Ocean Ritz — Local services in Panama City Beach

We rented this condo from June 18th to June 25th through VRBO. Everything went fine on the VRBO booking. Our condo was 903 and wasn’t too bad. Decently stocked with supplies and relatively clean.

Our issues started when spontaneously they decided to start powerwashing and painting the balconies. They would get on an innercom before 8a to announce which balconies were closed and whether or not the pool would be open. Our balcony was powerwashed one day, which left white paint chips all over the balcony, until the crew returned over the next two days to repaint and clean the space. We personally did not use the pool a whole lot due to it’s questionable cleanliness but can understand the frustration that would arise from not being able to use the pool for two WHOLE days while we were there. Ontop of that, the only private access to the beach was now blocked due to the pool being closed. The codes that we were given for the pool weren’t even up to date. Everyone that we crossed headed to or from the beach also didn’t know what the code actually was. Super inconvenient.

When it came to our arrival, there was over an hour wait to get on one of the two elevators. Thankfully both were functioning as I have read in other reviews that one or both have been known to be out of commission during peak rental season. Even with both elevators, we waited over an hour with countless other people.

Now comes the actual problem with this place. The owners and HOA at this place are extremely power hungry and overall rude. Our last day here we were airing out our cooler and water from said cooler leaked off of the balcony and was dripping below. This was very obviously not purposeful and was completely an accident. However, around 9pm, I was woken up to the sound of LOUD banging on our door. I had sun poisoning and had went to bed because we were leaving early the next day. I answered the door and was greeted by 3 HOA members one of which was a member on the “board of directors”. The two men accompanying the woman who bragged about being a board member were perfectly fine and reasonable. They would’ve been better to come to our door without the incredibly rude and aggressive lady leading the way. Unfortunately, I did not get her name and there is no way to see the current board of directors unless you are an owner at this condominium. Regardless, when having a conversation with this woman, she had the worst attitude I had seen from a higher up. She called me a child and for me to go get my parents when I am an adult and deserve to be treated as such. When I returned her attitude she proceeded to throw the biggest temper tantrum I had ever seen an adult throw and request for me to go get my “parents”. As I walked to get my sister and brother in law, I heard her call me a “smart ass” under her breath. Now that’s not very “board of director”like. When my family returned, she proceeded to be just as rude to everyone in my party. She was the only problem here though, the men accompanying her were reasonable and not aggressive in the slightest. She even threatened to call the cops and have us evicted even though we left the next day. Incredibly power hungry.

Overall the experience could’ve been better, the condo just seems a little… inconvenient overall. Loading and unloading seemed very time consuming. Accessing the beach. The powerwashing. But this was manageable. The disrespect from someone who obviously thought they had authority to disrespect guests though, was the final straw. Incredibly disappointment and upset by the treatment we endured.

We will not be...

Spent last 2 weeks of July 2022 at Ocean Ritz PCB unit 902….as a young lady in the parking garage said on our last day “Ocean Ritz I will not miss you at all”.

In our 20+ years of beach vacations it was our first bad experience. I’m sure there have been much worse but I can only share my experiences….pay attention to the stars and comments.

The condo itself was ok, typical unit with no issues. Our problems were parking, painting/construction, and pool availability.

Parking - worst we have experienced; although we had a space assigned no way I could fit a full size truck in the allotted space with the vehicles on either side (Chevy 1500…not a huge truck). Garage was so small 2 vehicles could not pass inside. My truck is 4x4, ramp was so steep it actually dragged when I turned around. There was an overflow lot across the street….nothing available until the last night (thank goodness….we had to ferry our stuff across the street just load the truck; one space allocated for load and unload but due to small space, construction trailers, etc it was almost useless). I ended up paying $84 to park in city lot past the overflow lot. One of the owners in Ocean Ritz did apologize for the situation so at least someone recognized the issues.

Painting/Construction - the building was being repainted the entire time we were there. 2 construction storage units occupied space in the already small parking lot plus at least 1 truck during the day. This also meant that we kept the curtains closed entire time during the day (never knew when the paint crew would be outside your unit on scaffolding). At one point during the 2nd week, we had 2 of the crew come by about 9am to notify us that they needed to move everything off the balcony into our unit so they could paint the floor (table, 6 chairs, umbrella, bench and deck box)….my wife and I both came close to losing it (imagine your vacation a spending the day with all this inside your unit); as it turns out our unit had tile so crisis averted.

Pool availability - due to painting, the pool was closed ~10 of 14 days due to overhead work (daily at least 10a-5pm); it was open at night but teenagers didn’t want to get in the pool after dinner….they wanted to get in during the day like most people. Aside from pool availability, it made the chore of taking our stuff to the beach that much harder.

As is typical elevator and cart usage was a challenge, but it was expected…..except we were told there were 11 carts available to transport your luggage.; in 2 weeks I never saw more than 2 available at any time.

Maybe just a bad week(s), but we won’t...

Honestly the worst place I’ve stayed and that’s saying a lot. It begins with the parking. It’s very tight and allows generally for one car. The condo had space for 11-13. We had 3 vehicles. Overflow parking is a nightmare too since it’s right across from the public beach access. Often there is no space available. We’ve stayed at ocean ritz before and just the parking situation is enough to make you nuts and we swore we’d never go back. It was the only place big enough available by the time we looked this year. I had to pay off a tow truck driver to not tow the car while we were unloading. This place has like 16 to 18 floors and 3 condos per floor with one space they declare as loading zone. The designer was clearly a mathematical genius. My husband got a ticket for parking in overflow after he purchased a parking pass for the week. And all of that is before you get into the disgusting condo. Roaches were the #1 issue. Filthy. If someone swept before we got there they did a bad job. I’m sure no one mopped or sanitized anything. Tub jets mildew laden. Shower curtain mildewy. Dust so thick on top of a fan I didn’t want to turn it on, even though the AC worked so poorly, we really needed it. Under and behind all the furniture was so dirty it looked like it hadn’t really been cleaned in months. Dirty. Not just dusty. The patio furniture was broken. The washer and dryer weren’t working right so it took hours of constant monitoring to get anything dry. The oven wasn’t working right. It wouldn’t get up to the cooking temperature. One of the TVs didn’t work. Furniture knobs off, closet door hanging off track. Sticky inside cabinets The patio door wouldn’t stay closed without locking from the inside, which was a pain, especially since the ac wasn’t cooling well. Very small pool for the size of the building. All of this, and I’m sure I’m missing things. When we called emerald coast destinations, they first acted like these were new issues and shocked. After the first call where we told them that previous reviews had mentioned many is these things so they were letting, they ignored the calls over and over. Ultimately they sent someone with a can of bug spray. That was it. Laughable if it wasn’t so disgusting. They made zero attempts to address any other issues. Stay dates 7/3-7/9/22. Do yourself a favor and find a...