Villa Vittoria - Dunes of Destin! Gulf Front! Private Pool! Free Beach Service!

Upon arrival the master bedroom level air conditioning did not work. Advertised elevator did not work had to use spiral stair case all week. On day 5 my spouse fell and twisted her ankle trying to negotiate the spiral staircase at night. No outside lighting available at the staircase. That accident ended her fun for the week. The kitchen refrigerator door would not stay closed. I would not recommend this property at all. Other properties in the area are much better and a lot safer.

Fantastic location but construction noise ruined the amazing sounds of the ocean and tranquility of the pool. Home has good bones but needed a thorough cleaning (we found an earring in the master and a ton of hair in the lowest level) might be why we found cockroaches inhabiting that area? Total CR's to date: 5. I suppose bugs are expected in FL but the room with the bunks was where the girls slept so we had some screaming last night. Pool heat requested for additional charge...pool people finally came by yesterday. Happy to say pool is now warm for last day. House can sleep 18 but seating area on main floor will only accomodate 7. Good thing the weather was beautiful and the kids were outside most of the time. Bring your own beach towels as the only linens on premises are for bathing. No non-stick cookware so don't plan on homemade pancakes. Weber grill sitting by trash cans never used by us. Master bed, albeit crazy uncomfortable had fantastic view of the ocean and early morning "dolphin sightings. Again, beautiful home but I would do things much differently if I were charging people what we paid.

As in many vacation rental places it could have been cleaner and the quality of the linens and towels could have been much better!

The mattress covers on the pull out sofas were not clean nor were the blankets.

The refrigerator is a little small for accommodating food for 10 or more people for a week.

That being said, we had a blast!

The location is perfect. The view stunning! The beach lovely!!!

Villa Vittoria is a beautiful home on Destin's beautiful beach. It was the perfect place for my family of 16. We all really enjoyed the private pool overlooking the beach. Being right on the beach was a big plus, and we had a wonderful time.

The house lacks a lot of tlc. The pictures on the website are deceiving. Most of the furniture is outdated and very uncomfortable. The beds, as mentioned in previous reviews, are very noisy. After checking it out, I believed it together box springs. The sleeper sofa in the room on the top was broken, thus taking away one of our family member's beds. Three toilets were leaking as well as the shower on the patio. The gas grill, as mentioned in previous reviews, still has not been replaced; although we were able to use it.

Ocean Reef was very anxious to help us and responded quickly. They checked about repairs and replacing the sleeper sofa, but the owners declined. Ocean Reef did bring us two rollaway beds. The shower on the patio was completely shut off leaving us without a way to wash the sand off when coming in from the beach.

I understand the owners getting frustrated with replacing things because so many people just don't care and don't realize or care that they are staying in someone's home. But for the amount charged for this rental, I feel the accommodations should have been better.

We were also told that the elevator in the home had been deactivated for liability reasons. A person with a handicap could not stay in this house because of all the stairs.

I will list some Pros/cons of the House. I will say that on the cons we never contacted Ocean Reef about them as we just preferred to enjoy our vacation and deal with what we had rather than have any back and forth. The area around the house is very nice and plenty to walk to as well as drive to quickly.

PROS:

The house is incredible. Gorgeous views from so many spots on balconies. The location is great as you’re of course beachfront & the water & sand are absolutely incredible. You have everything you would need in the house. The outdoor patio is great compared to other houses nearby. The canopy seating is nice when you need a break from the hot sun & some of us fell asleep on the comfortable couch in there. Beds were comfortable but sort of loud and creaky which was bad when you have a toddler sleeping in your room. The showers in the house are fantastic and I recommend you try them all out. I would definitely suggest staying here in this gated community also as your beach is private. You could look to the left or right and see the beaches were more crowded away from this more private area. You also have 2 free beach chairs waiting for you each day that we were unaware of until we first walked out and were told about.

CONS :

Again, we never contacted them to say anything but per a previous review just before we went they lied on it about the grille.

The gas grille was embarrassing. When your paying so much for a place you should get a quality grille. Someone before us complained and it said they replaced the grille which isn’t true. Unless they're referring to the charcoal grille. We utilized what we had and cooked with charcoal. The Gas grille had a new full tank but its so rusted and crusty and there also wasn’t even a connector to connect the tank to the grille. I’m guess this wasn’t fixed due to it being offseason now.

The Steps…Yikes. If your staying here in the future you better work on your cardio right Now. I would recommend using the outdoor ones every time if your staying in the basement because using those steep narrow steps from the living room is very dangerous.

Overall the house is great. Nothing is perfect but there are a few things that could be made better after so many great vacations. The sink in the kitchen is majorly struggling to work. The DVD player is hidden in a side closet with the house sound system if you want to use it. We finally found it.

I had more to post but unfortunately there isn't enough room on here.