Sunbird Beach Resort — Attraction in Panama City Beach

We rented Sunbird unit 701E directly from the owner, Veronika Sweitzer. Paid her requested fees well in advance as requested. On our way down on checkin day (Saturday), she let me know that the water and a/c was out but that people were working on it. She offered a $100 credit for no a/c Saturday. At this last minute, I could cancel our long planned vacation and get a refund or hope for the best. I'd be out of a vacation and she would likely not rent her unit out with no a/c at the last minute. I chose to try to make the best of it. We bought fans on the way. And the water was fixed before we got there.

Checked in, obviously very hot. The floors were damp in many places, the single pull out sleeper, which was a foam sofa that pulled out at floor height was dirty and had no sheets. We had to go buy an inflatable bed and sheets that night or sleep on a less than clean sleeper on the floor with no sheets. We bought the inflatable bed and new sheets. Veronika Sweitzer said she could have a housekeeper bring sheets for that bed the next day, which she did. That night she also said she forgot to tell me there was water damage on the bedroom floor from a previous guest and it wouldn't be fixed for several weeks.

No air Sunday still, family complaining and wanted to leave but really no way to get a place at this last minute and hope and wait for a refund for what we already paid. So we chose to wait a little longer.

Monday late morning, Veronika Sweitzer said she would buy a portable a/c for the unit 701E. Her husband could drive it down from Atlanta or I could pick it up at the Home Depot in PCB myself. I chose to be the nice guy and save them a 12 hour round trip by picking it up myself. Got to the store and that a/c that they had paid for in Atlanta was nowhere to be found. Fortunately the store associate listened to my story of no a/c for the last 3 days and took pity on me and said we could try to piece together a demo unit to work. We took about an hour and a half to make this unit work and finally had it back installed in the condo around 7pm. The main a/c was finally fixed on Monday also but hadn't cooled the condo down completely by bedtime. I lost a full day of beach time having to deal with this air conditioner because I chose to save the owners from having a 12 hour round trip. I negotiated for a much better a/c than they had paid for, at no extra cost to them. She thanked me for my extra efforts and I said "hopefully you will be gracious with your refund". She said she would.

The condo FINALLY cooled down when we got up on Tuesday. The damp floors dried up and the rest of the trip went fine. We checked out as previously agreed, tidied up the condo and left. She said she would message me later for final details. Imagine my surprise when I received a $150 credit TOTAL for no a/c for almost 3 nights, and working my tail off to try to help rectify the problem. This seemed less than gracious to me in light of all the trouble I had been through. I am aware that the language in her rental agreement did not require her to refund anything. I am also aware that had I backed out before arrival I would have received a full refund (no idea when) and she likely would have been unable to rerent her place on short notice with no a/c. I felt a fair compromise should have been reached.

I will say in fairness that she was a very quick communicator before and...

Dirty bed linens. Even the clean bed linens in the closet for spare were dirty. Had hair on them , stains in everything from sheets to mattress. Sand all over the floors when we first arrived. Extremely small. The globs of hair in the tub drain were so nasty and so clogged water didn't drain . SHOWER DOORS WERE BROKE AND LEAKED so you had to use your towels to clean mess every time you took a shower and your at the beach so you are going to take several. No soap to wash the dishes . Not even a complimentary coffee. Everything was disgusting and the price for just one night was around $350i booked through Expedia and got 2 nights for 179! That is average price for the area, However I WOULD ASSUME EVEN THE ROACH MOTELS TO BE NICER THAN THIS PLACE!! no indoor pool. People smoking weed right above us and the smell was so strong we had to tell my son's they couldn't come out. Balcony was also extremely small. The double sleep room that supposed to sleep up to 4 was a pull out sleeper sofa and again every sheet, blanket, floor, room, was dirty. We didn't see a single person for house keeping not even to help. Not even for towels. If you needed an assistant for anything for even as little as a professional face to face one on one conversation , you had to go about a mile down the busy road to another resort. This place is highly NOT RECOMMENDED. WE HAD TO BUY CLEANING SUPPLIES AND Sleep ON OUR TOWELS AND USE OUR TOWELS AS BLANKETS BC WE didnt get in the bed until 1 or 2 am BC we walked on the beach first night so instead of inspecting the room as soon as we got there being that we got there in evening time to begin with myself and my family had to sleep on our towels and children slept on and under blankets we brought from home. JUST DISGUSTING. THEN NO DISCOUNT or money back. They offered us to take cleaning fee off which was 79 if not higher but only for the night if we wanted to stay another night!! Room jumped to 350 that night nit including cleaning fee. Why you may ask? It was a Sunday and school started so they were busy with a lot of reservations BC families wanting to have last summer vacation of the year. I did mention school had begun that day... Oh and customer service on 800 number. Hispanic.... Which is fine but I don't speak fluent Spanish. Finally got a reply who spoke eng. And Spanish and guess what. .. SALES!!! Only for SALES.. NOT FOR ASSISTING WITH GERM Infested AND DISGUSTING ROOMS ONLY SALES. Never ever...

I booked my stay at the Sunbird beach resort on Wednesday and was due to arrive on Friday. At no point in the time before travel was I ever notified that there were any issues with the room that I booked. In fact the day before I was due to arrive, I was notified I need to have card on file (still no issues brought to my attention.) I was texted on Friday at 9am saying they would be preparing for my arrival and my room would be ready at check-in at 4pm on Friday. I ended up 3 hours late to check-in. Anyhow we unload some of our belongings and take it to the 10th floor in the west building. On the way up we notice a lot of construction stuff happening on that side of the building. Once we get to room I put in the access code the room is covered in plastic paper and tape. I call the 24hr assistance line and I provide pictures they requested of the room. After bringing our belongings back to the car with two kids we were put on standby for 30 minutes be needed to be relocated. They apologized and relocated us to a 2nd floor room . The room we were moved too wasn’t cleaned/cleaned well. There was sand all over the floors and well as several dead bugs. The floors needed to be mopped they were filthy. I ended up sweeping the condo my self.The kitchen table hadn’t been cleaned properly there was old food stuck to the placemats. The kitchen had ant baits and paint stored next to the pots and pans. The bath tub drainage was terrible collected a lot of water in a short period of time. clean towels were kept under the bathroom sink beside the toilet plunger. We were supplied with one small roll of toilet paper for a family of 4 for 3 nights… we asked about this and were told the only supply 1 roll per room regardless of group size we would need to purchase extra from the store….The overall look of the property didn't match the photos on the website it’s more run down that photos lead you to believe.The property is under construction and has been for a while…I reached out multiple times asking whether or not I would be refunded for any part of what I paid. After the 3rd day of calling they told me the would refund me $50 plus tax. Don’t waste your time and hard earned money staying at this resort. I was very disappointed with my stay and I won’t ever stay at this...