Rainbow Bend — Hotel in Marathon

I hesitated to give a review, because I wanted to see how the manager was going to handle us leaving two nights early (we were booked Sun-Wed night) Initially, when my wife and I made the decision to leave and stay so where else, it was early in the morning, but we had plans to take our kids (6yrs and 9yrs) fishing, so we didn't start our search for a new hotel until that afternoon. By the time we found a place (Hilton in Key Largo) and packed everything up, it was close to 5pm on Tuesday. Once packed, I walked into the office and told the lady I was there to check out. She noticed we were booked through Wednesday night and said "per our policy and agreement, I can only refund you for one night".... I proceeded to explain to her why we were leaving and how we gave full effort to make the best of the terrible conditions. Some examples: We had to go to KMart and buy cheap sheets for the bed and couch bed.. The sheets on it were stained and looked old. They may have been "clean", but they looked disgusting. The ocean water on both sides of the resort was polluted with all kinds of garbage and trash... By no means should this place be called a resort. There was a very nice man who managed their fleet of small boats who told us he was part of a organization who spent their time cleaning up the debris around the Keys. We decided to donate $100.00 to him on the spot, by purchasing shirts, hats, and stickers from him. The room smelled. It was that damp musty smell. The A/C didn't do an adequate job of dehumidifying the air, so the room was uncomfortable and we all struggled to get a good night sleep. Everything was dated. By dated, I mean at least 20 years old. Likely 30, but I'm trying to be fair. The restaurant was average at best. What made it worse was the waiter who seemed to loathe his job. Any request would cause him to literally sigh or roll his eyes. When my daughter found a hair in her food, we decided to just grab something for her somewhere else, because the waiter already was put off by our request to move inside, after we initially asked to be seated outside. There was feces in and around the pool. Not human, but definitely some animal... The crazy thing is we sat there I our chairs and watched a maintenance guy walk right past the big pile on the pool coping, then a few minutes later another guy came and checked the chemical levels in the spa and pool, added something, but never bothered to remove the poop. That whole pool situation was literally the last straw for us....

Back to us leaving early. When I explained our dissatisfaction with the resort, the office manager said she was only refunding us one night, because we never gave her a chance to fix the items we had issues with. Sorry, but I seriously doubt you would be able to renovate your property and clean up the ocean at the drop of a hat.. Yes, the poop in and around the pool could have been cleaned up, but why should I have to go in and say something when the pool guy was just there and ignored it. Not to mention, I had already pulled out trash off the bottom when I noticed the poop. So I said, "Listen, we're not happy about having to pack up and pay to stay somewhere else, but we tried our best to be comfortable here and it's not working, so you can either refund us for the two nights we are not staying or we can dispute the charges with our credit card company"... In the 15 years we've had this credit card, we've never disputed a charge. So here we are a couple weeks later and they charged us for the entire stay. When my wife just called the manager, she said, "Your husband said he was going to dispute the charges, so we're not refunding any money"... She also told my wife to call the "corporate number" but when my wife asked for that number, she said, "just call back here tomorrow"....

This was our family summer vacation and it was an over all lousy experience because of how disgusting Rainbow Bend Resort is maintained and managed. Would never suggest anyone stay there. How...

WEBSITE is a complete lie. I am so disappointed that RB would take advantage of the only vacation our family will have for a long time. We had planned our vacation for many months and saved up our $ (debt free over 1 year now). We are a family of 5- 3 kids 14, 10, and 8. RB website painted a picture of a family friendly resort. It is absolutely not a family resort! The pictures are inaccurate. I would hate for another family to have to take 3 days out of their vacation time like we did. We paid $362 a night (taxes & additional kids included in that). We stayed in #10 with jacuzzi(never worked). The 1st night A/C was broke. Electrician fix it the next day around 5 or 6 p.m. The jacuzzi was one of the main reasons for us paying such a high price for such an older hotel. It never got hot and then found out that it was broke and the water never gets filtered. They just "put bleach in it to kill the algae" not sanitary. We own a pool. Water has to be continuously filtered(@ least 10 hours a day) to kill the bacteria. The 2 ladies at the front " management" argued that clorox kills everything! Really? Wrong. Besides that it didn't get hot. Eventually that was blamed on the electrician who came to fix the A/C(he blew the pump up). Then they don't tell you on the website that kids are not allowed in the resort spa. Also the free use of kayaks also end at 4pm along with the boats. And the biggest deception has to do with the so called free wifi. The only place u can get a free signal is the 2 chairs directly in front of the office. Which are in high demand so we resorted to sitting on the ground along with other resort guests.Here's the kicker: you will get 2 very strong signals for the WiFi that you pay for by the hour. That I am almost positive they get kickbacks from so that's why the free Wi-Fi signal is so weak it is drowned out by the pay as u go Wi-Fi signals ×2. When questioned about the so-called free Wi-Fi she said there are five hot spots around the resort well then why did no one in the resort not one guest that I spoke with able to get any free Wi-Fi except in front of the office. I regret that I did not ask her to show me those five hotspots so if you're there and she says there's 5 have her show them to you. Also if you spend a half a day on the boat (2hours)it's $14 fuel charge if you spend the whole day(4hours) it's $28 fuel charge. Which really that did not bother me but just adds to the overall disappointment. Also they add a 15% gratuity on to any and all Resort amenities used (so called free breakfast and boat fuel). Charged to card on file. I am relieved that we didn't have to argue much to get refunded the last 4 of the 7 days left of our vacation so we could go somewhere that is kid friendly. It took a day of searching online but did get a room at the Hyatt in Marathon. It was excellent and really helped turn our vacation in a positive direction. I do want to add that Jessica one of the housekeepers was always willing to go above and beyond and do not want my review to reflect upon her. Mainly just the 2 ladies that run the place. So please if you have kids please please keep looking for your vacation resort. This is not it. Don't be sucked in by "free use of boats, kayaks, and wifi). You will regret it. I don't usually write reviews but felt compelled to warn families not to make same mistake as we did. This was our 1st trip to the Keys as a family. BTW we stayed at...

Our room was next to the restaurant and it was quite noisy until well after 10 pm. The sound of clanging dishes was nonstop until 10:30pm. There was a lot of congested traffic on our stairs leading to room due to restaurant traffic.

The room itself was very cozy and nice. I liked the bathroom a lot. Nice shower. The toiletries were good quality. However, the shampoo and conditioner were completely empty in the shower and I had to wash my hair with soap. The office was closed by 8pm and I didn't realize shampoo and conditioner were completely empty till 11pm when I took a shower. There was old coffee grinds in our coffee pot. There were NO coffee cups. We had to go to the restaurant next door and ask to borrow cups. The cleaning staff needs to improve their inspections of room before turning it over. The duvet cover was a strange material (not soft at all) and was extremely uncomfortable against my skin as we slept.

The location was fantastic. The pool / hot tub was very nice and relaxing. The beach had a rocky and murky shoreline and wasn't exactly swimming water, but beautiful. The sand on the beach was rocky and you couldn't go barefoot. To no fault of the facility, there was an abundance of sand fleas and I got bit all over. I'd suggest you buy some big spray to wear on the sandy areas.

The resort fee wasn't initially included in the advertising price. I felt $220 was reasonable (although a little high) for one night and was willing to pay the price. However once it climbed to $291, I felt as though the fee was ridiculous. This place should not be considered a resort. A quick Google search says this about a resort. (A resort is a self-contained development that offers relaxation, recreation, and accommodation, and is often a destination in its own right. Resorts typically have everything you need for a vacation in one place, including dining, entertainment, shopping, local transportation, and more. Resorts are often located in rural areas and offer a welcome break from everyday life. ) Rainbow bend has some kayaks available, but they are not in good shape. There are bicycles to Borrow, but no real place to ride them. The 'resort' is on a stretch of highway and couple miles out of town. There is a small restaurant but dinner was extremely expensive. We opted to eat dinner elsewhere.

Breakfast was very small portions with no add ons without a fee. There was one 'waiter' at breakfast and he was unkempt and dressed very unprofessional. Breakfast Coffee was served in a Styrofoam bowl. Although it was a large amount of coffee. This seemed strange as this is a full functional restaurant, with real dishes.

I was able to watch a beautiful sunrise. The chairs are very comfortable. I was not a fan of the office hours. If this place wants to be recognized and charge for being a resort, the one major part of that is guest service. What kind of resort doesn't have someone on staff 24/7 for...