided, as detailed below.

-Firewood Issue: The firewood was not restocked after the previous guests and so we had to drive around and buy bundles of wood to have a fire. The company did eventually restock the wood on the 3rd day of our stay. However, the person who delivered it appeared visibly annoyed and unprofessional--blindly tossing the wood chunks over the hedges, which of course hit and landed on the chairs, the deck, the pit and whatever else was in the courtyard area.

-Hot Tub Concerns: While the hot tub appeared clean and had chemicals present, it was not a pleasant experience. We used it twice during our stay, and both times we came out smelling as if we had been soaking in dirty water, requiring an immediate shower afterwards. Additionally, one of the headrests was completely missing. Also if your stay exceeds three days, the company will email you and send someone to check and adjust the hot tub chemicals. This could be seen as helpful or intrusive, depending on your preferences for privacy.

-Door Issues: The cabin door doesn't latch properly—while it can be pushed closed, it won't stay shut unless you force the deadbolt into place. The company kindly informed us about this before our arrival, but in my opinion, this should have been fixed immediately for the safety and convenience of guests.

-Bathtub Drain Problem: The bathtub didn't drain correctly, leaving us standing in ankle-deep water during showers. Not ideal.

-Cleanliness Concerns: While the cabin appeared generally clean, there was a noticeable amount of pet hair in the carpets, corners of the floors, and on the furniture.

-No A/C: There’s no air conditioning in the cabin, so if you're booking during the summer months, prepare for heat. We brought our own fan to manage the temperature.

-Broken Bedroom Light: The light in the bedroom was out and simply didn’t work.

Overall, it was a nice stay and I am glad we went as Port Renfrew is just so naturally beautiful and untouched. We went to the Pub, saw Lonely Doug, explored Botanical Beach, and ended each evening with a fire. Would I stay here again? Yes, hopefully these small issues will be addressed by then. The cabin itself has potential but needs more attention to detail and some general upkeep. The location is incredible and the accommodations should match that standard. Privacy is clearly one of the main draws for guests making the trip out here—so minimizing intrusions like frequent emails or mid-stay hot tub checks (especially during shorter stays) would go a long way in improving...

Stayed at Handsome Dan's for three nights at this absolutely beautiful and well maintained cottage. From what I understand, there's a variety of sizes to book. We (husband and wife) stayed in #3 - Villa Johanne, which is the smallest size.

This cabin included, 1 bed, 1 full bath, and well equipped kitchen and living room combo with pull out sofa bed. Technically the cabin sleeps 4, but in my opinion, it would be on the smaller side for two couples to share, unless you got along really well!! It's the perfect size for a couple and one or two children. You may want to upgrade to something larger otherwise.

I can't say enough about the lovely decor, inside and out. Out front on the deck is a BBQ and a fire pit, with tons of firewood stored behind the cabin.

There is an electric fireplace in the bedroom, and baseboard heating inside the cabin in all of the rooms for the cooler months. Cabin also came equipped with a large TV in the bedroom, and a smaller one in the living room. Our cabin came with Netflix- not too sure about the others. However, living room television came with Smart Hub, so you can use YouTube, Netflix etc if you have your own accounts. There was also a nice speaker set with AUX, Bluetooth, CD, radio, etc capabilities. I connected my laptop to the unit via Bluetooth in order to watch a movie with excellent sound.

Check out the photos of the cabins on Handsome Dan's website.

The kitchen was incredibly well stocked with basic kitchen equipment. Ours even had a rice cooker and a slow cooker. We flew from another province, so having everything we needed at our fingertips was a big plus.

I would recommend bringing tin foil, plastic wrap, ziploc bags, and maybe an extra tea towel or two. The cabin came with enough pillows, sheets and comforters for 4 people, ie. One pillow each. Bring extras from home if you can. Otherwise - everything else was provided. They even had rolls of paper towel!

Location was also excellent. Theres a fairly well stocked general store a one minute drive away. Botanical beach is a MUST see as well (less than 10 mins by car, about an hour walk)

The cabin was very clean upon our arrival. (Yes the cleaning fee is a bit high - but remember that Port Renfrew is quite literally in the middle of nowhere, and with that comes extra costs) * plus - whether you stay for 1 night or 3+, the cleaning fee is the same. Be wise about the length of your stay! *

Thanks Handsome Dan - we will...

The cabin itself is awesome! So cute, very clean, lovely private outdoor space with a nice fire pit that you can see from the living/dining room window. The wifi was a bit slow, but enough to go on the internet and even watch some pixelated streaming tv. And one doesn't simply go to Port Renfrew to watch tv!

The only thing that I really didn't like was the extra "cleaning tax" of about $125 which seemed really unfair. The place is so small I could touch everything in the 3 rooms of the Cedar Box including the walls in 15-20 steps. If I was a cleaner, making $25/hr and using $25 of cleaning supplies and gas and traveling for an hour to get there and back, I think I'd have the place spotless and would still be able to sit by the fire for 2 of the 4 hours and take a bunch of leftover cleaning products home with me... Also Port Renfrew is not that far from Sooke which is not that far from Victoria, so the "remoteness" claim falls a little flat.

I would give it a solid 4/5 stars. Perhaps even 4.5 if I wasn't feeling so bruised from the unethically overpriced cleaning fee.

Response to response: I've worked in a number of small family businesses over the years and understand how to procure and price services and materials in a competitive marketplace. One store I worked in gave the sales team analytics about all infrastructure costs (rent, heat, electricity, salaries, furniture depreciation, contracted services, taxes, etc.) broken down to a daily number so we could at least break even on daily costs and stay in the black. That was before "analytics" and "telemetry" were common words. I'm glad you care about the people working for your service providers but they also need to think competitively. The cleaning fee is still outrageous and I would recommend you improve your knowledge of procurement practices so you can strike a new deal or find cleaning companies offering better prices. This is a huge opportunity for a new small local business to disrupt what seems to be a bloated service provider. I went to Penticton this summer and paid about $175/night for a nice hotel room and there was no astronomical cleaning fee on top of the room price. Clients will start to take their business to the interior and other locations if your contracted cleaners can't figure out how to streamline their services and lower...