Watercrest Condominiums in Panama City Beach by Vacasa — Attraction in Upper Grand Lagoon

Hello Jon,

For starters my name is Sarah, not Sharon. We stayed at the Watercrest in condo 1504.

This is my original letter:

To whom it may concern; I booked a specific condo in February and paid all of our payments on time. I was in constant contact with John, who I believed to be the owner. ONE WEEK before we were to arrive I received a call that the condo we booked TWO MONTHS PRIOR was no longer available. I was offered a different condo or a refund. Being that this was my daughter and her friends senior spring break we had no choice but to take the other condo that was offered. I asked for pictures to be sent and they were, the condo didn't look too bad and it was on the 15th floor instead of the 3rd so that was a bonus, but it was definitely not the condo we wanted. Upon arrival we had no sheets to put on the beds, not one roll of toilet paper to use until we made it the store after an 18 hour car ride. There was not one towel to use so we had to use our beach towels to shower as well which wouldn't have been a problem except the washer didn't work so we washed our towels by hand. When we called the "front desk" of the Watercrest Condominiums we were told that they didn't manage the condo we were staying in and they couldn't help us. Eventually one of the other moms that came with us went down and INSISTED on getting some towels and sheets. I called Paula, (who is the person that called to tell me that our condo wasn't available) and left her a message regarding all of the problems we were having but didn't receive a call back. Then on Monday evening we were evacuated due to a fire on the 3rd floor and we were forced to find somewhere else to stay. i had to pay $162 for another hotel. I don't know who i talk to or what the process is here but we would all like a refund for the hotels we were forced to get and we would also like a refund for the dump condo we were forced to stay in.

We were VERY unhappy with the condo we were FORCED to take because the one we booked 2 months prior wasn't available and we only had a weeks notice. The condo was an absolute DUMP!! Nothing worked and everything was either already broken or falling off. It was a horrible experience that we had to make the best of. There was another mom there that also had to scramble to find a hotel the night of fire and she had to pay $245.28.

We paid a lot of money for a SPECIFIC condo and ended up being bumped to a terrible condo. We most definitely would like to be reimbursed entirely for the hotels we were forced to get and we would also like a full or partial refund for the condo we stayed in.

WORST...

We have stayed in many condos over the years and have had overall great experiences else where. However, our visit to Watercrest in October 2016 was terrible. I would highly recommend staying elsewhere . There are cockroaches in the rooms and parking lot, you cannot take floats in the pool (there are no signs posted , but a security guard will find you so heads up), the security guards have clear power trip issues, as when we ARRIVED he approached us asking for a parking pass and threatening to tow our car! We explained we had just arrived and the rental person left our parking pass for us in our room he "suggested " we put it on immediately. We walked out to him checking our car 3x.. Ridiculous. Also, if you are thinking of riding/renting any kind of scooters or recreational vehicles you CANNOT park them in the condo parking lot for ANY amount of time. The security guard approached us AGAIN and was going to "write us a ticket" (oooh a security guard ticket, ha) and then said we must move them immediately or they will be towed. We knew we could not keep them there over night (per the rule list posted) and were not planning to, just parking and taking a rest In the condo ,we paid good money for, like a normal person. We also had multiple showers that would not drain at all and started to smell, luckily they got them fixed THE DAY BEFORE WE LEFT.. oh and we had called them 3.5 days prior.. Great turn over rate, huh? Also the fridge only made 2 cups of ice.. A DAY and froze up the day before we left, also the master bathroom fan was broken and bathroom sockets did not work. Lastly, we were on the 3rd floor and my two year old nephew could literally fit his whole body through the rails! We had to go to home depot and rig some netting up for his safety. It is literally a wonder a child has not already died/gotten hurt.I'm just really really unpleased and clearly upset. BE WARE. We had a great time with our family, and location is great..but our accommodations were the worst I have EVER experienced. I have never gotten in trouble so much (especially on vacation and as adult) in my life. They need lots of work in LOTS of areas. We are a pretty low key easy to please family and could not believe our service. Definitely will be spending our vacations anywhere...

Buyer Beware!

There are many similar experiences to ours described below if you search Vacasa - Panama City Beach on Yelp

After traveling the first half of the day, my wife, 2 young children, and myself arrived at the specified time frame for 'check-in' of 4pm to an uncleaned room that had food crumbs throughout the living space, the previous renter's bedsheets were tossed on the ground, a dirty kitchen and bathrooms, and even food droppings on the balcony. It was obvious the room had not been cleaned prior to our arrival.

My wife spent three hours calling multiple "customer service" phone numbers - none of which are local to the area. She was greeted with unapologetic employees who showed zero care in the matter, even after we literally stated to the customer service employees that we were becoming very concerned of where we were going to stay that evening only to be told they couldn't reach anyone local and we were simply SOL until they could.

Around 7:30 pm a very nice lady showed up to clean the room and she finished cleaning the condo at 11 pm. It was at this point in the day we were able to unpack and get our young children to bed - that's 7 total hours of stress, confusion, and waiting while trying to manage 2 young children who wanted nothing more than play on the beach. 8 days later and three back-in-forth's with the 'escalation team' Vacasa is still unwilling to provide a reasonable refund for the hassle. Their offer of refunding OUR contract's cleaning fee and an additional $100 is completely unacceptable. The daily rate after all applicable taxes/fees was well over $400/day. They are charging us for an entire day that we were unable to use the condo.

To say the customer service was horrendous would be an understatement. We documented the status of the room and sent the photos to the representatives. I ended up having to vacuum the condo just to be able to walk around. The "text-for-help" system is a complete joke that responded to our initial inquiry more than 24 hours later with generic automated messages asking if we still...