Scenic Stays Vacation Rentals — Local services in Destin

My in laws rented this house for a family reunion thinking it would be a good place. Well it was not, there was 6 adults staying for 4 nights at the Hidden Jewel. There was only 2 dish/ hand towels for the kitchen, barely enough bath towels & washcloths for us all, my husband was the only one not to have a washcloth for face & body. The shampoo, conditioner & soap were travel sizes, not enough for 4 adults. Thank goodness we all brought our own toiletries, would’ve had to go out & buy some. The pots & pans were disgusting, no way we could use them. The nonstick pans were all scratched up & warped. The grill was absolutely the most disgusting grill we have ever seen, it was built up with so much char it made us gag. The utensils for it were nasty as well covered in rust. The second bath had ants in it, my brother in law got the bug sprayer out of the garage to spray them, didn’t work very well, we think it was expired. There was also an ant hill right next to the driveway, so the vehicle had to be pulled out of the driveway for the passenger to get in. The smoke detectors in all the bedrooms were hanging from the ceiling. The ceiling fan in a bedroom the glass shade was all crooked & the chains didn’t work to adjust the speed of the fan, the light didn’t work either, had to use the lamp on the nightstand. The second spare bedroom window wouldn’t close all the way & the blinds were broken. Also the walls & baseboards were disgusting having layers of caked on dust & whatever else was splashed on them. No door mats in front of the entry/exit doors so couldn’t wipe our shoes off. No mat in front of the sink so the floor was slippery doing dishes, not enough towels to clean it up so had to buy towels to clean it up, also our backs hurt by not having a mat to support our feet while doing dishes. We had to buy laundry pods due to only two pods available, not enough for six adults to do loads of laundry. For the price my in-laws paid for this house, we expected way better quality & clean pots & pans, a grill that’s clean to use with clean bbq tools, enough bath towels & washcloths for everyone to use, enough laundry detergent for everyone to use as well as dishwasher detergent, had to handwash the serving bowls & fake stainless steel pan (only decent pan available). The couch was incredibly uncomfortable, no support at all just sank in & took a lot of effort to get up from it. The vacuum cleaner is ancient. The pictures & advertisement for this house was false & way overpriced from what we’ve paid for the same price of other houses we’ve rented from...

We booked a 2 bedroom beach view condo (unit 1801) at SunDestin, and upon checking in, we realized the unit's exterior was being renovated with no beach view. There was a construction barricade blocking entry to the room, the windows and doors were covered with visquine, and the 18th floor balcony had no railing (huge safety hazard for our 2 kids). This unit should have never been listed as available for rent, and the listing only disclosed the outdoor pool was being renovated whenever I booked the room. Scenic Stays should have called months ago to let us know of the renovations planned, and we could have come up with a more viable solution then. Instead, we had to learn of this disaster upon checking in after traveling all day.

Scenic Stays staff first offered us a 1 bedroom unit for my weeklong stay. Being that we had 6 guests, these alternative accommodations were unacceptable as we booked a 2 bedroom to sleep 6. We were then offered and are now staying in 2 different 1 bedroom units where we have to move rooms 2 times during our weeklong stay, have a view of the roof and AC units, and were told we would have to pay $550 extra. The staff did try to provide us free chair rentals and vouchers to the restaurant onsite for the mishap, but we had already booked the chairs online when we booked the room.

While we were appreciative of the last minute accommodations, this is not what I booked and paid for. Since this is a mistake on Scenic Stays' part, I should not be held financially responsible for anything extra and should be getting refunded a portion of what I paid for this trip since I did not get the 2 bedroom beach view room I paid for. The vouchers given to us for the restaurant and the free adventure coupons don’t makeup for the headache and inconvenience this has caused my family and I.

I would stay far away from Scenic Stays and never use this company to book your beach vacation. I don’t want anyone else to ever experience the nightmare we have been...

Stayed at SunDestin in July 2024. While they were in the middle of renovations, we had an excellent time! We were told the pool was closed until 5 days before our trip. I was shocked that they were on schedule and had the pool open by the time we arrived. The room, building, and property was clean and staff were very friendly. The only 2 things I would warn people of are that there is house keeping, which we weren’t expecting, and a “sales pitch” at the concierge desk. The sales pitch was for a tour of Wyndham Resort in Harbor Walk. I was confused as to why someone was trying to get us to stay somewhere else for future visits but very annoyed at how relentless the woman was. She was nice enough but did not take no for an answer. For example, we drove 13 straight hours overnight and arrived at 9:00 am but couldn’t check in until 4. No big deal. But when we were able to check in, we weren’t expecting the sales pitch. The tour was a 2 hour walking tour. If we did this, she would get us a free excursion to crab island and money to spend on dinner at Harbor Walk. We were delirious and asked to come back later. Then she offered a 2-night, 3-day stay anywhere in the country wishing Wyndham Resorts. When we finally said no, we were offered 6-night, 7-day to any Wyndham Resort in the world. When asking where I wanted to go for that trip, I gave country I thought they wouldn’t have a resort at. Of course they did. We finally walked away mid-sentence because she kept pulling tricks out. For some people, I am sure this is nice but we were upset she refused the no we gave. Other than those 2 unexpected things, our trip was great and we...