Overall, my family and I enjoyed our stay at Fausto's unit. The location and view from the balcony truly made the stay!! The view is absolutely wonderful and my family and I loved sitting up there every morning to see the sunrise and enjoy the sun. The location is really nice-- not far from the airport, right on the beach, and close to Hollywood Beach. We also loved the cabanas by the pool and highly recommend spending time by the pool.
While there were some positives of our stay, I think that it is good to know some of the cons before booking the unit:
- The wifi was very poor and the unit is not conducive for WFH. If you need to WFH during your trip, I would not recommend this Airbnb. The wifi is the open network that the building has and the unit does not have its own unit (I suggest the owner look into this). The network was very very very poor and I reached out to the owner and even though he responded quickly, there was not much he could do. Furthermore, for whatever reason Verizon and AT&T have really bad service at this location (only 1 bar/no bars) so we were not able to hotspot our computers, thus WFH was very very hard. If you have to do any work on the computer, I would not recommend this unit.
- The check-in staff were not very nice and truly were not very helpful while checking in. One particular man was extremely rude and when we asked questions about the pool and the beach. I thought this was one-off but went back to ask about the beach and the lady at the desk was also rude and was expecting to know the rules even though I expressed that I was visiting.... Furthermore, you need to wear a wristband to get into the building and units (which is fine... but the wristbands are paper so they obviously wear-and-tear during the week) my sister went to get a new wristband because her's fell out (because it was paper!) and they were extremely rude to her because it had wear and tear, which again is not her fault. The front desk/check-in staff need to be properly trained in customer service and I would recommend to switch to waterproof bands.
- The elevators and valet are as bad as the previous reviews said... I thought that people were exaggerating/not used to apartment buildings (I also take reviews sometimes with a grain of salt....but this is actually as bad as other were saying unfortunately). The elevator system is atrocious and I live in an apartment building full time and am used to waiting for elevators. We often had to wait 20+ minutes to get down or up and it was just ridiculous. We ran into some building workers/contractors and they said that it is always like this and its not only when its the busy season. The valet is also a mess and often times we would call for our call ahead of time and they never even got our car even though we got a confirmation text. I think both the elevators and valet inconveniences are somethings to be aware of ahead of time (and know that it is bad/have low expectations).
- Note that the unit is carpeted and the carpet is quite dirty and dusty. I am allergic to dust and it made my allergies flair up a lot. Something to note if you are also allergic to dust/someone in your party is. I would suggest for the owner to get their carpet steam cleaned as soon as possible.
- Note that the unit's kitchen is not very well stocked with utensils and kitchen tools. I would not recommend this kitchen if you are planning to do some cooking in it. There were not enough or some basic things (like a drying rack, trays and pans to use the oven, proper pots, enough cups, etc).
Again overall, we enjoyed our stay and the view from the apartment is stunning. I hope that the owner and building make the appropriate changes for future guests.