Guest User
April 5, 2022
Wow what a disaster. My wife and I booked two and a half weeks March 2022 in Cancun at Amara Beachfront Casa De Dora B905. We had numerous problems with the condo (missing kitchen items, had to make coffee on stove, no TV service, light oven with match, minimal towels/linen, 1 elevator per building occasionally not working, cold/scalding showers, bar & restaurant palapas both closed, noisy area, etc) We initially tried to treat these as just minor annoyances and work with staff to fix the most problematic issues, but the deal breaker came when a major renovation started a few days after arrival in a condo directly below us. The noise was loud and constant (hammers, drills, saws) making it virtually impossible to be in the unit during the day. When we learned that this renovation would continue through the entire duration of our stay, we decided to cut our losses and leave a week early and find another property. (not easy to do short notice during Spring break in Cancun!) We ultimately found another condo and did receive a partial refund which offset some of the costs of relocating, but it was a disruptive and frustrating process. About a week after we left we posted what we felt was an honest/fair review of our experience on the Vacasa site where we made the original reservation. Today I checked Vacasa to see if my review was live and was shocked to see that a review with my name was there, but I didn't write it!. Someone had placed a forged review giving the property a five star rating. Here is a copy of the review on vacasa: (Brian E. Mar 2022 - 5* We had a very nice vacation. The facilities, the space in the whole apartment and the balcony are worth it. Highly recommended.) You can see my actual review below to see how different it is from this forgery. I didn't want to believe that Vacasa/Vrbo might have a way to filter or not post critical reviews, but was a bit suspicious since all the prior 'reviews' gave the condo glowing reviews despite some obvious issues. I was not prepared to see a completely falsified review in my name. I contacted Vacasa and advised them of this issue, and have lost confidence in the validity of the "guest reviews" as it appears they can be manipulated or falsified at least in our case. We have been customers of vrbo/vacasa for many years and this is the only time we had to leave a property early or had these kinds of problems with a property. Perhaps it is an isolated incident specific to this property/unit/manager, but the falsified review is troubling if not fraudulent, and adds insult to injury. We hope posting this on Tripadvisor will help other travelers in making a more informed decision about this property and it's issues. (If you are interested in specific details, I have included the review that we actually uploaded to vacasa that was replaced with the forged review noted above) "Not what we were expecting… THE GOOD - The condo itself is nice and has a lovely panora