Manatee Haven: Screened Pool, Spa, Elevator

Hi Scott, we are so happy you all had a great time at Manatee Haven. We really do believe we have the best amenities of any house on North Captiva Island. The new full outdoor kitchen on the pool deck really puts the cherry on top for us. We’d love to have you all back. The Swinfords

We are so happy you all enjoyed your stay at Manatee Haven. North Captiva Island is such a treasure and it always warms our heart when we can help make our guest's vacations memorable for all the right reasons. We hope to see you all on the island again in the future. Mike & Piper

Hi Melissa, We are so happy you enjoyed your stay at Manatee Haven. We always wonder what guests think of all the amenities. Between the games, DVDs, books etc - even a rainy day is a great day at Manatee Haven. Let us know when you'd like to come back.

Kim, thank you for the wonderful review. We hope your honeymoon was everything you wanted it to be on North Captiva Island and at Manatee Haven. Congratulations again. We hope to see you back in the future.

We are so happy you all had a wonderful time at Manatee Haven. We truly do strive to make our guests feel at home and have all the amenities needed to be comfortable. We'd love to have you all back, just let us know when you'd like to come.

We very much appreciate the kind words. We strive to provide the necessary amenities so that the client can relax and enjoy their stay.

We are pleased that our guest confirmed what we strive for, by stating "the house was awesome - it had everything in it", in the first sentence.

We are so happy you all had a wonderful time on North Captiva Island at Manatee Haven. Isn't that sand bar the best? So many great shells and always plentiful with sand dollars. We hope to have you back in the future.

Hi Lesa, We are so happy you all had a great time at Manatee Haven. We hope you'll come back to our little sliver of paradise sometime in the future. We are currently installing a new outdoor kitchen on our pool deck area that will include state of the art gas grill, a sink, a wonderful drawer refrigerator and an ice maker. We think it will be the cherry on top of our pool deck. Sounds like you all had a great time with Captain Tedd - you can't beat fresh snapper. Mike & Piper

Wow, we are shocked by this review. We always maintain Manatee Haven to the highest standards and constantly make improvements from new furniture, outdoor kitchen and more. The interior of the entire house was freshly painted in late 2020. All living room furniture was replaced in late 2020. We’re one of the only homes that boasts a full-sized outdoor kitchen that was just built 3 years ago. We’d like to speak to the comments made in this review: - The check in process with the water taxi is the same for everyone coming across to our beautiful bridgeless barrier island. Guests of hundreds of rental properties, including ours, navigate this weekly with no issues. First complaint we’ve heard about this process ever. Is it primitive compared to a resort on the mainland? Yes, but that is what you are coming to. - Information on our Private Beach access is contained in our very detailed Upcoming Visit document sent to every guest prior to arrival. Reading that document clearly answers that question. - We’re not sure what the home being for sale has to do with anything. No showings nor any inspections occurred during these guests stay. Half the homes on the island are for sale at any given time. However, we have pulled the house off the market because we love it and have decided not to sell. - This review makes it sound like the entire pool deck and stairs are in disrepair. They absolutely are not. All homes in coastal regions and most especially barrier islands constantly fight wood rot due to the combined conditions of water, sun, and the salt air. Are there some boards that need replacing? Yes. Are they scheduled to be replaced? Yes. Is there an egregious amount of rot? No. To stop and do this type of maintenance during the busiest season of the year is not feasible – it would require disturbing guests with construction workers being on site during their vacation, or canceling vacations that have been booked a year or more in advance. We have multiple designated maintenance windows each year that we dedicate to working on all maintenance projects. Major issues like power, water etc are addressed immediately to not interfere with a guest’s vacation. - The upstairs shower is indeed out of order. Its drainpipe disconnected from the shower at the beginning of February 2021. The repair of this shower will take several days. There were two options. Place the shower as “out of order” or cancel someone’s vacation. Since there are 3 other showers in the house and the upstairs shower is the least used, we chose to place it out of order and have it repaired in mid-May 2021 during our next scheduled maintenance window. Do we have multiple backup “out of order” signs? Yes. Since our cleaning crews do not carry computers and have no way to make and print out signage, we made extra signs for each week the shower could be out of order so the cleaning team could replace in case the sign was removed. Without a sign, use of that shower risks damaging the house. - In hindsight when the guest asked if we would install an ADA toilet prior to their arrival, that should have been a warning sign to us. Vacationing on a bridgeless barrier island with someone recovering from any surgery, or limited mobility is not a great decision. The outdoor shower that is located on our enclosed pool deck that was used is fully enclosed and private. Check in at our home is at 3:30pm day of arrival and check out is 9:30am day of departure. This information is clearly spelled out on Page 1 of our rental agreement that all guests, including this guest, sign when booking their stay. It should not have been any shock to receive a text letting them know to have their luggage ready for the caretakers to pick up and take to the water taxi by 9am the morning of departure. Again, reading everything we send to our guests would have prevented this issue. We have noted the communication issues regarding departure and have conveyed to our property caretakers. Not having good communication on a late departure is unacceptable to us. For any guest staying with us – we publish our phone numbers and are available any time for any issue – and we convey that in our communications. Not once during the stay, nor during their checkout issues did the guest reach out to us. One phone call and they would have had someone immediately working on a resolution for them. As to the “excuses” about “island time” and “things move slower” on North Captiva Island. Those are not excuses. Those are a reality. If you choose to vacation at any home on North Captiva Island you are changing your geography from the “mainland” to a bridgeless barrier island. There are no plumbers, electricians, HVAC companies with offices on the island. Every contractor must get to the island via boat. It’s the way things are. To recap. Our home is fantastic, and we put 110% into making sure Manatee Haven is in great shape and has any amenities most guests will appreciate, as our other 70+ 5-Star reviews will attest. Was this the best destination or home for this guest? Obviously not. When you vacation on North Captiva Island, you are choosing a wonderful “off the beaten path” destination with pristine beaches, no automobiles, loads of wildlife and a much slower pace.