Jan Specials! "Beach Agenda" - Luxury Heated Pool Home - 3BR/2BA

The house was great with everything you could need. Best house we have rented at a beach.

The pool is HUGE! 8ft deep end. And the back yard is decorated super cute with some fun photo op spots. The house was perfect for our family of 6 and with 5 TVs there were no arguments over who got to watch their favorite show. The drive to the beach was short and there is a wonderful public access area with free parking, splash pad, bathrooms and a snack bar. And the grocery was even closer. For rainy day options there is a movie theater on the beach...$6 tickets all day and recliner seats. This was our family’s first visit to Daytona Beach and we truly enjoyed it. We would totally book this house again.

My entire family of 7 adults enjoyed our stay. The house was spacious and clean. The neighborhood was quiet. We really enjoyed the large kitchen. The enclosed pool was an absolute treat! I enjoyed cooking on the outdoor gas grill. We were close to restaurants & night life. While the beach was close we felt advertising the property as "steps from the beach" was misleading and should be changed. Several of the advertised amenities were also misleading. 4 of the 5 bikes were in various states of disrepair and could not be used. The 3 beach towels provided were old, thin, small and unusable as was much of the beach equipment that needed updating. With all this being said we would recommend staying there.

Positives are the pool is great, the beds were very comfortable and it was convenient to the beach and stores.

The negatives are the drain flies (bugs) that drive you crazy in the bathrooms, the poorly equipped kitchen, no measuring spoons, only 3 of the 4 measuring cups, crappy cooking utensils, stove top that cooked uneven, and a toaster oven that no longer toasts, and no starter pack of kitchen supplies, i.e. dishwasher soap, kitchen sponge, dish soap, etc. Also, kitchen towels would have been nice and the pot holders were filthy. The signage around the house was somewhat offensive. You are greeted when you open the front door by a sign that says “Don’t even think about smoking”. Okay, thank you, I don’t smoke and I read the rental agreement that addressed smoking prior to arrival so we pretty much covered that issue. Next on the refrigerator you find a letter from the property owner advising if anyone comes to the door and asks if you’re renting, tell them no, your friends of his. Why???? Perhaps a city ordinance prohibiting this rental??

The final straw was check out is 10 AM. We were packing the car, getting our things together and someone knocks on the door and asks if we are checking out. It was 9:30 AM. Still have 30 minutes. He finally identifies himself as one of the cleaners and sits in one of the chairs at the front porch. Honestly, we felt so rushed to get out we realized later we left food in one of the cabinets. Not a lot mind you, but we felt rushed and didn’t do the normal check everything one more time routine. Then as we leave the house he tells us to go ahead and leave it unlocked. Ah, not sure how I feel about that but we did and let the office know.

My final complaint/criticism is any of the other places I’ve rented from Home Away either have key boxes at the rental property or have electronic door codes so you can go directly to the rental. Not this one, you had to drive to an office, pick up keys and then return the keys to the same office. Check in may be 4 PM but you can’t pick up the keys until 3:45 / 3:50, then you get to drive to your rental. It’s really inconvenient and we had to drive out of our way to return the keys only to drive back the same direction we just came.

I will say, we had a nice time, the furniture was a little worn, but it was in some respects nice. I just think I’ll try somewhere else if there is a next time.

They shocked the pool the morning we got there on Saturday. But by Monday it was all good. Other then that great stay.