My extended family, from all over the US, were invited to South Padre Island to stay at Sapphire Condos for a 90th birthday celebration to be held in April 2019. As a single person, I booked the smallest offering (2BR condo which accommodates up to 6 people) in January 2019. Because the birthday party was during Spring Break and Holy Week, the property management was explicit that only family was allowed to stay in the condos. That was fine and I arranged for two cousins to share the space. We are all in our 60s.
There were multiple issues regarding room rates. The website priced my chosen condo at $275. A relative was quoted $300 for this same condo. The actual booking price was $325/night plus fees after I was told that the $275 was a low-season rate. The rate confusion continued with the initial deposit. I was told one price for the deposit and was then charged something different as "our policy changed". A few weeks later, I was informed that they would be billing the first night plus fees. The total charged was much higher than expected so I called the property again. They had raised my daily rate to $375. I told them that wasn't the quoted price, and after checking, the agent told me that they would honor my original rate of $325 but that I was told the wrong price at the beginning. I asked them to tell me the total for the entire April stay. When the final payment was due the week before our stay, I was charged several hundred dollars more than the quoted total so I called again. Kudos to Esperenza who was helpful and understanding; she adjusted the amount to match what I had been quoted in January. It was hard to decide if overall property management people were incompetent or unscrupulous.
About ten days before our stay was to commence, I received an email requesting my signed lease agreement. I had not been sent any contract during the three months since booking. It was then emailed to me and I was taken aback when I read the paragraph "Restricted Dates". Excerpts: "Sapphire HOA Concierge will ask for IDs of all guests to confirm the renter and guests are a family living under the same household...if the renter does not meet requirements...renter will forfeit deposit and rent...Cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews or nieces are NOT considered immediate family." I then had to call again, plus request in writing, that we be given an exception so that three adult cousins could stay in the same condo. This request was granted with help from Esperenza again who upgraded us to a 3BR unit. I wrote on our full legal names and birth dates on our signed contract so they would match our IDs, as it stated IDs had to be shown for each person at check-in, Reality...they only looked at my ID at check-in and gave all three of us wristbands. Their contract demanded compliance with many, many rules and then staff were very lax in enforcing them.
The only positive part of the experience was spending time with family...under my definition of family which includes cousins.
