Crystal Dunes — Attraction in Destin

Unit #506 Crystal Dreams Do not rent this condo! If you want the OWNER of this condo to control the thermostat from THEIR phone after you give them thousands of dollars to rent it...this is the condo for you! We rented this condo the last week of October where the temps in Destin were in the mid 70s. We put the thermostat below 70 (because it was stagnant inside the condo because the temps outside were similar to the temps inside the condo). With no prior knowledge that setting a thermostat below 70 would be an issue (because this was not on the listing info or in the rental agreement) ...or someone contacting us (like adults) and requesting we not set the thermostat below 70, the owners of the condo proceeded to hijack the thermostat (Google Nest) on the 2nd day of our stay and lock the thermostat from their phone so that we were only able to adjust the thermostat from 70 - 76. We contacted Five Star Properties (the management company) 3 times to request the owner of the condo "allow" us to adjust the thermostat down to 68 so that the a/c unit would kick-on so we could get some air flow. Long story long...the owners would not unlock the thermostat. AND...to put "the cherry on top" of the INSANITY that is these OWNERS...we would set the thermostat to 70 and the owners would turn the setting back up to 72 or 74...FROM. THEIR. PHONE. So, with ALL the beautiful properties in Destin, I highly recommend you do NOT rent this property that is apparently owned by people that, after taking your thousands and thousands of dollars, hijack the thermostat for the condo that you...

Giving this place a rating of one star is actually being generous. I paid over $5,000 for my room and I walked into a dump. Both sinks in the master bathroom started backing up and were full of poop!! Made the house smell terrible. The patio door was broken. So, we weren’t able to get on the patio until noon the next day. All the handyman did was take the lock off the door. We were able to get on the patio, but didn’t have the safety of locking it. We had three light bulbs out and only one was changed? The Tv in the master bedroom was also not working. The handyman said, he would come back to fix the tv, but never did. The place smelled like moth balls, the sink was full of old food from the previous people, there were fruit snacks on the floor that weren’t vacuumed up, hair balls in the bathroom, a white pill on the floor of the master bedroom, the faucet to the kitchen sink didn’t work properly and the sheets were stained. I talked to someone in housekeeping and she said, the handyman was probably overwhelmed. I asked to speak to a manager and housekeeping said, they would email someone named, Stephanie. Still haven’t heard from Stephanie. Do not waste your money here. Also-the pool was the size...

The condo we stayed in (601) was nice and clean and well stocked with everything we needed. It was roomy enough for the 6 of us. However, all of the mattresses except for one needed to be replaced. Also, the water pressure was not great in any of the showers except in one bathroom that had a handheld sprayer attachment. We ended up just using that shower. The upstairs had carpet which we didn’t notice when we were booking or we wouldn’t have chosen this condo. As for the property, the housekeeping/maintenance were very quick to respond. However the pool was always freezing cold. It really should be a heated pool so it can actually be used since it’s not beachside and is never in the sun. This property does have a shorter walk to the beach than most which is nice but the walkways to the beach have lots of stairs and only sand to the beach instead of a typical boardwalk- not easy when you have a wagon. Also, the beach chair service doesn’t begin until 9am, which is later than at other condos we’ve stayed at before. Overall we had a great week because any week at the beach is a great week, but we probably won’t be returning to this property. Too many other great places in...