Idyllic, dog-friendly Bay Front Island home with pool, Gulf view & large decks

This property was excellent. We were surprised by the extra daily charge to use/heat the pool. If you rent The Big Chill, be sure to stop at the grocery store before arriving. There is absolutely nothing provided. No coffee, no sugar, tissues etc. The evenings were chilly on our arrival and only found two extra blankets that were not in the best shape. Dauphin Island itself was excellent and just what we were looking for.

The location was wonderful. The kitchen pots and pans need to be replaced the handles are falling off and we couldn’t tighten them, the baking sheets were all rusted, the shelves in the refrigerator were all broken and if you put something on the door shelf whenever you opened the refrigerator door everything fell in the floor. The bedrooms were wonderful very roomy, the grill didn’t work properly wouldn’t get very hot, the oven doesn’t bake very well you have to put it on 425 degrees to get things baked. But overall it was a nice home.

Exactly as advertised, clean spacious, the pool was great, the views were breathtaking, I’d definitely be back to this home

Great house and view

We did not love our stay at the Big Chill. The house is really suffering from deferred maintenance issues, some of which are safety issues, and lack of hospitality. The interior flooring is popping up in places, we found a nail sticking up on the interior stairs that we had to deal with after my MIL stepped on it walking upstairs, the refrigerator door shelving was cracked such that we could only put lightweight items in them or they would fall down, the ice maker struggled to make ice so we constantly were buying ice. Also, the pool gate was not aligned properly with the fence so it was hard to close, much less lock for safety. Luckily my kids can now swim, but one year ago this would have been an absolutely unacceptable risk to my family. The amenities are about as bare bones as I’ve ever seen in a VRBO. They provided almost nothing, not even coffee filters for their own coffee machine. Luckily we brought extra TP, paper towels, and dishwasher detergent, otherwise, we’d have needed a major shopping trip. The body wash ran out in the master bathroom a few days in, so I think it was not filled up before we arrived. The hosts provided one outdoor garbage can for trash, which was completely full the day we arrived. For a house that fits up to 10 people, they probably should pay for a second trash receptacle. The WiFi did not work for several days. On the plus side, the view from the back porch was beautiful and the neighbors were friendly and shared their beach with us.

Nice house. We love the bay side. The pool was fabulous. The back deck is nicely fenced for kids and dogs. The kitchen had everything we needed. Note that previous comments mentioned no coffee filters…we left a bunch. The only seasonings in the home were salt and pepper. We brought ALL of our own. There were no games/playing cards-we brought all of our own and were glad that we did. The WiFi situation is not good but that did not detract at all from our stay. If you have folks that are WFH(working from home), they need to hotspot or go into town and set up shop at a restaurant.We had a wonderful week and can’t wait to go back. We did leave a note with some items that needed to be fixed( nothing major - just typical home easy fixes) so we will see if they are repaired by next year.

Great Property, the pool was perfect for kids to swim on windy days. House was comfortable and spacious.

Great property and island. Would have booked directly through Vacasa had I known better to avoid added fees for vrbo

Cleanliness was perfect. Heated pool not so much. Could only use it 2 days out of our week. It wasn’t heating properly

It was exactly as advertised and we could have stayed another week if real life didn't interfere. The back deck and pool were perfect and we spent most of our time there. The house was spacious and comfortable, i could see how hosting a larger group would be easy peasy

This was the perfect property for our professional retreat! Excellent service.

Slept 12 nicely and low key vibe of area was great. Lots of time to just enjoy family without crowds.

We wanted to enjoy fireworks on the beach and it was awesome. Great location

We had an amazing time! The property was the perfect size for our family of 7 and had everything we needed in the kitchen for several home cooked meals. The description of the property made it seem like there was a dock into the bay behind the house but there was only a small beach with both neighbors having a dock instead. My only complaint about the property was the fact that we couldn’t use the backyard or go under the house without being absolutely attacked by mosquitoes!! My 9 year old daughter walked under the house one evening to grab something and came out with about 15 bites. The mosquitoes would swarm us every time we went to get in our car or take out the dogs. Some sort of pest control or at least a few cans of bug spray for your next guests would be super beneficial!