Avis The Good Life 3BR/2Bath: Big Pool, Covered Porch, 5 Min Walk to Beach, Wireless

Thanks for your review, Laurie. We're glad you enjoyed your stay. Of course, we wish you had a 5/5-star stay (or 10/10 in Expedia rather than VRBO language)! We do our very best to ensure that our guests have wonderful stays at the cottage, as you can tell from our average of 5/5 star reviews from over 80 reviews (or 10/10 using Expedia's rating system)! Although we don't know what led to you experience a less-than-perfect stay, we will be staying at the cottage in a few days and will experience it through the eyes of our guests (which we do regularly so that we can ensure the cottage meets or exceeds guests' expectations). That may give us a better sense of what wasn't perfect for you. As many of our guests have said in previous reviews - and as I tell all of our guests in their welcome email before they check in - I am always available to answer any questions and solve any problems quickly before, during, and after their stays. I hadn't heard from you during your stay so I wasn't able to address any issues you may have had - or I would have done so in a heartbeat! We hope you come back to the Good Life in the future or try out our cottage next door (Key Lime Cottage, VRBO 33828). We'll take good care of you! Paula

Hi Kathryn: Thank you for your 5 out of 5 star review! I'm delighted that you enjoyed the cottage, porch, beach, and local area so much. As you could tell, we do our best to provide our guests with everything they need to have a relaxing vacation and make new memories with the people they care about. We hope you come back to the Good Life or try out our 3 bedroom/2 bath cottage next door - Key Lime (VRBO 33828). You know we'll take good care of you! Paula

Thanks for your kind words, Carmen! I'm glad you enjoyed the cottage and the location. It's great to be steps from the pool and still have privacy and quiet when relaxing on the covered porch surrounded by the native trees and palmettos :-). Being only a 5 minute walk to our deeded beach access where you can set up and relax is pretty great, too. I'm glad you found our communication to be helpful. We're happy that our guests trust us with their precious vacation time, so we do our best to provide useful information regarding the cottage and nearby community before our guests arrive. We answer all questions quickly because we want our guests to be able to settle into the cottage and start relaxing as soon as they get to the cottage. We hope you come back to the Good Life or try out our cottage next door (Key Lime, VRBO.com/33828). You know we'll take good care of you and your family! Paula

Thanks, Billie, for your uplifting review! Reading your review is a great way for me to start my day :-). I'm glad you could tell that we do our best to ensure that our cottages meet or exceed our guests' expectations (we also own Key Lime next door, VRBO.com/33828), which - as you suggest - is not always the case when one books a rental online. We want our guests to say "Wow" (and "whew" when they see how clean our cottages are) as soon as they walk through the door because we sincerely care about our guests and their experience at the cottage. And we want that Wow feeling to continue when our guests see the fully equipped kitchen, relax on the fully furnished porch, enjoy the big pool only a few steps away, and experience nature at her best on the beach only a 5 minute walk away. We hope the kids will say Wow when they see all of the many puzzles, games, and books for all ages that will keep them - and their parents - happy throughout their stay - rain or shine. We hope you'll come back to the Good Life or try out Key Lime next door. You know we'll take good care of you and your family! Paula

Well, I have to say WOW to your review! Your review definitely reflects the experience that we want our guests to have when they're at the Good Life Cottage (and our cottage next door, Key Lime, VRBO.com/33828)! You and other guests have mentioned that the cottage looks even better in person than in the photos (though we think the photos are quite nice). I think that's because the photos are of the design of the cottage itself which is quite lovely, and don't really capture all the things that we do to focus on our guests' experience as soon as they walk in the door. So, beyond how nice. clean, and updated our cottages are, we take pride in our updated and fully equipped kitchen that makes cooking/dining easy, the comfortable furniture, and the puzzles, games, and books for all ages. All of the activities at the cottage are designed to bring families and friends together to connect with each other and make memories together (and ideally inspire a tech-free or minimally tech vacation). Oh, and I, too, appreciate all of the hooks for hanging things in the hallways, bedrooms, and bathrooms. We've traveled quite a bit with our children, and being able to be organized is an under-rated benefit of a well-designed cottage (and I'll guess that you enjoyed the cubbies in the closets - we just had the closets redesigned at both of our cottages). I'm always surprised when a bathroom has only 1 or 2 hooks or bars for towels and clothes, so we have a lot of hooks at our cottages :-). As you could tell, we really have fun thinking about ways to help our guests have a wonderful and easy vacation that go beyond how nice our cottages look. I'm glad you appreciated the sound of the raindrops as you and your family relaxed on the porch - we love listening to the sound of the raindrops while sitting on the porch as well! And thanks for noting that our small community is peaceful and that the beach where guests can set up with the beach chairs we leave for guests (or rent beach chair set ups) is only a five minute walk away and doesn't get overly-crowded even during the busiest weeks of the year. It's nice not to worry about finding parking at the beach. Thanks again for your very thoughtful and kind review. Of course, we'd love you to come back to the Good Life or try out Key Lime next door. You know we'll take good care of you! Paula

Wow, Scott! I'm honored by your very kind review! Our goal is for our guests to have exactly the kind of vacation that you describe. I agree that a massive house isn't needed if our well-designed 3 bedroom/2 bath will work for you. The Good Life is designed to feel roomy even though it's not massive. After all, we just renovated it to make the most of the space (the kitchen has a lot storage and the renovated bedroom closets have a lot of handy storage as well). Guests can rent our cottage next door (Key Lime, VRBO 338282, also 3 bedroom/2 bath) in addition to the Good Life if they are traveling with more people and if they want 2 kitchens, 6 bedrooms, and 4 baths (which is what some of our guests with larger families/groups of friends do) . The cost for renting our two side-by-side cottages is still likely to be less than renting one massive place.. The big covered porch at each cottage adds a lot of gathering and relaxing space - and the community pool will be plenty big for everyone.. You had some rain during your stay (we would certainly inlfuence Mother Nature for our guests if we could) and I'm glad the games/puzzles/books (and covered porch) helped you make the most of your stay. despite the rain. I'm also glad that you enjoyed the area on your bikes. I know you didn't have a car and still had plenty to do (and eat) within a few miles of the cottage. Like you, we thoroughly enjoy our deeded beach access and the beach where guests can set up the beach chairs we leave for them - only a 5 minute walk from the cottage. No need to look for parking at the beach! I'm really delighted that you had a special vacation. . We hope you come back to the Good Life (or try out Key Lime Cottage next door). You know we'll take good care of you. Again, thanks for making my day (and more) with your very kind review! Paula

Wow, Troy! Thank you for all the wonderful things you said about the cottage, location, pool, beach - and even me! I'm delighted you were so happy with your stay, especially since you had 3 generations enjoying the cottage. I sincerely appreciate your kindness for taking time to write such a thoughtful review. Of course, I wish the hot tub had been working and I wish the local management company that takes care of our guests and cottages had been better at responding. They are usually fast when responding to maintenance issues, but they dropped the ball on the issue with the hot tub, most likely because - while they can take full responsibility for maintaining the cottage - they have go to through the Home Owner Association for hot tub issues which usually require external repair people. But, that said, they definitely should have stayed in touch with you to let you know what was going on (and I'll be in touch with our local property manager to discuss this with her because she and I share the common goal of taking good care of our guests' needs). For potential guests reading this, know that you can always contact me if there are any issues that would benefit from my attention :-). As you can tell from Troy's comments,, I enjoy doing what I can to help our guests have a wonderful vacation because I appreciate that they trust me and our cottages with their precious vacation time. Troy, we'd love to host you and your family at the Good Life or our cottage next door (Key Lime, also 3 bedroom/2 bath, VRBO 33828) in the future. You know we'll take good care of you! Paula

Thanks for your 5 star review, Sarahgrace! I'm delighted that the Good Life Cottage was perfect for your family's vacation. That's exactly how we hope our guests will feel because we know that vacation time with family and friends is precious. Like you, we are thankful that we have deeded beach access where our guests can set up on the beach and relax only a 5 minute walk from the cottage. I'm glad you like the beds, too! A good night's sleep and restful naps are important (which is why we have nice room darkening drapes in the bedrooms, too). We send our guests an email about two weeks before they arrive to help them plan their trip - what we have at the cottage (plenty of beach chairs, beach toys, games/puzzles books for all ages, starter set of amenities, and more), as well as recommendations for what to bring so they can settle in quickly. We also include information about where to rent bikes, how to rent a beach chair set up if you want to have it set up for you at the beach every day, the location of the local Publix grocery store which is only 1.5 miles away, and information about local restaurants. We believe that the sooner our guests can settle into the cottage, the sooner they can relax and enjoy the cottage, porch, pool, and beach! We're looking forward to hosting you and your wonderful family at the Good Life or at our cottage next door (Key Lime, VRBO 33828). You know we'll take good care of you! Paula.

Hi Brian: Thank you for your kind review! We do our best to provide an accurate description of the cottage (including the games, puzzles, etc.), porch, pool and beach on VRBO - and I'm glad you found the cottage and area to be as nice as you expected. We want all of our guests' surprises to be good ones when they arrive at the cottage ::-). Like you, we appreciate the location of the cottage - so close to the beach where our guests can set up the beach chairs that we provide and relax (or rent a beach chair/umbrella set that is set up usually by 9:00 in the morning and taken down around 5:00 p.m. ).. We hope you come back to the Good Life in the future or try out our other 3-bedroom/2 bath cottage next door (Key Lime, VRBO 33828). You know we'll take good care of you! Paula