Run as fast as you can away from this place! I have stayed in tons of Airbnbs and had good or great experiences at all over the years. I have never left a negative review. This is my first and I don't say it lightly. I have also never recieved a bad review and am a mom traveling with her husband and young kids. This host is blaming us for leak that occurred with their AC unit. We had no idea of it as there was no leak in our unit, only into the unit below. They sent out maintenance people, a plumber, and finally someone who works on HVAC to fix the problem. It was inconvenient but we cooperated with all of this and let them inside when we were not there, etc. Then they accused us of tampering with their AC unit and causing the leak and told us we would need to pay for repairs to both condos. We responded that we have no idea how to tamper with an AC unit and had no reason to even touch it or look at it. Now they have opened a case with Airbnb trying to get us to pay for this. We will not be paying anything as we did not do anything but reside in the unit. Hardly even touching the thermostat. It's very inconvenient to have to respond to this Airbnb case now even after we are home. I will also mention that our washing machine was broken and they ignored our requests to have someone fix it for the entirety of our stay. This is not a place you want to take a chance staying at. Do not stay at the gulf and bay club! read more

BEWARE!!! Falsely advertised a rental in a community with great amenities including clubhouse. Paid 2 months, top dollar, arrived, NO clubhouse (not built yet) NO amenities (NO pool, workout room, activity director. Nothing) Gulf Coast only gave us $500 for the problem. "Not responsible for closures due to construction." read more

Gulf Coast Vacation Rentals - These are the tennis courts when we arrived and explored. - Vacation Rentals Near Me - Bradenton, Florida

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We rented 5751 Compass Drive Bradenton FL for the month of March 2025. 1)Realtor indicated she would meet us at the house during our stay, but that never happened. It might have avoided several perceived/unfounded issues. 2)Home claimed to be 3 bedrooms, but had two bedrooms and an office. This was not a serious issue as we were just two people, but it was not as expected. There was no mention that the pool heater was not working until we arrived and questioned it 3)We asked for pet friendly and paid an additionally $250 for any extra cleaning that might be required (on top of $350 cleaning for a small house). Our security deposit was deducted by an additional $150, suggesting that $600 was insufficient to clean a 1900 sf home with some pet hair. I swept before leaving, but didn't think I needed to clean under furniture since I'd paid such a large cleaning fee including extra for 1 30lb 16 year old dog. It is not clear who gets the $600 paid for cleaning + $250 additional deducted for cleaning/supplied.  I'm sure it wasn't the people that cleaned. 4)While there, we were called by the realtor and asked to water some plants on the lanai. While we were willing to do this, there were NO plants on the lanai to water. Thankfully, I took pictures to show the realtor that no plants existed. Probably would have been charged for missing plants, if we hadn't documented this. 5)There was a small older coffee table which scratched when we arrived.  We are puzzlers and covered the table with our cardboard puzzle board upon arrival, which remained until departure. Owner claimed we scratched the table top. Coastal Deducted an additional $325 to "repair" the tiny (3' x 2') table. We didn't damage the table in any way, but didn't think to photograph it upon arrival, as it was not a big deal to us. 6)I brought all my own cleaning supplies including dishwasher pods, counter wipes, garbage bags, laundry soap, bleach and dryer sheets. Coastal Deducted another $100 for "supplies".  Ridiculous. 7)While we were there we replaced a door stop that was worn on the outside main door. Not a big deal, except that it shows our level of taking care of the home, as our own. 8)Total of $675 was deducted from our $1000 deposit inappropriately. 9) All communication to rectify went unanswered. Don't use Gulf Coast for rentals unless you're prepared to forego your deposit regardless of how you leave the home. IF YOU DO, TAKE PICTURES OF EVERYTHING UPONG ARRIVAL. BTW, I am unable to leave a review on their site. No Wonder why? read more

Accommodation Review: The accommodation Waterway Haven was really quaint and lovely. We stayed in a 3-bedroom villa with a small but well-equipped kitchen, including a large fridge, dishwasher, and plenty of kitchen utensils. The villa also had a spacious lounge, one en-suite bedroom, and a main bathroom. Outside, there was a small pool with a comfortable, covered seating area--perfect for relaxing. The utility area was located outside next to the owner's car in the carport. A bonus for us, coming from the UK, was the ability to receive USPS mail. I would highly recommend this villa to anyone. Agency Experience: Unfortunately, the booking agency was extremely disappointing, and I would not book with them again. Their emails often came from suspicious-looking addresses filled with random letters and numbers, which gave the impression of a scam. Communication was poor -- they rarely responded to my messages, and I had to try multiple times through different channels to finally get a reply. To add to our worries, the listing for the villa (Waterway Haven) was removed from the Gulf Coast Vacations website before our trip, without any proactive communication from the agency. We were eventually told this was due to a website revamp -- but even a month later, the listing had not reappeared. I was told I would receive a text or email at 3 PM on the day of arrival for a 4 PM check-in. As we were traveling from the UK and would not have internet access in the US until we found Wi-Fi, I repeatedly requested that the check-in information be sent the day before -- but this was ignored. I eventually had to borrow a U.S. phone in a local shop at 3:30 PM on day of arrival to call the agent and request the door code. I was told it had been sent to my UK mobile -- despite the agency knowing I wouldn't be able to access it while in the US. Their email apparently arrived at 3:15pm which I had no access too. We were also only informed after the fact that a contractor would be coming to spray insecticide around the property. During the stay, the washing machine broke down. I informed the agency that the drum and bearings had collapsed and that it was beyond repair. Shockingly, they didn't seem to know what a drum was. The maintenance team -- provided by the homeowner rather than the agency -- handled the issue and replaced the washing machine. They were absolutely fantastic and very helpful, which was a first for us, as this type of support usually comes from the agency. Summary: While the villa itself was wonderful and I would happily recommend it, I would strongly advise against booking through this agency due to the consistently poor service we received. read more

* BEWARE * We rented a beautiful home for a week......however, multiple issues arose from the first day. I contacted customer service EVERY day and when a repair man arrived 6 days into our stay...... he did not fix any of the issues we called about. He said he would be back the next day (our checkout day) to repair the toilet. Day 1 Bathroom toilet water had been turned off...... to keep the toilet from continually running. Instead of fixing the inner flapper valve. The hot tub was GREEN Dishwasher inoperable ..... in fact, it was disconnected under the sink which led to water pouring out of the cabinet ..... We called every day in an attempt to at least have the toilet fixed so that 5 people didn't have to share 1 bathroom. So disappointing..... beware if you rent this companies properties...... they will NOT make the situation right. I asked to speak with the property manager after the 4th phone call and was assured they would reach out - that NEVER happened. There was NO compensation for paying for the useless amenities. read more

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I will say the property we rented was very nice. It was well equipped, nice location, very clean & had a lovely pool. My complaint is with the company, GCVR. I accidentally locked myself out of the house. After multiple conversations with an agent, I was told the company did not have a key to the property & I would have to pay for a locksmith to open the door. I find it totally unacceptable that a property management company does not have a key to the property it manages! They claim the owner didn' provide them with one. I'm not sure I believe that - it should be a requirement that the owner provides a key. The agent told me she would relay my frustration to management, but I never heard another word. Upon my return home, I received an email asking t write a review. I respo back stating I would be happy to write a positive review if I was reimbursed for the cost of the locksmith. Again, no response. GCVR was very friendly & helpful throughout the booking process, but totally useless & unhelpful once I needed help. Very poor customer service! read more

The unit was in a great location on a great property with decent amenities. The unit was pretty clean, but we found food on dining chairs and floors weren't very clean (sandy, dusty). I was bothered by a Home Depot delivery at 7:55 in the morning on our first morning there. They were wanting to install a dishwasher that I knew nothing about and woke up my 2 year old. I asked them to call the office and reschedule. Went to the beach to get multiple missed calls from management attempting me to deal with installing the dishwasher. I called back when I could but was sent to voicemail and my call was never returned for the entire week we were there. I did however get a nasty text message (complete with misspelled words) saying I'm not entitled to compensation (huh??) and that I'm not abiding by the rental agreement to allow Home Depot to install a dishwasher. All this said, the unit was not rented the day before and it could have been installed then. Additionally, I called twice the day before and spoke to two Gulf Coast employees attempting an early check-in which was not provided because they needed to do an inspection. Why didn't either of them tell me about this dishwasher issue then? Overall, we enjoyed our stay, access to the pools and beach was great. I loved the bay view. We had neighbors upstairs that were very loud and you can hear every footstep, so I would attempt an upstairs unit if I ever returned. read more

Avoid Vacasa. Like the plague. This was one of the most miserable travel experiences of our lives. My wife and I rented a Vacasa for a three-night stay on the Florida Gulf Coast. On the second evening, we came back from dinner to find raw sewage backed-up in the bathroom, hallway and into the bedroom. A few inches deep. We were left to use every towel in the place to try to get this stopped. Even worse was the completely inadequate response from Vacasa. We spent well over an hour trying to get meaningful attention via both phone and text. Ultimately a plumber showed up 2.5 hours later and advised us to get out of there. We decamped for a nearby hotel. It is now three weeks later and we are still trying to get a Vacasa representative to deal with the issue of compensation given the experience and our need to leave for a hotel. We were promised a resolution by last Wednesday - predictably, not to be. The Vacasa corporate office defers it to the local people on the ground in Florida. And vice versa. Vacasa = bottom feeders! Avoid! We learned the hard way! read more

This company is truly amazing! They managed to take our highly desirable vacation rental and turn it into a net loss for us as the owner, and a gain for them all while responding to every complaint with the best gaslighting I've ever witnessed (see all of their responses to negative reviews for a sampling) This business model is to be admired if you are a shareholder. It's not so great as the property owner. Next time I want to replicate the experience I will destroy my property, set a pile of money on fire and then tell myself none of that actually happened the way I thought it did. read more

****Do not book vacation rentals with these people!!!**** We booked for October, drove 12 hours to the vacation home. The home was supposed to have a pool and be really nice. When we got there we discovered that the pool was only half full. The water did not reach the pump, so it was stagnant water. Disgusting! The water didn't even reach the second step of the pool. The home smell of mold. I have two small kids who were looking forward to swimming. I refused to stay in this home. On the website, it was pictured as a nice home. In person, the floors didn't meet the walls in the bathroom. It was in a sketchy neighborhood. We booked another house with a Vacasa an hour after arrival to this home. We called, got hung up on after we requested to get a different rental home through them. We spent the whole first day of our vacation on hold trying to get them to give us a refund. We emailed back and forth with the manager, Zachari, who was the least helpful person on this earth. When we tried to call him to follow up, he would not return our phone calls. To this day, he has not called us back. It was an awful experience. My advice is to book through vacasa. Anna Maria locals is another great option. If you have a problem during your stay, they will NOT help you. Please take my advice. Do not book with these people!!!! read more

If zero stars were an option that's what I would chose. We rented an apartment beginning on Christmas Eve 12/24/22-12/28/22. After entering the property, putting our belongings inside and locking the door we could not gain access to the property again. The property manager knew earlier that day that the keypad was malfunctioning and left the key lockbox empty with no backup way to access the property. On Christmas EVE we were locked out of the apartment and had no access to real assistance. The emergency line connected us to someone that was in a call center and he couldn't reach any management to help us. We ended up calling a locksmith ourselves and finding a hotel since we couldn't secure our belonings when not at the property. After many calls and messages they never reached out to us to apologize or help us with other accomidations. They finally reached out to us when the next guests arrived and guess what they had the same problem with the property. Clearly these people don't care about any of their guests. It's been almost 20 days and they still haven't fully refund us for the stay or the locksmith. DO NOT rent from these people it's a headache read more

Love Gulf Coast Vacation Rental and the entire team! Keep up the great work. Don't just Coast, Gulf Coast!

This is from a home owner perspective, rather than a renter's. We had our home listed for 9 months with this company. During this time we had many issues with our home (damages done but not handled, items missing from our home, house not being cleaned timely between guests, etc.). We paid them to handle everything for us, but every time we visited our home, we had issues that we were surprised by. We constantly had to monitor our home. We termed our agreement with them with more than 5 months notice and then had to fight with them for 3 months to get the money that was due us. They have a great sales pitch, but terrible follow thru. We were told many times that we were too hands on with our home and with our money; that we should just let them handle it all. Our experience told us differently. If you are a home-owner, buyer beware. read more

BEWARE OF GULF COAST it is a scam. Do not have them manage your property because it will cost you money as well as having damaged property that you are financially responsible for due to Gulf Coast not doing their job! They are the worst Company to manage your property! read more

This is a scam operation I made a reservation was charged and paid my account in full. They immediately charged my credit card, 3 days later my reservation was cancelled with no explanation. They proceeded to tell me my refund will be coming in 3-5 days. Stay away from this scam rental company read more

We spent the entire month of January 2018 in River Strand and had a wonderful month although the weather could have been warmer. Gulf Coast Vacation Rentals was the most professional management team we have experienced! We had an issue with the pool heater and they were right on top of correcting the situation! Thanks GCVR! read more

We have rented from Gulf Coast for the past 8 consecutive years and our experience has been fantastic. The staff at Gulf Coast has always been cordial, accommodating, professional and has exceeded our expectations each year. Each of the homes we have rented were available on time, clean and more than met our needs. I do not see us ever changing from Gulf Coast and would recommend them to my family, friends and associates. Rob Coppola read more

Wherein the gal we communicated with was very nice the company policies they follow are pathetic. They were always there to take money but never bothered to even staff their office in Bradenton or tell us they would not be there as "demanded" in their arrival instructions. Their management/admin fees are outrageous and their unwillingness to address problems are sad. Three weeks of problems and all we got is excuses and "we're working on it" stalls. Upon checkout they expected us to drive to Sarasota to drop off the keys. They nickle and dime you to death and would not work with us about a pool that never got to temperature and was unuseable for 3 of the 7 days we were forced to pay extra for and to add insult to injury they taxed us on the $25/day one week minimum. After 15 years of vacationing in the area we will not be going back, For the $340/day we paid them we could have stayed in a 4 star hotel with daily maid service instead of daily lip service. read more

Fantastic company to deal with. We have very high standards and this company provides homes that will meet your needs. I highly recommend them to anyone looking to book a vacation rental property. I can't wait to book again next year! read more