La Siesta Resort & Villas — Hotel in Islamorada

We traveled to Islamorada with three families for a holiday. As we were a large group, we had to book a house with at least 5 rooms to accomodate us all. We booked months in advance, confirmed the that the property at La Siesta was available on their website and then found that it was less expensive on Hotels.com, although non-refundable, so we booked through the third party. We called La Siesta several times in advance of our stay with questions about the property, the specific house amenities and whether we could have early check in. Early check in was not available on the day so we made our way to the resort leisurely waiting until 4pm for our check in time. When we arrived at La Siesta Resort the guest service associate, Ashley Agustine, informed us that unfortunately they could not accommodate us and that the house was already occupied. Instead they offered us a different house with 3 bedrooms, and a suite on the beach with 2 bedrooms - completely separate from each other. As the goal of our holiday was to be together and we had done everything possible to secure a house together, calls to the resort in advance, we were dumbfounded. We asked to speak to the manager, Andrea Robinson, who we were told was not on site. While we sat there trying to reach Hotels.com to determine where our three families could be relocated for the evening we saw someone else arrive to check in for the house that we had booked. We couldn't believe that we had been sitting there for 40 minutes with our six children feeling homeless and that they had been dishonest about the house being occupied. The conversation escalated and suddenly the manager, Andrea Robinson, who they claimed wasn't on site or available, came out of the small office behind us. She ushered us into the office to let us know that there was nothing she could do. Because we booked the reservation with Hotels.com (Expedia) and that they hadn't noticed until that morning, she said that the reservations booked directly through their hotel take precedence and that she would reach out to Expedia to offer us a refund. We pleaded with her to reach out to her General Manager, Rob Bulkiewicz, as we had booked the property before the other reservation or it would have been unavailable when we compared the website cost to Hotels.com. She continued to reiterate that he was aware of the issue and would not honor our reservation. There was nothing they could do and so we left La Siesta Resort to feed the kids with nowhere to go. We spent the next few hours on the phone with Hotels.com trying to be relocated but they said that La Siesta wasn't being responsive so two of us drove back to the property to ask them to answer the phone. I asked Hotels.com to remain on the line with me while we asked a guest service associate to assist. We, being a group of 12, and it being by now 8 pm on a Friday night, Hotels.com was not able to find another location for us and we were stranded. The whole situation was a fiasco. La Siesta knew about our reservation (they had provided us with information about our stay multiple times), and we arrived before the other party that had booked the same house. Yet La Siesta did not honor our reservation, the staff lied to us, and the manager, Andrea Robinson, just refused to acknowledge their error or show a lack of concern, and threatened to call the police on two moms just trying to save their family vacations. It is hard to think of a way La Siesta could have handled this worse. Not only was our holiday derailed and we were left in the lurch, but they also treated our families like we were insignificant and...

I would like to preface this with: they must be rebranding and under new management. Since we booked in December of 2021, the house names have changed, their logo has changed, and there seems to be a different "vibe" about management. The new management is the reason for the bad review. Save yourself the time and read and consider other resorts. It is beautiful here and very unfortunate it was tainted by terrible leaders. Consider this place again in the future when there is management interested in repeat guests and obsessed with their customer base. This new team is only interested in recouping investment costs and completely unwilling to build relationships and make a new name for themselves.

We booked through Expedia (great choice -- it was typically cheaper through Expedia than directly through the Resort).

Upon arrival, we were told there was no opportunity to check-in early because the house was being thoroughly cleaned. First disappointment considering we could see through open reservations no one was in the house before us for several days. When we received our keys and walked over, we noticed a gray-clay like material (not organic dirt, but almost a wet ash color with a wet clay material) that filled the entire walkway to the house. When we walked inside, everyone tracked it on the floor. We immediately addressed this with staff, as well as the bugs in the house, the gum in the shower, and what looked to be old dog bones/chew toys still in the living room of this "thoroughly cleaned" place.

The staff was quick to respond.. about the floor. They used a swiffer-style broom/mop to clean the floor, and sat outside hosing the entryway of this material.

The bugs remained, the toy remained, and I bet to this day, the gum can be found in the smaller shower (unless Management took my advice and remove it already).

Expedia was eager to help address this when they were contacted after the fact. Unfortunately we were there for a wedding, and we had several houses and rooms reserved with our guests so we did not want to leave there -- just "dealt with it".

The shower poured water into the hallway, you can note the warped door on the inside of the bathroom, and feel the settled floor in the hallway where this has clear been a longtime issue.

Expedia did make contact with Management, who called me a liar saying it was never reported. I laughed it off considering there staff was probably seen on camera entering our house with a broom in hand, as well as hosing down the walkway.

I sent an email to the customer service email (who responded within the day when I was a potential guest), and did not hear back for 3 FULL WEEKS, after the credit card company reached out to Management.

Its an absolute shame their management ruined the stay. The bugs, the shower, the dirty house (after being promised a thorough clean), were not ideal. We had upwards of 30+ guests stay here on our recommendation. Most had a good time and loved it, but the few of us who experienced an issue were called lairs and met with...

I had high hopes for this place especially with the amount of money we paid and what everything looked like in pictures on their website. Sadly, all of the pictures we loved, were NOT from La Siesta, however, they were from their sister resorts Amara Cay and Postcard Inn. Our room was your typical beach front room, so really no complaints - however our toilet seat did not match our toilet and our couch was filthy which was disgusting. My brother and sister-in-law also joined us for our trip and their experience was even worse. They had to get their room moved because their bed was literally sunken in right in the middle of the bed. They also had plumbing problems in both their old room and upgraded room, the shower wouldn't drain at all and neither would their sink. Their fridge in their room didn't even fit in the spot it was supposed to go in, so their fridge was sitting out in the middle of the room! Their toilet seat also did not match their toilet...we could have switched toilet seats and we would have a perfect match. Their toilet was square and ours was round yet we had a square lid for a round toilet and they had a round lid for a square toilet. The furniture looked like they picked items off of the side of the road and put them together. The resort didn't even try to refund my brother or give a discount, nothing and they had more problems then we did! The "bar" that they have their doesn't sell hard liquor and their alcohol is extremely limited as well as their food. They mention they have a restaurant on the resort...it's the bar that barely anyone works at. I wouldn't eat there personally. The only good thing about the place was the views and the use of paddle boards and kayaks, as well as the location in Islamorada. It's very small and quiet which was nice however during our stay there was a huge group of obnoxious and loud people breaking all of the "pool rules" and no matter if you complained, no one did anything about it. I would stay during the week so you don't run into any crazy people and you can relax. But I wouldn't spend all of that money to stay here anyway. I recommend spending your money and stay at Amara Cay if you have kids or Postcard Inn. Both of those resorts are absolutely beautiful, well kept and have everything pictured on the website. I mean La Siesta said they have fire pits...no where to be seen. The one that we came across didn't have wood, chairs, nothing. I was pretty disappointed with this resort and we were so excited because we were spending our babymoon there. The young staff was great, especially the ones that work the kayak and paddle board rentals, also, our bus/shuttle driver DaQuan (spelling?) was freaking awesome!! If I could give him a million stars alone, I would. He needs a raise for...