Sterling Resorts- Sterling Sands, Destin

We stayed at Sterling Shores last week (4-4-12) I'll start what with what was nice about the place. The location is ideal. It's walking distance to the Back Porch. The views are stellar. The size of the condo perfect. We had a 3 bedroom end unit, The manager down stairs was very friendly at check in and the unit over all was what we expected. However, I would not go back to this place because I don't think they put a premium on safety. I was taking a nap at about 5 o clock and I heard something coming from the master bedroom above me. It sounded like a little girl who was being hurt. Like maybe someone was tickling her too hard to the point of suffication and tears. It made me mad but I didn't think anything about it. Later that night from midnight until about 1am I heard what to me sounded like a little girl being hurt. I hurt screams. The noise was not drunk sounds. There seemed to be more then a couple of people up their. To me she sounded scared and very young. I wish to God I had called the police then. But instead I called the property management. I was VERY clear that I thought I was hearing a very young girl being abused. After 1am the screams stopped. The next day at check out I went down to the manager again and asked her if she got my message. She was slightly defensive and said several times, even before I reiterated my story that "all she was told was that someone heard screams." My impression was that she protested just a little too much about "not being told" it was a childs screams. She said she sent the security guard, he didn't hear anything and she assumed it was just some spring breakers. She told me that the owners were in the unit and that they didn't have children. I got the impression that Sterling Sands is a business and she didn't want to get involved. I made a mistake. I should have called the police immediately. She also made a mistake. She didn't call the police and seemed to prefer to brush the scenario "under the rug." Perhaps it was nothing. But what if it isn't ? What kind of judgement does this establishment use? It didn't appear that safety was a priority in this particular case. This particular condo doesn't appear to get rented. It is owned by "Destin's Beach Boys inc." The home address for this "business" is a storage place in Alabama. I called the police and made a report. He told me their hands are tied because I didn't report it immediately. So, if any future tenants of Sterling Sands hears or sees something questionable from the "Beach Boys" PLEASE call the police immediately. I'm having a hard time living with myself because of my bad decision.

When we made our reservation at Sterling Sands in Destin,we couldn't wait!! We had stayed there before and loved it. The location is Great. Everything was going good till I got to the condo room. It was gross and not clean at all. Linens on beds did not look fresh. Bathrooms were not cleaned properly. I had to wash most of the dishs. I complained to a housekeeper and she told me it would be taken care of. I had to clean it all myself because we never seen anyone. When I called down to the desk, The Manager never returned my call. I was furious!! I should have persued the situation more, but it was already ruining my vacation.

My family loves Destin! We have vacationed at Sterling Sands each of the last 14 years. We have rented from several owners through the on-site management company as well as directly from the owner. We have never had a problem, until this year. Unit 608 was not clean. My 17-year-old son who normally does not notice if something is dirty or not described the condo's cleanliness as "disgusting". What do I mean by "not clean"? - Dried food (pasta noodles, tomatoes) in the kitchen sink - Food crumbs all over the coffee table in the living room - Sheets had grungy, wrinkled appearance as if they had not been laundered - Pillow cases had makeup stains on them. It looked like mascara and face makeup - Bath and hand towels in the master bathroom were slightly damp and had areas of dirt on them. They did not have the feel of laundered towels - Floors throughout the condo were sticky. After walking through the condo barefooted a few times the bottom of my spouse's feet were black - Bird poop on the balcony table, chairs, railing and floor - Dish towel in the kitchen was dirty/stained - The coffee pot in the dishwasher with coffee still in the pot We had to sleep on beach towels on top of the sheets to avoid sleeping on the dirty sheets. We called the owner later in the morning -- we had arrived about 1:00 AM or we would have called the owner immediately -- and tried to list the above-described issues for him. He did not seem to be interested in hearing the details. He said he would send the cleaning person back to clean. We were out when the cleaning person returned to "clean". When I returned I found the beds had been made. However, here are the issues that were NOT addressed: - The dirty towels in the master bathroom floor were not removed. Nor were any clean towels left to replace the dirty ones - The dried food was still in the kitchen sink - The food crumbs were still on the coffee table - The bird poop was still all over the balcony - The floors were still sticky - The dirty kitchen dish towel was still on the counter We called the owner again and told him that we could not stay there. We asked him for a refund for the remaining 5 nights that we were not able to use the condo. He said he would "call back at the first of the week to finalize the refund." He never called. He did not answer/return our phone calls. He did not answer our e-mail messages. I assume he was waiting for my check to clear. When I finally did receive a refund check, it was for one-third of the full rental amount. He kept two-thirds for the one night we were in the condo! I would not recommend renting unit 608.