the absolute worst. had a problem with these clowns who cannot manage their way out of a paper bag. A bunch of 'not my job' people who fill their days by over promising, under delivering, passing the buck and blaming owners For lack of investment in the properties, but they were all too glad to take over $10k of our cash pretending the house was fine. Never again. If you are an owner, find someone else to manage your property or risk watching collins let it go to crap. There was water pouring out of the ceiling above the garage and the 'inspector' was leaving when we pulled up... we had to report the problem because the inspector apparently didnt think water pouring out of the soffit was an issue she needed to flag - but hey at least we had clean sheets and some towels lol read more

This was a large group family vacation. The house itself (High Cotton) is in need of updating. We had several issues with the washer and dryer not working. They sent maintenance out but nothing was ever done. Apparently the people before us had issues with the stove as a maintenance person also came about that. But our BIGGEST issues was the bed bugs in the master suite. The very first night our cousin who stayed in that room was eaten up the next morning with bites all over her upper thigh area. A couple of us went to the office the first morning to report it and the only thing they did was send out pest control, and not in a timely manner at that. He said "I don't see any active activity" and absolutely NOTHING was done. The least they could have done was swap out the mattress and box spring but they did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, causing the cousin using that room to have to sleep on the couch for the rest of our stay. I DO NOT recommend using Collins Vacation Rentals. Go through another management company. read more

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We stayed at East of Eden & absolutely enjoyed every moment here! It had a very nice look (recently updated) and good mix of modern & traditional while staying with the beach theme! Lots of parking space, good sized pool, pet friendly, nice appliances, outdoor bathroom, shower, and kitchen, as well as a nice boardwalk to the beach with a hose to spray your feet so that you don't track sand into the house. Good amount of stairs, but helpful in keeping your figure after all of the cheat days I took on this vacation! 12/10 would recommend and come back!! read more

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We stayed in the "Margaritaville" vacation rental property on St. George Island. Needless to say it did not live up to the pictures or our expectations. The house is attractive from the outside but the issues began when we came inside. On the first day, the front door knob came off the door in my hand (maintenance came and fixed it) and we noticed severe damage to the backdoor as well. It looked like it had been chainsawed but apparently was eaten by a large dog over a week ago. One of the bedroom doors was split down the side so it catches and makes a loud shudder when you open it. There are holes in the drywall and flooring as well. (The hole in the floor was covered in duct tape and had a rug over it)I know it is a "rental" but the sheets and electronics are subpar. Our sheets are like parchment. Literally a 4 thread count. The pillow is like a bag of leaves. They have a TV with VCR in the back for kids. VCR? Who uses a VCR? My kids saw the tapes and asked "how do read these black books?" The walls are paperthin as well. This is a "kid friendly" property but there are long drapery cords in every window that are unlatched and a definite safety concern. The pool wasn't heated when we arrived even though we paid for it and the freezer/fridge stopped working on the 2nd day. The company was quick to fix the fridge and doorknob but these should've been addressed in a walk through before we arrived. I have stayed at a lot of beach properties and even other properties on St. George and this has so far been the shabbiest. I would definitely not stay here again. I would still use Collins but will do my homework next time on the quality of the rental. read more

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Our experience with this company was awful! We have stayed several times on the island and even have friends that live here. This was our first experience with using Collins and it was horrible. They do not put their customers first or honor their online contracts. I understand mistakes are made by computers but they should have at least met us in the middle especially after our deposit was taken. Instead they cancelled our reservation because they wanted us to pay an amount that was not on the agreement that I paid for. Will never use this company and will not recommend them to anyone. read more

Well kept. Good location for beach lovers. Fishing is great. Avoid food on island at all costs! Just take a short drive over to Carabelle or Appalachacola for better eats. Other than that, 300 Ocean Mile is a perfect location for a quite get away. read more

Nice island but would do a better job of finding a better rental agency. We are staying in Patruby's Place and it has been a disappointment. The cottage was not maintained well and had many problems. We had to have maintenance come out a few times to repair things that should have been obvious to their "inspectors," like clogged bathroom sink, broken stove, blown out deck screen, broken door to deck. I would also think that the "inspector" would verify cleanliness of the unit inside and out. There was trash and dog poop in the driveway upon arrival. Now my bigger concern was the safety of this property. The deck was dilapidated and seemed very unsafe. We could see where the structure had shifted off the piles. Their maintenance engineer came out and looked and said we weren't the first to notice and complain about it, and that the owner had already been notified before. The excuse is that these places rent back to back and there's no time to do maintenance. Maintenance is just the cost of doing business in my opinion, and if you risk people's safety just to get a week of rental then I feel that I have to warn others. Collins was willing to move us only if we paid for another place, in addition to the warn down place we had already paid for. We chose to just risk our lives and stay in the warn out cottage. It hasn't collapsed yet but we still have three more nights to get through. Wish us luck! read more

We have stayed on St George Island many times before. We have always had good experiences. This time though not so much. First They told us they needed more time to clean better because of COVID-19. Well if you call that covid clean you need your head examined. For the 3 hours extra you took it should have been much better. I didn't feel anything extra was done. Second the pictures shown on the Collins web sight need to be up dated. There is no pool table and there is no hammock. The house needs some TLC. Warning, if you have children keep them away from the upper deck railings. Very shaky handrails. Don't think it would hold you if you fell into it. The bathrooms are old and need new showers and sinks. Exterior could use freshening up. The pool was nice and the beach , well that's always great. Our family had a great time anyway. This Bosco Bell rental is not worth the price. Look at others or you might be disappointed. read more

Good job on reservations, exactly as we expected. Worked with us on our pet, negotiated on pricing and did what they said. Very welcoming staff! read more

We have used Collins for 3 years straight and have never had a problem. They are always courteous and kind when we do bookings. Any problems we have had were fixed immediately or were taken care of soon after. The house is always clean and well provisioned. We have used another rental company on St George Island and the service was just okay. We highly recommend using them for your vacation accommodations on the island. read more

We are very disappointed that Hurricane Michael cancelled our vacation; however, we hope that the island recovers and that everyone living there is safe with not too much damage. We have been staying at the Island for more than 20 years always using Collins Vacation Rentals. The service has been impeccable, any questions or concerns taken care of quickly and friendly people. We will be rescheduling our vacation as soon as the island is back and look forward to working with Collins Vacation Rentals as always. read more

This company is extremely unprofessional and I would not recommend using them. The communication from booking throughout our stay was terrible and one-sided---it was us calling them to find out pertinent information about the home that should have been supplied/documented and easily accessible. Among several issues with the property we stayed in (German roaches throughout, WiFi password was unknown by the company until day two of our stay, lack of kitchen basics, pool light broken, pool deck had overgrown weeds and cracked concrete, etc), the pool was cloudy and filthy upon arrival. After two visits from the pool operator who had to backwash and shock the pool (twice), we were told it would be the last night of our stay that the pool would be safe to swim in. This still didn't happen and the pool remained cloudy with white particles from the shocking in it. The rental management company told us that it was "personal preference" that we would not swim in the pool due to the cloudiness and film on the top--can't make this stuff up! We overlooked every single issue and did not complain until it came to not having the use of the pool for our entire trip. We literally booked this home because it had a pool and felt that minor compensation would be a nice gesture to make us feel a little better for spending extra money on the home specifically for the pool. We never received an apology or any empathy over this issue and were told that they were protected from giving us money back with their rental agreement that states the pool is not a "guarantee". We understand legally they had the right to deny us anything, but my gosh, a little empathy and a token refund was all we were looking for. I even suggested they simply waive the fee they were charging us to have clean bed coverings (as they made it clear that comforters in their homes are never washed and we had to request this as clean ones were not guaranteed-yuck)--a simple $160!!! This was a tiny amount compared to the cost of our stay. Overall, their lack of proper communication and their unprofessionalism in handling this situation is enough for us to look elsewhere for our next trip. If you use them--at least you know ahead of time what to look out for. Once Upon a Tide is the home we stayed in. read more

Just returned from a week in a house booked through Collins. I love St. George. But hopefully this helps. Upon arriving I got a call that the AC was out. Went ahead with check-in, as I was told the Air would be fixed in the morning first thing and we would get a portable AC and a fan. We proceed to buy groceries (why we got a house) and unpacked the family (2 small kids). The house was HOT! Over 90 degrees. And the pool was a mess. I hoped given that maintenance had been out that someone would notice the pool, but they didn't so we took an HOUR to clean up and remove debris and dirt so my kids could play. Clearly rain happens and it creates a mess and makes the mosquitoes TERRIBLE, but I had at least hoped for a little help. After several calls and my own cleaning a very nice pool person came and turned on the pump. The breaker was off and our paperwork said we were NOT allowed to touch equipment. Now I'm from South GA, I'm use to bugs. I brought 2 kinds of spray, but these mosquitoes were crazy aggressive. The pool water washes off the bug spray and basically makes it impossible to do anything outside. But we proceeded to spend the night in the house with the promise that it would all be better in the morning with AC and a trip to the beach. Our portable unit barely cooled one room (we moved it to our bedroom) and made it nearly impossible to be comfortable, let alone sleep. Everyone had a sweaty night. Of course things break, and we understand, so we patiently waited Monday morning for a repair. Nothing happened. No one called. No one showed. I called around and found out the part didn't come it (Didn't you say you were driving to Tallahassee first thing to pick it up?) and we were out of Air another night. Well this officially stinks. Literally. We had a nice day at the beach and come back to cook dinner. We took a picture of the thermostat and our own personal thermostat at 94 Degrees. We cooked and ate in 94 DEGREES. Why wouldn't we eat on the screen porch? Well the screen was broken and my kids couldn't tolerate the giant killer mosquitoes. Why did we have a thermostat with us? Because my husband is a licensed Heating and Air guy. Ironic. But clearly we can't mess with someone else's unit and didn't bring tools. We called again: "Can we try to get a part, call another contractor we know in Apalachicola, AT OUR COST and repair the unit?" Please? No. So they offer to let us sleep in a Villa. Well all our stuff is unpacked and here in the house...but we are dangerously melting..so we pack a small bag and go sleep in the Villa. It is dated and small, but decent. Nice that we were given the option. Tuesday rolls around. All our food and clothes and beach gear and medicine and phone chargers and EVERYTHING IS AT THE RENTAL HOUSE WE BOOKED. No biggie, they'll certainly fix it today. No call. I call around some more. "We can't predict the mail on the island." CAN WE PLEASE GET A PART OR CALL SOMEONE WHO CAN ACTUALLY FIX IT? No. We pack more stuff from our 95 degree rental house and go back to the villa. Now we are split between the villa and the house. Where are my glasses? Where is my mermaid shovel? I don't know, I can't find anything anymore and I'm hot. Cut to Wednesday morning. Surely this thing will be blowing cold air. NO. No call. NO communication. No air. Tears. Sweat. Anger. Call around to check availability to get out of Collins rentals. Nothing available. Already paid. No refund. IT'S SO HOT. Another family booked the Villa, so it seems we are going to die a sweaty death Wednesday in the house. I pack up the villa, clean it, launder linens and leave. I pack up and clean the house, throw out $$$ worth of delicious food that will perish and start to drive home. Turning in keys, "The AC is fixed now". WHAT? Kids crying. Parents angry. We stay. Still waiting days later on a ~2night refund. Discount on future rental? Hug? No. Spent a year planning time off work and saving $. I could have handled better, but the heat didn't allow clear thinking. And communication pretty bad. Go elsewhere. read more

I don't know if giving Collins five stars is overdoing it because it is a vacation home rental service, but after using Collins exclusively for over ten rentals over thirteen years, we have never had a problem. My wife makes the rentals, and she is always impressed with the efficiency and courtesy of everyone she has ever dealt with. Collins seems to be pretty thorough with all the details and is ready to respond to any problems one might have with a rental unit. Now as for some suggestions: (1) because of the weather in summer, get the trip insurance, (2) Go to the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve right past the bridge in Eastpoint (108 Island Drive) to get a feeling for the physical makeup of the area (good for kids too), (3) While tempting to eat at home, go to some of fine restaurants in the area including Verandas, Caroline's on the River, Boss Oyster, Papa Joe's, The Owl Café, and The Sunset Coastal Grill in Port St. Joe. (There are other good places too--and try the Karaoke at Harry A's.) read more

Horrible experience. I used the website's "select property from map" option and our unit was not located where the website's map showed it. We arrived late on a Friday night so we went in to the office to address this on a Saturday morning and were shocked when we were initially treated incredibly rudely by Helen. She seemed baffled that I would trust the company to know where their properties were located and use that map to select a location. She eventually backtracked by saying the company would take responsibility for their mistake and get us a discount after she spoke to the manager on Monday. She promised to call us Monday and did not. After stringing us along until Wednesday and accusing us of being deceitful, she told us the company's policy is that they are not responsible for information on their website and therefore they would not be issuing us a discount. She offered us a restaurant gift card which was not available when she told us it would be and again strung us along until we were able to pick it up. To be fair, she offered us a refund if we wanted to go home but that was the last thing we wanted to do after driving 15 hours to get to a much needed vacation. She also offered to call other companies to see what they had available but we declined, not wanting to spend our vacation time waiting for her to make calls, have to potentially pay a higher rate, and then transfer locations. She also offered to extend our checkout by 2 hours but having to drive 15 hours home did not enable us to make use of those 2 hours. That being said, the overall experience was horrific. She was condescending and made several attempts on several different days to blame us for the mistake that was clearly displayed on her computer screen. The error was still on the page in May after we booked in February. She then repeatedly did not contact us or have information ready when she said she would. It was very difficult to not let her treatment of us ruin the trip. A few other minor issues that would not have bothered me as much if I were not already being treated poorly: The boardwalk in front of our unit was torn apart upon arrival and workmen were there bright and early Monday and Tuesday working on it. I understand the need to make improvements but a simple "pardon our progress" note letting us know there would be construction noise would have been appreciated. Also the description stated there were several DVD players in the unit and there were none. Again, minor things that would not have bothered me as much if I wasn't already upset. The island is great if you are looking for a quiet beach vacation. I am very likely visit the island again but I will choose a different rental company. read more

Update: Got a call from Collins Rental and we were able to change the date. Had a great stay and will be going back. Sometimes complaining actually works! read more

Poor property management. Walked on a dock at a property that was managed by them years ago. I didn't realize that the nails were rusted out and dropped 5', straight down into boulders under the dock, nearly snapping my leg. It almost ruined a family vacation and it caused me to have knee surgery a couple of years later. A recent stay at a different property, at 300 Ocean Mile, posed significant security concerns for my young children. A small piece of pvc pipe was the only thing keeping anyone out of the condo and keeping the kids in. When I informed them that the lock on the door was broken (which it had been for awhile), they initially had a cavalier attitude and "knew of it", then a condescending one implying that an 18 month old should "be smart enough to not remove the pipe in the bottom track of the door". When I go back to SGI, I plan to rent from a private owner that doesn't utilize this this company for property management. They almost killed me once, then years later could give a rip about the security of my children? Methinks not!!! read more