We rented for 8 nights and arrived on time and were met by the property manager, Martin with Bonaire Oceanview Rentals. Martin was a very nice man that showed us around the house in the dark.

The following morning we noticed that the property wasn’t very clean – oven was dirty, floor was sticky and the bathroom shower needed deep cleaning of tile and grout. The refrigerator was dirty and still had old food from someone else that must have stayed there before us. I cleaned it myself rather than say anything so we would feel more comfortable for our week. We didn’t have access to a broom so I purchased one at the store, used it and left it for the owners. If I had this all to do over again, I would have requested a deep cleaning that morning or asked to be moved to a cleaner villa. But, I didn’t- my mistake because it got worse.

First, the items listed that this house DOES NOT provide are:

• Rinse tank – none – there is a faucet to rinse the dive gear, not a rinse tank.
• Dive locker – none – there is a close line outside to hang your dive gear.
• Safe – none was ever shown to us and we never found one. Possibly there is one in the owner’s room but there wasn’t one in the areas we had access to on the lease.
• Washer and dryer – yes there are both and we saw them once when the maid showed up to clean but our key to that building where they were located was not one that was provided to us and the maid locked it when she left that day.
• Sandy beach – none but a sandy shallow area.
• Espresso machine — There is a very nice Espresso machine in the kitchen but there are parts missing so it couldn’t be used. We looked everywhere for the items that would be needed to make it operational and they were not in the kitchen. We asked Martin the following day and he didn’t know where the parts were either.

Martin helped connect the t.v. the following day after check-in because it wasn’t working either. The Espresso machine appeared to be a very nice expensive machine so I guess its possible the owners didn’t want it used to avoid renters from breaking it. We did have a regular coffee maker which we used.

Note: the maid washes the towels and lays them all over the table and chairs to dry so they are stiff. Normally, towels are dried in a dryer and are softer. After they dried that day I folded them myself. We also noticed that a few towels had holes in them. Not that big of a deal but still – this is a property that is advertised as one that is more exclusive. I guess I expected the villa to be more like the pictures that are published and to be clean and have nicer towels that were soft.

In my opinion, this villa needs deep cleaning before it is rented again! As a rental we expected the oven, refrigerator and the silverware drawer to be cleaner. (It is cleaner now because I did it). I would also expect the maid to dry the towels and not lay them all over the tables and chairs and then leave it to us to fold them. I don’t mind doing some housework but not on VACATION when I’m paying someone to do it before I arrive.

Now, to the horrible part –

There are bars covering the windows, bars on the inside of the bedroom doors, an electronic gate at the driveway entrance, a gate that leads to the garden area, the rest of the main house and a gate at the ocean steps. We were advised at check-in to make sure the main electronic gate was left closed at all times which we did the entire time of our stay.

We didn’t feel comfortable locking the inside bars to the two bedroom doors while sleeping because we’d need a key quickly in case of a fire since bars covered all the windows. We also noticed there were cameras in a few places but we were not told they didn’t work until AFTER we had a break-in.

Yes, the ONE night that all 3 of us were gone for 2+ hours for dinner had an intruder that pried open the door to the bedrooms and took our electronics and made a mess of the rooms. The outside doors, the beach gate, the garden gate and the electronic gates were all locked when we left. We quickly realized it was a HUGE mistake staying at a place with no safe AND relying on the outside gates and beach gate being locked – it didn’t help in this instance keeping these thieves out of our rooms.

After the break-in with the door broken and unable to lock, I did not feel comfortable staying there so we left and cannot get a refund on the 3 nights were did not stay.

To make matters worse, Nicole with Bonaire Oceanview Rentals sent me an e-mail with this statement

“I can’t understand why you didn’t lock that door as otherwise nothing would have happened. The owner made arrangements to make the villa safe and you have just ignored them or maybe you forgot but still we can’t help it”

What? we didn’t lock the doors? YES WE DID LOCK THE DOOR! There is a very heavy, solid wooden door on the outside of the bedrooms. THESE DOORS were locked. They broke the wooden door to enter. They broke the locked door! I have pictures of that broken door.

To say that we were ignoring safety was an insult. The one item that was not locked was one set of the inside bars to one bedroom but the It is my opinion that the property manager and/or owner should have disclosed to us that there wasn’t a SAFE to lock up our items as they advertised, advise us to not leave without locking all the bars on the inside of the doors AND why didn’t they tell us the security cameras didn’t work?

It would also have been valuable knowledge to know that this area on the island is one that is frequently targeted by thieves with car and home break-ins. Knowing these things would have prevented the thieves from stealing our laptops, cameras, passports, earphones and book bag. Had their knowledge of these break-ins been shared at check-in we would have made sure when we left to take these items with us each time and we would have taken measures to avoid the loss and trauma that we have experienced during what should have been a pleasant family vacation.

I hope this post helps others select the right property, in the right location and with the right property management company and villa owner. I also hope that renters pick owners and property management companies that will refund the unused nights after a break-in when a door won’t lock.

Local police investigators told us these break-in’s happen all the time in this area because thieves know and watch visitors (mainly American’s) all the time after they check-in to these properties. We requested a refund for the 3 nights we didn’t stay.

We left the night of the break-in. Why would we want to stay in a place that was just robbed and the door wouldn’t lock? This is what was said by Nicole with the property management company in her e-mail after I requested a 3 night refund: Although the bedroom door could not lock it could close and we could have locked the bars and continued to stay there but we understand you didn’t feel safe.

The property management company has refused in numerous e-mails that they will not refund the 3 remaining nights we did not stay at the villa.

I’m not sure how brave other travelers are but I’m fairly certain most wouldn’t want to have their family continue to stay in a bedroom without a door that would lock even if the bars would lock. That night, I didn’t think that was the best option for our family and after hearing from the police about the break-ins I wanted to move to another place where they had security.

We moved and later requested a refund. There are some things that you can’t put a $$$ sign next to and that is your families safety after something horrible like this happens. I just wish the owner and the property management company would do the right thing and refund those 3 nights. We’ve lost approx $7,000 worth of electronics, my daughter’s passport, not to mention the 3 extra nights after we moved.

This review is not meant to be mean, I am stating everything that is factual. The owners and the property management company nor us were expecting a break-in. As another business owner, it makes more sense to us to do all that is possible to make clients feel comfortable, safe and secure during a vacation. My primary recommendation in all this is to hope the owners and property management company inform renters of the unsafe area in Belnam, inform the renters to always lock the bars, take all your valuables with you when you leave and hope for the best.

I also think it would be a good idea to inform renters that the security cameras don’t work, there isn’t a safe and other items that are advertised. I would also recommend they do what is right in this situation and that is to refund the 3 nights were did not stay in the villa. I truly believe most would agree we did the right thing by leaving when the door had been broken.

Amusingly enough, Nicolle said that we should have purchased travel insurance. Fun fact: we did. The insurance plan is the top of the line plan and doesn’t cover electronics or theft of electronics.