great place, but left itching!

Guest: TR (iowa)
Date of Stay: 01/18/12 Review Submitted: 01/29/12

I thought there was sand here? I didn't see any. Nice place for our event ( private wedding) . had a great time, beautiful setting. finally got the pool filled, and warmed up after a few days. We had to fill the pool, because it was low, and the heater didn't start till the pool was full? seems to be a common theme with pool issues here. Hot tub worked good, but could only stay in it for 10-15 minutes, the chemical vapors were burning our eyes, I assume Chlorine? A few days into the stay, most of us started to get little welts on our body,looked like bug bites ( nosee-ums). The smell from all of the sea weed washed up on the rocks was pretty strong when the wind was right. After our stay there, we all went home. A few of us still had small welts on our body, and they itched like crazy. Went to the doctor to investigate, turned out to be an infection from bacteria in the hot tub, called FOLLICULITIS. had to get treatment. The house inside was nice, comfy, and served as a nice vacation place. Everyone enjoyed themselves and made the best of it. I would definately look into the smell out by the water though, smelled like rotten eggs, and clean the hot tub please.

Recommended for:Romantic getaway, tourists without a car, sightseeing, girls getaway, families with teenagers.

relaxation

Guest: cloud30 (LakeWorth,Fl)
Date of Stay: 08/06/11 Review Submitted: 01/07/12

My family stayed last year for a week at Kokomo.We brought our boat,our grandkids and alot of luggage.lol Our sons are old enough to pay there own way. So really 3 families. 6 adults three children. It was awesome. Plenty of room,pool and hot tub were perfect. Safe and private. The sunsets were gorgeous. Hope to go every year.

Recommended for:Romantic getaway, girls getaway, age 55+, families with young children, families with teenagers.

Week of December 12, 2010

Guest: Kate (Anchorage, Alaska)
Date of Stay: 12/13/10 Review Submitted: 12/22/10

I took my 90 year old mother, handicapped sister and my children to Kokomo for a week. The house is exactly as portrayed in the photo. It has a lovely vista and the grounds are well maintained by Doug and Donna, who are also available to help with anything that you need. Don't hesitate to call them (see below).The house has heat, which was great, because we experienced weather in the 50s and without heat, my mother would have suffered. Doug said very few homes in the Keys have heat and we just lucked into this one, as it wasn't a criteria that I had been looking for. The bedrooms were large, the beds were very comfortable and clean, the house was very tidy when we arrived and Doug met us there and walked us through the home. The house is located about 1 hour from Key West, which is nice, its a very relaxed setting, quiet and peaceful, at the end of a dead end street, just lovely. The wireless internet was spotty and probably needs to be updated. The pool was not warm until the last day. I called Donna who said the cold weather was probably keeping the pool from coming up to temperature. On Thursday, I called Doug, he came over, cleaned the pool, changed the temperature, it heated up perfectly by the next day. Unfortunately, it was our last day. Doug said the heater had clogged. So, lesson learned. If you aren't happy with the temperature, call Doug. He will fix it and then you will be happy. He's a nice guy and very friendly. The Hot Tub was a nice compensation for a very cold pool and a very cold vacation and we even got my Mother in the hot tub. Cairn, the owner, was great, helpful and very responsive. She is the kind of owner that is easy to deal with and good at her business. It was very enjoyable holiday for all of us and I would recommend the home to anyone wishing to visit the Keys. Coming from Alaska, I had no points of reference other than the reviews on this website, so I've tried to make this review detailed for folks looking to stay on the Keys in the future. We were happy and it was a wonderful memory for all of us.

Recommended for:Romantic getaway, people with disabilities, sightseeing, girls getaway, age 55+, families with young children, families with teenagers.

Delighted Guests Letter Owner recieved from Renter

Guest: Elizabeth McCluney (-)
Date of Stay: 09/11/10 Review Submitted: 09/23/10

Cairn (owner) My parents, our dogs, Brian, and I rented Kokomo 9/11/10 - 9/18/10. I just wanted to tell you that it was the best vacation we have ever had. I live in West Palm Beach, FL and they live in Charlotte, NC. I have been to the Keys previously but my parents had not. We definitely plan to return next year for a week if not sooner. We have also shared your website as well as our beautiful photos with family and friends as they may want to rent one of your properties. Kokomo is truly a beautiful, serene place. We absolutely loved the property as well as the house and all of the amenities. I saw from the water your two other properties on Morton Street which I had looked on the Internet as well. All are stunning! We will certainly pass along to others our great experience, and you can expect to get future renters by our word of mouth. Again, we will rent from you again in the future. I just wish I could buy the property from you! I also wanted to tell you that we were very impressed with Donna and Doug, the property managers. We had no real problems except that the air conditioning our second day wasn't working properly and it was taken care of within an hour. That is unbelievable service. Donna and Doug were so kind and cordial; very good people. I also left a set of water skiis there which Donna so kindly retrieved after I called her a couple of days later and is storing them for me at her residence. In addition, I left a necklace in the bedroom and the lady who arrived to clean the residence as we were leaving was kind enough to advise me of this and gave me the necklace which has great sentimental value to me. It is not often that we are privileged enough to deal with such honest, genuine, good people. I just wanted to let you know that these people are doing such a great job, and my family and I really appreciated that! I will look forward to renting from you again in the near future. Thank you, Beth

Recommended for:

Wow!

Guest: Lundeens (-)
Date of Stay: 05/23/09 Review Submitted: 02/06/10

Simply Amazing. The view. The Pool. The Weather. The house is beautiful. Doug is friendly and will attend to all your needs. Best place to eat is Keys Fish Co. and waver runner tours around the Marathon Key is a must, a bit $$pricey$$ but 2 1/2 hrs of fun. I will stay again next year and bring more family. American Paradise is 5-STAR. Thanks for the wonderful place.

Recommended for:

Never want to Leave!

Guest: Decoste (-)
Date of Stay: 06/20/09 Review Submitted: 02/06/10

We have to leave today. And to be completely honest, we don't ever want to leave. We don't live too far from here, but this little spot was so relaxing and truly enjoyable. Thank you.

Recommended for:

Special Vacation

Guest: Breaux family (-)
Date of Stay: 03/14/09 Review Submitted: 02/06/10

American Paradise - that's Kokomo! It's just what our 3 West Point Cadets needed. We rented 3 fish and dive kayaks for them. They found lobster and were visited by sea turtles & dolphins. In fact our first morning we were blessed to watch a pod of dolphin chasing fish at the end of the dock. In the evening Brenden caught 4 bonnet head sharks. The resident great white heron, Henrietta (or Henry) waited patiently if anyone was on the dock. She was rewarded on several occasions. Cairn & Bart, Donna & Doug and all the crew who made all this special for guests - Thank you. You are helping make memories for families everywhere. Our grandson and his buddies had an experience they won't soon forget.

Recommended for:

Guest: Andrew38 (-)
Date of Stay: 01/23/10 Review Submitted: 01/23/10

We stayed at this wonderful house from Dec 26-Jan 2, 2010. It faces directly north into the gulf, and views from the kitchen, the bedrooms, and the upstairs living room are all beautiful. We wakeboarded, fished, and played in the pool and hot tub everyday. The state park across the street is great too. Donna and Doug, the property managers, are extremely friendly, and make you feel like you are borrowing a family member's house. We also got our full deposit back. Thanks Cairn, Doug, and Donna!

Recommended for:

Kokomo, Marathon, not as described, October 2009

Guest: JMC2009 (London, England)
Date of Stay: 10/13/09 Review Submitted: 10/25/09

We stayed in Florida for 3 weeks in October 2009, party of 5 (4 adults and 1 child). We are widely travelled and this was the third property we rented on this vacation but have rented in Florida and the States many times before. Pros - great location, very private, quiet and fairly clean. Very comfortable beds. Effective A/C (but a little noisey) Cons - over priced for what you get. Pool heat broken and we were informed that it had been for several months. The property managers said that the owners (american paradise) would not give authrorization to carry out the necessary repair and so temporary fixes had been undertaken but as they were temporary they didn't last. We could not use the pool for 50% of our vacation because the water was freezing and the property managers/owners did not resolve the situation during our stay of ten days - they had four full days to resolve it. The property is not entirely as described. The owner's own website described the yard as a sandy beach - it's crushed coral stones and too sharp to walk on. The property is very dated - the bathrooms are (we think) from the 70s or earlier. It needs some serious updating and maintenance - the jets didn't work at all in one corner of the hot tub. The toilet seat in the downstairs bathroom was cracked and was not replaced prior to our arrival - my Father (who is disabled) almost had an accident when the seat broke into two pieces on first use. Several light bulbs were out, we can't see how the appliances can be described as 'new' they appeared to us to be dated and the bottom dishwasher rack would not 'roll' properly because a wheel was missing. The cooking extractor fan was extremely rusty underneath and full of insects and cobwebs which periodically dropped into your food when cooking. The salad/veg drawers in the fridge were broken. Only two plastic glasses for drinking soda around the pool/yard - very insufficient if more than two people stay here and it accommodates ten! Many pages were missing from the Guest Feedback Book but it was obvious (from comments made by guests when they'd referred to negative feedback from other guests) that they'd also had problems, some similar to ours and action had not always been taken e.g. insufficient plastic glasses and peeling teflon on one of the pans - this guest wrote that peeling teflon is a known carcinogen - it was still there for our stay. Would not recommend for the price.

Owner response:We were sadden to hear so many criticism when only 2 items were brought to our property mangers attention during their stay. The property managers responded immediately when informed of the toilet seat breakage and made the repair. It was unfortunate that the weather became so cold after their first week. Regrettably we were unable to get the part for the heater right away. We were all surprised by the drastic change in weather from around 90 degrees to mid- 60s and windy. Even so the pool temperature never dropped below 80 degrees since it was in the very high 80s before the weather changed. When the air temperature is as low as it was the pool temperature would have had to be well over 90 to make swimming comfortable in that weather especially with the wind we were experiencing. The pool heater has been repaired and the weather and pool temperature have both returned to the high 80s. They told us not having the pool heated for the last 4 days ruined their vacation even though the hot tub was available. To compare pricing of a 4 bedroom oceanfront home for 10 days at rates well below what we normally charge for a week to an Orlando home is unfair. The two markets are extremely different. The house is over 30 years old and it is quite evident from the architecture that this is not a spanking new home like several of my other homes. The bathrooms were update some time ago and even though the tiles may be dated they are in good shape. The appliances in the kitchen were new in late 2005 and our website does not state they are new. The pots and pans are less then 6 months old they were all replaced but one pot when the other comments were read by me. The one pot was in good shape back then and it is the only one that now has any telfon bare spots. I inspected the refrigerator and found no broken drawer. The hot tube jets for that section were turned off by the knobs on the top of the hot tub not broken. The yard has a sandy area between the pool and water. We never claimed the yard was all sand. We do regular painting and maintenance on the house as well as inspecting items and will definitely address any maintenance issues which do exist. Although we responded promptly to the 2 issues they brought to our attention, nothing seemed to make them happy.

Recommended for:

Guest: Fitz Family (Neptune Beach, FL)
Date of Stay: 08/08/06 Review Submitted: 08/08/06

We stayed in kokomo with 4 teenagers and the place was big enough to have privacy. Everything we needed was there. We look forward to doing it again. This place is GREAT!!!!!

Recommended for: