After spending nearly $4,000 for a one-week stay, I feel obligated to share our experience so other…read morefamilies can make an informed decision. Read and decide for yourself.
We stayed here while our son played in a baseball tournament, and this was the most disappointing vacation rental experience we've ever had.
From the moment we arrived, the cleanliness was unacceptable. There was blood in the toilet and on the bathroom baseboard, the baseboards throughout the unit were filthy, the couch felt heavily soiled and oily, and the floors were dirty enough that we ended up vacuuming and mopping the entire unit ourselves. The bathroom rugs were dirty, so we washed them before using them. There was even sand inside the closets from a previous guest, making it obvious the unit had not been properly cleaned before our arrival.
Unfortunately, the issues didn't stop inside our unit. The resort itself was just as disappointing. The exterior corridors are carpeted and the carpets are straight NASTY. There was food left in the hallways, one hallway smelled like vomit, there was a strong smell of marijuana nearly every evening, and several families repeatedly encountered cockroaches on the fourth floor and around the children's splash pad. The entire property felt dirty, neglected, and poorly maintained.
The elevator situation only made matters worse. This property already has a limited number of elevators for a resort of this size, and during our one-week stay, multiple elevators were out of service or malfunctioning. Wait times were excessive every single day, and one elevator even became stuck, requiring the fire department to respond. Simply getting to and from our room became a frustrating part of every day... Especially when you're trying to get to/from on time. DO NOT let them fool you into thinking that the elevators are not an ongoing issue - they ABSOLUTELY are an every day problem, after speaking to many residents and locals of the Wharf.
What was even more concerning was that our experience wasn't isolated. Several other families traveling with our baseball team experienced major housekeeping issues as well. One family found a female undergarment left behind in their unit, while another found a plate of spaghetti still sitting in the microwave from a previous guest. A third family had to deal with the smell of sewage in their unit. Even air fresheners and odor absorbers did not help. It became very clear that this was not a one-time oversight but a much larger housekeeping issue affecting multiple units.
I reported these concerns immediately upon arrival and continued communicating with property management throughout our stay in hopes they would be addressed while we were still there. My initial email received a response, but my follow-up emails documenting additional issues went unanswered.
Had it not been for our son's baseball tournament and the fact that there were no comparable accommodations available during the busy holiday week, we would have left much sooner. We ultimately checked out a day early because we simply did not want to spend another night there.
To make matters even more concerning, this property has a recent history of serious maintenance issues. In 2024, portions of Laketown Wharf were evacuated after structural deterioration was discovered in stairwells. While repairs were reportedly made, that history, combined with the overall condition we experienced during our stay, left us with very little confidence in the property's upkeep.
After paying nearly $4,000 for this vacation, I never imagined I'd spend the week cleaning our rental, questioning the cleanliness of everything we touched, and counting down the days until we could leave. A vacation should be relaxing, not something that leaves you feeling uncomfortable from the moment you arrive.
We would never stay here again and cannot recommend Laketown Wharf to anyone, especially families. There are far too many other options in Panama City Beach to spend this kind of money on an experience like this.
PS: the ONE star is not optional, since yelp requires at least ONE star. If I had to assign that star, it would be for location and local dining only.