Great Location and Stunning Locale - Frequent Power Outages and No Back-up Generator
Submitted: October 29, 2012
Stayed: October 2012
We just returned from an amazing vacation in Puerto Rico. We stayed at Paradise at Sandy Beach for 5 nights and loved the location. If you are looking to surf, this is the place for you. There is a surf spot right in front of the property and thanks to Hurricane Sandy, the surf was epic. There is a parking lot on one side of the property with a place to rent surf boards, SUPs, beach chairs, and umbrellas. The villa is fully stocked with everything you could need. They even set up a crib and booster seat for our 16 month old.
Now for the negative: this property does not have a back-up generator. This was the ONLY negative we could find and the only reason we did not rate this property 5 stars. This would not have been a problem had the power not gone out so much and for so long. I assume this was due to the Hurricane out in the Carribbean. It did not hit us though. During our 5 night, 6 day stay at Paradise, the power went out 4 times. The first time it was out nearly 24 hours. The second time it went out for over 12 hours. The third time was only for about 5 hours. The last time it went i don't know for how long, but it was over 12 hours because by the time we checked out, it still was not back on. Also, it is important to note that the water works via an electric pump and after having no power for a substantial amount of time, we ran out of running water.
On a HUGE positive note, the property management company for this villa is AMAZING! Kare Management is 5 STARS in my opinion. They went above and beyond to ensure our stay was a success. Anna and Gladys were a pleasure to work with. Gladys was always available to help us when we called her and when our power went out and we ran out of water, Anna offered up one of her properties for us to stay at that was only 2 doors down from ours. Her property (which I think belongs to her personally) has a back-up generator. And since we were unable to cook dinner a few nights due to no power, she monetarily compensated us for a few dinners out. I would recommend renting any property they manage.
Thanks to Kare Management, our vacation was not ruined by the frequent power outages. Thanks Anna and Gladys!
Recommended for:
Adventure Seekers,
Sightseeing,
Families with Teenagers,
Families with Young Children
Owner's Response: Glad you had a great vacation in spite of the outages Hurricane Sandy caused. It was a big storm. We felt it's winds all the way to Wisconsin when it hit the east coast. One correction, the water happened to go out the same time as the electricity and that is why the water didn't work. If the municipal water is flowing there is no need for electricity to get water. However, if the water goes out, there is a water tank and electric pump to pump the water as a back up. It just so happened that they were both out at the same time, I presume because of the hurricane. I have spent about 37 weeks at the property over 10 years and have only experienced a few brief outages. There was some service issues the summer of 2011 when the power company was rebuilding lines and they would shut the power off to work on the system. At that time we considered getting a generator, however, we thought the costs and maintenance would raise our rates too much so we decided against it. We will keep monitoring the situation and install one, if need be. We are in the tropics so we don't expect perfection. My sister-in-law is in New Jersey and they got hit by the hurricane and power is expected to be out for 10 days or more. Those are acts of nature and cannot be controlled. Glad Kare Management was responsive to our guest's needs and did what they could.
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