Jail doors open at McCreary RCMP detachment turned vacation rental
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/01/2026 (255 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
If you’ve ever wanted to spend a night in a jail cell — without the typical prerequisite criminal activity — a western Manitoba rental might have what you’re looking for.
A decommissioned RCMP detachment building in the Rural Municipality of McCreary is now a listed Airbnb space, complete with two jail cell bedrooms — bars and all.
Rosie Peloquin opened the spot to guests on Sunday, after she and her husband purchased the building seeking a new project after retiring from the pizza business in 2024.
“We’ve converted the breathalyzer and fingerprinting room into the living room for the apartment, and the guard station is now the kitchen,” Peloquin said on Tuesday.
“If you drink too much, you can spend the night in jail.”
The unique rental space has quickly caught the attention of people in the Parkland area and beyond — Peloquin already has a booking for a wedding this summer and hosted more than 20 people over the holidays.
“I always tell them: if you drink too much, you can spend the night in jail,” she said with a laugh.
The rental beyond the eastern border of Riding Mountain National Park and some 250 kilometres from Winnipeg— aptly named “the Jailhouse” — can now be booked on Airbnb’s website.
Themed vacation rentals aren’t the most popular travel experience in Manitoba — Airbnb’s website lists only a handful, including a Harry Potter-themed suite in Lockport and a Hawaii-inspired home in Winnipeg — but “experience-led travel” is a growing trend that’s made its way to the province, said Cody Chomiak, vice-president of marketing with Travel Manitoba.
“Part of that is where you stay is part of the story, not just a place to sleep,” he said. “Whether that’s a houseboat or an ice hotel or a yurt or, in this case, a decommissioned jailhouse.”
“Where you stay is part of the story, not just a place to sleep.”
He pointed to Flin Flon, where a temporary lodge is being built entirely out of ice and snow at a local campground with the goal of hosting events through the winter weather, as an example. Another, he said, is Moonlit Canopy in southwest Manitoba, where “glamping” — glamourous camping — includes heated domes in place of tents with gas fireplaces and hot tubs.
“I think these types of opportunities coming up just allow for so much creativity,” Chomiak said. “So it’s really exciting to see Manitoba really embracing this.”
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
