Gulf Coast Getaways

"Spent Thanksgiving with the family in Pensacola Beach house 1314 Maldonado. Wow, close access to the beach and nice and quiet. Enough room for everyone."

"Vaca rental was canceled 23 hours prior to check-in on 6/30/23. We already left OH at 5:30 the morning of 6/30 and stayed in TN for a night when Debi from Gulf Coast Getaways called. Debi said the owner canceled due to "hot water issues/water tank replacement". Moved us from Beach Colony 17A to Belle Mer 1304 (managed by a sister company apparently), claiming it "was an upgrade". It was not an upgrade. We did not need extra bed/bath, nor would we have ever booked it based on not being updated/decorated to our liking. Was too far from the pier, we had planned on daily sunrise/sunset walks from Beach Colony, that wasn't feasible from Belle Mer. A 1.25 mile roundtrip walk to the end of the Navarre Beach pier was now 3 miles. We also brought 3 kids 7, 15, & 16 and the Beach Colony resort had 2 lifeguard towers nearby. Belle Mer beach area had none. Smaller pool (Beach Colony has the largest resort pool in Navarre, another pro when booked), broken furniture, nasty stained rug in the bedroom "upgrade", too far from pier, broken pile of ceramic balcony tiles just sitting outside, broken electrical outlets, broken entry door security hasp (that they knew about but didn't fix prior to our arrival). I txted Debi later on 6/30 prior to settling down for the night, explaining the new unit did not look like an upgrade, and to call me back. I waited until the morning of 7/1 at 12pm CDT (after they opened at 10am) and finally called her again. Explained that this wasn't an upgrade and would need some compensation for last minute switch. Refused, stating "it was an upgrade". I believe that the owners just wanted to be there during 4th of July week. On Friday 7/7 at 1:30pm CDT, I spoke with Alexis at the Santa Rosa County Development Services. They handle permits for Navarre, she stated it was public record, and hot water tank replacement requires a permit. She stated the only permit related to hot water tank work recently was for unit 4D (back in April 2023), not 17A, and there were no permits for anything at that address (8501 Gulf Blvd.) that week. We were not offered our money back, but even if we were, that would've meant cancelling our family vaca that was planned since April 2022, as there would have been no quality beachfront condo rental availability less than 24 hours prior during the busiest beach time of the year. As of 7/25, I still have not received a follow up call from the reservations manager. On a follow up call with Debi on 7/10, I asked about the hot water tank replacement, she stated she didn't have an update from the owner yet. When I mentioned that I contacted the Santa Rosa County permit office and that there was no permit pulled for the work, there was a period of awkward silence, she said she would give my contact info to the reservations manager, but he was "at the hospital with his wife and I don't know when he will get back to you". Over two weeks now, still waiting for a phone call. As of 8/29 there's been no attempt to contact me after leaving several messages. Greg Cook, the owner of Gulf Coast Getaways finally gave me a call on 9/27 after receiving my complaint from the Florida Dept of Agriculture and Consumer Services. He basically told me what Debi had, that the unit was an upgrade and there was some sort of water issue. What came out then was that the owners had blocked off that week long ago, it was "overlooked" in their office, and coincidentally there was a hot water issue that needed taken care of. When I asked about needing a permit, he said it's not required, they replace tanks all of the time without a permit. After explaining the conditions at Belle Mer, he asked if I had requested a refund from Beach Rentals at Navarre, and I said that I didn't rent from them, I rented from him. He offered no money back, but did offer a small discount for a future stay, something that I declined based on the above. Zero documentation offered to substantiate this water tank replacement and need to cancel our reservation."

"These property owners are horrible. They build unpermitted bedrooms in bottom floor flood zones and expect the vacationers to know better. They also have rooms without fire escapes and basically don't care about safety. Have also tried to book with them only to find the staff rude and tries to move your reservation to a different site so that they can avoid the fees and the rules. And, the other reviews about being rude.... all true. Not only rude, but arrogant and lots to be desired in terms of customer service and truthful statements about safety. I have stayed in two of their homes and was shocked by one of the hot tubs which they didn't fix or seem to care of the danger of the electrical situation near the wet floor around the hot tub. Not a good company, plenty of others to rent from - you don't need the hassle. ZERO Stars"

"Rented "No Shoes" beach house for my beach wedding. The house was amazing. Several of my guests were perfectly happy staying in/at the house versus going on the beach. GCG prefer to communicate via text. I see people complain of hidden fees, and I will admit, there are alot of extra fees associated, but these fees were quoted to me from the get go, so not hidden to me."

"I was talking to some lady saying she was the property owner and manager she told me to look at her place and said if I like it then she would like to be paid through Venmo. Red flags everywhere and not only that when I searched the fees it was over 8,000 to stay at this place but I told her no thank you and then she tells me with all the fees through the site is why it cost so much but she could send me the link through email and it would then cost 2,850 be difference and the last red flag was she wouldn’t give me a phone number to call. Please be safe and I would call before dealing with this company"