We stayed at Edgewater Beach Resort in Panama City Beach for 5 nights in June 2026, and unfortunately our experience was very disappointing. The biggest issue was that we did not have water in our unit for the first two days of our stay. That made it difficult to do even the most basic things--shower, use the restroom, or clean up after being at the beach. While the rental company did respond to my messages, they never gave us any meaningful updates or solutions. We were not told when the issue would be fixed, and we were never offered the option to move to another property or any type of reimbursement. The resort itself was nice, but the lack of support and communication during such a serious issue overshadowed everything. We expected much better service and accommodations, especially when something as essential as running water was unavailable. Overall, this was a very frustrating experience, and I would think twice before staying here again. read more

Absolutely unacceptable experience. When we arrived to check into our condo, the door was locked from the inside and we had to wait 45 minutes for a manager to even access the unit. Once inside, it was obvious that someone else had been staying there--despite us having it booked. The condo was in terrible condition. Personal belongings were scattered everywhere, including clothing, bags, toiletries, and items throughout the bathroom and living area. The floors were dirty, and the entire unit clearly had not been cleaned or prepared at all. This wasn't a minor housekeeping issue--this was a complete breakdown in management. Our unit was essentially double-occupied and completely unusable at check-in. To make matters worse, the only solution offered was to wait until around 10 PM for it to be cleaned, with a possible partial refund. After traveling and expecting to check in on time, this was beyond frustrating and unacceptable. Based on this experience, I would not recommend staying here. Management needs serious improvements to prevent situations like this from happening to other guests. read more

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ABSOLUTE , terrible company and customer service. . Booked a condo in orange beach with this company. Checked in our condo at 6:30 the place had food all over the ground an in the beds, & condo smelled like a carton of cigarettes. Offered zero help with moving our room. And didn't send someone out till 1 pm the next day to verify the smoke and food. Proceeded to dispute for 3 days paying for that first night all for them to tell me they only will refund me $100 and pretty much move along. HORRIBLE. DO NOT recommend booking anything with them. read more

Warning: They canceled our rental (which we paid for last October)! This caused us to have to pay $1,000 more for a less desirable one away from the other 2 we rented. They didn't care one bit!!!!! We usually rent 8 condos each summer from them. No more! read more

Be sure the rental you are booking is not with this company. Their customer service and property managers are the most unhelpful, rude, inconsiderate, and incompetent humans I have ever met. If you leave an item by accident in the condominium, and contact them promptly to retrieve it, rest assured that it will not be handled in a properly and timely manner, and you will never get your lost item back. I am truly astonished by the amount good reviews after the horrible experience I have had with them. My family and I will never book another reservation thru their company again, and save yourself the horrible experience and do the same! read more

Rented unit through AirBnb but it was managed by Southern Vacation rentals. If you are going for a week or weekend Bring trash bags, toilet paper, paper towels as they provide 1 each and don't expect them to provide the right codes. We got stranded walking back from the beach as it was a button to press going out and a code to get back in, and my 67 year husband with bad back and neck had to climb over a 5 foot gate because the wrong code was given to us via email, their guest portal and on AirBnb. The hot tub was very dirty looking as well. Nice unit but the owner would be better off handling it themselves. read more

Do NOT stay in their units. Condo room was run down badly. Shower didn't work my husband had to fix it so we could shower. Toilet wouldn't stop running and flushing, husband had to fix that. Everything in our condo was run down. Fan in the room didn't work. Seen 2 bugs in the kitchen, not sure what they were. Gap in front door, you can see daylight. Kitchen cabinets are falling apart. Bring a hair dryer because they don't provide one . No clock in the room. No toilet paper provided. We will never stay any place this company manages. read more

Let me start by giving a summary: Reservations were good. The Condo itself was nice. But we arrived to find our resort under major construction. It took hours of waiting and calling before we finally took matters into our own hands. I booked a condo rental in January for Sept. We drove 8 hrs only to find the resort was undergoing major construction that affected access to the building, the pools, and especially the beach. With two 84 yr olds along, this was not going to work. I called Southern Vacation Rentals immediately. They told me I should have been notified about the construction and given to opportunity to cancel, and they could see I wasn't. This should have made it an easy solution - just refund my money. But instead, I was told someone would call back in 30 min. 90 min later no call. In the end, I made at least 6 calls to them, we waited 4 hours for a resolution, and never heard back. We vacated the condo that same night and notified them so. Next morning I discovered an email that refused our refund. I sent an email saying we were owed a refund with all the details. Later that day, I received a call from a manager who said they would make an exception to the refund policy. This should have been their first act. They could have offered to move us to a nicer condo. They offered to move us to lesser places but we'd have to pay full price for those. Leaving a guest waiting for 4 hours (5pm-9pm) with no reasonable solution is simply unacceptable,. It doesn't matter how nice the condo was, I don't think we'll be renting from Southern Vacation Rentals again. read more

We stayed in an adorable 1-bedroom condo on Pensacola Beach at Gulf Winds. It was perfect for a couple. The views were amazing. Deck furniture allowed you to relax and enjoy both ocean view and sounds of the waves at any time you weren't on the beach. Kitchen had all the comforts of home if you wanted to cook. Bed was comfortable. Communication before, during, and upon check-out was stellar. read more

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We stayed at the Turquoise Place in Orange Beach and will definitely stay there again but we will not use Southern Vacation Rentals (SVR) to book our stay nor stay in our specific unit again C2805 (unless repairs are done). 30 minutes before we were to check in at 4 pm. I received a phone call from SVR stating that the whirlpool tub in the master bath was not working. I was really disappointed in this because my grandkids like to play in the whirlpool tub together...they told me that I would receive some sort of refund for this. I was completely fine with that. Well, that was only the beginning...not only was the whirlpool tub in the master not working....the only other tub in one of the other bathrooms was also not working. We couldn't use the gas grill to cook our food because we could only get the temp to go to approx. 250-300 degrees max. The hot tub was not working either. The moment that the cover came off...the temperature would plunge down to luke warm water within an hour. We had the hot tub person look at it 3 separate times and it would hold temp with cover on-but the moment the cover came off-same thing-temp plunge. The grill and the hot tub were the biggest disappointments of our trip as we booked a unit specifically because of these particular amenities. The toaster did not work on one side either (minor inconvenience, I know...but another one) but I booked this condo for 10 nights and to have 5 of the amenities not working properly (and 3 of them the main highlights of the unit) the entire time was hugely disappointing. I contacted them and let them know that I was leaving a day early-that we booked 10 nights but were leaving after 9 nights. I asked if we would be compensated for any of the amenities that we were unable to use and Southern Vacation Rental representative was extremely rude and acted like I did something wrong. We contacted maintenance while we were there to hopefully fix the items but were told that the owner was not going to fix the whirlpool tubs, and nothing was done/fixed with the grill nor the hot tub. To be fair-I did not report the toaster until the day before we checked out. They clearly knew about the whirlpool tubs not working prior to my booking and I suspect they knew that the Hot Tub and Gas Grill weren't working either. This is deception on their part and borders on fraudulent business activity. They offered me $250 in compensation for the $8500.00 that I paid for my 9 night stay. That is a slap in the face. STEER CLEAR OF SOUTHERN VACATION RENTALS and Unit C2805 unless they guarantee that the top amenities are fixed and in working order. (The unit itself is VERY nice...except for all the non-working amenities). read more

The unit was listed as dog-friendly so I booked it (on Airbnb) and let them know I was bringing my service dog. Southern Vacation Rentals then asked me for additional documentation and id for my service dog, and subsequently refused to accommodate her (which I have in writing and called twice to dispute). Southern Vacation Rentals then lied and said they did not refuse to accommodate her. From Airbnb, "Based on the evidence provided, we have determined that the reported issue was in violation of Airbnb's Nondiscrimination Policy. We have reached out to Southern Vacation and informed them of the violation. Their listing, "Dog Friendly + Easy Access to the Sand & Pool!" has been temporarily suspended. If Southern Vacation wishes to have their listing reinstated and remain on the Airbnb platform, they are now required to reaffirm their commitment to our Nondiscrimination Policy." Southern Vacation Rentals are scam artists and I'll never book or stay at one of their units again. read more

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They had the absolute worst property management company in the state of Florida. They steal from their owners. They are completely unresponsive. The guest leave horrible reviews and don't like them. read more

Worst rental company ever! Condo we rented was nasty. Upon arrival, we found overwhelming mildew smell, dirty dishes in dishwasher, moldy curtains, dirty underwear in bathroom, nasty ceiling fan, sand covered furniture, balcony looked like a storage unit, etc. They responded by telling me I saw the pictures on line and I chose to book! I told them the pictures on line didn't match what we walked into. Did not even refund the full cleaning fee! Beware. Do not use this company. read more

We used one of their rentals in Pensacola Florida and had an overall good experience. They are responsive in answering the phones and it was easy to ask questions and get answers on our unit. When we arrived, the code they gave us to enter the Condo Unit did not work. We called them and they quickly gave us another code. We also had problems with two stopped up sinks and called them and they put in a work order but no one ever came to fix the problem. Lastly, there were not enough towels in the Condo and some of the light bulbs burned out but our unit was so beautiful, we still had a great vacation and will likely use them again. read more

Southern Vacation Rentals has been in the business 28 years and scores 1 out of 5 Stars on BBB website with a rating of F. So wish we had looked them up prior to renting. The home we rented in Perdido Key was beautiful. We feel terrible for the owner of this awesome house that they are represented by Southern Vacation Rentals. We own three vacations and have empathy for both owners and renters. We have never had as many problems with a rental as we did with this company. Wished we had looked at reviews prior to choosing. A common theme of the reviews is the passive/aggressive nature of the service reps. They remind us of the Airbnb reps located in sone far away country, very polite but too often not helpful. During our 5 week stay we had the following issues: 3 toilets with issues, intermittent internet, furnace issue, lots of large and small cockroaches, multiple pest service visits. They are super polite when they text you and it feels like all the texts are written using AI. We asked to speak with someone. She was polite at first, then accused us of making things up. Never feels good to spend over $5,000 on a rental and be accused of lying. They then lied to us that the HVAC/electrician had told them the system was in 100% working order. We then caught them in that lie and sent them a picture of the burned-out circuit breaker part. We asked for and apology and got the usual passive/aggressive AI response. This was followed by AI based messages that they were going to now send someone out to check on the thermostat, which was working fine, and they had put new batteries in days earlier, claiming this was the reason the furnace would quit working daily. Oh, we forgot to mention earlier that two weeks into the trip we were told we had called with too many issues and had been placed on the "only respond if there is an emergency" list and that they would no longer be willing to respond to any non 911 service issues. Mind-blowing! After their threat to never come out again, they had to come back and fix the furnace after lying about it. With one week to go in our 6-week trip, I needed to pick up a family member at the Destin airport. I noticed that Southern Vacation Rentals corporate headquarters was in Destin. I thought it would be a great idea to stop by and ask if I could meet with someone at the company that might value hearing about our guest experience. Crazy idea I know. The doors are kept locked and the phone outside the building rings to nowhere. I then called the phone number and was told by someone with an accent in a call center in some unknown location that there was no none in the office that was willing to unlock the door and invite me in. Just when we thought they could not offer any worse customer service, they did exceeded expectations the morning of our departure. One day before checkout they sent threatening messages and emails indicating that they would charge us $500 if we chose to heat the swimming pool more than 10 degrees above the avg ambient air temperature achieved daily and that they would begin to send over a "pool monitor" daily to observe and take a daily picture of the read out on the heater. Now this is the same company that multiple times during the trip refused to call us on the phone vs send AI messages and would have the property manager sneak around the outside of the home when our car was in the driveway on the same days we had asked to be able to speak to the so called property manager. Have been waiting three days to receive a reply about a question about our final bill. The home was beautiful. We feel terrible for the owner of this awesome house that they are represented by Southern Vacation Rentals. Summary. Don't rent from this company. read more

We stayed in Destin West Heron H306 and the pics were very deceiving of the property even as we pulled up. We paid for early check in and once we got to the very dated front door to our unit, the code did not work and was told there was a hold on it due to the fridge, which we were not contacted about. After standing outside our room with my elderly mother and carts full of groceries and luggage for about 15-20 mins, the lady calls back and gives us a new code and says fridge is fixed. The freezer part of the fridge was not fixed and the ice maker was broken and we reported and was told maintenance would come fix and he never showed up in our 5 day stay there. Why is there a weird slated window to kitchen in bunk room and no closet mind you. WHY ARE THERE NO DOORS ON THE LOCKS??? Even the balcony doors would not lock. The furniture was dated and uncomfortable and not even enough room for 7 of us so I don't know how they say great for 10 people. The lazy river was AMAZING but if you want the beach...get ready to walk and it is is not an easy walk or welcoming entrance to see the beach. it is covered in tents 3 rows deep that you have to pay to use or bring your own stuff and get a crappy spot if you can find an opening...it was almost like there was not enough beach. We ended up going up to Santa Rosa Public Beach and had plenty of room and better time. I will absolutely NEVER use Southern Vacation Rentals again nor will I ever stay at Destin West...WAY OVER PRICED and pics are not true to room and again....WHY DO NONE OF THE DOORS LOCK? LIKE SOME PEOPLE WANT TO POOP OR SHOWER WITH A LITTLE SECURITY! Oh and no curtains on bedroom windows...just blinds so at night, the outside lights shine in so if a dark sleep is what you want then it's a hard no! read more

My family and I had booked one of their properties in Gulf Shores, AL for a week-long stay. We ended up coming home a day early because we couldn't stand the idea of spending another uncomfortable night at this property. For reference, it's an almost 11h drive for us. This might be a long review, but please read. We stayed in a 2-story private property, with a private pool. The unit was called Beachin' Time. Upon arrival, the floors were dirty, dining room placemats still had food caked on. The pool was green and the water level on it was so low that it didn't cover the first few steps... The water was below the skimmer. The grass in the patio/pool area was very overgrown. The AC seemed to not be working upstairs. We called the company and they were very responsive in sending someone out to re-clean. The cleaning company was a pleasure to work with - they got to work right away and were very friendly and professional. They sent someone to mow the grass, and to address the pool issues. Initially, Southern Vacation Resorts was very responsive to the issues. They sent someone to shock the pool with chemicals, and while it was nice and blue the next day, it was still very dirty. We've heard that it actually hadn't been used in months, and that the vacation rental company was aware that the pool had a leak. Southern Vacation Rentals denied that the pool had a leak, despite the water levels constantly dropping. The neighbor is the one who ended up cleaning the pool for us. The AC company came out and told us that it would not be possible for the bedrooms upstairs to cool off, since the problem was not an AC malfunction, but rather that the property needed more vents and/or a bigger unit for the size of that home. There was nothing that could be done. The temp upstairs was constantly 75-78 degrees, despite it being 69-70 downstairs. The heat index in Alabama was 105-111 during our stay. It was a sauna upstairs on most days. This was what we had the biggest issues communicating with SVR about. Every time we called, whoever answered seemed utterly confused. We were told that a property manager would be contacted and that we would hear back from them. We never had direct contact with the property manager - as a matter of fact, it seems like their calls are outsourced in some way. It's almost as if you're talking to someone from an answering service who just takes your message and passes it along, but you never hear back from a live person, just a text message here and there. On the 5th night, they sent an AC tech to install window units upstairs. The window units were so loud that we couldn't sleep and had to shut them off. We ended up going home the next day because we just didn't want to deal with this vacation rental anymore. I spent most of the time that I was supposed to be on vacation communicating back and forth with them via calls and texts. They never offered to move us to another property despite having other ones available. They told me we would be reimbursed for the days that the pool was not swimmable, but only reimbursed for one night. If you want a vacation rental where you can have contact with the actual property managers and not an answering service who will butcher your messages or misunderstand you, then this isn't the one for you. I wish we had booked directly through VRBO, which has a satisfaction guarantee. We booked directly through Southern Vacation Rentals because it saved us quite a bit of money, but it just ended up being more of a headache. Oh! And we later found out that the previous renters had complained about all of the same issues that we had. Also, the listing said 200yd to beach access, which was wrong. There is water within 200yd but you'd have to cross private property to reach it within the advertised 200yd. If you want to go to the beach, it's about an easy 10 min walk. In the photos of our text exchange, you can see where I was explaining what the AC tech mentioned, but they completely disregard it and ask us to check if the thermostat is on. We're from Florida, we know how central AC works. I am so disappointed that we drove 11h with two kids just to be let down by this property. read more

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Our condo smelled horrible , spider webs on the furniture, no hair dryer, not enough towels, and no Keurig. When contacted about the odor, we received lip service. Completely a joke as far as customer service goes. BEWARE snd note you will not be happy with the rental snd no one will address the concerns no matter how nicely you ask read more

You all tried to tell me but oh no I tried and hoped for the best outcome. I got the biggest disappointment ever on accommodations. Room no A/C working causes buildup of humidity and mustiness that leads to absolutely cant stay there. They have lied repeatedly and questioned my integrity. When you can get AC to work in winter at beach you have issues beyond non working AC and they have them. Southern vacation rentals is an absolute con job all the way around. They can't even keep their story of lies straight because you get different people constantly and they obviously don't follow up with what they said and annotate or the next person who tells a different story is to lazy to read it. If you want a shit show deal with these lying idiots. read more

I wish I would've looked at these reviews. Their title should be BLACK HEART Vacation Rentals! My house got hit a week ago by a tornado. I have never canceled on any Airbnb. They are the first due to the tragedy of this tornado that hit Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Father's Day, destroying most of my home. They knew this and refused to give me a refund. They are beyond heartless and could care less about their customers, and I will never go through their rental business again and I will post this on every review site I find including YouTube. Also, I paid $100 for their traveler's insurance for $1789 because I had a feeling something might happen. I've never paid for any insurance before a trip and won't again. They gave me $400 back! STAY AWAY FROM SOUTHERN VACATION RENTALS aka BLACK HEART RENTALS! read more

Ruined a vacation with grandkids. After booking and paying for a really nice 3 bdr 3 ba condo beachfront on Pensacola Beach (Via de Luna Drive), we were notified at 9:20 pm on Thursday night (less than 36 hours before arrival) that the unit was not available due to "unforeseen maintenance". Offered 3 "options" none of which were beachfront nor nearly as nice. Talked to 2 agents who could not explain what was unforeseen. Asked what else they could do and they said nothing - it was high season. I told them I knew that and that is why we booked and prepaid early. Interesting that almost immediately after the balance was due, the notification came that what we paid for was not available. Not only did I not believe them, but feel this was a classic "bait and switch tactic". They reluctantly refunded money but we are left to endure non-refundable airfare and disappointed kiddos. Their vision statement to be "the most caring company along the Gulf Coast rings hollow. I feel very foolish for not reviewing anything but a handful of positive reviews on their website. Given they enormous volume of angry and disappointed reviews, they clearly do not publish anything negative. Shame on Southern Vacation Rentals. Amazing that they remain in business without meeting even meager expectations for service and integrity. I encourage anyone seeking Gulf Coast accommodations to maintain a wide berth from this company. read more

We just stayed a unit in Panama City Beach at Edgewater, Tower 3, unit 1203. Managed by Southern Vacation Rentals. The place was not acceptable at all. I am very very disappointed and dissatisfied with that disgusting condo. I would rate less than zero stars. 0/10. It had a disgusting dirty and grimey feel to the entire place. Barely surface cleaned by staff. Grime on all cabinets and surfaces including the walls that has been there for a very long time. Furniture was stained and very dirty. Broken furniture knobs that are sharp. If you have an infant or toddler, which we did, this is very dangerous. Most of the electrical outlets did not work and the ones that did have power to them were so loose, whatever is plugged in it falls out eventually. If you have a medical device such as a CPAP, which we did, this was a huge problem and huge liability on their part. The kitchen sink was clogged and almost every dish I got out to cook with was dirty and had old food stuck to it. I had to scrub. We are a family of 8 so we like to cook and I just had $400 worth of groceries delivered so I was not about to change my plans and go out more because the place was disgusting. So I scrubbed and cleaned them to feed my family. The dishwasher was coming out, did not close or work. I had to hand wash dishes the entire stay. There were wires exposed in the living area and the upstairs. This is also a hazard especially with an infant or toddler. The upstairs had a lot of bugs not only on the walls and floor but on the linens on the bed too. I had to wash the linens and put them back on to sleep up there. Again, family of 8... I rented a 4 bedroom for a reason.... Need all the beds. I found the source of the bugs; near the door in the corner, you can see the outside. The bathroom upstairs was also dirty. The shower curtain had so much mold and mildew and was gross. There were bugs downstairs as well. The railing at the top of the staircase was broken. The railings outside had so much paint chipping off, if you touched it, you would get paint chips stuck to your hands or in your skin. They also did not feel very secure. There were goldfish crackers under the bed and in between the bed and nightstand in one of the downstairs bedrooms. All of the beds were very very uncomfortable. Your pictures online show nice chairs on the top deck... there was only one broken plastic chair. I literally choose this place bc the breathtaking pictures of this upper deck and thought we could spend a lot of family time up there but we could not. The upstairs wall ac unit was also filthy and so loud and sounded like water was leaking in it. Looks like it's never been cleaned or maintenanced. This place needs some serious deep cleaning and updates. For paying over $3000 for a short 5 night stay... I expected it clean and functional at minimum. Def don't recommend this place or Southern Vacation Rentals at all. read more

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We stayed at Abacos #304 in Santa Rosa Beach recently, and the condo was exactly as described and Southern Vacation Rentals had been easy to work with and book through. The first day there I realized that our shower drained very slowly and was to the point of overflowing after a couple of showers. I sent an email at 7:03 am to report it, but got no response. Around noon, I called them to report it and was told it would be handled. That afternoon, I got a message that the property manager said that our shower couldn't be used, but had no time frame for the fix. I requested that it be put back like it was and we'd deal with the slow drain, because we had dinner reservations and would be charged a late/cancellation fee, if we didn't make them. There were 6 of us and we needed both showers. It was reiterated that we could not use it. At this point I stressed the need for it and requested reimbursement for our dinner fees, if it couldn't be used. I was sent a rude response, pretty much blaming me, and told that they would not be helping with any reimbursement. Upon arrival at our condo that afternoon, the shower wasn't a complete mess! I spent a day and a half of my 3 day vacation dealing with this company, and my shower wasn't unclogged until 5:30pm the following afternoon- 34 hours after reporting it, and a family of 6 using one shower. Total inconvenience!! I totally regretted reporting anything to them and should have just dealt with the shower overflowing, like the previous tenants apparently had done. I will never use this company again when booking any property. The condo was nice and I'd love to stay there again, but until another rental company is used, I'll stay in other Abacos condos. I had a wonderful experience, a few weeks prior, in #403 Kiki's on 30A, if you need a 2BR. read more

I found out condo online and didn't realize Southern was the property management for this unit until it was booked. I had experience with them before and felt it would be a good experience again. It was! I love the website/guest portal used. Check in was easy-never had to speak to anyone, but he the door codes texted to us. I was able to contact them by text with any issues and they responded quickly. We didn't have any real issues-it seemed the previous renter unplugged the cable and I contacted Southern before I realized the issue and was able to fix it myself. read more

Southern Vacation Rentals - Vacation Rentals Near Me - Destin, Florida

We stayed in Unit 1201 at Breakers East in October, 2023. We have rented several different units it's through Southern Vacation Rentals over the past few years. The only complaint I have had over the years was that one of the elevators on Breakers was down for maintenance. Southern Vacations did notify several months before our arrival. It was a 6 month maintenance project for both elevators. We will definitely use Southern Vacation Rentals for any future vacation plans we may have in Destin. read more

Terrible company. They are good at quick, automated responses to a text complaint, but do nothing to take action on solving the problem. They could not fix or replace a month long problem with a refrigerator ice maker. No ice, leaking water and freezing in freezer compartment and onto floor. Multiple repair attempts made things worse each time. During our monthly rental it never was resolved. They have no control over maintenance personnel of Panama City Beach's Emerald Beach Resort. We love the resort. Been going there for 5 years. But DO NOT rent from Southern Vacations Rentals. They aren't even local to the resort. Use any other agent. read more

We are staying at Emerald Shores in Beautiful Miramar Beach, Florida! Love the house! Love the community! But we have called Southern Vacations 5 TIMES, asking to have a bug spray done, since there have been roaches and palmetto beetles in the house. We have been here just over two months, and it has STILL not been done. We're not impressed. Other renters in our community had their management companies respond within 24 hours to have bug spraying done. Yes, we recognize that in Florida, there will be bugs. Bug spraying definitely helps. Southern Vacations has failed, in our estimate. VERY DISAPPOINTED. UPDATE: Guess what? Two days after posting this, they sprayed the exterior of the house. Woo Hoo! read more

May 12 - 18 Island Princess #607 managed by Southern Vacation Rentals ----- absolutely horrible! The unit went without water for 6 hours, the master bed was PATCHED together and collapsed with one person sleeping on it - we straighten the legs back out but it collapsed a second night. The property manager came into the unit for the second time and decided to replace the bed AT MY EXPENSE of $1000.00 .... this was a SHAM! In addition, the coffee pot was broken, there were knobs missing on cabinets, there was black mold on the frame of the sliding glass door and ceiling fans were not balanced and made loud noises. BEWARE! read more

NIGHTMARE. Spent more time with them on the phone about issues then actually on vacation. they would not budge at all with the compensation I feel I deserved. Upon arrival they failed to put us in security system for parking passed so spend hours going back and forth and not until the manager of the resort calls SVR did they say they was sorry it was a glitch in their system after fixing it I still only had one pass after being promised two ($40/night per car at resort if they didn't get our passes) after TWO days it finally fixed. Then 2nd day WATER is coming out of the LIGHT FIXTURE!!!! They come to fix it then an hour after they leave we completely lose power. They move us from our 3br/3bath RESORT, 5 star condo that we booked to a 2br 2bth condo MAYBE 3 star condo and expects us to be grateful. We had one night in the condo we paid for and two in the condo they moved up to. ALSO the elevator was out of power as well so we had to haul all our things down 7 flights of stairs when they evacuated us. read more

floors were disgusting, only got 6 towels at arrival at a 3/3, and the hvac was not working and they couldn't get anyone out until the next day. not a great experience for $2400 for a 5 day trip.. read more

We have stayed with SR multiple times. My family rented 3 condos w them (6/3/22 - 6/11/22) I'd give a '0' if I could When we walked in, we had sticky counters, hair balls in the showers, food on the family room rug, a dirty kitchen faucet, chirping smoke alarm, wet sheets in the washer, dirty surfaces in the family and dining room Unfortunately, all 3 condos had this theme They are all pretty disgusting Sadly, this is probably my parents last vacation as my mom has a terminal illness. This isn't the experience we want for her. Needless to say, I'm pretty upset. Hence the immediate review read more

This rental company is terrible. We rented with them and due to the hurricane, mandatory evacuations, flooding, state of emergency declared in the state of Florida we were not able to come for our stay. Not only did this company refuse to issue a refund for the $2,700 weekend or offer to reschedule, they ENCOURAGED us to come stay with them claiming "light rain" and no flooding issues while a CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE came through. While they were encouraging us they, IN WRITING, shared that the hurricane was a category 1; LYING about the risk and dangers of the weather. They did not refund us for ANY of the stay, no the taxes, and not the cleaning fee. They do NOT care about renters at all, they only care about their property. read more

This company is very unreliable. I booked a reservation through Airbnb for spring break and they call me 1 week before to cancel my reservation because the host requested it. Their option was to offer me another place they had at a higher price. No customer service, they should honor the reservation so close to the term, and especially on such a busy vacation period. So close to the date all reasonable priced places are booked and also can't get refund for flights. My reservation was for 5 people so this was costly. Do not recommend Antone use them. read more

avoid SVR! they bait and switch. rented a condo in Ft Walton beach and the pictures showed a beautiful balcony with gulf views. when I got there the doors and windows were boarded up and we were unable to go on the balcony. the condo was dark like a dungeon. We were told we would have two parking places but were blocked off. had to walk a block and half to condo. it smelled like mold! very musky! they would do nothing to rectify the situation! were rude about it read more

This was the second time renting from them. The first time was great. This last time it was horrible. Two of my friends started getting sick. We quickly realized that there was black mold in the house. We called Southern Vacation Rentals and waited a day for someone to come and look at it. I made at least 40 text messages and 20 calls throat the day. Someone finally came and actually started swabbing the mold with a cloth in front of us while we were breathing it. They said they could do nothing for two more days until a mold company could determine if it was mold. Finally after a whole of day calling someone told me they would move us. It was an inferior unit so I asked for our money back. Out of 3600 for 9 nights they would only give us 2000 for two nights in a hell hole!! They were totally unresponsive. They must us AI as all the text are the same, saying they are so sorry but no remediation to the problem. The house was not clean, the windows were so dirty you could not see out of them , the shower doors did not close, etc etc. These were minor compared to the mold which was really awful. DO NOT rent from them. read more

My review is not based on the property but moreover the policy, and morals. Myself along with a couple of friends planned to stay at one of the properties in Destin for a couples trip. Unfortunately, we did not make the trip because our daughter passed away. This was totally a shock and of course we didn't plan for the death of our daughter. We paid over 3k but was only given a little over $500 back. I understand the rules but I feel under these circumstances the rules could've been revised. We couldn't even change the dates without having to book for a full week instead of our original 4 days. I just feel this is horrible business. read more

To start off the vacation itself was not bad at all. There was a couple small complaints phoned in by myself that was very minimal in nature. 1.) The dishwasher was noted, dirty dishes were left inside. 2.) The previous bed linens were left outside the door for approximately two days however, were removed after a phone conversation. Now for the horror part. Upon arriving back home about 3 1/2 hours away, I open an email, and it has two photos. One was of a couch cushion with an approximate 4 inch tear around the zipper, and the second was of a lamp with a light bulb missing the end piece that apparently was left in the lamp. Mind you, the couch we only used maybe a half dozen times in a 4 day stay as me and my wife like playing card games at night before bed and use the kitchen table. Additionally, the lamp pictured was a lamp that was NEVER even touched by me or my wife AT ALL! None of the posted or accused stuff would be visible to anyone at first glance unless you did an extensive search upon arrival and not something anyone would typically look for anyway. Not to mention, the items pictured would certainly not cost $506.01 to fix. I wish I had read the yelp reviews prior to booking with this company as they are OBVIOUS scammers. I wouldn't recommend them to my worst enemy. read more

Southern Vacation Rentals - Vacation Rentals Near Me - Destin, Florida

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This was one of the WORST experiences I have ever had. I will never, ever book with Southern Vacation Rentals ever again and will warn anyone against booking with them. We were super excited for our trip. We booked this room from Saturday to Saturday. When we arrived, we checked out the room before settling in. Luckily, I bring a flashlight on any trip I go on to strip the beds and any cloth furniture to check for bed bugs before unloading my luggage. From entering the room, we were super excited as it looked like the photos, was beautiful and clean throughout. We were actually surprised at how clean the couches in the living room were. Entering into the master bedroom, upon lifting the sheets, mattress, and box springs, we found bugs. They were not bed bugs (what we thought at first, but ended up being bed bugs), there were all kinds of microscopic bugs moving, along with big and small silver fish crawling around, etc. The mattress had no cover (sheet or bed bug protectant sheet like most hotels/rentals) and there were large visible holes by all the handles of the mattress where the bugs were coming out! Lifting the box springs, there was orange splotchy bed bug residue all by the headboard and bed bug feces under the headboard on the ground. We took all kinds of photos. We contacted the phone number provided by Southern Vacation Rentals, spoke with someone, sent the photos, told us to standby as they will contact the property manager and see to get us in a different room. Not to mention waking up the next morning to a cockroach in the bathroom. Long story short, we had to sleep in that room the first night in bunk beds, were lied to over and over again by Southern Vacation Rentals. They told us all of the following over the span of approximately 20-25 calls we made to them over the span of 4 days until they complied in attempting to fix the issue. * They could not confirm (bed) bugs, while having no plan to look into the bugs that we had physical proof of. It seemed they did not care AT ALL there were bugs in this room and made us sleep in here the first night. * They told us the property manager would be by to which we never saw or ever spoke to. We demanded many times to be put in contact with the property manager to which they said they cannot do. * When what we were told was the property manager would be by, it was just a worker for Southern Vacation Rentals. He said he was not the manager and was just a worker told to come by to change the sheets on the bed. He saw the bed bug residue and said, "Oh someone spilled something." He took the cockroach down to the main office and requested it be sprayed for bugs. * We spoke with the main office and building general manager to whom then called Southern Vacation Rentals numerous times on our behalf which still did nothing. Because we showed her the photos, she immediately said she is having the room condemned and you all cannot be staying in there. * They moved us into a different room for one night until they 'hear from the property manager.' The next morning, they called saying we can stay in the clean room for the rest of the trip. We were finally comfortable and satisfied, thinking the giant headache would be over. Until we get a phone call within the next hour telling us they would be replacing the mattress in the bug filled room, and we have to move back into that room. Not to mention we had already moved a weeks-worth of luggage and beach supplies three times, they wanted us to move all that stuff a 4th time. * This was the last straw. We argued about this situation and the worker from Southern Vacation Rentals then said, "you are being unreasonable." Needless to say, after a few more thoughts from me and demanding a night's refund and staying in the upgraded, clean room the remainder of the week, he said "he can see what he can do" and "we normally do not accommodate a refund and an upgrade." Reminder, this is now Tuesday (this back and forth went on for 4 days before we could relax and even remotely begin to enjoy our vacation). He made the arrangement to stay in the clean room for the remainder of the week and a refund for half of the first night because they needed the other half "to clean the room." While still not satisfied with all the headache for 4 days of our trip, we settled. * Overall, we were EXTREMELY dissatisfied with all levels provided by Southern Vacation Rentals - cleanliness, customer service, quality, effort, etc. Again, I will NEVER again be a Southern Vacation Rentals user and warn anyone against from ever using them. Absolutely horrible experience. read more

Very bad company and the poorest customer service ever. The condo we booked through southern vacation was cancelled last minute just a week before our planned arrival. We were told it's a maintenance issue related to HOA. We booked a condo that sleeps 6 in Destin beach front and as a substitute they offered us a condo that sleeps 2 people and far away in Panama city. We chose Destin because we were coming with a group and needed to be close. They refused to let us talk to a manager. They refused to provide any other compensation though there were units available from them for just 300 dollars more. They refused to provide any kind of accomadation. This caused us to have to spend more money at the last minute and book something and also we wasted a lot of our time and it caused a great deal of time and loss. read more

Beware! Will never use Southern vacation rentals / Southern resorts again! These are some but not all issues we faced on our vacation. Live bugs (spiders and roaches) in every room including falling from walls onto beds Dust and spider webs under and behind every piece of furniture Mold on indoor ac vents and growing in buffet drawer Thick dust on top of all furniture Lock codes to get in the unit locked us out multiple times leaving us outside in dark for long periods of time Furniture corroded with sand, crumbs, pet hair and old food Fireplace still had ashes and trash in it from previous winter Stains on bedding Pictures advertised on website did not match unit. Completely different and disgusting. Unhelpful and unprofessional service that makes everything inconvenient Air quality inside caused burning in chests and took days to overcome Broken freezer handle Ac unit never cooled down as they control the ac remotely. Hot and sticky Outside ac unit was at least 20 years old with rust, water in it and vents clogged Southern vacation rentals were unwilling to do what it took to help us. Finally until 2AM in morning after many complaints and asking for help they eventually put us in a different unit to walk in and find a huge roach on wall even in new unit (never saw roaches again in the new unit). They offered us to extend our stay as we had damage from hurricane Ida in middle of our stay then litteraly 20 min later called us and changed their minds about the extented stay knowing we were stranded. Then again offered us the extended stay (very stressful). Our entire vacation was ruined as we spent first three days on phone with customer service making things very difficult. read more

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