I reserved a home that is owned by Eric Gallus (a big real estate tycoon in Naples, Florida) and…read moremanaged by Beachside Oasis of SWFL (Owner Sarah Vasquez) in February 2024 for the rental period from December 1, 2024 - February 28, 2025.
I would like to know what the property manager/owner were doing for the 10 months before I got there to rent it? IMHO they had no intention of doing anything to get it in condition to match the listing.
The property I rented is shown on the left side of the Yelp listing for this business, with a property address of 92 Buttercup Circle in Marco Island, Florida. While is APPEARED to look fine from the photos, it was NOT a "Dream Waterfront Retreat" by any far stretch of the imagination and what you did not know that was not good was not disclosed in the listing nor could it be seen in the photos. If they had listed its downsides, no one would rent it, especially for the amount of money they were asking for the 3 month rental rate. The best you could say about it is it is a 70% renovation in progress. It is also an old property that was built in the 60s.
The two reviews of this particular property were from people who stayed only a week, and I had no idea what they paid. And, maybe they did not care about the quality of this property. One family had kids and perhaps they would not care about the quality, because children would not be able to damage anything. To be truthful, it hardly deserved a 5 STAR REVIEW unless you were blind.
I complained shortly after arriving as I found things that were wrong and that I was not happy with. I asked for an adjustment in my rental rate commensurate with that fact it is was about 30% less than the listing indicated.
Beachside Oasis DID admit to the things I complained about by telling me what they were going to do about them, including coming in on my dime and doing a demo of the bathtub in the master bathroom tub, which was all chipped, scratched and disgusting. You would not let your worst enemy take a bath in it. I am a bath person, so seeing it had a bathtub from the pictures meant a lot to me. If I had known the condition of the bathtub or the other things that follow, I would never have rented this property, period. The following are the other things that were wrong with the property that you could not know until you were there:
1. There were six sliding doors in this home and only 2 opened, the others were sealed shut. None of the windows opened and were also sealed shut.
2. Most of the cushions on the outdoor furniture were filthy dirty and needed to be replaced.
3. The master bathroom was all touched up with paint that did not match what was there and needed to be repainted. They told me it was scheduled for repainting after I left.
4. The master bedroom comforter was old, worn out and not high quality by any far stretch of the imagination.
5. The outdoor dining table needed to be painted or refinished. Whatever was on the surface was chipping off.
6. Chipped and crack floor tiles
The business apologized for not meeting my expectations, but my expectations were created by their advertisement of this property. Plain and simple, they were Deceptive by Omission at best and Fraud in the Inducement at the worst, in my opinion.
I asked for a reduction and refund of about 1/3 of my total rental price. They offered me a fraction of what I asked for in cash as well as a credit from the Agency for a future rental, and in exchange they wanted me to sign a non-disclosure agreement to not give them a bad review. I refused that offer. Why would I even consider a future credit with any agency that had been deceptive in their listing and expected me to rent from them again?
This property was also listed on VRBO, and I thought that would offer me some protection; however, they do not do anything for you, so renters beware if believe VRBO will be helpful. And, you pay them for a number of things if you rent through their site to protect yourself in partnership with the property management company. What a joke. You will find online that VRBO will do nothing for you and give you nothing but the run around, adding to your frustration.
Photos of the things that were not acceptable you cannot see from the listing photos. Some you cannot know don't operate or are not up to the standard as advertised until you are there. It is then too late and you are stuck with no recourse. VRBO may have moved me, but I might have ended up in another property than was worse than what I already had, as I saw from complaints online about VRBO. So, I was forced to stay here for the whole 3 months because you pay up-front. A good deal of my "Vacation" was taken up trying to negotiate an appropriate settlement that was fair.
So, buyer/renter beware of this Property Management Company as well as VRBO.
