Poor communication, tardy service, and a lackluster customer experience are low marks for this…read moreplace.
I found the paddleboard rental offer online before I started on vacation, and I booked the rental online prior to my trip. I specifically booked my rental for two hours, starting at 9 am, thinking I would have enough time to learn, get my full two hours of paddleboarding done, and make a happy memory. Unfortunately, the shop didn't open until 9 a.m. and although I showed up at 8:45 a.m. thinking that I would be a bit early so I could learn a little bit before the start of the rental term, no one was on site until the owner of the shop pulled up after 9 am.
She apologized, letting me know she couldn't find her keys and was running late because of that. Then, after I voiced my discontent with the tardiness, noting that I had booked a snorkeling trip to start exactly two hours later, she began to discuss how the lessons and rental are done by someone else and were out of her hands. She further described to me an argument that she and the person running the rental program had the night before, leading to the current tardiness of the instructor/rental coordinator.
The rental coordinator finally showed up at about 9:10 a.m., making no apology or greeting me at all, but instead, heading straight back to the office. He then came out at about 9:15 a.m., and finally apologized for starting late, after which he grabbed some equipment, loaded it into a wagon, and directed me to follow him out the door and across the street to the dock, where the paddleboards were stored.
From there, the paddleboarding experience wasn't bad. He went out onto the water with me and showed me the basics, and then left me to my own enjoyment. I was out on the water for about 45 minutes, before finally tiring in my legs due to the constant ebb and flow of the water.
Overall, the experience wasn't a good one, and with the availability of many SUP rental locations throughout Destin, there's no reason to repeat this experience for anyone.