I booked this condo for me and my husband along with our 2 y/o daughter for my birthday. When we went to check-in to our room, we walked into our room and it was a completely different room than we had booked on VRBO. I immediately went back to the office, and was told our room we booked, and paid for IN FULL was no longer available due to the owner of the condo was staying in it, due to Hurricane Ida, and that they switched us to another room. Nobody notified us of the room change or showed us the room/sent pictures etc. to make sure we would agree to it before we drove 3 hours to the property. The condo we were given was not nearly as nice, was not a beachfront property (partial views of the beach) and was in poor condition in many ways. We could not use our balcony because the sliding glass door to open it up was broke/stuck, and maintenance could not fix it. The internet did not work and wr had to get management to come and fix it. The ceiling fan in the living room had a blade broken off of it and just shoved in a dresser. The microwave handle was broke. The dishwasher was broke on the bottom. The couch was COVERED in sand. We come to Destin at least every 1-2 years for my birthday, and this was the worst stay we have had in a condo by far. We complained to property management upon checking in about them switching our rooms, and how we felt we should not be charged full price for the room we got, due to it was not what we asked for, was not as nice, was not beachfront, small balcony, etc. The only thing they offered us was to move to another room, with no beach view at all, or we could go home and they would refund our entire trip. We were livid. We decided to stay due to we had already made the drive, took the time off work, etc. But the way the situation was handled was completely unprofessional. We understand hurricanes, as we live on the coast (in MS) and work in LA. But for them to not tell us ahead of time that they were giving us a completely different room, AND for them to tell us they “made up for it” by “upgrading our room to a 3 bedroom” was maddening, since we literally only needed 1 bed for the 2 of us and our toddler to share, and didn’t even use the other rooms at all.
In conclusion, I will NEVER book another condo on this property, Shoreline Towers, with this rental management company, and most likely will not be booking on VRBO anytime soon. I am not sure who is to blame for this inconvenience, but we will not be back.