Life in Paradise Vacation Rentals — Hotel in Port Aransas

We gave a three star review because the Sunflower beach location, the assistance provided by Michelle at Guest services, and the refund of one night’s rental plus some fees provided by Laney at Life in Paradise for multiple challenges we faced during our stay. Property Issues during stay Air conditioning not working properly, unit was in poor condition. I understand the challenges of the salt environment, but you can see the unit hasn’t been washed down and insulation of gas/liquid lines was missing or badly deteriorated. Compounding the issues, we received a call from Alex with Life in Paradise, saying our AC unit was freezing up and they would get a technician out. No tech came out or did Alex ever call me back with info. Very unprofessional. We were even told by Life Paradise personnel we can’t put the AC lower than 70 degrees, at almost $600 per night with fees, I should be able to set to 65 if I wish so. The AC system appears to be undersized and in need of some serious maintenance. Multiple vertical shades broken and would not raise from their lowered position. The shades are needed because of the afternoon sun, but the pulls were broken. Replacements had to be ordered and were not delivered before our stay ended. The shades on the two entry doors being broken made it difficult going in and out of the unit. Icemaker not working – 4 maintenance personnel showed up to figure out the water filter on the fridge needs changing. It was not changed during our stay. We had to defrost the wine refrigerator, which should have been checked by maintenance or cleaning personnel prior to check in Couldn’t find the grill, it was locked up in a coded outdoor closet. Tracy with Life in Paradise was able to give us a code to get in the closet and pull out the grill. Ceiling fan in master bedroom making a loud clicking noise but needed to be on the highest setting due to the inefficient AC system making sleeping challenging No property wristbands, code for the gym, or general information left for us in the unit upon arrival. Although the built in fridge was really nice with lots of room for food, the fact that a rental unit that costs around 600 a night with all the fees doesn’t have a water dispenser was quite disappointing and at the very least a water filter type pitcher should be provided Coffee maker description not correct, says drip type coffee maker but there was also Keurig type units as well Vacuum didn’t work very well, we had to clean out the roller brush, dump the canister, and clean the dust filer. It was obvious the cleaning crews do not inspect or use the vacuum. Additionally there was no broom for sweeping up sand that can be tracked in from the beach. Dryer lint filter had not been cleaned for a while, again appears to be lack of maintenance. Basic cooking supplies like salt and pepper not provided, which seems to be common in most vacation rentals we have stayed at.

Overall just disappointing that we had to spend so much time chasing down issues that could have been addressed by proper maintenance and inspection. As mentioned above I give it three stars because of refunds and efforts by guest services at Sunflower Beach, otherwise I would rate this property a 1 out of 5 until some of the issues are addressed...

My family, including a service member and an immunocompromised 8-year-old recovering from stage 4 cancer, booked a 3-night stay for $3,600 using the website’s pet-friendly filter. The property description gave zero indication that it was not pet-friendly. At no point during the search, booking, contract signing, or leading up to our stay was there any suggestion that pets were prohibited. Our pet is an FHA-certified service animal, legally protected under the Fair Housing Act (FHA), meaning we are not required to notify the property or pay any fee for its presence. Notification would have been a courtesy, not a legal obligation.

Our stay became a nightmare when management attempted to illegally evict us from midnight to 2 a.m., claiming our service animal breached the contract. This was baseless, given the pet-friendly listing, and a direct violation of federal law, as service animals are exempt from pet restrictions. The harassment was relentless, waking our children, including an infant and our immunocompromised 8-year-old, causing significant distress. Management showed zero ability to de-escalate or handle the situation professionally.

Initially, management tried to force us to move to a neighboring house that stunningly reeked of cigarettes, an unacceptable and health-threatening environment, especially for our immunocompromised child. When we refused, they offered a second “accommodation” at one-third the rental cost we paid—a filthy property infested with cockroaches and fire ants, grossly understocked, and unfit for habitation. We requested police assistance to clarify our rights, but the responding officers were shockingly incompetent, admitting they were “irritated to be called out.” Instead of upholding the law, they threatened to arrest us if we didn’t pack up and leave, despite this being an illegal eviction attempt without formal notice or court process.

Management’s excuse? The owner’s child was “highly allergic to dogs.” This raises the question: what would have changed between 2 a.m. and 9 a.m. the next morning? This justification was flimsy and irrelevant, given the property’s pet-friendly marketing. Exhausted and traumatized, we checked out early after recovering some rest. The entire experience was unconscionable, marked by tactless, selfish owners and utterly inept property management who endangered our family’s health and safety, particularly our immunocompromised child.

We are demanding a full refund of the $3,600 due to the illegal eviction attempt, FHA violation, and uninhabitable conditions. I urgently warn others, especially those with service animals, pets, or vulnerable family members, to avoid Sunflower Beach Resorts and Residences at all costs. The owners and management’s disregard for federal law, guest safety, and basic hospitality is deplorable. Save yourself the trauma and...

Island retreat #129. Sleeps 4. 4 night stay

I was not really impressed. Let’s start with the check in process. Check in is supposed to be at 4:00. We arrived a little after 4:00 and was told the room was not ready as it was still being cleaned . We were told that we would get a courtesy call when the room was ready. Never got the call. Okay that’s fine.

We finally got into our room after waiting an hour and the place was not clean at all! The bathroom had a pubic hair in the tub, bunch of sand in the shower, and a hair on the shower wall. There was mold in the shower. The floors had sand all over and the fridge was not throughly cleaned .There was Cheetos under the bed as well as sand and dirt. The floor mats consisted of blue pillow cases. The bathroom sink was not attached to the wall and ended up using the kitchen sink to brush our teeth. There was no cleaning products in the unit. Trip to the store and the first 30 mins of my vacation spend cleaning. Not my idea of fun while on vacation. Given the climate we are in these days you would think extra precautions would have been taken to ensure the cleanliness of the unit.

The unit itself was cute. Ground floor with a little patio. Location was right next to the board walk to the beach. 2 queen beds that were comfortable. Plenty of space and the decor was nice.The kitchen is fully stocked with most items (no hot pads so I ended up using towels). The only reason I gave this place 2 stars was because of the location to the beach.

The oven light would not turn off so I took the blue pillow cases being used as mats and covered the door so it did not light the entire room. We were traveling with 9 other family members and one night we cooked dinner. I went to turn the oven on and it would not heat. Seriously! Luckily we used another oven in a unit our other family was in.

The pool was nasty. The water was cloudy and the pool area was trashed. My cousin ended up with red painful eyes because of the pool water. We used the pool once. I had enough and finally went to the office that is on site. There was a nice lady who was the HOA secretary ( I think) who could not help much as she was not with the rental management company and there was no rental management representative there to talk to. We voiced our issues but never once got a call from the management company.

For the amount of money we spent on this place we could have stayed at the resort a few blocks down from us and enjoyed the amenities. I would highly recommend staying somewhere else for the price you pay at this place. Very...