San Benito Home w/ Pond View - Short Drive to Gulf

Reviews

• A Great Place to Stay in the Valley

  5/5

  Great location for birders. Close to Laguna Atascosa NWR and South Padre Island World Birding Center, as well as other preserves, but not even necessary to leave the grounds for wildlife viewing. The home is well maintained and comfortable. The owner responded quickly to any questions we had. Would definitely recommend this property.

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo

• Could be a Nature Preserve!

  5/5

  We loved this place!!! It was very hard to get up and go anywhere else. We had 98 species of birds on the property during our 25 day stay. The house comes with a nice yard and deck overlooking the Resaca(cut off oxbow). Many evenings were spent watching the sunsets and observing the birds and turtles from the deck. During our visit we could have used some extra blankets as we did have some chilly nights and the kitchen could use a good cleaning and new paint job. There is a bath and a half, which means in this case a full bathroom with shower, sink and toilet and in the laundry room another shower(very nice) and sink. Everything worked out fine as we had three people during most of our visit. This is a very quiet peaceful place and we will not hesitate to book the house again when in the area. Very nearby is South Padre Island, Boca Chica State Park, Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge and Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park.

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo

• Description lacks valuable information!!

  2/5

  When we booked this house there was nowhere in the details and/or descriptions that truly indicates how isolated this house is from any major road. To get to the house you have to travel down one road that while paved it is not well maintained and then onto another road that is barely a one lane road with so many potholes it made it hard to drive. Plus neither roads contained street lights so while driving at night it was almost impossible to locate the house without making at least one or two wrong turns. One the last road before turning onto the property were 3-4 stray dogs who would roam up and down the road and while they never came onto the property it did make us cautious to go anywhere close to the edge of the property.

  Once on the property, the house was well maintained and had lots of places to explore and enjoy the outdoors. The property itself was more like a 4 star experience but because of how isolated it is it made for a difficult time coming and going each time we left. While the descriptions says 1.5 bath - it is really only one full bathroom with another shower in the basement rather than a second potty which made it more difficult and again the description was not fully accurate.

  Our experience with Home Away itself was not a positive one either - upon learning just how isolated the house truly was we requested to cancelled and get our money back so we could find another alternative but were told that our money was nonrefundable even though it was their description and accurate details of the property which made us uncomfortable. We will not be using Home Away again and unless you know the area REALLY well I would not recommend this property to anyone traveling to the area.

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo

  Manager's Response:

  Hi Kristin, We were sorry to hear that you were disappointed with the location of the property before your stay. We take the accuracy of our listings seriously - it's even one of our 4 Core Property Standards! As such, we take care to correctly represent the location of our properties in the listing description. While we do not disclose the exact address to protect the safety of the homeowner and their guests, travelers can use the map feature to see the cross streets and gauge the surrounding area. We also include notes on the property's distance from several local attractions as well as aerial photos so that travelers can have a clear picture of the property before they book. We are sorry that HomeAway was not able to provide the resolution you were hoping for, and we would like to note that both HomeAway and Evolve offer travel insurance in case guests need to cancel for reasons that are outside of the control of the homeowner. We are glad that you were able to enjoy this well maintained and restored vacation home, and we wish you all the best in your future travels. Best, the Evolve Team

• Remote property that is great for birding.

  4/5

  Very well appointed two bedroom home with everything you need to enjoy your South Texas stay. The only drawback for us was the owners use of plug in air fresheners, which was mitigated by unplugging them and opening the windows. Lovely property with lots of birds!

  *This review was originally posted on Vrbo