Be careful -- Air Conditioning not working. Lots of cameras recording us. Shocking surprises in the bed. (!)
Great back yard and entertaining space with outdoor kitchen and pool.
Nikki was a wonderful host. My son's flight arrived early, and she went out of our way to allow for an early check in. We *really* appreciated that! First impression was "WOW! THIS PLACE IS PERFECT!" It was not super hot or muggy yet, so we really enjoyed the outdoor kitchen and pool area late into the first night. Made a great BBQ, caught up with friends, and it was just PERFECT. Grill works great; pool was perfect. That back yard is a great spot! Couldn't have enjoyed ourselves more. Weather was perfect - which didn't make the air conditioner have to work so hard at first.
We had a couple of friends join us for dinner, and we all kept discussing the cameras everywhere outside - inside the Tiki Hut, on the lawn, next to the pool, etc. They were clearly "on" -- and we waved at them a few times. I reached out to Nikki about it -- It was explained to me that Nikki only looks at the footage if there's a problem, if people have had a big party, or for safety/legal situations. I guess that could make sense -- but as the weekend wore on, I simply got really, really uncomfortable being recorded. Those on a romantic getaway may want to take pause in the pool and outdoor kitchen area. They have a ring doorbell, too -- again -- understandable -- but lots of recording of activity going on there. I've never seen cameras at any rentals -- and I stay in a lot of them. (Is that legal to record without telling someone you're recording? With that said, all of the cameras were out in the open -- hard to miss them.)
My son went to bed in the king bedroom -- the one room with an extra air conditioning unit. (Given central air, I was curious about an extra unit in there...) But again, the first night wasn't super hot -- air seemed to work ok. His sleep didn't last long, because he found a bottle of "sex lube/penis number" in between the fitted sheet and the top sheet. Can't make this sh up! Off he went -- quickly -- to the room with two twins. He told me about it the next day... At first I thought the lube bottle was ON the bed, but my son later clarified for me that it was IN the bed, between the sheets. Ewww. (Honestly thought cleaners may have found it on the floor or something, put it on the bed after they changed it, and just forgot to throw it away... but -- nope. It was IN the bed...) I did share that with Nikki. She was horrified, apologetic, and very sweet. She offered a late check out to make up for it. She was absolutely sure that the cleaners had changed the bed...
But the truth is -- I truly do not know how someone could change a bed, put the fitted sheet on, place the top sheet over the fitted sheet, and not see that bottle. At first, my 28 year old son and I laughed -- and then -- well, we didn't. I think the laugher was over pure shock, but that, in combination with a few other things, really soured our experience.
I spent $1510 for 3 nights at this property. That's a lot of money -- and from that point on, of course, we stayed out of that room.
From there, the air conditioner continued to work less and less throughout the weekend. We left no doors open; we didn't do anything that would strain the central air. I literally could not put the dress on that I was going to wear to a wedding because it was sticking so badly to my skin - it was 85+ degrees in the house. But -- first world problems, right? Off we went to the wedding. Just not in the dress that I loved and had purchased specifically for this wedding. At that point though, my frustration was growing...
We came home pretty late -- and neither my son nor I slept for even 5 minutes that night. We packed and left -- truly, truly exhausted and not feeling well at all ,from no sleep. He had a long day of flights, and I had a 5 hour drive ahead. Tough way to finish the weekend. That whole last night -- The air would come on, cool the place down from 88 degrees, then it would get sooo cold to us, then it would heat up for an hour or two -- way up. Truly 100% awful, sleepless night.
Simply -- The air conditioner needs to be replaced. I could see why the 3rd bedroom had the extra unit -- but again, that room was off limits because of what we found in the bed. (My opinion is that the cleaners "made" that bed, but they very likely did not change the bed. )
We were very much missing sheets that last night. There were fitted/base sheets on my queen bed and my son's twin bed. With only comforters over our skin. (He's 6'1" - tough to sleep in a twin.) No top sheet. We both really needed those top sheets, especially on the third night, but it was explained to me that it's hot in Florida and people don't use put top sheets on the bed. I'm 55 and live in northern Florida -- and I've never slept without a top sheet, so this seemed way odd to me...
There were some small things: no coffee, no soap in one of the bathrooms, used travel size shampoo and conditioner, almost empty, in my shower. I get it. This is a short stay place and not my own home -- but for