Marathon Vacation Rental house

We stayed in Florida for 3 weeks in October 2009, party of 5 (4 adults and 1 child). We are widely travelled and this was the third property we rented on this vacation but have rented in Florida and the States many times before.

Pros - great location, very private, quiet and fairly clean. Very comfortable beds. Effective A/C (but a little noisey)

Cons - over priced for what you get. Pool heat broken and we were informed that it had been for several months. The property managers said that the owners (american paradise) would not give authrorization to carry out the necessary repair and so temporary fixes had been undertaken but as they were temporary they didn't last. We could not use the pool for 50% of our vacation because the water was freezing and the property managers/owners did not resolve the situation during our stay of ten days - they had four full days to resolve it.

The property is not entirely as described. The owner's own website described the yard as a sandy beach - it's crushed coral stones and too sharp to walk on. The property is very dated - the bathrooms are (we think) from the 70s or earlier. It needs some serious updating and maintenance - the jets didn't work at all in one corner of the hot tub. The toilet seat in the downstairs bathroom was cracked and was not replaced prior to our arrival - my Father (who is disabled) almost had an accident when the seat broke into two pieces on first use. Several light bulbs were out, we can't see how the appliances can be described as 'new' they appeared to us to be dated and the bottom dishwasher rack would not 'roll' properly because a wheel was missing. The cooking extractor fan was extremely rusty underneath and full of insects and cobwebs which periodically dropped into your food when cooking. The salad/veg drawers in the fridge were broken. Only two plastic glasses for drinking soda around the pool/yard - very insufficient if more than two people stay here and it accommodates ten!

Many pages were missing from the Guest Feedback Book but it was obvious (from comments made by guests when they'd referred to negative feedback from other guests) that they'd also had problems, some similar to ours and action had not always been taken e.g. insufficient plastic glasses and peeling teflon on one of the pans - this guest wrote that peeling teflon is a known carcinogen - it was still there for our stay.

Would not recommend for the price.