Solterra Resort Orlando by Global Vacation Rentals in Davenport, FL

We have traveled extensively around the world and have rarely seen accommodations this bad for this price. This house at 8004 Oak Shadow in the Solterra Resort was a disappointment on nearly every level. The house is BOLDLY MISREPRESENTED by PLUS VACATION HOMES on the AIRBNB website. The pictures make it look far better than it is; a closer look is required to see it is A DUMP. Of all the issues mentioned in previous reviews, the ONLY one that had been fixed was a television that didn’t function properly. We had no tv issues during our stay. Nothing seems to have been done to correct any other issues regarding cleanliness, furniture, shower doors or carpet. ALARM The Alarm Panel in Living Room was flashing RED on arrival indicating a Silent Alarm had been activated. A host representative was there within the hour, blankly stared at the alarm panel, and told us that it didn’t mean anything and that we should just ignore it. (More on this alarm later) DIRTY CARPET The carpet on the stairs and upstairs was filthy. Needs to be replaced. Rugs downstairs were dirty and smelled like animals. The greasy, dirty sliding glass door track with no door mat likely makes the carpet worse. DIRTY WALLS AND CEILINGS The entire interior needs to be painted. The walls and ceilings are dirty, scuffed, stained and patched. Repairs were done poorly by a crew who needs a refresher course in basic repairs. DIRTY KITCHEN The kitchen clearly had not been cleaned to any acceptable standards. Food smeared on fridge. Dirty stovetop and oven. Dirty dishes in cabinets. Dirty silverware. Cookware was a mismatched collection of small, dented pots and pans. ALL DISHES, POTS AND PANS had to be scrubbed before use. No can opener - had to borrow one from the neighbors, then purchased one later at my time and expense. Trash can lid was broken and sitting on floor when we arrived. NO SHELVES IN REFRIGERATOR The refrigerator was missing all the door shelves except one. The lower vegetable drawer was already broken when located on the floor in the pantry. NOTE: the Host’s “solution” was to order more on Amazon, and we, of course, never saw them before our departure the following Saturday. Empty promises. DIRTY BATHROOMS ALL showers required MOLD and MILDEW removal (supplies purchased at my time and expense). Multiple SHOWER DOORS need repair or replacement, as they were mis-hung, noisy and one fell off the track. The common bathroom upstairs actually has the WRONG SIZED DOOR hanging in the doorframe to the tub and toilet. It’s roughly TWO INCHES wider than the doorframe and is unusable. Again, basic home repair FAIL. NO BATHMATS OR HAND TOWELS Tile floors require BATHMATS for safety purposes. There was ONE bath mat among the six bathrooms. Our complaint on SATURDAY received a response on TUESDAY, when bath mats and hand towels were finally delivered. But that was TWO DAYS after I purchased bath mats and hand towels on my own and at my expense to prevent falls and injuries. The lack of hand towels were merely a nuisance for the first three days, but a clear MISREPRESENTATION from the photos, home description on the AirBnB website and the pre-arrival correspondence from Plus Vacation Homes. DIM EXTERIOR LIGHTING The lighting on the front of the house is fair at the driveway and poor at the front doorway. The red glow from the doorbell was nearly as bright as the low wattage overhead porch light. (More on these later) OLD, CHEAP FURNITURE The furniture throughout the house was old, cheap, dirty/stained, and in some cases unstable. It resembled college dorm furniture or what you might find in a cheap motel. Several bedrooms had no dressers, benches or any way to keep suitcases off the floors - definitely inconvenient for a weeklong stay. Several beds made terrible noises when you moved and had bedsprings that poked from within. SCREENED POOL The screen door to access the yard from the pool area was only hanging on by one, lower hinge. Without repairs or gentle handling, it will be broken soon. The hole in the screen mentioned in other review is still there. POOL CLEANERS The one bright spot in this home was the heated pool. All fun and games until the POOL CLEANERS arrived unannounced and required us to vacate for 1hour in the afternoon while he cleaned and added chemicals. Though he was friendly, this was unprofessional, poor scheduling. CROWDED RESORT PARKING Not sure how a home that sleeps 14 is supposed to park cars in a very small 2-car driveway?? Street parking was very limited, highly sought after and rarely available. RESORT TRAFFIC Though no fault of the Host, the traffic into and out of the Solterra Resort was painful. Ten minutes to get in and ten minutes to get out required advanced planning. The traffic backups to turn into Solterra are DANGEROUS. Impatient drivers and high volumes of traffic are a recipe for accidents and injuries. MERRY CHRISTMAS At 3:40AM on Tuesday - Christmas Eve - we were awakened by someone banging on our front door. No front porch lights made it impossible to identify the two figures standing in the dark. They claimed to be Security, but I didn’t open the door until we heard sirens in the distance getting louder. A tow truck driver (they’re serious about their Parking regulations) noticed our front doorbell glowing red and called in a Fire Alarm to Security. County Emergency Services were on their way. They arrived using their sirens, horns and loud speakers to clear the Security vehicles that were blocking the street. I refused entry into the house since some of the family and the baby were somehow still sleeping. The sensible First Responder was the Fireman who stuck his head in the front door, verified that it was a false alarm, and with his sincere apologies, wished us a Merry Christmas. Apparently there was more to that red, flashing Alarm panel that was identified THREE DAYS earlier. The panel and the doorbell remained red for the duration of our stay. AIRBNB and/or PLUS VACATIONS HOMES grossly misrepresented the condition of the house and furnishings. As many times as the ‘Solterra Resort’ and the word ‘resort’ was mentioned, our expectations were much higher than what we found and were stuck with. Except for the initial trouble call for the Silent Alarm on our arrival, our complaints and issues were met with promises for a Maintenance Man to come to the house or solutions to be forthcoming. The Maintenance Man never showed up. No maintenance items were ever addressed. One response included the comment that PLUS VACATION HOMES were very busy over the holidays. It seems to me that if you charge Holiday Premiums for the property, they should be properly staffed for contingencies. This was clearly not the case for 8004 Oak Shadow in Solterra. We paid far more than what it is actually worth, regardless of holiday vacation weeks. We spent valuable family time CLEANING, SHOPPING, PURCHASING, and ADAPTING to the poor conditions. I have photos to prove all of the above conditions and discrepancies. We plan to look elsewhere for future vacation planning and encourage future travelers to steer clear of this house.

We stayed in one of the Villas in Solterra over the holidays with friends. Had an amazing vacation! The resort has many amenities like a sand volleyball court, pickleball, resort pool with slide. We will definitely stay again. All the Villas are individually owned. Don’t know why some review there villa here!

Amazing resort, we love it here! Beautiful, well kept resort with fabulous clubhouse with large pool, lazy river, play park, restaurant and bar, weekly events for the entire family! So close to the parks and attractions, and an array of shops just minutes minutes away. We wouldn’t go anywhere else!

We were her with a group of friends, and I definitely can recommend this, near all the parks and shopping outlets, and also the amenities on the resort where are great despite some bad reviews, bit can wait to go again. Next time I will take the family so they can enjoy the lazy river or the pool while we can enjoy the newly installed pickleball court

This is about the 6 th time we’ve been here. It’s a family favourite of ours. Lovely clean resort definitely the best we’ve stayed at , so we keep returning , it’s definitely been better each time we return , being a fairly new resort it had a couple of issues but this last visit was the best.