Beach Tonic: Oceanfront retreat in Oak Island, this 5BR home accommodates up to 12 guests.

We had a wonderful time at Beach Tonic. Plenty of room for our group. The house is nicely decorated. Lots of games and books. The house was well furnished. The oceanfront view was our absolute favorite!

The amount of space in the house was good for the 9 of us. The location of this property was great and distance to the beach was very convenient. The property is managed by a management company, not a personal owner. During booking, I had issues with the payment process and communication with the management company. It was a struggle, but all was resolved before final payment. Check-in was easy, but when we walked in, we were disappointed. There was sand on the couches and sand/dust/food/bugs along the edge of the walls in the main living area. Lampshades and headboards were covered in dust. Ceiling fan in the family room would not turn on (told would not be repaired until end of the season) and the blades were caked in dust (maintenance resolved). Air vents were caked in dust. We notified housekeeping when we initially got there, and they came out right away to resolve reported issues. Things we noticed after they left, we overlooked or took care of ourselves. The kitchen was the worst. Grease and bugs were stuck on the celling in the kitchen. Cabinets were in disarray. Items were thrown in anywhere and a lot were not clean. Most kitchen items were in rough shape. Refrigerator was missing the middle shelf for most of our stay and the dishwasher stopped working completely (both resolved by maintenance). The dishwasher became so loose by the end of the stay, it almost fell out. We tightened the screw and notified the management company before we left about this, loose towel holders, and a towel bar that fell off the wall. We didn’t attempt to use the enclosed outdoor shower since it was in very rough shape. They did have a very convenient shower and hose on the deck after coming off the beach. The deck is in need of repairs and should not be walked on without shoes. We understand rentals are not perfect and may not look exactly the same as when pictures are taken, but the last thing you want to do on vacation is make multiple calls to housekeeping and maintenance to take care of things that should have been attended to before we got there. We appreciated the quick response from housekeeping and maintenance, but we spent a decent amount of vacation time resolving the problems. We never got a response directly from the management company at all. Never an apology or thanks for the information and your patience. It could be a wonderful rental if more care was put into the cleanliness and upkeep of the property.

We certainly had great family time and great beach time. Beds were comfortable. The house was not very clean when we got there but Better Beach Rentals sent housekeeping out right away to remedy the situation. Pots and pans were not great… silverware was limited. considering we were staying in a 5 bedroom house and there were only 10 forks etc. The deck and walkway were in rough shape, guaranteed to deliver splinters. Furniture on the deck was shabby. No beach chairs. The charcoal grill was basically unusable, old and rusty. Usable grills are key to cooking at the beach. This house could benefit from some attention to details and better amenities.