Fortuna House Apartments Esther Behar Complete Scam! Do Not Be Fooled by Pictures and Reviews! Miami Florida

We checked into this "hotel" the evening of April 12th.  I had done very little research previous to booking, as I had found the property through VRBO/HomeAway, and in 5 years of using this site had never had a problem.  Well, our luck ran out with the Fortuna House "apartments."  I only fear that others using this service (HomeAway) will face the same dilemma as we did, since the pictures and listing there are clearly fraudulent and the reviews fake.  How is it that HomeAway has nothing but great reviews for this place, while YELP is filled with negative ones?  I'll tell you why ... HomeAway protects its owners by not publishing the negative reviews!

When we first arrived, we realized what we had gotten ourselves into.  Instead of the off-street parking promised in the listing, we were forced to park on the street and weren't entirely sure of the safety of this, given the surrounding area. Furthermore, instead of the bright, airy, CLEAN room shown in the listing, we were led to a 1st floor room at the back of the building, down a filthy hallway with dead roaches that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in at least a month.  We have never found the pictures on HomeAway to be so misleading ... instead of 3 windows ... 1 in the "kitchen" and 2 in the main area, there was one dingy window in the main area with bars covering it overlooking an alley.  The room itself was disgusting, from the stained sofa to the crumbs throughout the fridge, filthy countertops, and the floors that turned our feet black after only a short time.  I have pictures of it all ...

even the airline ticket stub left behind on the floor by the previous occupant.  I would be surprised if our room had even received a cursory cleaning between their departure and our arrival.  The "amenities" included a half roll of toilet paper, no paper towels, a ratty sponge, 2 threadbare towels, a broken bedside lamp, and a mattress from the mid-60s that was as hard as a rock.  The "fully stocked" kitchen included some junky cutlery (2 place settings and some misc. spoons), some thrift store dishes (again, for two) and bombed out pots and pans.  No matter ... there was no way we were going to eat anything in that kitchen, even though the sole reason we rent through HomeAway is so that we have a kitchen to prepare meals for my daughter who has food allergies.

Since we arrived in the evening with an early morning appointment the next day, we had no choice but to tough it out.  BIG MISTAKE ... we should have left immediately.  As it is, we did not get to sleep until well after midnight due to the noise from the room above us, and were frighteningly awakened at 5am by a drunken and/or drugged out (prostitute?) banging on our window and shining her cell phone flashlight yelling for "Lex" to let her in!  I called the number on the wall (there is no security to speak of here and no one on-site to help with such problems), and when I told the man who answered what was happening, he did not even flinch but said he would call the police.  Given the quality of these lodgings and the neighborhood, my guess is that this is a common occurrence.  The best part was when said women brought a ladder back and was trying to gain access to the room above us, all the while screaming for "Lex" with no police in sight.  Somehow, she ended up inside the building, where we got to hear her yelling and banging on doors above us as well.  Perhaps if it had been only my husband and me, this would have just been a huge annoyance, but having two small children with us, it was very frightening.  We gathered our things and left shortly after, with NO PHONE CALL FROM MANAGEMENT to follow up and see how we were or whether the police had arrived and taken care of the situation.  This is simply unacceptable, and no one should have to experience this ever, much less on vacation.  It ruined our entire trip, and after our appointment the next morning, we ended up cutting our trip short and hightailing it back to Central Florida.

Even though we forfeited our 2nd night, I thought there would be SOME recourse, but apparently Esther (the owner) is well versed on the ins and outs of screwing people over and knew that we would be out of pocket for both nights.  Please, please do ample research ... do not just rely on reviews from the site you are booking through ... and be well aware of what others have to say about their stay.  Had I looked at Yelp, there is no way I would have EVER booked this dump!  In fact, there is already a review on Yelp from the same night we stayed detailing the same story (I will post mine there as well, and am currently waiting for my review to be published on HomeAway, but I am not holding my breath!).  I plan to get the word out in any way I can ...   this is not a "vacation rental by owner" but a flop house masquerading as a legit business!!  Lesson learned.