We booked a little family get away for my wife's birthday. We had our hearts set on spending the weekend hanging by the pool and enjoying the Friday Harbour resort. We booked May 20th for June 17-19 and Chelsea was very nice to get things setup.
Here is where the disappointment begins:
1) the pool was closed for major maintenance from May 30th, Chelsea did not toll us until the morning of our arrival, when I messaged to ask about pool towels. This was a massive disappointment to my family. An offer to cancel the Day of arrival or token refund for our troubles was a far fetching solution to destroy my families weekend. The pool had been shut down for more then 2 weeks prior, she had plenty of time to notify us but failed.
2) Construction: guests need to be aware, that this condo is on the third floor overlooking an active construction site like 4-5metres right below are heavy construction equipment working. The dust and noise starting at 7am is terrible. They did have white noise devices in the bedrooms, but these really do not help with the backup beepers on the diggers and trucks. The Condo balcony is almost unusable from the dust.
3) Friday Harbour resort: The grounds are quite spectacular, and the shops and boardwalk are awesome. The beach area is tiny, water is not so nice, lots of weeds. Unless you are an owner, you do not have access to lawn chairs on the beach, the Beach Club and Lake Club. These are all off limits to renters. Beautiful pools and we couldn’t get to them, just made my kids disappointment worse.
4) FOB access: In and out of the building and parking requires FOB access. There is only one FOB, so I got locked in the parking garage because you can’t drive out without the FOB, I was going into Barrie and left the FOB with my wife to explore the resort. Luckily another resident opened the door for me. Even when we had to leave, we packed up and left, parked on the street and then had to run the FOB back up to the condo.
On the positive side: the condo is well stocked, lots of appliances, even a waffle maker, Popcorn pot and seasoning, was so fun. Lots of little extras, great sound system, PS4 with a few games.
Final Thoughts, the owner failed to be upfront and communicate the pool closure and the construction. This was preventable, and they likely didn’t want to lose the rental, but instead ruined a families getaway and my wife’s birthday escape. If you are considering renting, please consider this.