If you are thinking of going to Sunset Beach Cottages do not WALK IN THE OTHER DIRECTION....RUN!…read moreFirst I must be fair and say that our family rented three cottages there last year and had a family reunion with no problems. We had guests in, a lobster boil on the beach and all was fine.
Fast forward to this year and just my wife and I returned as we had enjoyed our stay last year. The first thing that happened to us was when we checked in. Terry the owner who had promised us by email the same price that we had last year, $900 then told us it was $975, so without the email proof of the previous agreement he insisted that we pay the extra $75.00. The first thing that we noticed was that there were many more RV's and Fifth Wheels on the property, probably an increase of about 40%, up from 10 or 12 to about 18 to 20.
We enjoyed our stay and walked the beach etc and had my wife's cousin and aunt over for dinner with no issues. Then on Friday we had a gathering of my wife's mother, aunts, uncle, cousins and children, a total of 7 adults and 6 children, five of them under the age of 7 and one 11 years old. This was a pizza party as my mother-in-law brought 4 pizzas and since they are a very Christian family there was no alcohol so the party was a very tame affair. This is when the wheels started to fall off....
Terry came up to my wife, putting a hand over each of her shoulders clearly trying to intimidate her and he then leaned into her face and asked in a low voice "what are all these people doing here? They are not staying are they?" My wife replied that we were just having a pizza party and that there may be two people staying but we didn't know at this time. Later on in the evening I went to put the car windows up and I noticed a letter on the seat of our car. In part it stated that "We do not permit celebrations, on the cottage property, for example: birthday parties, wedding, anniversaries, and/or family reunions. The cottages are not insured for these functions. We have a drilled well, which services the cottages and RV sites; therefore, there is not an overabundance of water. There is a charge of $10.00 per person, per night for a group of more than 4 people, in each cottage."
None of this had been mentioned when we checked in and the rules were now being brought to our attention of the fifth day of our stay. Clearly the additional RVs were putting a stress on Terry's infrastructure as his one well could not support the additional numbers. We were told the next day by the people in the cottage beside us that Terry had asked them to take short showers and use the water very sparingly. For nearly $1000 a week I kind of expect water!
So...back to Friday night. I met Terry outside as I was getting rid of some recyclables and mentioned that I didn't appreciate the letter dropped off in my car with no discussion and how the rules were being changed in the middle of the game. First he denied any knowledge of the letter until I produced it out of my pocket and then he started getting very animated and aggressive. He was pointing his finger at me and scolding me like a young child. I told him not to point his finger at me and he said he would point his finger at me if he wanted too, at which point I got a little annoyed and dropped an F-Bomb and told him not to point his F-ing finger at me. It was at this point that Terry became completely unglued and clenched his fists, stuck out his chest and leaned into me and yelled "WHAT ARE YOU GOINT TO DO ABOUT IT?" Essentially he challenged me to a fist fight in front of my wife, her mother, aunts, uncle, cousins, children etc...And this guy is in the hospitality industry??? Once that I told Terry that he was being rude he calmed down as I think he realized what he was doing. Needless to say we never saw him again for the last two days that we were in the cottage, but on the flip side he never came by to apologize for his appalling behavior.
For my $1000 a week I expect to have as many guests as I like as long as I respect the other guests and respect the property. I also expect to be able to use as much water as I like within reason.
Clearly; Terry in an effort to increase his profit margin by adding more RVs is doing so with not enough infrastructure to support the growth and is therefore asking his guests to conserve water and limit visitors. On top of that, this is a guy who on the outside appears to be friendly and affable, but in a second can turn into an aggressive and potentially violent host...and that is why I will never stay at Sunset Beach and Cottages ever again and I recommend that you do not either.