Manatee Palms

We stayed for one night before a camp pickup and simply loved this clean, precious and very quiet and private B&B…while it’s no place for kids packing a room and partying all night, it’s a perfect spot for a couple to unwind, refresh and even luxuriate - out room had delicious linens and bath towels, a gorgeous claw foot tub in a beautiful marble bathroom, and the three-course breakfast was just a treat. The owners are onsite and super-responsive to any need, we’ll be back for sure!!!

This host was advertised with $165. On the booking confirmation was added an additional fee of $150. So it was charged $360. I complained immediately and the host confirmed per email that it is a mistake. After my stay she did not want to know about this email anymore. Even I sent her the email again. No refund of the added $150. I paid doubled price than the host was announced.

This owner lied to us, manipulated us and now she is trying to charge us $600 by accusing us of stealing a hard drive out of a TV. We did not do this. She does not have proof that we did this. And I have a video I took of the house upon our departure that shows all televisions very much in-tact. When we spoke to her on the phone and told her that we took a video of the house because she lied to us from the beginning, she accused us of being racist. As people of color ourselves we take great offense to this. Here is a bullet-point list of how she lied to us. Notice how she changed what she was charging us when she knew that she had us over a barrel in that it was spring break and nothing else was available. *When I first asked her if we could modify our reservation from 4 people to 6, she said “yes, but the house is only for 5 so the extra person would be $50 per night.” *When I later confirmed (before the cancellation date) that we would have 6 and that I would like to take one night off of our reservation she agreed and asked for our credit card information for the extra-person charge. *When I asked her to please invoice me through the VRBO app we were using, she then refused to allow us to modify our reservation at all. We use VRBO because we do not want to give our credit card information outside of the security of the app. *When my husband called her to find out what was going on, she said that the extra-person charge would be $100 per night and that we could not cancel the one night we asked to cancel (even though she already agreed to it)." She said that she had to ask another guest to move so that she could accommodate us for the night we wanted to cancel. But, that cannot be true as it was listed as “available” on the VRBO site. We think she is double-booking through her website and VRBO. *When my husband, trying to be nice and to save our spring break trip to Florida, agreed to not cancel the one night, but that he expected her to honor the $50 extra-person rate, she lowered the extra-person charge to a total of $500 instead of $800. But, we were still out over $300 more than we should have paid *I called VRBO, but was told that there was nothing they could do about it. When I asked to speak to a supervisor I was told that one would call me within 24 hours. That never happened. This owner is also not honest about the condition of the rental property. Here is a list of things she does not disclose in her description of the bungalow. There is no door on one of the 3 bedrooms. There is no door to the bathroom on one of the en-suite bed/ bath combos. There are no hot mitts for taking things out of the oven. There is not enough cookware to make a meal for more than 4 people. I have stayed in 1 bedroom condos that have more cookware. You do not learn until she sends her long list of “rules” the night before you arrive that you will only have enough towels, dishes, cutlery and toilet paper for 4 people even though the house is listed as accommodating 5 people and irrespective of the fact that we paid extra in order to have 6 people. She says the pool is heated, but it’s barely heated. Not enough for anyone to swim comfortably - even our teenagers said it was too cold. She will only provide you with 3 pool towels - again for 6 people AND after paying hundreds of dollars for the 6th person. She will most likely respond to this review by saying false and ugly things about us like she did to another reviewer on the VRBO site - like her accusation that we stole a hard drive out of a TV. We are a dual income professional family that has 5 televisions in our own house that we paid for. Why in the world would we steal a hard drive out of a TV? We think she chose this oddity because we would have no way to prove that we didn’t take it. It will be up to you to decide if you want to take the chance and believe her or if you want to steer clear of this place and protect yourself from her strange and dishonest behavior.