Daudelin Gulf Coast Vacation Rentals

I had a terrible experience with Daudelin Vacation Resorts after trying to rent two cottages in the Blue Waters Beach Club. I rented two cottages via their online rental reservation system and immediately received an email confirming and approving my reservation. After receiving this confirmation, my party of 8 booked our airfare to Florida. The next day I received a call from Linda, the manager at Daudelin, letting me know she was canceling my reservations for reasons that our length of stay was too short. I tried to reason with her explaining that I booked the 4 night stay via their website with no problems and even received an email confirmation of the reservation. She was so rude and completely unreasonable on the phone that I had to ask her twice to please stop talking over me and even asked her to please speak to me in a nicer tone. I tried via voicemails and emails to get in touch with Larry Daudelin — the owner of Blue Water Resort, but he did not return any of my calls or emails. I asked Linda to please hold the reservations until I spoke to Larry regarding the matter. Upon my asking this, she hung up on me and was «not available» or «on another call» each time I tried to reach her again. Our reservation for 8 was canceled without anyone explaining exactly why and with such rudeness and complete disregard for customer satisfaction that I would not rent from Daudelin again if they were giving rentals away for free. Their cancelation policy imposed on renters for the Blue Waters Resort is a $ 100/​rental cancelation fee. I do not understand why Daudelin feels they can charge their renters for canceling, but canceled my reservation with complete disregard. Only following my issue did they adjust their website to not allow daily rentals.
Their website states that «Customer service and satisfaction is our #1 priority» which is completely untrue. If this were even slightly true — Mr. Daudelin would have returned an email or phone call to me, I would not have been berated by their office manager, and they would have taken into consideration that they confirmed my reservation and 8 people were relying on that reservation for a place to stay in Florida.
I would absolutely not rent from Daudelin. They have demonstrated that they have no regard for their customers. Judging by the other reviews online, I’m sure the Blue Water Resort Cottages are nice. However, who would want to stay somewhere knowing that the management does not have its clients best interests in mind and that they will completely inconvenience you without a second thought. If you are interested in staying in the Treasure Island Area — I would recommend the Westwinds Waterfront Vacation Resort. After dealing with Daudelin, we stumbled upon Westwinds while scrambling to find new lodging. The woman who we spoke to when making our reservation was a breath of fresh air compared to what we experienced at Daudelin.
We have also filed a claim with the Better Business Bureau regarding this matter.