Whitewater Homes

The rooms were clean, comfortable, thoughtfully decorated, and well stocked. The beach is very close, but traffic getting there was terrible. Start early to avoid it. We’d definitely stay again.

The room had some good new finishes: smooth walls and ceilings, fresh paint, vinyl plank floors, and a new kitchen with a decent number of cabinets, a nice sink, and a small fridge. The Roku TV had local channels and movies, and there was a little table with two chairs plus a desk and office chair. The king bed was comfortable. The new bathroom was adequate, though short on space for two people's things, and the tiled walk-in shower felt narrow. Oddly, it had a tub diverter instead of a dedicated shower control, but it worked. We found a live roach one morning, which I know isn’t unusual in Florida, and sent it down the shower drain. The place seems to be a remodeled duplex split into four smaller units, and the workmanship itself was quite good. Finding and securing the unit was another story. There was only an address on the building, with no clear unit name or number, so I tried two doors before I found ours. After another guest walked in on us, I contacted the manager. The reply was rude and said the instructions were in the long email document. Guests shouldn’t have to read every page to learn how to lock the door. I didn’t understand the lock at first and left the door unlocked several times, thinking it had locked when I left. That’s not good. The door was also hard to operate. The units are among private homes and rentals. It wasn’t a bad area, but some homes had trash piled at the curb for the whole week we were there. The thin walls made plumbing, traffic, and neighboring voices easy to hear. The little upholstered recliners were too small, uncomfortable, and difficult to use. The fridge sat on the counter, making it awkward to reach, and the lone upper cabinet was too high to be useful. Mini blinds did a poor job of blocking light, and headlights from guests arriving at night shone into the room, which is bad if you sleep during the day. Water pressure was an issue, and at times there wasn’t enough hot water. Also, why put a fire extinguisher above the kitchen sink? There wasn’t even a chair outside the room, so we had nowhere to sit in the lovely Florida spring weather. The small mini-split HVAC blew cold air right at us while we watched TV or lay in bed. It was manageable with temperatures in the 70s, but I doubt it could keep the room comfortable when it’s in the 90s. This didn’t feel like a standard owner-away AirBnB. It felt like an attempt to make quick money. The stay wasn’t a total failure, but more thought and care during the renovation and furnishing could have made it much more comfortable.

A really nice room, with a quiet, private feel in a pleasant neighborhood.

Back for a second stay in a row, and I’m just as pleased. The suite is modern and immaculate, and the customer service agent was easy to reach when I needed help checking in. It’s in a quiet, safe neighborhood, close to everything.