710 Beach Rentals by Vacasa — Attraction in San Diego

The description states that a gas grill on the patio is available. This is a lie. The gas grill is owned by unit 1 with signs all over it stating that it is solely available to unit 1.

The unit being described as having a “private waterfront patio” is a laughable statement. The complex is a three-story building with four units per floor. The first and second-floor patio is open to all four units. It is not private at all. It is a madhouse where everybody shares all the patio spaces. In the pictures, you can notice a small 1-2’ divider that comes out on the first floor providing some demarcation, but after that, there is a five-foot common corridor. If you look closely, you can see the bar seating that stretches the whole first floor. All units on the first floor use the length of this bar seating, which eliminates all privacy, and causes a smoking issue.

Although our unit is a non-smoking unit, other units are not. The non-smoking policy to me was very important.

Our family has respiratory issues, and I hate the smell of cigarette smoke; therefore, this was key to any rental I considered. Because of the shared patio, people in other units were on the patio smoking almost constantly. I called to see what could be done, and they said they tried to get people to stop, but there was nothing they could do. This one item, by itself, was enough to ruin our stay. See later about HVAC.

Our biggest issue was that the unit did not have hot water. Upon arrival, we discovered there wasn’t hot water. The website states they provide 24/7 support.

After contacting them, they said someone would come to fix it. THIS ISSUE WAS A HUGE PROBLEM. No one came to fix the hot water for THREE DAYS!!!!!!! I called a plumber and paid for them to come to fix it. The plumber came, and we determined that the insta-hot water system serving the unit was rather faulty. He showed me how to get it to turn on, but it would not stay on for more than ten minutes. Therefore, the rest of the time there, I had to go out of the unit into the basement of the complex and reboot our hot water heater, EVERY TIME WE WANTED HOT WATER! The heater would not stay on long enough for a shower most times. The advertisement promises an exceptional experience. Is this exceptional? Is having cold water halfway through your shower exceptional??? We paid ~$6,000 for a five-night stay, equaling more than $1,000 per night. Is $1,000 per night not provide a reasonable expectation for hot water??

The multi-plex nature of the space also ruins its “private” and “exceptional experience.” The master bedroom of this unit is directly underneath the stairwell of the entire building to access the second and third floors. It is a loud, metal stairwell used until 1-2 am daily. In no way is the 10 pm rule followed.

The unit walls are very thin, and the noise from the other twelve units is constant and frustrating.

There isn’t HVAC in the unit, which shouldn’t be a huge issue if you can open the windows and let the ocean breeze in. However, in this unit, that is not an option. 1) The constant smoking requires the renter to keep the windows closed or have the condo full of cigarette smoke. 2) the only “window” on the ocean side is a sliding glass door. Therefore, the only way to open this side for the crosswind is to open the sliding door all night; leaving your family and valuables completely insecure. The windows must be closed for those two reasons, turning the place into a sweltering sauna.

The master window is next to a large common alley for dozens of high-density units. In that alley, right outside the master window, are all of the dumpsters for numerous buildings. The garbage trucks come to dump these dumpsters every morning between 7 am and 8 am.

As per the description, how can one “make time to unwind” with all of these issues?

This vacation was utterly ruined for us because of this litany...

Do not book through this company if you want to have a pleasant, relaxing, and enjoyable vacation. Was the location ideal? Yes. Was the house itself well maintained? Sure. Was the property that was shown in photos what we received? Absolutely not. Upon our arrival at the home, there was a giant pile of rocks in the front yard that rendered it useless. We had initially booked this house (as opposed to the hundreds of options in the area) due to its beautiful front yard that we wanted to use during the day. Due to the mountain of rocks that welcomed us when we arrived, it became a safety hazard for us to comfortably hangout there. When we contacted the property management about the issue, they could not have cared less to resolve the issue and could not have treated the matter with any less urgency. We were essentially told that “they’d get back to us when they’d get back to us”. Evidently the owner decided that construction needed to start the day of our arrival, regardless of whether there were guests coming on the property or not - none of which was ever communicated to us. The next morning the situation turned for the worse. There were multiple workers in our front yard, and the yard was filled with lumber, heavy machinery, more rocks, and caution tape all around the main entrance to our home. Clearly the property manager that was dealing with our case was beyond incompetent, because somehow the situation was even worse than the day before. I have never felt this much lack of privacy and had so many safety concerns at any property that I have stayed at. When I communicated this to our property manager Dan, he became very abrasive and combative and essentially told me that because the home itself was untouched by the construction, we should not feel any inconvenience about the five constructions workers, all of the construction materials, and the noisy front yard. After telling me that I should be “grateful” that he was refunding us 9% for our troubles, he told me he would try to speak to the owner and have the workers leave. I have worked in the customer service industry for many years and I would never speak to any customer in the manner which he spoke to me. Anyways, Dan is clearly incapable of doing his job because the workers continued to stay there all day. We never received a call back or any communication from him that he was helping us. The next day, we came back to a new fence built in front of the main entrance to the house, which was locked with a padlock, and it prevented us from getting inside our home! Since we were not provided with a key to get in, we were forced to walk around another house, to a back alley, and through a side door to get to our house. As if everything didn't already scream this, Dan made sure to do the absolute least he could do for us at this point. I am not sure how a company that is supposed to make their clients feel like a priority profits when this is how they treat their customers. Just a warning to everyone, if you ever experience any inconvenience at this property, whether it is a clogged toilet or a broken refrigerator (both of which we also had), Dan will be the first to tell you that you should just be grateful for a “nice interior of the house”. I do not understand how a home that charges almost $4000 for a weekend treats their customers as a huge inconvenience. Knowing this moving forward, I will make sure to never rent out from this company again, as I am worried that if we have any troubles at other vacation homes we will be left to figure it out ourselves. I have never encountered such unprofessional people like Dan in this industry. It is really unfortunate that this has partially ruined our vacation, so I want to spare others the headache. I hope the quality of this review adequately depicts the quality service...

Finding the property and getting access was easy.

Love the location. Absolutely beautiful location one block from the beach. And, the beach area is amazing. Too bad California is in lock down for Corona virus. I may have to come back once it’s opened up again.

Noise at the house: So, this really annoyed me a lot. 710 Rentals sent me at least 3 emails about being quiet and being a good neighbor. So, I was expecting a peaceful stay. The first night, there was a very loud party right below us. It stopped around 8pm, but I’m telling you, it sounded like they were in our place.

The very next day, Saturday, all day starting in the morning and partying until night. Loud. Very loud all day. Yelling explicitive language very loudly. My teenage daughter was with me. Finally stopped around 6pm. They went inside and were still loud, but now music was playing loudly. Got quiet around 7:30 pm

Other than Friday night and all day Saturday, it was quiet though. So, the rest of the week was good. I was worried heading into the following weekend. But, it was quiet.

General The provisions of the house were good. Pots, pans, cutting boards, good sharp knives for meal prep, dishes, coffee maker, toaster. It had a good kitchen.

However, there was barely any detergent for the clothes washer. We were staying for 10 days, and since it had a washer and dryer, I only brought a few clothes. So, I had to wash about every other day. I had to buy more detergent. There was barely any salt. I didn’t buy any, just went without. But, I expect these places to supply salt, pepper (there was none), sugar (there was none), etc.

There were 2 bathrooms. There was some shampoo, conditioner, and some bath gel. But only in one bathroom. None in the other. Fortunately, I brought some of my own, but I almost didn’t.

Compared to other locations I’ve stayed, these things are typically stocked. But, these were minor annoyances.

Additionally, in the information packet I received via email, it said there was a Bluetooth speaker we could use. I have a variety of Bluetooth speakers that I bring with me when I travel. I decided not to since one was provided. But, when I got there, there was no speaker. But, there was a record player and some records. Unfortunately, they only had one good record, the rest were mostly gospel.

Fortunately, the tv had YouTube tv, so I was able to stream music on that, although the sound was trash. But, at least it provided some entertainment.

Ok, so for all the complaining I’m doing, my stay was mostly pleasant. Just understand that California during this time, was the number one epicenter for COVID-19. So, we were mostly stuck in the house most of our stay. That’s why some of the smaller issues annoyed me. But, we did go on lots of walks and hung out at the beach a lot.

I think adding a couple of things like a Bluetooth speaker, better instruction on how to use the tv (it’s not intuitive), books (most places have a ongoing library where you take a book, and leave a book), board games, a deck of cards, beach bikes, and maybe some body boards would make the stay 100% more enjoyable.

I would stay here again. The location is ideal. It just needs a few additional to make it...