My boyfriend and I had been traveling for more than a week in Puerto Rico, including camping on Culebra island. We should have just stayed in Culebra, but we were looking forward to the surf in Rincon. We booked a nice room with Vista Vacation Resort for four days at the end of our vacation.

An hour before arriving in Rincon, we recieved a voicemail message on our cell phone from the property manager, saying she had urgent news regarding our reservation. When we finally got ahold of someone in their meager office, we were told that they had double booked our room, but could put us up somewhere else. Great, we were thinking, "no problem, mistakes happen, they'll put us in a nicer room." Well, NO.

A staff memeber offered us accomidations in another one of Vista's properties up on a hill, far away from the place we'd thought we'd be staying. No trail down to the beach, no view, and no dipping pool.

Upon waiting FOUR HOURS for the manager to arrive at Vista's office, she scolded us for not checking our voicemail sooner, and then lied about trying to make additonal attempts at contacting us via phone and email. (Verizon and Hotmail seem to be pretty reliable... we still haven't seen or heard those "attempted" messages.)

Finally we took our business elsewhere, taking the credit Vista offered us. With the 30% deposit we had already payed Vista Vacation Resort upon making the reservation, you'd think they would have more respect for our time and effort. The obvious lack of professionalism and blunt disregard of our situation causes us to strongly urge other travelers to stay away from their operation.

My wife and I just returned from a thoroughly enjoyable week at the Vista Vacation Resort. My wife picked it out. Given its name, I expected a resort, which it is not, but it is still much more than a place to put your head. It is a new, friendly, low-end two-building condo complex that sits on the side of a small hill with a fine view of a lighthouse (El Faro), an island refuge (Desecheo) and the confluence of the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Ours was a one bedroom apartment (they have two-bedrooms and I think studios too) that had all the usual amenities of a small, urban condo including A/C, overhead fans, cable TV and a DVD player (furnishings and appliances were ala Kmart and Goodwill, but adequate). The best feature was the dining area which was a terrace overlooking the ocean. A stiff 10-minute uphill walk is a hugely popular bakery and convenience store. The same distance downhill is a lovely little park and the restored lighthouse. Within a 10-minute drive are two fairly nice beaches (nothing to rival Long Island's or Cancun's or Puerto Escondido's beaches though) plus lots of dime-sized spots of sand between the rough coral rocks that make up much of the shore. Surfing is the big thing there and surfing is the thing around which this area has developed. We were able to find two reasonably good restaurants with splendid ocean views plus lots of surfers' bars and eateries. The second nicest thing about Vista Vacation Resort, for me, was its non-resort-ness. There is no lobby or restaurant or coffee shop or gym or stables or tons of people. It is like home in the tropics with a view and a small dipping pool. We will go back next year if our time and their availability agree.

We stayed 3 nights here and had a fabulous time. Very quiet, friendly, beautiful views. The only problem was that we lost power the first night and for most of the second day. The resort is not equipped with a generator, so we had nothing. But we made the most of it, dealt with it, and had a blast. During the day we were out anyway, so it was just the night that was an inconvenience. It's a laid back type of a place, not your typical 5 star resort, with all the luxuries. You really get the feel of the culture/island here and beaches are nearby-approx. 5 minutes. In this part of the island, if you are looking for peace and quiet staying on the beach is not suggested. It gets very croweded with the young crowd coming for the surfs.

My boyfriend and I stayed here and it was extrememly clean and was perfect for what we picked it for: a place to lay our heads. Do not stay here if you will be hanging around the room and miniscule pool area. Stay here only for a bed at night and spend the rest of your time at two of three luxury resorts at their pool or at the nearby beaches. Check in was easy as we came in late and a key was left for us. The price is right too. Beautiful view of the lighthouse in town.