After a rocky start, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in this unit. The lower rating is a result of (1) the unit not quite living up to the pics in the listing, and (2) the property management company, Vacasa, is a mess to work with.
I’ll start with the good: The view from the property is amazing, and the unit is right on the ocean, so you are going to be lulled by the sound of waves during your entire stay. The pool is great and oceanside, and onsite management is super friendly. There are so many other views and joys on the property, I wish the listing would have featured those (instead of, for example, the beach that does not currently exist).
The not so good: I have stayed in dozens of vacation rentals and understand that photos are designed to cast the best light on the property; in my opinion, though, the pictures in this listing go a little too far and set unreasonable expectations. For example, the photos of the “private beach” were likely taken years ago, before errosion and sea level rise reduced the beach to more of a rocky ocean access (without dry sand). The staging and angles of the interior photos also fail to show, for example, how small some areas are (e.g. the vanity and kitchen) or how dated the unit is.
Frankly, though, the view, waves, and grounds would have soon made me forget all of the above if not for…
The bad: The property mngt company, Vacasa, was a pain to deal with. They have applied the dreaded international call center experience to “local” management of vacation rentals, and the result is infuriating.
I emailed Vacasa the morning after check-in about a few maintenance issues (lvg room light wouldn’t turn off, lvg room tv picture had green tint, and bedroom sliding door wouldn’t open all the way). After receiving an auto response, I emailed again, received another auto response, and then, an auto message stating (inexplicably) that all my issues had been addressed.
So I called, stayed on hold, and finally talked to someone in a national or international call center. She acknowledged that my email case had been inexplicably “closed” - said she was going to reopen it - and told me that they would work on getting a “local team” to the property.
After several hours of waiting, I jumped in the pool with my son for an hour, and when we got out, I had several voicemails saying that Vacasa’s local team member went into the unit, fixed the light, got the tv to turn on (which was not the problem), and saw nothing wrong with the shower door (also, not the problem).
I returned the call, was told that everything was fixed, and actually had to argue with the representative about the nature of my complaints (e.g. her notes said shower door, not sliding door - and there was nothing in her notes about the tv pic having a green tint). At that point, I said that I’d rather not waste any more of our short (3-day) vacation time; we would just do without the lvg room tv and bedroom slider.
Then, an hour or so later, Vacasa’s local rep showed back up. He was not there to recheck the tv or fix the bedroom door. Rather, he seemed to be there to prove the property was “beachfront.” As I sat on my lanai, trying to redirect my thoughts from the negative experience of the morning to all the positive attributes of the property, I was treated to a 30-minute spectacle of Vacasa’s local guy trying to “prove me wrong.” He set up his beach chair in the only 2’x2ʻ space where the waves were not crashing at low tide; he called Vacasa to say the he was there, standing on a beach (he had to pause during the call to hold his hand up, so his phone wouldn’t get wet). I’m not sure what Vacasa intended to accomplish with this demonstration, but what they achieved was 30 minutes of awkwardness for me, a local, and his companion.
I received one more voicemail that afternoon from a Vacasa manager, so I returned it. She also had little understanding of my prior complaints, so I had to reexplain them. She apologized and told me that Vacasa would be issuing an “inconvenience credit,” and she would text me later that day to tell me the amount of the credit. Of course, it just adds insult to injury that I never received a text, a credit, or any other contact from Vacasa (other than a request for a property review).
In the end, we enjoyed our stay despite Vacasa. I suggested and am hoping that the listing be revised to set more reasonable expectations. If we had a responsive, local property manager to address our minor maintenance issues, I would likely be rating the unit 4 stars. Instead, having spent the better part of a day (of a 3-day vacation) dealing with Vacasa, I cannot rate any higher than 3 stars.