To say this is a "resort", is truly an overstatement. This is simply a 50 year old, 12 unit, former apartment building/motel. It is typically rented for multiple weeks and even months during the winter season, although there are short-term guests.
On the positive side, the property has a very nice pool, and is one block from the best beach location in the area where there are many places to eat, drink, and shop within walking distance. In addition, the on-site property managers are nice people, and many of the winter guests have been there before and are also nice people.
On the negative side, I had to change rooms twice during my 10 week stay, which I understand was the case for other long-term guests as well. This seems to be an organization and planning issue on the side of the PM's. So I stayed in 3 and visited guests in 2 other of the 12 total rooms. In general, the rooms are old and run down. Just about everything is 50 years old; sinks, toilets, faucets, doorknobs, etc. The windows leak badly, rattle in high winds, and allow lots of outside noise. While the exterior of the property doesn't look too bad, during my 10 week stay, the grass was only cut once, weeds often over-run the landscape beds, and the sight of guests hanging their laundry to dry, including bras and panties is not aesthetically pleasing.
Specifically, it seems there are problems with all he rooms I saw. It's apparent that a thorough "walkthrough" of a room is not done before a new guest arrives. The rooms were not really clean. There were leaking faucets, running toilets, lights not working, TV remotes needing batteries, etc. Some of the problems are not being fixed. Guests are asked to accept it. The last room I was in had a refrigerator that had a major condensation problem, causing large amounts of water to pool at the bottom. At times it would leak out and form puddles on the floor. The PM's simply suggested adjusting the thermostat, which I did with no success. I almost fell after stepping in water one time.
The place is for sale, and the word is that money is not available for repairs. You can do better!
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
15 March 2010
To TripAdvisor
We would like to respond to a complaint sent in by CLARKSTON TERRY on 02/08/10.
More than 1/2 of our guests visit us because of TripAdvisors honest reviews, For some reason one of our guests will send in a review that has some untruths or twisted facts.
The writer writes that he had to move 2 or 3 times during his stay. Every guest is told when he inquires about an extended stay how many moves he will have to make. This is before 1 cent is asked or taken from the guest. He definately knew about the moves beforehand because he was here the year before and also had moves.
We have a 90 % return rate because our guests feel the Tropic Isle as a home away from home. We are like family . Even our long time guests had to move until there was a cancellation and they could stay in the room with no moves. Once you are in with no moves the apartment is yours for life or until you cancel out.
The writer states the building is old. It is but we do our best to respond immediately and correct any problem such as replacing a battery in a remote or replace a light bulb in a lamp which the writer also complained about. The are replace within minutes. No guest has ever sat in the dark because we did not replace a light or not watch tv because we did not replace a battery in the remote.
Being that most guests are like family , we leave the storage rooms open and they can help themselves to any item they might need. Even this writer used our tools to work on his truck while staying here.
He then goes on to claim that the windows leak and rattle in high winds. Only one room had a leaky window last year and that was the writers room. No other room has ever had a leaky window in the 6 years we have been here. We even upgraded the guest to a bigger room at no extra charge. As far as the windows rattle in high winds, we can only say that we had between 25 and 40 knot winds this year. Not only did a couple windows rattle during these high gusts but the chairs and anything not nailed down outside was blown around. The he wrote about broken doorknobs. We did have two bathroom doorknobs break in two days. This was not in the writers room but found out about it because we told him that in 6 years here that was the first door knobs that ever broke. They were replace as soon as the guests called us. Even one of our friends who own a resort had to change a door knob because it broke. How do plan for this?
Then he questions bras and panties being hung up to dry not very pleasing to look at. We have a clothes line in back of our property which is behind our back building. IT CANNOT BE SEEN BY ANYONE UNLESS THEY WALK BEHIND THE BUILDING TO WASH CLOTHES. We enjoy and like that our guest feel so much at home here that they do not think twice about doing what they would nornmally at home. You have to under stand that at our resort everyone is treated like family not a guest. The writer then claims that he almost slipped in a puddle of water that leaked out of his refrigator. When he told us we immediately walked in to his room. We opened the refrigator in front of him and noticed 3 cases of liquids had been put in refrigator. THen we notice that the cold setting was on its lowest setting almost off. He stated that he must have hit it when he put the cases in refrigator. He said he will watch it for a couple of days. 2 days later he informed us that the problem was corrected and no water was on floor. This was stated in front of guests.
He then claims that the resorrt is for sale and that is why we do not make repairs. How much does a battery for a remote or a light bulb for a lamp, or a door know cost. Beleive me the ownere loves when we keep the resort in good shape. The reason the resort is for sale is personal reasons, nothing to do with repairs.
He then claims that most of our guests do not do a walk through. They do not need to because TripAdvisor does it for them with there their honest reviews. We feel if a guest is unhappy they will let you know like this writer did. We never ask our guest to write tripadvisor because we want honest reviews not ones that they sent in to you to make us happy.
He evens questions why we call our place a resort. To my Family and our Family of Friends who visit us each year this is better than a hotel or motel. We have dinner with our guests, They are invited into our home . We have wine and cheese with them. When they leave everyone hugs and gives best wishes to everyone. Did you ever get this at other hotels or motels? We do everything a family does together and that is why we call our home a RESORT.
We want our guests to feel that we are people who care for them and treat them like family. We do not want any unhappy guest on the property. They can go else where. This guest is no longer welcomed on the property, not because he wrote to you but because he is not happy here. The strangest part of all is this writer has already reserved for next year. How unhappy was he .
Thank you very much
Joseph & Linda & Jo'Lynn Augustine
Proud Managers of a Family Resort
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC
