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Cabin Rental Frequently Asked Questions

QUESTIONS BELOW ARE REAL, THE NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT!

All cabin rental cancellations must be received in writing. If the cancellation is outside of thirty-one (31) days of the reservation arrival date, Sliding Rock Cabins® will refund the deposit amount less a $50 cancellation fee, plus applicable taxes. If the cancellation is within thirty-one (31) days of the reservation arrival date, No Refund will be offered, and there is absolutely No Reason, that excuses you from this cancellation policy. If you are in doubt, we strongly suggest purchasing Travel Protection Insurance through CSA Travel Protection.

Changing weekends outside of the thirty-one (31) days is usually not a problem, if we have availability. The first change is free of charge outside of the thirty-one (31) days, subsequent changes we charge a fee. If changing weekends within the thirty days, then we consider it a cancellation. The reason; we will have turned away dozens of potential guests and sent them to other cabin rental companies, because you’ve reserved that time. Meaning unless we can re-book it we lose money. Something our cabin owners and mortgage companies really do not understand.

We encourage you to bring your furry faced friends. We never charge a pet deposit nor do we have size or weight limits. We do ask that you tell us that you’re bringing your pets, since we want to make sure that they are as comfortable as you. As their pet guardian, we do expect you to know your pet. Meaning that if you need to crate them or leash them, please do. Since your pets will not be bringing their credit cards, any damages will be charged to yours. Also, please remember cleaning up after your pet is your responsibility, not housekeeping or the next guests. Of course if you decide not to clean up after your pets, we’ll reluctantly do it and charge your card accordingly.

We’re not associated with any other cabin company. We do have reputable friends in the business that we’d highly recommend. We just happen to be the originators of a great program that someone thought would be a good idea to copy to make some quick money. Please remember, if you’re truly a pet person and cabin rental company, you’ll have pets and will understand how hard it is to find a company like ours that caters to pets and the people that bring them. We have 5, oops, now 6 in our home, 4 rescue doggies and the queen of the cat roost, Sambucca, and her new nemesis Sabra, and they are our family, so you can bet we understand the needs and concerns of pet owners. Heck, we can’t take a vacation due to the numbers, but as we say here in the mountains, everyday you’re not reporting into work, you’re on vacation ;~)

Check-in is anytime after 4:00 PM, absolutely NO EXCEPTIONS!

Due to insurance liabilities absolutely no check-ins allowed prior to 04:00 PM. As you may have surmised, check-in is no earlier than O4:00 PM. Also our cleaning crew must clean and prepare multiple cabins within a that window, so that all guests receive a nice clean cabin, we do not allow early check-ins. Do not call the cabin to see if it’s available, since the cleaning crew are not authorized to allow early entrance. If you’ve arrived early to the area and since your key will not be available until after 03:45 PM and the cabin will be not be ready until after 04:00 PM, we’d suggest visiting Ellijay and/or Blue Ridge. That way you can acclimate yourself to the local area and our cleaning crew can ensure that your cabin is in great shape for your arrival after 04:00 PM.

Check-out is anytime before 10:00 AM, NO EXCEPTIONS!

Again our cleaning crew must clean and prepare multiple cabins, across several counties, and it would be unfair to them and to our other customers to allow a later check-out. As a result, check-out is anytime prior to 10:00 AM. For every one-half hour after 10:00 AM, we charge an additional one-half nights rent.

We protect the privacy of our guests and if we had maps to the cabins that privacy could be compromised. If you try to find any of our cabins through an online map service or GPS (yes, even if it is a Garmin), you’ll be quite disappointed. Our gravel/dirt roads are privately owned or county maintained and are not in any map service database yet. And calling us when you get to Ellijay will definitely not be a good idea, since our office closes between 05:00 PM and 09:00 AM Monday through Saturday and all day Sunday.

If you’ve rented a cabin from us and have arrived in Ellijay without your Driving Instructions or Rental Agreement and it’s after hours and you do not have our emergency contact information that we provided on your Driving Instructions, Rental Agreement, or Hospitality App, we recommend the Stratford Motor Inn, 706-276-1080. We’ll reopen Monday at 09:00 AM.

Again we believe that our customers come to us for seclusion and relaxation. If we allow non-customers to drive up to our cabins just to have a look, then we’ve betrayed the trust of our customers. We’d love to be able to show every room, closet, and bath of every cabin but unfortunately due to website limitations we can’t. We do try to describe and accurately photograph each cabin. And we’re now offering Virtual Tours of all of our cabins.

If you get lost then you get to be on our FAQ page! Seriously, we’ve never had anyone lost, THAT FOLLOWED our directions exactly. Just remember when our directions say turn left, that’s what we really, really mean, and when the directions say travel 5.2 miles and turn left, it does not mean go 20 miles and give us a call. And yes, your GPS can sometimes be wrong.

Uh, in the daylight look for that bright yellow orb in the sky. It’s usually up there. If it’s overcast or night, usually the road signs give a directional hint. If all else fails read the directions we send, we try to make them simple, i.e., turn right (then we’ll say that’s north) and still if that doesn’t work, stop and ask someone. Make their day a little lighter. And please be nice to the folks you ask directions and don’t treat them as if it’s their fault that you’re lost. Otherwise they may suggest you go to……somewhere much hotter.

So you don’t know if you turned north or south, you don’t know where you are and maybe we could help? We suggest bringing an old fashioned map on your trip. Lots of uses for them, such as a) finding out where you are, b) mapping out where you’re going, c) not getting featured on our FAQ.

Just turn the direction page upside down or use a mirror! Okay, just kidding. Here’s what we suggest, reverse those excellent directions to find your way back. For example, if it said turn right at 3.0 miles, then when you go back, turn left at 3.0 miles. Works almost every time, except in Australia and some parts of the northwestern states.

We do not allow smoking in any of our cabins. ABSOLUTELY NO SMOKING! We certainly do not mind if you smoke next to the fire-pits. Also if you smoke on the decks, absolutely do not leave the windows open to the cabin, because the HVAC and wind bring it back inside, meaning we, or the cleaners, or the next guest will have a huge problem, that we’ll need to pass the solution ($$$) on to you. We have nothing against smokers, but if you need to smoke, remember outside, policing up your butts, no windows open, Since we’ve decided to be a non-smoking cabin rental company, we charge a minimum of $350 if you decide to smoke in our cabins.

Noise. Again, we’re in the relaxation business and what is fun for one may surely be a nuisance to others, hence absolutely no ATVs, dirt bikes, discharging of firearms (unless it’s a life threatening situation) including BB/Pellet guns, paintball guns, potato cannons, and fireworks. As a rule of thumb, if you can hear it then your neighbors may be able to, so don’t do it. Our security personnel have no sense of humor.

Believe it or not we do not arbitrarily set the tax rate, currently twelve (12) percent. The counties and state set those. We just do our duty and pass those taxes on to the state and local governments.

CSA Travel Protection offers Travel Insurance for the guests of Sliding Rock Cabins®. The cost is six point nine-five percent (6.95%) of the total cost of your trip. Please review their website and talk with them to make sure any of your questions are answered. They are not part of Sliding Rock Cabins®, they just provide a very valuable service to the travel industry that we happily offer.

Most of our guests request at least a 2 night stay, so if we rented for one night, the owners and Sliding Rock Cabins® would lose money, so as result, we can not afford to allow one night rentals. Also, since check-in time is after 4:00 PM and checkout is by 10:00 AM the next morning, you’d really just arrive, eat, sleep then have to leave. And just to reiterate, we will not accept a one night rental.

Twenty-five (25) years of age. Anyone under twenty-five years of age must be accompanied by an adult.

Oh never mind, I see it’s the minimum age not the minimum number people. You need to make that clearer so there’s no misunderstanding. Okie-dokie.

We charge for additional guests above the “number” four not the age of four. Boy these get complicated sometimes.

We have some owners of cabins that have chosen to be adults only, meaning no kids allowed. We do have cabins that allow kids so should not be a problem. So please adults only at the cabins that are labeled adults only. And no it does not mean anything kinky, geewiz!

We consider a weekly rental to be seven (7) nights. If you reserve for a full week (seven nights), we charge you for six nights, the seventh night is free.

Any normal two wheel drive vehicle should be able to conquer our gravel/dirt mountain roads, but it usually depends on the ability/comfort level of the driver. Over the dozen or so years, we’ve had over 27,000 guests, our cleaning crew, cabin owners, and managers traverse these mountainous gravel roads daily in mini-vans, family cars, two-wheel drive pick-ups, and SUVs with no problems. A caveat, if it has snowed we’d strongly recommend a four-wheel drive. If you’re concerned with a few bumps or if you’re afraid of dust, mud, or heights, or you’re still in the honeymoon stage with your vehicle, or if you’re just unsure as to how your vehicle responds to gravel roads, you may have a bit of a challenge.

To all of our potential guests, there are very few things absolutely guaranteed in life, however, we can pretty much guarantee that your vehicle will get some dirt on it. We’re really sorry, and really mean it, for sure.

To those that asked this question, thanks. We actually have secret roads that we don’t tell the guests. Kidding! Sorry but the roads we send you on are the only roads we have at this time. We’re looking at finding others but they’re sneaky little devils and very hard to find.

We don’t consider our cabins isolated, but we do believe that they are secluded and/or private. You will not find an all night grocery store close to your cabin, nor a place to dance until the early dawn. There are no street lights in the mountains (yippee) and it does get very dark.

1st Comment for Cabin A: The cabin was great, the only thing it was so isolated, yeah sure it had neighbors next door, we could see their car when we came in, but there were so many trees between the cabins, we couldn’t really see them. It was scary.

2nd Comment for Same Cabin following week: The cabin was perfect, the only thing it seemed like a subdivision, there were neighbors next door, although we couldn’t see or hear them, we knew they were there, when we passed by.

Comment for Cabin B: The cabin was perfect, the only problem, we were disappointed that it had a wood burning fireplace, we don’t like wood burning fireplaces. Well, it may have said that on your webpage, but someone should have told us, when we reserved online.

Comment for Cabin C, Same Week as Cabin B: The cabin was really nice, the only downer, we were totally bummed that it had a gas log fireplace. We really wanted a cabin with a wood burning fireplace, since those are much more romantic. It’s too bad that when we booked, all the cabins with wood burning fireplaces were already taken. Can we get a refund?

It’s been scientifically proven that lights left on outside a mountain cabin, after 10 PM attract bears, snakes, alligators, flying monkeys, giant leaping lizards, Sasquash, the wicked witch of the east, Dracula, and other nefarious individuals…….. Just kidding it gets on the other guests nerves and burns electricity (remember we’re all trying to do our part).

Yes to the first question, remember that you’re in the mountains and it’s nature and you’ll probably see or hear lots of mother nature. Also remember most of the creatures are just as frightened of you, as you are of them, so please try to leave them alone. Enjoy what you’ve been missing and maybe snap a few photos for your memories. No to the second question, we do not have gators here, the Dawgs and Yellow Jackets ran them off.

This is one of those questions that you as a parent or guardian must answer. Our river, creek, and/or pond are sometimes fast moving, sometimes shallow, sometimes deep, have rocks, may have slippery moss, does your child or pet know how swim, do they wear life vests, will you monitor them at all times, would you feel comfortable leaving them in a swimming pool without supervision? As a very special note, Sliding Rock Cabins® assumes no responsibility for the safety of your child or your pet.

Ah, trust, and new technology, gotta love it! Yes, we absolutely promise, that there are cabins there, and if you rented our lake fronting cabin, a real lake nearby, and if one by the river, a real river, both with water included.

Some of our neighborhoods have granted community access to the water. Meaning you can stroll down to the water. There’s no parking but it does allow you to hike down and stick your feet in the water, if you wish, and not have to pay those water-fronting cabin costs.

We believe that you’ll enjoy any and all of our cabins. We manage and own cabins so ethically it would be inappropriate for us to steer you to one or the other. We will take your needs, i.e., number of guests, type of views requested, secluded or private, etc., and help match them with the best cabin.

The lights don’t work. Actually, this flippant answer sufficed for over 16 years, since most folks in their adult life have had a power outage and knew to call the power company, not their mortgage company, their stock broker, their insurance company, etc. However, after experiencing the tremendous confusion of a few of our guests during a recent power outage, this is now the correct answer, CALL THE LOCAL POWER COMPANY! Believe it or not, Sliding Rock Cabins has absolutely no way to magically turn the power back on, we don’t know what caused it, maybe that storm that passed through?, we don’t know when it’s going to come back on, and yes we know how inconvenient it is that it happened during your vacation, and truly wished that we could make it come back on. But, if misery truly loves company, then you’re in luck, the other 20,000+ folks up here are without power also. And by the way, the power company does not call to give us bi-hourly updates. As an aside, the Travel Insurance company does cover extended power outages, snowstorms, etc., another reason to look at their service.

The local power company would love for you to call and they will answer that question. Please feel free to give them a call.

While outages are very rare, sometimes things happen in life that are just beyond anyone’s control. Our utility companies try very hard to keep water and electricity flowing for everyone. So if you’d be devastated, if the water were off for a few hours then you may want to bring a jug or two of water. And once again, there will be an emergency number in the folder for your cabin.

Actually, they sort of do. The ones without electric dishwashers have older hand operated models called….. spouses or significant others. So remember, when you are looking to reserve, make sure if you must have a dishwasher, the cabin says it has a dishwasher.

We absolutely promise you if we say the cabin has a washer and dryer, the cabin has a washer and dryer. The only things we can possibly think of in your situation, A) Someone stole it and then returned it for our cleaning crew to use after your stay or B) Since there was only one interior door, in a 400 square foot cabin, you just possibly missed it?

Well here’s what we’re doing in the interest of recycling and preservation, we remove each and everyone of the leaves during the fall/winter months. As you can imagine it takes some time and is hard work, but we feel it’s for the good of everyone. Then during the spring/summer months we paste them back onto the trees and yes before you ask, we do use a specially made environmentally friendly leaf paste, called yougottabekiddingme.

We provide firewood, seasonally – 01 October through 01 April, for the cabins with wood-burning fireplaces. We provide approximately 8 to 10 logs to get you started, since the fireplaces are used for ambiance and not to keep warm (the HVAC units do that job). So if you require more than the starter supply of 8 to 10 logs or it’s off-season then please feel free to bring as much hardwood (absolutely no pine) as you’d like.

We do not provide firewood for the outdoor fire-pits. However, many local convenience stores sell bundles.

Usually, firewood does not go bad, you should however check the expiration date on the bottom to make sure. Sometimes folks that have not built fires have a bit of trouble getting the flame started and assume that it’s the firewood’s fault. Even wet wood will light with the proper preparations. So our best suggestion is to read up on how to start a fire, that is, be prepared or better yet be like us pseudo-mountain folks, bring starter logs.

Expense. It’s much harder to get the loggers to deliver firewood during the summer, hence it costs more. Also we’ve found that some people like to turn the AC down really low, open all the windows, build a fire and then go outside. However with enough notification, during the off season months, we can schedule delivery of firewood for a charge. Just let us know the number of logs before you arrive. The current cost is $25 for 25 logs.

We may not have mentioned this but these are private homes. Meaning that if you decide to go onto someone’s property and remove what they have, you should expect to pay the consequences. That’s called stealing and people here have a very low tolerance for thieves.

Good question and thanks! Obviously the 60’s and 70’s were very good to you or maybe you’ve watched Oprah or the Home Decorating Channel a wee bit too much.. Short answer, NO REFUNDS for bad vibes, mismatched karma, or lack of feng shui, dude.

The bad vibe question helped answer this question, so thanks. The sun’s draw has pulled the pretty spots up high so that it can warm them, which makes the high spot people happy, thus making them easier to get along with and less likely to complain about how high the high spots are. Whereas the moon (opposing forces you know) has pushed the concreted spots down flat which has made the flatland people not as happy, so that they really, really want to come to the high spots otherwise known as MOUNTAINS.

Actually that big ol’ rat is called an Otter. They’re part of the environment, so just leave them alone. And don’t be afraid, unless you look like a fish, you should be safe.

That big prehistoric looking bird was either a Blue Herron or possibly a Black Vulture or Turkey Buzzard. All are also part of the environment and will not harm you, so fear not and sleep comfortably knowing that they are on duty.

It’s a folding cot unless we decide to put a king size bed in it. Just kidding it really is a king size bed if it says so on our website.

Watch out for the ocean liners when you hit the Atlantic! Seriously, do not try this. Have a plan on where you’ll end up and be prepared. Don’t stop at any other location other than your cabin, since the properties along the river are private and some of the owners do not have a sense of humor. Even though it sounds like a fun adventure, you may be in for quite a shock. Also, Sliding Rock Cabins® does not provide shuttle service.

Attention: This is just an estimate on our part, due to lots of factors, such as, but not limited to; water current, wind speed, type of water vehicle, weight, buoyancy, and resistance of passengers, use or non-use of paddling instruments, ability to obtain food and drinking water for energy, continuation of trip or are stop-overs planned, and of course an accurate map or GPS. We’d say approximately 12.625 years, results may vary, use at your on risk, not offered in all areas. Yes this is an actual question and sometimes they are just too much darn fun to pass up!

This may come as a shock to a few, but we don’t provide room service.

We assumed that the notification on each of the cabin’s webpage on what we provide, along with the notification of what to pack that we send each guest, and that most elusive element called common sense would have been enough indication, that we do not provide food and beverage.

Our cabins sleep from 1 to 8 guests. Some cabin companies have per person charges for more than 2 guests, we’ve chosen above 4 guests for our charges. The per person charge is due to extra bed and bath linens use, extra septic system use, extra water use, extra soap, more beds to be made, and overall use of the cabin, which causes extra cleaning.

As mentioned above, our cabins sleep from 1 to 8 guests. Any more than that and we/you have a very serious problem with our septic system.

Absolutely not. Would it be okay if we charge extra if the sun is shining?

The questions are quite real. Also the web guy thinks he has a sense of humor (maybe not) and some of the questions are just so darn…… interesting.

Simple answer, because these folks and their spouses are putting their lives on the line and going through incredible hardships for us, and it’s a very small way for Sliding Rock Cabins® to show how much it means to us. And again, thanks for what you all go through.

Please read some of the above questions and then here’s our answer. Believe it or not, the Cabin Rental Agreement started out quite simple twenty years ago, just a few lines of things to abide by. In fact, we have the original encased for our memories. Basically, leave the cabin in the same shape as you found it. Unfortunately, due to a few folks that left their common sense at home or those even fewer folks that decided to take advantage of us, we’ve had to expand the Agreement to its current state. We hope that we’ve made the last revision to the Agreement but who knows?

Make arrangements with your friend, sister, husband, 2nd cousin, car mechanic, dentist, etc, prior to their arrival. Due to the absolute commitment Sliding Rock Cabins® has to privacy, we WILL NOT give out any guest information, unless the guest has okayed it prior to their arrival. So no need to ask, or whine, or cry, or threaten, it only torques the really mean security personnel, that have their own issues.

Costs. MasterCard, Visa, and Discover have much better rates, yes it does cost for the luxury of accepting credit cards. We’ve found that if we accept the promise of cash or checks, sometimes people do not live up to their promise. Since we’ve lost rentals due to a few “promises” broken, we’ve decided no checks, no money orders, and no cash.

Actually, as crazy as it sounds, No. We’re pretty good about keeping up with holidays (maybe not our birthdays and anniversaries) but our reservation computer is even better. The positive thing about asking the question though, it gets to be on our FAQ page.

It depends upon the cabin and holiday. Usually three to six months in advance if you have a particular cabin in mind. We do have folks that reserve twelve to eighteen months in advance.

Depends upon which of the numerous ones that you’re referring to. Sliding Rock, Pisgah Forest, NC approximately 150 miles. Sliding Rock, Death Valley National Park, CA, approximately 3109 miles. Sliding Rock, Flinders Range, Australia, approximately, 10, 591 miles. Sliding Rock, American Samoa, Pago Pago, approximately, 12, 312 miles.

The trademarked name of our North Georgia Cabin Rental business is Sliding Rock Cabins® and has nothing to do with any of the hundreds of other rock formations and/or locations called Sliding Rock and we do not charge them for the use of our TradeMarked name.

We now offer online reservations so feel free to have a look. Our office is in our home and we too like a bit of relaxation. We’ve also found if we don’t say to not call after 05:00 PM, people will call at midnight or maybe 02:00 AM, during our prime sleeping time. And for the folks that still decide to call at 02:00 AM, we know who you are.

Yes, in fact some of our more popular cabins are managed properties. Please check out our Property Management Program page for more info. We absolutely only accept cabins that will be pet friendly and non-smoking. The cabin will have to be very clean and non-cluttered, i.e. leftover furniture from college and hundreds of nick-knacks on the wall will not qualify. We can also work with cabin owners that do not feel comfortable decorating. We do suggest that before you buy a cabin, find out if our cabin rental company or other cabin rental companies are accepting cabins in that particular area. We will be happy to recommend legitimate cabin rental companies, if we’re not accepting cabins.

Since we’re not very good at predicting the best time to view the changes of the leaves we suggest going to the following website, www.gastateparks.org. Again alas, we can not predict the weather. The best website to check on current weather conditions iswww.weatherchannel.com. They’ve been pretty accurate on their long range forecasts.

Of course not, heck no, no way, no how, nope wouldn’t be prudent ….. well probably. We don’t believe that there are silly questions, but there are some questions that may help others and also are just too much fun to pass up. Since we want people to have fun, we may add it to our website but we’ll not add your name to it (unless you’d like credit for it).

Great service. Exceptional Cabins. Professional support.